Citrus Melomel started and all is well!

I started my citrus melomel after careful preporation and consultation
with the mage of meads, Masta. The starting sg is 1.066 (11.3 PA), .64
TA and 3,4 PH. Started the yeast last night and it is happily bubbling
tonight when I got home from work. All is well on the mead front! I'll
be sure to keep everyone posted as things progress. I have to say, the
citrus smell is great and I hope it stays through out the fermentation
process.





This is before I tossed the yeast







After one day fermenting and a good stir. Bubbling away madly. Very
little foam. Is the minimal foam normal for lalvin 71b-1122? This is
the first time I've used this type of yeast.


Edited by: paubin

Actually, at this time of year, and at a mean temp of 77F, 1.066 to an end point of 0.998 is 9.5% at the same 77F.

Don't dispair (SP?) that I said that though! Lower alc by vol will actually make a young wine/mead drinkable much sooner! BTW: I think your SG might be a smidge higher if Scott Helped! He is a good teacher. He helped me with my vanilla mead which is still bulk aging coming up on 8 months now! It shows promise!

Best of luck on the new mead! I hope you love meads as much as I do!Edited by: Dean

HMMM, That is odd. I read the SG and PA off of my hydrometer. straight
line from one to another I thought. I,ll have to take another look,
although I read PA first and then looked over at SG later.

Lookin good paubin...I have to say I am a bit surprised at the acid and pH numbers but if the yeast is working then all is well!


Do you plan to back sweeten at all when fermentation is done as this will certainly be bone dry?

All I can think of With the acid and ph is that the fruit was sweeter
and lower in acid than normal. What suprised me was I was expecting a
higher starting sg. I plan on adding another 1/2 lb of honey when the
fermentation slows down a little.

paubin said:

All I can think of With the acid and ph is that the fruit was sweeter and lower in acid than normal. What surprised me was I was expecting a higher starting sg. I plan on adding another 1/2 lb of honey when the fermentation slows down a little.

Click to expand...

I would also dose it with another 1/4-1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient when you add the honey and stir well.

Will do Masta. Is the yeast that I used normally as low foaming as it has been for me?

I can't really comment on the foaming of this yeast as I have used Lalvin D-47 for all of my meads and it foams up quite a bit.


I did find this info:



<TABLE id=Table1 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=650>
<T>
<TR>
<TD>Product Description:</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Lalvin Wine Yeasts 5 grams. 71B-1122 Narbonne. This low foaming strain is a very rapid starter that will produce smoother, more aromatic wines that will mature quickly, as it limits phenol extraction and neutralizes malic acid up to about 40%. Well suited for whites, concentrates and nouveaus. Ferments between 59 and 86 degrees.</TD></TR></T></TABLE>

I've used 71B a lot and it barely foams. My blueberry done with this only fizzed and never foamed up at all! I do notice that D47 foams up a bit, but 1118, K1V and 71B are all very low foamers for me.

I made a mistake when posting my original sg. It was 1.088. I usually
read the PA then look over for the sg after I remove the hydrometer. I
must have been tired or something.

I added another 1/2 lb of honey to the primary tonight along with 1/4
tsp of yeast nutrient. Alot of fizzing when I gave everything a good
stir. Immediatly after attaching the airlock it was happily bubbling.
Explained how the yeast was working to my 5 yr old son and he lhao at
the idea of the little bugs farting. I did a little math and my
finished PA should come out now at 13.2 which is about where I wanted
it. A little hot but aging should take care of that. With the yeast I
used it should finish dry and I'll sweeten after stabilizing.

How long is normal for leaving in fruits in melomels? In normal wines
it is usually 1-2 weeks. Is it the same with meads. I am thinking that
I didnt reseach as well as I thought.