Depends on the amount of yeast slurry you use, but somewhere around a week.
Mead brewing!
- Thread starter Ponycarman
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- #22
A week in and both gallons are still fermenting. The cyser is noticeably slower though. Being a lower starting gravity that would make sense. The traditional is still bubbling strong.
Also I came up with a plan to use up the remaining cider juice. Kinda a Frankenmead. Not really sure what I would call it. 2lb of honey, 1.5lb of blueberries, the remaining cider, then topped up with water. Its starting gravity is around 1.096. Looks awesome too! The color is awesome!
Also I came up with a plan to use up the remaining cider juice. Kinda a Frankenmead. Not really sure what I would call it. 2lb of honey, 1.5lb of blueberries, the remaining cider, then topped up with water. Its starting gravity is around 1.096. Looks awesome too! The color is awesome!
Definitely nice color and it should clear out some more. Not sure if you did so in the boil, but I think skimming coagulated protein off during the start of the boil can lead to more clarity in the finished product. Some debate on how impactful that is. Edit: And I also should add there is considerations on boiling and duration for meads, versus say beer.
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- #24
I haven't done any boiling as of yet. Just shaking to mix everything thoroughly. The berries were frozen and after thawing I mashed em up a bit with a potato masher haha. Figured breaking it up a bit would be a good idea and might keep the fruit from taking up so much space in the jar haha.
Boiling has some pros and cons but I generally say more pros. For fruit or similar items I would tend to use some type of cheesecloth or strainer to contain particles etc. But it's not going to hurt anything and it will settle out given enough time ( it can take a long time). Also, I think blueberry meads can be great.
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- #26
I'll have to give it a try sometime in the future. So much to learn and try out haha.
What yeast did you use? I've got a couple carboys, air locks and hydrometer coming next week for mead. I've got a couple jugs of wine going right now, one apple the other is cran-apple. Trying to get the cranberry nailed down for Thanksgiving.
I'm going to run mine with EC-1118 champagne yeast.
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- #29
Lalvin d47 is what I've used so far. But I look forward to experimenting with others in the future! Even bread yeast haha. Very curious as to the differences in fermentation and flavors.
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- #30
Some progress! Wednesday 9/16 I checked the sg reading and tasted a little of it. Dry stuff that smells odd but it is still off gassing and new. The reading was 1.004. So I put the airlock back on and let it sit till today. Yesterday I added some pectic enzymes to help clear the cloudiness of the original cider juice. Worked nicely and the haze was lifted considerably in a few hours.
This morning I went ahead and checked the sg reading again. It went to 0.998. Going to call primary fermentation done. I racked it into another carboy and put the airlock back on it. It is still offgassing. I did stir up a little of the crap settled at the bottom unfortunately. A smidge got transferred but should settle out. This was my first time racking a brew after all
. I think I am going to add some spices. Perhaps cinnamon, allspice, and maybe clove. To give it a somewhat holiday apply taste. I tasted it again and it was not terrible. The smell was still odd and kinda yeasty but I imagine that is from all the off gassing and newness. The flavor was of tart apple and a smidge of the flavors of the smell. According to my calculator it is at 11.81% abv. But with the addition of some backsweetening it will drop a little.
The other carboy is slowing down now but is still bubbling pretty consistently. It should have some more progress soon. The blueberry is going to take a while haha.
This morning I went ahead and checked the sg reading again. It went to 0.998. Going to call primary fermentation done. I racked it into another carboy and put the airlock back on it. It is still offgassing. I did stir up a little of the crap settled at the bottom unfortunately. A smidge got transferred but should settle out. This was my first time racking a brew after all
. I think I am going to add some spices. Perhaps cinnamon, allspice, and maybe clove. To give it a somewhat holiday apply taste. I tasted it again and it was not terrible. The smell was still odd and kinda yeasty but I imagine that is from all the off gassing and newness. The flavor was of tart apple and a smidge of the flavors of the smell. According to my calculator it is at 11.81% abv. But with the addition of some backsweetening it will drop a little. The other carboy is slowing down now but is still bubbling pretty consistently. It should have some more progress soon. The blueberry is going to take a while haha.
The apple one I'm drinking now was done with bread yeast and it's a really high alcohol content, higher then bread yeast should go in theory. I hear d47 is fantastic from brewers I know, but I was drawn to the champagne yeast because I can dry it all the way out and I'll know what it does. I want something that'll pull the flavor of blueberry, blackberry, or elderberry out in a mead and I feel like this yeast is good, got the body.. I don't know, I'm novice but i want to taste those very tannins. I can distill but that's illegal so I don't, I might try a spiced ale soon. The clarity in that last picture is insane. I want that. We are reseeding our bees next spring. We lost our last run.
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- #32
The last pic was after the racking. The nasty slime and sediment left at the bottom. It did clear up pretty well after using the enzimes though. Pretty impressive. I dropped some spices in it yesterday. A cinnamon stick, clove, and some all spice berries. Hopefully will make a nice festive drink
.Do you leave in spices all through aging or do you rack again to get them out? I'm hoping for a clear brew. I was surprised at how clear the apple wine was. No cloud at all once racked.The last pic was after the racking. The nasty slime and sediment left at the bottom. It did clear up pretty well after using the enzimes though. Pretty impressive. I dropped some spices in it yesterday. A cinnamon stick, clove, and some all spice berries. Hopefully will make a nice festive drink
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- #34
From what I've read with spices I am going to have to check it periodically as they infuse. Then once they get the proper flavor rack them off.
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- #35
More progress! Surprisingly I only left the spices in one day (in the cyser) haha. Maybe I'm spice sensitive or something. One day was all it took to smell and taste all the spices. But they don't overpower. I went ahead and pasteurized the cyser. Going to let it sit a week or so and then backsweeten and bottle.
The blueberry I racked and then re racked today. All the little bits from the blueberries were tough to remove. Then pasteurized it as well and skimmed off anything that was pushed to the surface as it degassed. It looks really good and smells good.
The more traditional one I started first is still fermenting. Slowly but it is still going. Going to let it go until it decides to finish up. Getting close!
The blueberry I racked and then re racked today. All the little bits from the blueberries were tough to remove. Then pasteurized it as well and skimmed off anything that was pushed to the surface as it degassed. It looks really good and smells good.
The more traditional one I started first is still fermenting. Slowly but it is still going. Going to let it go until it decides to finish up. Getting close!
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- #36
Went ahead and backsweetened and bottled both the cyser and blueberry mead. Unfortunately I stirred up a bit of sediment that reduced the clarity but I don't mind. Both are quite tasty already! I'm excited to see how they change with a little age.
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- #37
Got the last batch pasteurized a few days ago and some more bottles arrived for meads today. Thinking up my next batch as well.
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- #38
Bottled up the last of my "first" meads today. Let it sit a bit to clear out after pasteurizing. Thought it was still cloudy but turned out to be stuff on the outside of the carboy 
. This is my first traditional type mead as well. It is the only one of the three batches that didn't go completely dry. Didn't have to backsweeten it at all. Just racked it, tasted it, and bottled it up!
. This is my first traditional type mead as well. It is the only one of the three batches that didn't go completely dry. Didn't have to backsweeten it at all. Just racked it, tasted it, and bottled it up!- Thread starter
- #39
Mixed up two more batches today. One cran blueberry and one cranberry with the juice left from the other. This stuff is fun to put together and watch the yeast do its thing.
The Ferminator! That stuff'll vacuum up every single molecule of fermentable sugar. You'll have a relatively thin mead, but it'll put your nose in the dirt like a hot damn.
I made a batch of cyser (6 gallons) with that and Mrs. Hippie (in front of our brew club) pronounced that it was Liquid Panty Remover. Gave me a bit of a reputation. I had some bottled up in 355ml bottles for tasting, and suddenly every lady in the place had their own bottle tucked into their purse for later.I use it to kick-start a stuck ferment. The good thing is it pretty much gets outta the way and doesn't leave much yeastiness behind. You might look for something a little more estery, but not too much or you'll begin to cover up the honey notes. It's also a real shiner with a parallel fermentation making sake.
I think we'd call your blueberry batch a "metheglin." Sounds good.
I'm just on the verge of making a "Graf" with cider and amber malt. I'll use a gentle infusion of Kent Goldings and a nice ale yeast.
O.H.
