Sweet Berry Mead

[hartm]

I decided to try making my own mead. I found a recipe for a raspberry mead and was going for that. Of course the black berries at the farm were AWESOME. So I went half and half red/black raspberries.


Here is a shot of the must just before I added the yeast...

The gravity reading was 1.148. I think its going to be a sweet one.

 

[vcasey]

Looks great, what yeast did you use.
VC

 

[gaudet]

I'll take a bottle please

looks great hartm. Keep us informed please.

 

[hartm]

I'm using WhiteLabs Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast WLP720.


It tolerates up to 15% alcohol so I should have a lot of sweetness leftover after the fermentation.


http://www.mountainhomebrew.com/browseproducts/White-Labs-WLP720-Sweet-Mead-Wine-Yeast.HTML

 

[gaudet]

I think you might finish fermenting at 1.030 -1.040 ( a wide range ) It would be at 14% - 16% ABV depending on where you finish.

Make sure to use yeast nutrient and yeast energizer. When using nutrient and energizer you can add it in stages 1/3 now, add 1/3 again at 1.109 and again at 1.070 to help the yeasties be happy and ferment. You might also want to make a starter for this one since its got so much sugar



What size batch are you making? Looks like a 6 gallon or 5 gallon

 

[hartm]

It's actually only a 1 gal batch. I added some yeast nutrient and energizer at the beginning.


I like the idea of using a starter for this. I did end up using the whole vial meant for a 5 or 6 gal batch so hopefully the extra yeast will give it a boost. I tried to stir it really well to get it aerated as well.


So far, there hasn't been much activity, but its still early.

 

[vcasey]

Gaudet's advice is sound. The staggered nutrient additions, no matter what size the batch, will help the yeast stay healthy and prevent off flavors, and this is important since you started with such a high SG. Also stir that baby up several times a day to get some air in the must, the yeast will love you!
VC

 

[gaudet]

Ahh 1 gallon........



You will regret it when it comes out so good and you only have 5 bottles

I know when I made blackberry mead last year I did 1 gallon and I have
1 bottle left. (I don't have much patience) Even though I never let it
age like I should have, its been a great one. I do plan to make at
least 3 gallons this year.

 

[hartm]

After two days the fermentation finally started and then today there was an explosion of activity. Good thing I had plenty of space in my fermenter. Is this normal???


I've been stirring it everyday and I'll check the SG tomorrow to see if its ready for another dose of yeast food. Thanks for the tips!

I started with a 1 gal batch to make sure I like these meads before I scale up. I tried some commercial stuff and was not impressed, but I'm liking the smell from this already.

 

[hartm]

For those that are interested, here is the recipe I followed. Critiques on my procedure are welcome...
Sweet Berry Melomel (Makes 4 L)


1 pint fresh raspberries
1 pint fresh black berries
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
4.5 lbs. Star Thistle Honey
Juice from one lemon
Juice from one orange
1/4 cup strong green tea
water to make 4 L of must
Liquid Yeast (Sweet Mead Strain)


Bring 1 L of water to boil. After 10 minutes then take off of heat. The honey was added followed by the yeast nutrient and energizer. The honey water was returned to the stove and reheated.


While the must reheated, the berries were mashed (with a potatoe masher) and added to the must along with the juice of the orange and lemon. The tea was strained and added as well. The must was heated at 150-160 degrees for 10 minutes.


The must was carefully transferred to the fermentation bucket and cold filtered water was added to the 4 L mark (I used 4 L beacuse that is the size of my carboys). The must was cooled in an icebath until the temperature was in the 70-75 degree range. While it cooled the must was occasionally stirred to aerate it.


Once the temperature was reached, a SG was taken and the yeast was added (I originally added 1/5 of the bottle, then added the rest on day two). Creating a starter would be a good idea for this, too (as gaudet suggested).


I can post the racking and additional nutrient additions when I'm finally done as well.


I plan on bottling this into 375 mL bottles (Maybe it will last longer that way.....maybe)


Let me know what you think.

 

[hartm]

Fermentation seems to be going fast. I took a reading today and it was already down to 1.060. The temperature is slightly high for this yeast 76 - 77 F but doesn't seem that bad. I added another addition of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer to keep it going strong.


Here is the question...How low should I let the SG get before I transfer to a carboy?

 

[vcasey]

I usually rack when I notice the fermentation slowing. Usually 1000 - 1020, but it depends on the final SG I am expecting. So if you are expecting the yeast to stop earlier (like 1030) you would need to adjust to rack earlier (like 1040 or something similar). I hope that makes sense! BTW the recipe looks very good and between both berries the color show be beautiful as well.
VC

 

[hartm]

Well, since the SG is dropping fast (and I'm going out of town) I decided to rack my mead into a carboy. Here is a pic...

I did get a bunch of seeds on the transfer, but I'll get those off on the next racking. I decided not to top this off since the fermentation is still going.

 

[hartm]

The SG is down to 1.032 now. The fermantation is still slowly going. We'll see where it is at in another week.

 

[gaudet]

Patience is a virtue..... I left my last mead in the closet at 1.030 a week or two ago. I will check it again next month. Its ready when its ready......

You would not want to bottle it with it still fermenting.

 

[Wade E]

Yeh, Meads can sure test your patience when fermenting but the outcome sure outweighs the wait.

 

[vcasey]

You started this at 1148 and its now 1032, with the yeast you used it may be done. I would leave it alone and check it in another couple of weeks and then check it again a couple of weeks later. You could even top it off with a 50/50 honey/water mixture and just leave it alone for a few months.
VC

 

[hartm]

Thanks for the advice...


I just racked this into another glass carboy and topped it off with a 50/50 honey/water mixture. I'm storing it in my wine cellar so I can forget about it for the time being.


I did take a taste. I can really taste the Star Thistle Honey. I think that was a good choice. It is definitely sweet. the color is nice, but it is really cloudy right now.


What are the odds that the haze from the pectins will completely clear-up? I'm not too worried about it though. My plan is to bulk age this for a year or more. We'll see how it looks next summer.

 

[vcasey]

I would wait out the clearing since you plan on bulk aging for a long period of time. Once it gets closer to bottling and it has not cleared you may want to consider helping it along. The color does look great.
VC

 

[hartm]

So I realized that I never added any K-met to this mead. Should I still be adding some just like the wine kits? Not every recipe I see for mead calls for it. Is it just implied that I should be adding it???