honey wine (mead) hydromel

Alcoholic beverages which are not classified as spirits.

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alexmat
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honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by alexmat »

Hello everybody. I recently production a batch of mead. it's the first time for me. the raw material was provided to me by a beekeeper friend. the initial gravity was 1090. almost a month has passed and the gravity has settled at 1040 for about 2 weeks. do you think it has finished fermentation? how can i check it? can I try to make a transfer and add more yeast? an advice? thank you
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I would expect it to ferment lower depending on the ferment temp, yeast, and nutrients @ that SG of 1.090. Did you use the TOSNA calc for yeast and nutrients?

https://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna-calculator

Cheers!
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TwoSheds
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by TwoSheds »

My meads and honey washes (same recipes but intended for distilling) have finished around 1.000 unless they stalled on me. I've had mixed luck saving a stuck ferment but would suggest checking your pH if you haven't. It's essentially a sugar wash so an acid crash is one possibility.

Good luck!
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alexmat
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by alexmat »

therefore my fermentation is not yet complete! :problem: ok then I'll measure the ph. what should a pH be like at this point in fermentation?
@jonnys_spirit: I don't know this tosna calc. the density I measured with the hydrometer
how did you manage to save a blocked ferment?
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TwoSheds
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by TwoSheds »

alexmat wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:40 pm therefore my fermentation is not yet complete! :problem: ok then I'll measure the ph. what should a pH be like at this point in fermentation?
Everyone seems to say a ph below 4 will slow or stop fermentation. If you come back with 4 or less you could use oyster shells to (slowly) bring it back slowly or gypsum powder to snap it back quickly. I don't think it matters too much how quickly you bring it back as long as you don't overshoot by too much, which is why I like the oyster shells.

If your pH is above 4 or so you may have other problems. I don't think you mentioned what yeast you used, but a SG of 1.090 would put you in the range of 12% ABV, too high for some yeasts. Others are fine with that so you could re-pitch a different yeast strain to pick up where that one left off. EC-1118 is often recommended.

Did you add any nutrients? Honey is almost entirely sugar and sugar alone doesn't offer much to yeast.
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I’d suggest nutrients like the tosna suggests. Those are staggered as the ferment progresses though.

If you’re stilling it a higher pH like 4.0-4.5 may be fine but for mead you probably want some acidity to balance the alcohol and any residual sweetness you might be working into your mead and wine yeasts work fine with whites as low as 3.2 and reds in the 3.6-3.8 range.

Add Fermaid as per the tosna and check pH and how it tastes before adjusting with shells.

Let us know the whole recipe and what your after. That might help with a direction.

Cheers!
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Bradster68
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by Bradster68 »

My mead is 3 weeks and just starting to clear now probably about 2 more week or a little more. With just honey I'd add nutrients at 24 48 72 hour ( or close to this I'll sometimes miss a day but never noticed a difference)for sure. Works alot better for me.also the goferm at beginning in the starter. Tonsa is great.
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by Yonder »

Generally, i use step feeding when making my meads. Honey does not have the nutrients needed by your yeast so you must add them. A short course would be to begin with a small dose of DAP and yeast nutrients. Then, for four days alternate DAP and yeast energizer. You will hit 1.0 or less in a week. You shouldn’t need to worry about ph unless it’s a melomel, and then only rarely.
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alexmat
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Re: honey wine (mead) hydromel

Post by alexmat »

this morning I checked the ph and it was 3.13 I will add an oyster shell and a spoonful of nutrients. and maybe I'll bring the temperature to 22-23 degrees. we hope it goes well.
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