Another Orange Blossom Honey

[montyfox]

Purchased 12 pounds of Orange Blossom Honey the other day to make a straight mead with. Here is what I used following what I read in Ken Schramm's book "The Complete Meadmaker."


Rehydrated 10grams of D47 yeast (2 packages) in 4oz of water at 104 F for 20 minutes.


In the primary
9 lbs. of Orange Blossom Honey
3 gallons of water
1 gram of Fermaid-K
Mixed well


SG is at 1.100 at 73F


Added rehydrated yeast


I plan to add another gram of fermaid-k at 1.060 and 1.030.


Hope all goes well.

 

[vcasey]

Sounds really good. I made this a cople of years ago and ended up using 4lbs. of honey per gallon and the back sweetening it just a bit. Almost stopped where I wanted but I ended up adding just a little bit more after it was stabilized. Looking back through my notes it is one of the few meads I did not oak. Traditional OB Meads are wonderful. Enjoy!
Are you planning to make some of the other meads in his book?
VPC

 

[montyfox]

I'm thinking of making a blueberry or black raspberry mead using raspberry honey. When I make a trip to Colorado this summer I'm planning on picking up plenty of honey to make 6 to 12 gallons of mead. Depending on how the blueberries and black raspberries do this summer will dictate what I make.

 

[montyfox]

I checked the SG today and its down to 1.040 (after about 11 days). I'm not concerned as I've read that mead can be a slow fermenter. The temp. has ranged from 68 to 72. I hit it with 1 gram of Fermaid-K at start up, when the SG reached 1.080 and again at 1.060. Should I hit it one more time now or is 3 grams plenty for a 3 gallon batch?

 

[vcasey]

I would stir the heck out of it before adding any more Ferm K. I just noticed you only added 9 lbs. of honey for 3 gallons, and that seems a little high starting SG for that amount. Stir it really well, get some air into the must and stir it some more. I think you maybe fine without any extra.
While you are in Colorado look into some Ambrosia Alpine Honey, its supposed to be very good.
VPC

Another idea is to add some yeast hulls (ghost yeast) that may help kick up fermentation as well.