Wanted to share what I'm making

[EricaM]

I've only been making wine/beer at home for less than a year, so keep that in mind if I make mistakes.

I tried 1 gallon of mead a few months ago, to see what it was like. I put about 4 cups of honey in, so it was very sweet, then after the fermentation calmed down and it cleared a bit, I added some wetted tazo hibiscus teabags.

I bottled it, probably too early, and it continued to ferment in the bottles, which made them carbonated. I ended up with a carbonated, pink, sweet, floral drink with a little bit of tartness from the teabags. My husband loved it.

I'm now trying again with a 5 gallon batch. I find that the yeast has a hard time with so much honey. My airlock only moved weakly for part of a week, then stopped. It was still mostly sugar with very little alcohol. I racked the mead yesterday, but there was no yeast left on the bottom of the bucket, so I degassed it and threw some more yeast on top. Now the airlock is moving again. Will check it again once the airlock stops.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Do you have a hydrometer to take gravity readings? Gravity readings is the only way to be sure your finished. Are you using any yeast nutrients? If not then yes it will take a long time, and have a hard time finishing. A qt of honey is 3lbs, not too difficult if using the right nutrients and degassing as it ferments. Current Mead Making Techniques

 

[EricaM]

I do have a hydrometer. I didn't take a measurement before I put in yeast, because I'm lazy and don't care about knowing the abv, but I can check to see whether it's stopped fermenting if I need to.

I also have nutrient, but if I use it, then maybe the yeast will eat all the sugar and I'd like this to stay fairly sweet. Do you think nutrient would make it ferment dry? If I only use a little, then would it ferment faster, but then slow down again once it ran out of nutrient? I'd be happy with this taking less time if it still turns out the way I want. But longer is ok if it's necessary to keep it sweet.

 

[Seamonkey84]

It may even ferment dry without nutrients, just takes longer. The nutrients not only allows it to finish faster, but also reduces aging required since the yeast isn’t throwing a bunch of off flavors from being stressed. The reasons it would stop would be from reaching abv tolerance, or getting stuck due to ph issues or overly stressed yeast. Even just degassing some of the built up co2 will reduce stress on yeast, and keeps the yeast in suspension and working vs going dormant on the bottom. If you want a sweet product, it is recommended to ferment dry, then stabilize (adding sulfites and sorbate) and sweeten before bottling. The other way is to load enough sugars to exceed the alcohol tolerance of the yeast and have residual sugar left (like what your trying), but you have to let the batch be stable for weeks before bottling. Once it’s completely clear and racked off all lees, wait a couple more weeks to make sure the degassing didn’t allow any yeast cells to wake back up. If you add any more liquid and diluted the abv, it can restart again. If you want to have sweet and carbonated without having bottles explode, you’ll have to pasteurize it, check the hard cider forum.

 

[EricaM]

Thanks for the information. I have flip top bottles, so I'm not too worried about explosions, but it would be good to be able to stop it from over-carbonating. I'll take a look at the cider forum.

 

[bernardsmith]

As Seamonkey84 suggests it is always best to determine the ABV you want and so use the amount of honey that that ABV requires. You then allow the yeast to do what it does best and when the yeast have eaten up every last morsel of sugar you then stabilize the mead to prevent any refermentation. Then you add more honey or other sweetener to this brut dry mead to sweeten it to the precise amount of sweetness that your mead needs based on the amount of alcohol in the mead, the level of tannins , the acidity and the perceived sweetness it will have.

There is an alternative approach and that is to check the tolerance for alcohol of the yeast that you have selected and then feed that yeast sugars so that it exceeds its tolerance leaving you with a sweeter rather than a drier wine. BUT this is a crap shoot because unless you are very familiar with the yeasts you select and you know exactly what you are doing the published tolerance may be for X ABV but your yeast may be able to survive, if not thrive at levels twice that amount - and if you think about it, the labs are not publishing the most extreme levels. They are all but guaranteeing that if you are looking to make a wine to finish at this or that ABV this yeast will always achieve that level whereas that yeast most likely will not. They are not guaranteeing that it won't but they are stating that if you use the yeast beyond its stated capacity you only have yourself to blame should your batch fail.

 

[madscientist451]

I also have nutrient, but if I use it, then maybe the yeast will eat all the sugar and I'd like this to stay fairly sweet. Do you think nutrient would make it ferment dry? If I only use a little, then would it ferment faster, but then slow down again once it ran out of nutrient?

You can make mead without adding nutrients, but if you want to make decent mead in a relatively short time, use yeast nutrients and fermaid when you re-hydrate your yeast.
Staggered yeast nutrients are the way to go, I recommend using the TONSA 2.0 protocol found here:

BatchBuildr - MeadMakr

https://www.meadmakr.com/mc047-tosna-2-0-less-filling-for-the-yeast-tastes-great-for-you/
Fermaid O is available from online homebrew retailers or local home brew shops. A small scale (about $20) that can weigh out grams is necessary.
Trust me please, I made mead for years without nutrients and eventually it was drinkable, but the initial tastings were not promising and it took many years of aging to make something that didn't make me want to spit it out.