vcasey questions

[jerry]

vcasey, I am on my RD 3gallon batch of mead (sweet, wine makers recipe book) only one is complete and it came out very good. my questions are 1. I used Lalvin D-47 yeast. Is that ok. sg started at 1.110 and never
reached 1.000, it stooped at 1.016. ?????
2. reading what you wrote about not putting thek -meta in till after fermentation is complete, I wonder if Imessed up by adding the k-meta first. Also I followed the book and put 2 campdens in per gallon. Did the extra campden make the fermentation stop at 1.016 ?
3. I sorbated and back sweetened . corks did not pop. was that OK.

 

[jerry]

3 rd

 

[jerry]

I don't know why my quote was missing words.

the sg never reached 1.000, also it is my 3rd three gallon batch.

 

[vcasey]

Welcome to Mead Making!

D47 is a great yeast to use, the only yeast I use more is 71B. I imagine the mead stopped where it did is because you reached 14% which is about the limits of D47.
I generally do not use Kmeta or campden tablets at the beginning of a mead (or one of its many variations) because once diluted honey is vulnerable and I want it to start fermenting fast. So I'll make a big starter a couple of days in advance and will have positive airlock activity usually with in a couple of hours. Once the fermentation is complete I'll add the kmeta or 1 campden tablet per gallon as well as sorbate, especially when back sweetening. Many folks will use the kmeta or campden, wait 24 hours and add the yeast and that is perfectly fine as well.
Sounds like you are off to a great start. You may want to consider picking up these books:

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<td ="tdbackdesc" align="left" valign="top" width="40%">The Compleat Meadmaker (Ken Schramm)</span>

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Making Wild Wines &amp; Meads - 125 Unusual Recipes Using Herbs, Fruits, Flowers and More by Vargas &amp; Gulling, 169 pp.

The first one is considered a must have with lots of great information and few recipes that are out of this world. The second is mainly recipes. If you can only get 1 get the first one and add the other to your Christmas list.

BTW, if you like the meads now, you are going to really enjoy them once they get some age on them. Better start making more soon!

</span>

 

[jerry]

I better get more honey. thanks Vcasey

 

[vcasey]

Happy to help.

 

[Wade E]

I only get 12.3% abv. for those numbers.

 

[gaudet]

I like my formula better. I got 12.77

 

[vcasey]

Now that I actually calculated it, it matched Gaudet's. Still almost to the top of the range for the yeast. As long as sorbate and kmeta (campden tablets) were added at the end all should be fine. I will say that even after adding them 1 of my batches started to ferment again. Messy ..............

 

[Wade E]

I see 15% listed for that yeast myself.

 

[vcasey]

Got it straight from Lalvin's web site. Great chart
http://www.lallemandwine.us/products/yeast_chart.php

and here

http://www.lalvinyeast.com/strains.asp#

 

[Wade E]

Good to know, I dont really use Lalvin yeast so just going by another chart.

 

[jerry]

If I understand this , all wine will not reach sg 1.000. Everything will still be fine but may start to ferment again in some cases ?

 

[Wade E]

With a finished sg of 1.000 that is basically 0 residual sugar so I woudnt worry too much about a fermentation starting again but some sulfite and sorbate would still be wanted just to make sure. Depending on the yeast used, starting sg, and temps at the end no, not all wine will finish below 1.000.