22 replies to this topic

[strangebrewer]

Here is the recipe:Primary Fermenter ingredients5# Light DME.5# Crystal Malt 120 °L.5# Belgian Special 'B' malt10# Honey2 5G packets of 71B-1122 yeastSecondary ingredients5# blueberries1.5 tsp Pectic EnzymeYeast Rehydration and SNA ingredientsFermaid- KDiammonium Phosphate (DAP)Go-fermOther additions1/8 tsp Potassium Metabisulfate (KMETA)2 5g packets Champagne yeast (Optional for bottle carbing if desired)Estimated OG: 1.110. Target FG: 1.005 ± .005PROCESSDay 1Place 2 gallons of water into a large pot (~12qt) and heat to 170°F. While the water is heating crush the grains, place in a grain bag, and tie off the end.Once at 170°F remove pot from the heat, remove all but 2 quarts of water, and steep the grains in the 2 quarts of water for 30 min covered. After 30 min remove the grain bag and rinse it with the 6 quarts of water you removed in the previous step and allow the bag to drain into a bowl. You should end up with 7 quarts of sweet wort. Add this to a sanitized 6.5 gallon primary and cover.Add 2 gallons of water to the large pot and heat to 110°F. Slowly add the DME while stirring to ensure the DME dissolves completely. Once dissolved pour half of this mixture into the primary fermenter containing the sweet wort. To the remaining gallon in the pot add the honey and stir to completely dissolve. Once dissolved add the mixture to the primary fermenter and add .5 gallon of water. The total must volume should be close to 5.5 gallons. Mix very well, cover, measure the must SG, and seal under an air lock.When the must temp is ~85°F, rehydrate the 71B yeast using Go-Ferm. For detailed steps please see Hightest's yeast rehydration FAQ.once the primary temp falls to ~75-80°F then oxygenate the must for 3 minutes with pure oxygen, add the rehydrated yeast and 4.5g Fermaid-K and 4.5g DAP. If pure oxygen is not available then a standard oxygenation stone will work. Put it under an airlock and wait for active fermentation to begin. Once active fermentation begins add another 2.8g of Fermaid-K and 2.8g of DAP. For a detailed explanation of the nutrient additions please see Hightest’s Staggered Nutrient Addition FAQWeek 1Monitor the fermentation in the coming days and when the fermentation reaches 1.054 make the final nutrient addition of 1.8g Fermaid-K and 1.8g DAP.Continue to monitor the fermentation until it reaches ~1.025 then move to the fruit addition/rack to secondaryFruit addition/Rack to Secondary24-36 Hours before racking to secondary place 1 quart of water into a large pot and heat to 150°F. Turn off the heat and add the frozen blueberries, cover, and mix well. When thawed, mash the berries, and add the pectic enzyme to the fruit. Place the berry slurry into a 6 gallon fermenter. After an hour add the KMETA and swirl the berries to mix. Wait 24 hours and then rack the fermenting honey mixture on top. After 10-14 days on the fruit, rack the mead to another 6 gallon carboy leaving the fruit behind. After 30 days rack the mead to a clean carboy.Monitor SG by hydrometer every 2 weeks for the next 30-60 days. After the fermentation is complete, age for another 3-6 months racking at 30-60 day intervals as needed based on thrown lees.

[wengared]

1.028 last night

A drop of 78 pts in less then 48 hours? WOW

[wengared]

Actually, because I pitched on 5/27 at 10pm and last checked on 5/31 at 12:30am, that is 74.5 hours. With a drop of 1.106 to 1.028 being 78 points, it is a little more than 1 point per hour.

I am going to try and get mine started this afternoon. and i was going by the dates on your posts.

[wengared]

i've got mine in the primary cooling, i'll do the yeast later this evening, this process was actually very simple, thank you august45 on the electric deepfryer idea,and thank you strangebrewer for clarifying the instuctions. (sorry hightest, my brain couldn't transfer yours) anyhow it's still 110 degree with 1100 o.g..

[wengared]

06/01/09 2200 hours, pitched the yeast, o.g 1.112 corrected for temperture, got nervous so i put blowoff tube on it just in case.

[wengared]

06/01/09 2200 hours, pitched the yeast, o.g 1.112 corrected for temperture, got nervous so i put blowoff tube on it just in case.

06/03/09 0700, (33 hrs later) 1.050 feeding time.

[wengared]

06/03/09 0700, (33 hrs later) 1.050 feeding time.

06/04/09 0700, 1.032, getting my blueberries prepped in anticipation of being at 1.020 by tomorrow morning.I can't find the equivilent amount of campden tablets for 1/8 tsp. of k-meta, i'm guessing one tablet will do it. anybody have an answer for this?

[strangebrewer]

06/04/09 0700, 1.032, getting my blueberries prepped in anticipation of being at 1.020 by tomorrow morning.I can't find the equivilent amount of campden tablets for 1/8 tsp. of k-meta, i'm guessing one tablet will do it. anybody have an answer for this?

1 Campden tablet will yield ~75 ppm SO2 to 1 gallon of must. 1/8 tsp of KMETA will yield ~112.5 ppm SO2 to 1 gallon of must. So really what you want is 1.5 Campden tablets to get the equivalent.

[wengared]

1 Campden tablet will yield ~75 ppm SO2 to 1 gallon of must. 1/8 tsp of KMETA will yield ~112.5 ppm SO2 to 1 gallon of must. So really what you want is 1.5 Campden tablets to get the equivalent.

I had to wait til my LHBS opened up, their catalog states their campden tablets as you said 75 ppm, but the package says 30 ppm per tablet per gallon, they said the manufacturer changes it so go by the package, which will be 4 tablets roughly. can it be hurt by overdoseing it?

[strangebrewer]

I had to wait til my LHBS opened up, their catalog states their campden tablets as you said 75 ppm, but the package says 30 ppm per tablet per gallon, they said the manufacturer changes it so go by the package, which will be 4 tablets roughly. can it be hurt by overdoseing it?

I too would say go by the package. After doing a quick search of retailers there appear to be ones that add 30, 50, and 75 ppm out there. What a pain! Either way I'd go by the package and add the amount that is appropriate. As far as overdosing goes until you start to reach the 100 ppm range it is undetectable to all but the most sensitive of noses. I don't think it would have any adverse effect on the braggot otherwise if you were to overdose but perhaps Hightest can chime in on that as he has done more empirical experimentation than myself in that department.

[wengared]

I too would say go by the package. After doing a quick search of retailers there appear to be ones that add 30, 50, and 75 ppm out there. What a pain! Either way I'd go by the package and add the amount that is appropriate. As far as overdosing goes until you start to reach the 100 ppm range it is undetectable to all but the most sensitive of noses. I don't think it would have any adverse effect on the braggot otherwise if you were to overdose but perhaps Hightest can chime in on that as he has done more empirical experimentation than myself in that department.

thanks for the help again.

[wengared]

06/05/09 1.029, close enough, went ahead and racked it over to the blueberry slurry, reset the airlock and it's bubbling away like it knows what it's doing, the flavor before the bluberries is very good, i think this might be an annual repeat recipe. who's all doing this ?

[wengared]

06/19/09 Racked off the blueberries, 1.028, ph4.6, holding it at 68 degrees.

[wengared]

08/05/09 still at 1.028, stirred vigerously to try and get fermentation going again, ph is now at 3.4, temp at 68-70 degree. is my ph in acceptable range for a braggot?

[Hightest]

The last time I made this recipe was in Nov 2003. From my notes, I can offer the following:1) 11/15/03: OG 1.1.07, pH 4.602) During the first 24 hrs of fermentation the SG dropped to 1.072, pH 3.683) 11/17/03: SG 1.026, pH 3.574) 11/18/03: Racked onto fruit (mixture SG 1.024)5) 12/30/03: SG 1.020, pH 3.57 - Adding acclimated Champagne yeast starter6) 7/06/04: SG 1.014. pH 3.41 - racked7) 9/15/04: Bottled

[Hightest]

Tried mine at the GABF homebrew tasting. I think it was ####ing amazing - well done recipe, HT.

Good to know it was enjoyed. It took 3 generations to get to this recipe version...

[JimSar]

Hi, first time post here.I made a batch on 12/4/09, SG 1.113, PH 4.4. Fermentation temperature ranges from low to mid 60s F. Racked onto fruit on 12/8/09. By the 14th, SG was 1.022. Racked off fruit on 12/18/09 after 10 days in fruit, SG still at 1.022. Today, 1/18/10, SG remains at 1.022, PH 3.8. Tastes sweet, no complexity, but very pleasant. I want it to finish a bit dryer; any suggestions? Should I do secondary fermentation, and if so, what yeast to use?Thanks.Jim

[strangebrewer]

Hi, first time post here.I made a batch on 12/4/09, SG 1.113, PH 4.4. Fermentation temperature ranges from low to mid 60s F. Racked onto fruit on 12/8/09. By the 14th, SG was 1.022. Racked off fruit on 12/18/09 after 10 days in fruit, SG still at 1.022. Today, 1/18/10, SG remains at 1.022, PH 3.8. Tastes sweet, no complexity, but very pleasant. I want it to finish a bit dryer; any suggestions? Should I do secondary fermentation, and if so, what yeast to use?Thanks.Jim

First off welcome aboard! Always good to have more mead makers.I'd treat this case just like a stuck ferment. Here's the FAQ I'd follow to try and eek a couple more points out. I've restarted a ferment doing exactly this with good success but do realize it's a SLOW process. If you can drop 10 points in 30 days I'd be happy. Good luck!

[JimSar]

Thanks for the suggestion. Since it will be a couple of days, at least, before I can get my hands on some EC-1118, I started the awakening by increasing the must temperature to 70F using a Fermwrap heater with Ranco controller. 71-B has a fermentation temperature range of 59F to 86F, so I arbitrarily picked 70F to be on the conservative side. I had the controller set at 65F during primary, by the way. Took out the heater during secondary because it went to work on another batch, so this one has been fluctuating with uninhabited room temperature, low to mid 60s. I'll add 5 grams of yeast hulls later tonight. Comments / suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I'll take SG and PH readings before pitching the champagne yeast starter and will post them here.

[Wayne B]

If you're planning on following Hightest's re-start protocol, then you are going to have the best chance of getting it restarted. I don't have any further comments to add other than if it hasn't moved off of 1.022 on its own, you're already at over 12% ABV, so re-starting is going to be a challenge, even if you follow Hightest's plan to the letter.If all else fails, you can always make a fully dry batch and then blend the two later. But also keep in mind that many of the more complex aromas and flavors go into a kind of hibernation period immediately after primary fermentation, and they don't show back up until after months of aging. You may get something more interesting out of this batch even if you do nothing else to it - worth waiting to see.