Dumb Newbee Mistake

[Nancii]

I've been making wine kits, getting comfortable and decided to try my first batch of mead Wednesday. First of all, it took forever for it to cool back down so I could add in my yeast. After I got there, I had a complete blond moment and mixed up tbsp and tsp. I should have added 2 1/2 tsp yeast energizer and 2 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient. I added 2 1/2 Tablespoons of each. I bake all the time, so all I can chalk it up to is the late hour and all the waiting.

So...the big question, what will this do to my mead? I really hope I haven't wasted 14 lbs of honey (wow, what a loss) and couldn't begin to find someone quite as dumb online that would admit to making the same mistake.

Help!!!

 

[botigol]

More than likely it'll be fine. There is the possibility that such a dose could alter the taste, but time could solve the issue if it does come up. What kind of honey did you use? If it was a stronger flavored one, there is an even better chance of things being fine.

Secondary issue, did you boil the honey? Nowadays it is mostly accepted that it is not necessary to heat honey much, if at all, since honey protects itself pretty well and by the tim wild yeast can start acting on the diluted honey you will have pitched your cultivated yeast which would overrun any wild ones. Now I said mostly accepted, because there are still some who maintain that boiling/heating is the way to go. So there isn't necessarily a right or wrong way, just wanted to note this.

 

[botigol]

I was just thinking that aerating the must might be helpful as well. Extra oxygen, which the mead probably needs anyway, might help the yeast to better metabolize the nutrients.

 

[Pumpkinman]

you will be fine.

 

[Nancii]

It's clover honey.

I don't boil it, but brought it to 175 and then turned the heat off and let it cool. The recipe says to, and my brother, while saying it wasn't absolutely necessary, suggested it. Still trying to find my way and since it was my first mead attempt, I didn't want to chance anything. As for the oxygen, I can put an aerator on the end of the tubing when I transfer it into the carboy. That should happen on 2/13.

Thanks so much for everyone's expertise!

 

[botigol]

On the heating/boiling, I have read that the heating action helps to bring proteins to the surface which can then be skimmed. So there are advantages to both heating and not.

Aeration can be as simple as a good vigorous stir; you don't have to involve extra equipment if you don't want to.

 

[Nancii]

How would you go about skimming the proteins? And what are the advantages/disadvantages?

 

[BernardSmith]

I am not sure that aerating the mead AFTER it has fermented is a wise idea. I think you want to avoid contact with oxygen after the production of CO2 has dropped and you are transferring the must from a bucket to a carboy. Presumably the issue is whether providing the yeast with too much nutrient will produce off flavors and whether providing all the nutrient at once and at the early stage of the fermentation may still mean that the yeast in another week or so will need still more nutrient... I don't have the answers to those questions but perhaps others in this forum have a better handle on this issue but my sense is that the amount of nutrient you have added is inconsequential.

 

[botigol]

I would agree, after the bulk of fermentation is complete aeration would be a bad thing, but Nancii just started this batch on Wednesday and aerating mead for the first few days of fermentation is pretty standard practice anyway.

As I haven't heated honey prior to fermentation I can only reference what I have read, but the idea is that while heating the honey the proteins coagulate and come to the surface of the liquid at which point you can skim them off. I am guessing that they look like an opaque film, but again this is just supposition. The skimming would be the advantage. The disadvantage, and this is debatable, is that by heating honey you lose some unknown amount of the fragrance (floral notes) that makes it so special. I have read a number of articles and forum posts about heating and it is one of those subjects that ccan be a little heated. Historically, and really up until less than ten years ago, heating honey before fermentation was standard practice. It is only recently that the movement to not heating has taken hold, but it seems to have been a pretty big swing in attitude. You may want to check out GotMead.com for more info. There is a lot of good info here on making mead, but over there mead is the only thing that some of them do.

 

[botigol]

I just relaized that I didn't write why removing protein in advance would be an advantage...if some quantity of protein were removed prior to fermentation, it is less protein that could still be present and causing a haze in your mead once it clears.

 

[btom2004]

@ More on heating honey. I have read that this actually allows the honey to ferment into more or higher alcohol %. (ABV)

 

[botigol]

Now that is interesting...I feel a side-by-side test is in order. Too bad all of my carboys and jugs are currently tied up and will be for a while. Not good for testing, but VERY good for me and my taste buds :0)

 

[g8keeper]

if i am not mistaken, that is correct, because it's kinda like inverting granulated sugar....the heating breaks the molecular chain down into more easily fermentable sugars, thereby making it easier for the yeasts to digest, and hence a relatively quicker, and wasier, fermentation, whereby the yeast are therefore also able to more readily convert MORE of the sugars into alcohol...