Make Better Mead at Home by Preventing Common Problems.
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- Опубліковано 20 лис 2021
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In this video, we will discuss the challenges with fermenting a honey mead and what you can do to prevent problems with your fermentation. Mead is similar to wine except the source of sugar is honey rather than fruit. Fermenting honey has some challenges that fruits do not have. Honey has very little natural pH buffers, causing wild swings in acidity or pH. Honey is also very low in nitrogen which can cause problems for the yeast. Which yeast should you use to ferment mead? In this batch, I am using Lalvin Sensy which is a low H2S yeast and is generally used for white wines. This mead will be used in a Pyment which is a blend of grape based wine and honey based mead. The wine that I will be using for the Pyment is a Traminette. Traminette is a white hybrid grape that is often grown in the North East United States. A parent grape of Traminette is Gewurztraminer. - Наука та технологія
On the hot fermentation side kveik strain yeasts are really good at expressing honey characters and really good supporting esters. When using nutrients for meads front loading works well for 8-10% abv and under. Once you go over the 10% potential abv (8% on some styles) you will want to spread it out over the first week up to the 1/3 sugar break. That will help prevent stalls and keep a healthy fermentation.
Thanks, man. It is good to hear from the mead community. I have dozens of wine books and can find whatever I am looking for in a pinch, but I find technical info about meads a lot more elusive. Keep up the good work on your channel.
I've also found that degassing and stirring up the sediment a few times over the first few days helps.
I just found this video and it has been very helpful along with the comments. I am relatively new to wine and mead making. Can someone elaborate on the phrase "1/3 sugar break" as to what that means and how to make that determination? Thank you.
@dhudach 1/3 sugar break is where a third of the sugars have been converted. So if your starting gravity was 1.100 the 1/3 sugar break would be 1.066
@@texaslonghousemead1327 Thank you. After thinking about this for a day or two, I realized exactly what you wrote - take a specific gravity reading. Maybe these comments can help someone else! Thanks again for explaining!
I've been making mead for a few years and beers for many years. I use honey water yeast and raisins and that's it.
Great video. I have been watching your channel and making wine for a few years now. My son got me into making mead recently. The info on the PH was very helpful.
Side note, I recently pressed about 80 lbs of Malbec and thought instead of throwing those skins in the compost bin I would experiment.
I tossed the pressed skins back into my fermentation barrel added 9 lbs of honey with three gallons of water, the same yeast I used for the Malbec and off she went fermenting again.
As of now it is tasting good. I will back sweeten soon.
Sort of a Pyment
Fun to see this! Mead is the main thing I make and I wanted to share some thoughts.
First, thanks for covering basic nitrogen needs; it’s the most common trouble point for starters. Fermaid K was a good addition to because DAP on its own with only get you to about a 9% ABV mead. That said, DAP has another nice use. If your initial pH is too acidic, I would add DAP before other pH buffers since it will increase pH
The only major addition I’d include here is water considerations. Mead generally does not require water chemistry attention like beer does (since so much of it is focused on chemistry for the mash), but good crisp tasting water is paramount in mead. Hard water will always make an inferior drink. Distilled water is fine but a few minerals present often does the yeast some good too.
Finally, raisins do not provide sufficient YAN for mead despite what centuries of recipes speculated.
John sliding in for the win 😎
@@texaslonghousemead1327 yoooo! Good to see you here!
Thanks for the info, John! And that is an interesting point on DAP and the effect on the pH. Wine is so buffered that you don't really see any notable movement on pH but with honey being a less buffered solution, even mild acids can move the needle. I didn't measure pH before and after the DAP addition, but on a future Mead I will keep an eye on it and see how much it moves. I'd expect the change to be relatively small but I could be wrong.
@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel I think you’re spot on with everything here. All that said, I’ve never had an issue with pH in mead really, especially traditional mead. Maybe some kinds of melomel could present an acid issue? Not sure.
At any rate, I’m really looking forward to seeing the completion of this project since you’ll be blending a mead and wine to make the pyment, which is definitely less commonly done in the online mead community than adding honey to a grape must
I have been step feeding dap to my 5 gallon batch. A teaspoon helped, so the next day I gave it another. Its on day 25, it really liked it.
Good bit of info from John there on pH and DAP. I have been making meads for about 7 years and I use staggered nutrient additions of Fermaid K/DAP at 1g/2g per gallon total broken up into 4 parts, but I have recently read that it is a good idea to not feed dry yeast any DAP for the first 24 hrs. (Fermaid does have DAP in it) so I'm starting to use DAP free nutrients for the first staggered addition. This has worked quite well for me and my pH usually ends about 3.3-3.4 on my straight meads. I have yet to try a pyment. Cheerz.
I have a lot of experience with mead and now I never have a stalled fermentation. I use DAP and Fermaid K up front and add a little Fermaid O at the 1/3 sugar break. You hit the nail on the head in regard to pH. With mead pH is key. I bought a reliable pH analyzer and its made a huge difference. I started a traditional a week ago using meadowfoam honey and Cotes de blanc as my yeast. On the second day of fermentation, my pH had dropped to 2.93.
Thanks for the insights. I am approaching these meads from a wine mindset but it is good to hear someone who is more specialized in meads. I think there is a lot more technical literature out there for wine but not a whole lot for Mead. You really need to dig since there aren't many, if any universities studying the topic.
@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel Thank you. I love your channel and view it all the time. I was excited to see your post about mead. You are right in that there is not a lot of literature out there. Most of my knowledge has come from experience and from the forums I am part of that allows me to absorb info from the experiences of other people. Keep up the good work.
I’m having fun with Kveik yeasts. They throw off some fun flavors when fermented hot (85-100F). Mango, cantaloupe, citrus, kiwi, etc.
But it’s hungry! You need about double the normal amount of nutrient.
Cool, I just started a traditional with D47 this weekend and have a 1 gallon starter going with Wyeast 1388 that I'll be pitching into another batch early this week. Looking forward to watching the progress on your pyment.
Wondering how the process may differ fermenting the grape juice and honey together vs doing it separately and blending the finished products.
The process will be very similar but I would have less control over the end product. I am assuming I will blend about 1:1 wine to Mead, but I may find that a different ratio is ideal. If blending later I can fine tune the blend by taste. It is still worth letting it get some age after blending though so that any chemical interactions can happen. Normally more complexity of chemical structures is a good thing and gives harsh low molecular weight components something to bind with, like another tannin or polyphenol. Once bound, the longer molecular chain has less surface area and is less aggressive and more silky (viscous on a micro scale).
@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel Very interesting, thanks. I started out with basic ciders and things but have recently moved to meads as honey is something I can easily purchase while juice from wine grapes is harder to come by. Currently have a simple cyser coming up on 1 yr bulk aging and would love to try a bochet next. Pyment is certainly on my list and I may have to reach out to some local vineyards and see if any will sell me the un-fermented juice so I can make some wine and give it a go. How did you select the wine you wanted to blend with the mead? Are whites what is traditionally seen in pyments or would a bold, tannic red wine be an equally good choice?
Great video and really useful information! Would you happen to have a link to where you bought that fermenter jar? I picked one up at a thrift store, but it didn’t come with the lid and nothing fits it.
I would get something with a gasket sealing lid and airlock if you are going to be making it regularly. The types of jars like seen in this video are better for anaerobic fermentation like kombucha. Best way I have found so far is to first ferment over two buckets. i.e 2 Gallon Bucket, rack into 1 gallon jar.
Sir in how many days decane the wine primery to secondary fermentation
What is the ideal pH for fermenting Mead? Does it depend on the yeast strain?
Great video, but I have a question. I would have thought that lab cultured yeast nutrients would have significant amounts of organic nitrogen. What is the benefit of adding DAP? I stopped using DAP some years ago and use a Wyeast nutrient, and have never had a problem with stalled fermentation with my mead.
Your fancy nutrients like fermaid K have a little DAP along with yeast hulls and amino acids that yeast need. It is like DAP with a multivitamin. If fixing a severe nitrogen deficiency, DAP the first step. The general Scott Labs protocol is to get your YAN up to 150, with DAP, then add fermaid K from there. Normally grapes have a YAN in the 100-200ppm range right off the vineyard so you can skip the DAP and add the fermaid K as more of a supplement than a basic need. DAP is always good to keep on hand though. If you smell any hydrogen sulfide it will sort it out quickly.
My last grape fermentation turned into a yellowish liquid, tasted like wine,aroma like wine,,,,,I used regular table light colored grapes,there are no wine grapes in my region,,,can you explain the unexpected color of my wine ferment,,,,,by the way I used champagne yeast,,,,,if that makes a difference,,,,,,,thanks
Awesome
I'm very new to wine making and I have a big glass jar with a spigot like you show here in this video. Will the gases escape while fermenting with that heavy glass lid? Thank you!
Yes, it is not a problem.
@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel Thank you so much.
Love you though bro
how can i add nitrógen naturally
I have a question regarding residual sugar. If you are leaving it with 5% residual sugar, over time won't it start fermenting again?
I will need to stabilize the mead to prevent re-fermentation. Basically I will let the yeast settle out until it is crystal clear at a temp of about 35F (basement fridge). From there I will add potassium metabisulfite to prevent oxidation and potassium sorbate (sorbic acid) which will prevent any rogue yeast cells from multiplying and establishing a fermentable colony again.
@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel Agreed. You should also stress the point that when cold stabilizing with residual sugar, it knocks out the creme of tartar from solution, and helps with the fruity notes and overall presentation. Once you go cold, you risk re starting fermentation/carbonation back at room temp if you don't add sorbate.
Keep up the great videos!!
Very interesting video, Mead is on my to do list, Have you ever heard of using Fresh maple syrup to make a wine? I've wondered about blending with honey.
Thanks. I have, but have not heard of people having great results. Maple syrup mostly sucrose (same as table sugar), some of which is caramelized. Beyond that it is mostly water with a little maple flavor and smoke taint (in a good way), and has really no acids to speak of. The consensus is that it just tastes like alcohol if fermented. You could back sweeten with it. It might be interesting in something like a blueberry wine or a more "breakfast friendly" fruit. My concerns would still be that the acids in the fruits would break down some of the tastes and you would lose that maple syrup taste over time. I'd treat it a lot like a Mead if I did it. You would be fighting to create mouth feel so things like opti white and aging tannins would be your friend.
I've used maple water (the sap before it's boiled with a splash of milk to make syrup) as a water alternative in my must. It was not as palatable as it sounds. I got the idea from a friend who brews beer and he made a maple IPA from it.
As a mead, the maple water was not very compatible with the honey. I attempted a few different batches, using EC-1118, lalvin k1-v1116, and also red star champagne yeasts. The champagne yeast worked best with the maple water, the k1-v1116 was best when making a fruit- forward mead like peach or other stone fruit and the EC 1118 was a general work horse. I think the high alcohol tolerance and fruit notes in the v1116 is best with mead, and stay away from maple water if you want a product that people are going to want to drink (and you're able to show off). Remember that honey is a more complex sugar and thus lazier. Most meads will take about 4-6 months to really finish out well. The wait is worth it if you enjoy a hardy wine or fruity beer. It's yielded around 16-19%ABV every time for me. (I make about 10 gal/yr)
That actually has a name! If you are blending honey and maple syrup as the fermentable sugars, the resulting product is called an Acerglyn :)
Honey and maple syrup is amazing. As a bit of advice on that if you are going to make it use QA23 yeast as it will help retain a lot of the maple flavor. QA23 helps retain and break free bound terpens (found in most wood products like maple syrup) and Maple syrup has around 300 types of terpens. I just finished a bochet acerglyn video (caramelized honey and maple syrup) that I aged on two different oaks (American and Hungarian) and a side half gallon of it I added cacao nibs.
I have an acerglyn brewing -- just note that Maple - Sugar = Wood flavor, I back sweetened pretty significantly after stabilizing. I don't think this would work well as a dry mead.
Did you say 1:3 ratio of honey to water? That’s 5.33 lbs of honey to a gallon of water which comes out to a SG of 1.192. Any mead maker is gonna have trouble fermenting that. Your brew will stall and the yeast will be stressed
i think he said honey is about 1/3 water content. the rest is fructose and glucose.
Would you please answer my question. Thanks again.
Cool
D-47 lavin works amazingly for mead.
Like in eternals movie
Difficult to ferment…? Mead is easy to ferment.
I get some really good info from you but this video was like one of my high school science classes, I almost went to sleep.....