Newbie to mead advice...

[ElCid79]

Hello everyone,

I am just about to attempt my first mead. A little back ground. We have great water locally, its very clean and makes terrific beer! Which rocks! One of my buddies happens to have a couple of bee hives, and has lots of honey.

With that said, I am going to try my hand at mead making for the first time, and I want a nice SIMPLE recipe. I have several packages of lalvin d47 and some DAP.

What schedule should I follow for the DAP additions, and how many packs of lalvin should I pitch? Is hydrating that yeast an important step, or can I skip it with minimal impact?



As I understand it I will need about 12-16lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch, and the process is pretty simple.

Since this is unregulated honey, I think that heating (sanitizing) it would probably be a good idea. Do you agree with this, or would I be wasting my time?

Basically, I need to bring water up to 170* Pour in my honey, make sure it is mixed well, and then bring the temp down to normal pitching temperatures.

I do have an immersion chiller, so I was considering using that to bring the temps down, but in order to sanitize that I would need to boil the water for a short while. Would adding the honey to water just off a boil cause any issues? I could simply boil the immersion chiller for a few minutes as normal. Kill the heat, add the honey wait a minute for it to kill any bugs, and then chill it.

As per fermentation, I will follow all of my traditional homebrew sanitation techniques. I will likely use a 7.5g bucket as a primary and then a glass carboy for a long secondary.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Drewed]

Honestly I wouldn't waste the time with heating the honey. Your honey amount is pretty much right on. Try to keep the OG under 1.100. I wouldn't DAP but I would use nuitrent. Honey has almost no nutrients in it. A starter isn't needed, but won't hurt. One packet will work, but direct pitch will kill off most of the yeasts, so think about two if going that route.

 

[thm57]

Actually I would say some DAP would be good, honey is pretty much devoid of nitrogen that the yeast can use. Also, keep it cool with that yeast as I hear that getting over 20C with D47 causes some serious off flavours.

 

[FunkyMunk]

I'm also about to make my first mead, using the same basic traditional recipe and lalvin d47, so I'm curious to see what you end up doing.

Nearly everything I've read suggests that heating really isn't necessary and will drive off or degrade a lot of the aromatics in the honey, so I decided to go with the no-heat method, myself. I'm just going to use one packet of yeast but I do plan to hydrate with 100-105*F tap water, based on what I've read (here and here for example) suggesting that it's healthier for the yeast than pitching the dry yeast straight into the must. I'm only making 3 gallons but my packet says it's good for up to 6 gallons.

As for the nutrient, I'm not sure but I think you would benefit from some nutrient other than just DAP. DAP provides nitrogen and phosphorus, but ideally you would use something like Fermaid K in addition to DAP to provide additional micronutrients. I found this to be somewhat helpful, and this thread might have some useful info. The simple answer seems to be that you want to add your total nutrient additions in increments across the first 1/3 of fermentation (defined by the amount of sugar converted to alcohol by the yeast), then leave it alone for the rest of fermentation.

 

[madscientist451]

Take some time and listen to this podcast:

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/2/8/2/282...90438652&hwt=41a596f72a691fbe6a09b2cba7f3205c

They go through all your questions, heating or not to heat, how much yeast, what is the best yeast nutrient. 6%, and has his own website where he does video podcasts on meadmaking and shares recipes.

You may want to start with a small batch and see how it comes out.

I made some mead in Sept., 2014 using local honey, Sevyal Blanc grapes and Wyeast sweet mead yeast. It tasted terrible, so I bottled it and put it away. A year later I tasted it again, still didn't like it. So yesterday I pulled some out and it tastes really good, the strong alcohol and what I percieved as "off" flavors went away. So if your mead doesn't suit your taste, don't give up, just lay it back and let it sit for a few years.

 

[jmitchell3]

Use this calculator. Youll make a good mead. http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

 

[Drewed]

Use this calculator. Youll make a good mead. http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

Well crap! Where was this all my mead making life? lol.

Great link!

 

[honeycon]

You may notice many suggestions about using DAP and aging your mead for years on end. DAP works but tends to encourage production of fusel alcohols. If you are set on using what you have, then consider the advise about starting small. D-47 is also temperature sensitive. Keep it between 60-64 degrees for best results.

 

[fossilcat]

Use this calculator. Youll make a good mead. http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

I use this batch builder link too. I found it after reading this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11pW-dC91OupCYKX-zld73ckg9ximXwxbmpLFOqv6JEk/edit . It links to it's own batch builder, the meadmakr one is just more user friendly. This paper has an EXTREME amount of information. I keep going back to it as I learn more - things start to make more sense as you learn more, you know?

 

[ElCid79]

I have DAP & Urea if that helps at all? I would just assume not order more stuff, but if it will make a big difference I will go ahead and place an order and wait until next week to ferment. Side 2 of this, is the temps are perfect in my cellar right now for fermenting. If I wait a few weeks it may start to warm up to low 70s.

 

[fossilcat]

Sorry, I didn't answer any of your questions...

There's no need to boil anything unless you're making an extraction (like a tea). The water just needs to be warm enough to dissolve the honey. Honey has no water in it, nothing can live in honey including other yeasts, or bacteria or other microbes. It only becomes susceptible to infection when you add water - that's why you need to follow strict disinfection protocol - what ever touches the must should be sanitized first. I'm not sure if boiling the honey blows off aromatics or not. I boiled the honey for my first couple of batches because I was following a recipe and I didn't know any better. Since then, I use hot tap water (120*) to mix the must and haven't noticed a difference. Maybe someone with a more discerning palate can, I can't. But why waste time when you don't have to.

I have a well from an aquifer, the water is unprocessed and tastes great, so my experience with any other water source is nil. But if I felt that I had to boil my water or treat it to nullify chemical, I would buy spring water. Not distilled water, you need the minerals

Re-hydration, SNA (see batchbuldr), and high pitch rate all fall under the category of not necessary. However, you have to ask yourself, "Do I want to drink this stuff in a couple of months, or wait 2 years?" Do all these things and raise a happy population of yeast - they will reward you if you feed, pamper, and maintain a stress free environment.

I don't know what an immersion chiller is. I mix GoFerm at 110*, add the yeast at 104*, and a few oz of must at 20 min., and pitch at 30 min. My must at this time its about 85*. I try to get my re-hydration mixture to within 10* so as not to stress the yeast when I pitch. (Documentation by Scott Labs says a 10*c/18*f difference is ok).

Aerate your must frequently pre-pitch, right through the lag phase. Thereafter, degas 2-3x per day to the 1/2 sugar mark or so and taper your aggressiveness until you're stirring gently once every 2 days or so at the end. Degassing removes the CO2 from the must maintaining a less acidic environment for your yeast, re-introduces your yeast back into solution, and assists in clearing later on.

Take gravity readings frequently so you can get a feel of how happy your yeast is. Your readings should fall steadily. You should strive for consistent daily activity, reducing peaks and valleys of fermentation. Temperature control is important to a controlled ferment. I keep it below 65* for the yeasts I use (D47, 71b, KV1116), but read up on your yeasts for your temp ranges.