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Another attempt: ~11% traditional

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  • #16
    Alright, I added the sorbates and backsweetened the mead over the weekend. I haven't done the SG measurement yet after the addition, but a quick taste test reveals I'm on the money with my calculations - I'm on semi-sweet with 1.05kg of honey added to the container. It's crashing again and I'll fine this afternoon.

    On the other hand, I added a drop of those juice concentrates with preservatives to a 750ml sample of the dry mead. Well, I added 40ml of the concentrate. Half of the concentration it should be when it's ready to drink. And it's fermenting, if the signs are to be believed.

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    • #17
      Fined the batch last night. Mead was at 6°C, made the gelatin as per instructions (just used a bit more than the Brulosophy thing recommends, half a teaspoon seems like not enough) and added to the mead. Shook the crap out of it to get it all mixed in. I'll have to sulfite it again as the gelatin is going to strip the crap out of my free SO2, but that will have to wait until this weekend when I can rack it off the dropped solids. I'm hoping I can rack it off and even perhaps bottle by this weekend. Seriously looking forward to this mead. This stuff is amazing so far.

      PS: If you ever plan on making mead, listen to the experts. "Just good enough" doesn't really cut it here, unless you're willing to wait more than a year for the stuff to age out. Trust me. Been there, done that.

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      • #18
        Fining isn't working. I racked it off the little bit of lees this weekend and dosed sulfite to up the SO2 levels a bit. Going to be bottling it this week and then it can clear in the bottles. Smell and taste is great, so there's that.

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        • #19
          Alright so last week I bottled this and handed it over to my buddy. His words last night on it was "Bra die is moer lekker". I have to agree. It's not clear, but man, this stuff is GREAT! Definitely sticking to this procedure, and now I can start tweaking on the recipe. It's fantastic!

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          • #20
            And the next batch of honey is here. Woohoo!

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            • #21
              Man just what I needed before I started my batch. The gelatine is it better than bentonite ?

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              • #22
                Originally posted by Deneys View Post
                Man just what I needed before I started my batch. The gelatine is it better than bentonite ?
                Yes, but neither really works. The gelatin introduces another problem - it's not suitable for vegetarians, and it's bound to raise some questions. I must also add that I used Zeolite, a derivative of Bentonite that's supposed to work just as well, but it didn't work for me, at all. In fact, I'm inclined to believe that it cloudied up the wine worse than if I used nothing at all.

                So yeah, I'm planning on using nothing on the next batch, to see what the result will be. That way I'll get to not strip anything from the mead like the gelatin does (it strips colour and flavour), and I'll also end up with a mead that will hopefully drop clear with a few months' wait. None of this mead has lasted a few months yet, though, so that's a problem.

                On the other hand, I can also try and filter the mead to clear. I might just have access to the equipment to do it. Will have to ask.

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                • #23
                  Going to be making the mead this weekend will start a new thread... and help if needed would be great.

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Deneys View Post
                    Going to be making the mead this weekend will start a new thread... and help if needed would be great.
                    Let me know when the thread is created. Not sure if you're familiar with TOSNA 2.0 and so on, will explain a bit more on there.

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                    • #25
                      I normally add all at once or add at 1/3 and 2/3 sugar breaks but will look up the TOSNA method

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                      • #26
                        TOSNA 2.0 has a nice calculator online. Has basic additions of doses of Fermaid O at 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours and at 1/3rd sugar break, or 7 days, whichever comes first. After 1/3rd sugar break the yeast isn't too fond of eating the food anymore and you risk flavours in your mead. I also add a dose during my yeast rehydration, as we don't get GoFerm here in SA.

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                        • #27
                          So do you replace the 24 hr mark by just adding a dose during re-hydration or did you feed it five times ? ------> Never mind I read the first post again you replace the 24hr Mark
                          Deneys
                          Junior Member
                          Last edited by Deneys; 19 November 2019, 15:27. Reason: Must learn to read

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                          • #28
                            What are the results for honey production this year?

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by JimSwift View Post
                              What are the results for honey production this year?
                              How do you mean? We had OK rain so my friend is expecting a few kilos of honey at least. I'm hoping to grab a few kilos for myself as well.

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                              • #30
                                Oh, great. I see this year there are no comments about own production - have people really stopped production because of isolation and quarantine.

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