FORTIFIED Mead? How Much Alcohol NOW?
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- Опубліковано 11 тра 2024
- Fortidied Mead and Wine. There are many reasons to fortify a mead, wine, cider or beer. It's not JUST to add more alcohol. Let's talk about that. I'll also explain why to fortify, how fortification is done, and how to calculate your ABV or alcohol content in your finished product after fortifying!
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If ever I wound up with a stupid amount of money, I’m definitely building a castle , no joke 🏰 so now you got me dreaming of fortifying my brews atop my fortifications
Lol
Someone bought an actual castle here, halfway between Houston and Galveston. An English man and his wife are restoring it with plans to make it a B&B. Search for 'Santa Fe Castle'. It's fun!
The other way is deciding on a target abv, say 18%. Use the Pearson’s Square calculation to get ‘parts’.
Brew A is 14.5%
Spirit B is 47%
Desired abv is 18%
18 - 14.5 = 3.5 parts of Spirit B to add.
18 - 47 = 29 (ignore negative numbers) parts of Brew A to add.
So for every 29 oz of brew, add 3.5oz of spirit. Easy enough to work that out as a ratio with the volume of brew that you have.
I started 6 Gallons of a Hibiscus Mead 3 weeks ago. My first gravity reading was 1.1205. It has slowed down to almost nothing. So I took a Gravity reading today. It was at 1.022, 12.93% ABV. I did the Swirl, and check it next week. Once it stop fermentation. I plan on Fortifying it with some of itself 😉😉, a buddy will do what needs to be done. I figure giving him 1-1½ gallons should render 6-9 cups of usable product. Depending on it's ABV and how high I want my final Mead at, either I'll proof it down or just use a bit and bottle the rest of the droduct for use at a later date.
Love my hibiscus mead
I made a hibiscus wine which stopped at a gravity around 1.030 for 12% ABV. It was too sweet for the amount of alcohol but I liked the general taste, so instead of trying to restart the fermentation (because I lack experience and confidence), I added 95% ABV neutral alcohol to reach a decent 17% ABV, kind of like a Port wine. It's so good! Proof that fortification can also save a batch.
Be careful though when using very high ABV alcohol when fortifying, you really need to wait at least 2 weeks to blend or it can be harmful.
If I understood correctly, if we want to make a beverage with some exact ABV, we may use this formula to get the amount of the liquid we need to add:
Liquid_B_amount = ( Target_ABV - Liquid_A_ABV ) / ( Liquid_B_ABV - Target_ABV ) * Liquid_A_amount
Here we do not consider the volume shrinking mentioned by @TheInfinityzeN, however the result should be pretty close to the one we want.
I do love your videos, guys. Greetings from Uruguay!
This actually answers a lot of questions I've had for wanting to fortify something like a mead or cider and only want higher ABV out of it. It also answers my question of "Can you use something of high proof like Everclear just for the boost in %". Shooting for a higher ABV with fermentation isn't as straightforward since yeast can be finicky, especially for someone like me that's a complete noob at homebrewing, so fortifying can be used as an easy way of "F*ck it I don't want to deal with this anymore, and I don't feel like pasteurizing this time".
Thanks for the explanation. It is very common for me to do this with meads I have sweetened too much and understanding the math allows a little better description of what I have done.
Happy to help!
Appreciate the calculation explanation. Super helpful. Weighted Averages can seem complex, but you did a great job of breaking it down.
Thanks, glad it helped!
this is timely, I'm planning on making a fortified mead soon!
Nobody told me there'd be math, I'd have gotten here early!
Lol
Hello! I've recently found you guys and love your videos. I'm currently fermenting a cherry juice wine and my first attempt at mead! I really appreciate you being informative and fun about it all.
Glad you enjoy the show!
Yet again, thanks for the educational information.
Just finished a %3.5 mint brew, tasty stuff, but I did wish it was a bit higher ABV.
The math makes perfect sense after watching the video
Much appreciated!
Happy to help.
Wow its like you guys know what questions i have as i watch all your videos and BAM you put out the video I need.
The microphones we planted are working!
Lol I love your content. I started just for the mead now I want to do wines and ciders so bad as well. Thank you both
My therapist: "The Yeastie Boys aren't real, they can't hurt you"
The Yeastie Boys: "Inoculation, Fortification, makin' you drunk is our occupation!"
Jesse over on the Still It channel made a mead then distilled it into a spirit and his claims are the honey flavour carried through really well, I’d say fortifying a mead with a distilled “honey” “whiskey” would be pretty amazing to try.
Yeah distilled mead isn't very commonly sold and if we could distill legally we would do that.
@@CitySteadingBrews I smell a collaboration opportunity ;-)
@@r0ninx3phonline yeah if there was a legal and practical way to ship alcohol back and forth!
I can understand that math. I always screw up measuring my melomels though. When the fruits/berries are in and the aeration is done with a handmixer the ABV is always off.
I made some dark cherry moonshine that has been in the cabinet for 6 years. I think I'll fortify one of my batches of dark cherry chocolate cordial wine with it🤠
I made a Yellow Dragon Fruit mead on 5/3/24 but I think it's stalling and I don't know what to do!
Ingredients:
- 3 fresh Yellow Dragon Fruits (skin removed, flesh frozen for 24 hours) mashed
- 2 lbs Orange Blossom Honey
- 0.5lbs Clover Honey
- Fermaid-O
- Filtered Spring Water up-to 1 gal after fruit and honey were added
- Lavin 71-b
Original gravity ready 1.122 and then after a week it was 1.104. I racked it off the lees and fruit/seeds, into a new container and let it sit. I have not added any additional yeast or anything to it yet, but it is still at 1.104 as of today. What can I do? or should I just be more patient? haha
Love your videos thank you!
You racked too soon. ua-cam.com/video/-HFqEL5rCK0/v-deo.htmlsi=1AQvZSaXkeHaUhst
Add more yeast and let it sit a few weeks.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you so much for your speedy reply!!!
Patience patience patience. Sit and forget.
Question unrelated to this video
I went to a local cidery where I'm on vacation and they have am apple cider finished in a rum barrel
The cider has a fairly strong molasses and dark rum flavor which I think is just fantastic
It is 12.5% abv
Would it be possible to get some what close to replicating this at home without a rum barrel? I.e. adding rum and maybe some molasses? Would love to see you guys try something like this in the future
You could get rum barrel wood and age with that.
Yay a new "Brew Talk" 😁 Definitely need to add this to a my brewery playlist.
I was wondering if you could give me some advice. I started my first mead "Store Mead" back on Feb 3rd this year [abv reading 1.096], I waited untill airlock activity was greatly slowed down (Mar. 1st) it ended with an abv reading of 0.998. Waited 2 more weeks (around the 17th I think) and took another reading, it was the same 0.998. So I went ahead and racked to a 2nd container to separate from ingredients and sediment. It is still very "cloudy" and shows no signs of clearing to this day. Did I mess up?
First... those are specific gravity not abv 😀
It can take some time to clear, don't worry. You could cold crash it in the fridge to help. But ultimately clarity doesn't mean much.
Right specific gravity, must've read "abv""off a comment in the background and that got mistaken lol. Thank you for the info, I'll try the cold crash and fingers crossed it'll help, but since you said clarity isn't an issue I might go ahead and try a sample of it before I do so. Thank you again ❤
Hi there long time listener first time commentor. I just made a Bourbon aged cherry cider in a Bourbon barrel. Is there any calculation to get a ballpark for how much fortified abv the cider would have collected by the barrel aging?
Probably nothing or very little.
😊
I wanna make wine out of lemonade. But I will have to raise the PH level for the yeast to survive. Is there something you recommend buying to raise the PH level?
amzn.to/44LIpSr
Do you have a port recipe?
Pyment Port ua-cam.com/video/66o7LH6ZjZg/v-deo.htmlsi=-oo6JUOA3vpoGvgZ
I had to laugh at myself when I saw the equation for this. It is a simple (algebra) mixture problem. Leading in I was thinking mixture problem but was not sure.
I enjoyed the video even though you said in an earlier video that it is against the law in Texas, and I live in Texas.😢
I didn't say it's illegal, Texas did!
Pls i need help .. this my sixth days fermntation (white wine ) and ph is 2.1 is that normal? And is it okey?
Is it fermenting? PH does lower as fermentation continues.
@@CitySteadingBrews yes is fermenting ! Maybe my ph meter wrong reading? The bubble is working
Gravity around 1.020
Before 2 days was 1.050
@@CitySteadingBrews so its fine?
@@CitySteadingBrews so its fine?
@farissa6961 seems like it. If it stalls, we can work on a fix, but seems alright at the moment.
Yaaay math 😛
🧐🙄🤨
I am pretty sure you didn't include it because of added complexity, but there is also alcohol contraction. When you mix alcohol solutions, their volume shrinks. This is due to some of the alcohol molecules present being able to fit neatly between the water molecules. The first batch would have had a final volume of ~118.25 oz and the second ~129.23 oz. If you look at the two, you will notice that the batch which was fortified higher has a greater amount of contraction, due to the higher final alcohol content.
Just something to be aware of, so you won't freak out when your final volume is lower. Also make sure you measure the fortifying beverage in a separate container before mixing or you will end up adding more of it than you originally intended.
It's a factor but not a huge one for sure.
I just racked a 1 gallon batch 3 pounds Ambrosia honey, 8oz hot water 1 bag of black tea, 2 bags of double dragon spiced chai, OG 1.120 EC 1118 this my favorite yeast. Gravity now is 0.998 16%Abv very alcolcol forward almost like distilled spirits right now but the aftertaste is the double spiced chai awesome, campden tablets x2. a week on the shelf, then chill til clear, and then backsweeten to 1.010 and bottle
But where has all the rum go? LoL
I think you can ask chatgpt to calculate it for you if youre not so good in math like me 😅
I would never trust that for anything. Need accuracy on, lol.
@@CitySteadingBrews did you try it ? I think its not perfect but It mostly does what you ask
Mostly is the issue. You never know if it's accurate or not. I have experimented with it and the results are not consistent enough for me to trust it with anything I need an answer to.
@@CitySteadingBrews hm ok. Maybe it needs a few more updates
Just use an "alcohol dilution calculator". I like the one on Omni Calculator but if you google that phrase you will get several dozen to choose from.