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Posted: 8/4/2016 9:21:48 AM EDT
This is a one gallon batch.
I used 3 lbs honey 1 lb fresh cherries The juice of 2lbs fresh cherries 1 cup orange juice 1tsp acid blend 1tsp yeast nutrient 1/3 tsp wine tannin 1 packet of Lalvin Dried Wine Yeast EC #1118 
This will be a thread about making a melomel. I will update with pics etc. This will be racked multiple times and probably not bottled for a year. |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 9:37:35 AM EDT
[#1]
EC-1118? You must like 'em bone dry!
I like to leave them somewhat sweet. Lalvin's D-47 works pretty well for that purpose with meads. Try D-47 with Tupelo honey and no adjuncts. Be ready for a long fermentation period, though! Never tried cherries as an adjunct. Do let is know how it turns out, please! :) |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 9:41:24 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
EC-1118? You must like 'em bone dry! I like to leave them somewhat sweet. Lalvin's D-47 works pretty well for that purpose with meads. Try D-47 with Tupelo honey and no adjuncts. Be ready for a long fermentation period, though! Never tried cherries as an adjunct. Do let is know how it turns out, please! :) I sure will. It's an experiment. I plan on re-racking about once a month for 6 months, then bottling, then waiting for another 6 months to drink. I'm not an expert on yeasts. I thought about using ICV K1V-1116 Wine Yeast but decided on the 118. Are you willing/able to explain the differences to me? |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 10:01:55 AM EDT
[#3]
The first pic was from yesterday. This pic was just taken. I have good fermentation happening.
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Posted: 8/4/2016 10:27:38 AM EDT
[#4]
Disclaimer: I haven't used 1116, but here'a a quick overview, some of which you may already know.
Yeast eats sugar, farts CO2, and pisses ethanol. Alcohol, being a byproduct of yeast's own metabolism, is toxic to yeast. Some strains of yeast are able to survive in a higher concentration of alcohol than others. 1118, Pasteur Champagne, etc, are *very* resistant to alcohol attenuation, and can keep fermentation going up to 20+% alcohol before the colony dies off. 1116 is also a dry wine yeast, so presuamably, it too will try and make your mead more potent, less sweet, because as a dry wine yeast, it, too will have a fair resistance to it's own byproducts. The fun thing about mead, is that you can use ale and lager yeasts, too. The wee beasties ain't all that picky, and each strain has it's own character. Here's a quick rundown of some yeast strains and their alcohol toxicity attenuation numbers. The quicker the yeast dies off, fermentation stops and you're left with more sugars in the mead, resulting in a sweeter taste. 1118 18+% 1116, 18% D-47, 14% T-58, 11.5% US--05, lower attenuation than the above, but can't find a number right now. NOTE: I've also seen cheater babies that sweeten more after the yeast has died off. I think that's how they make Nyquil. ;) |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 12:29:13 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Disclaimer: I haven't used 1116, but here'a a quick overview, some of which you may already know. Yeast eats sugar, farts CO2, and pisses ethanol. Alcohol, being a byproduct of yeast's own metabolism, is toxic to yeast. Some strains of yeast are able to survive in a higher concentration of alcohol than others. 1118, Pasteur Champagne, etc, are *very* resistant to alcohol attenuation, and can keep fermentation going up to 20+% alcohol before the colony dies off. 1116 is also a dry wine yeast, so presuamably, it too will try and make your mead more potent, less sweet, because as a dry wine yeast, it, too will have a fair resistance to it's own byproducts. The fun thing about mead, is that you can use ale and lager yeasts, too. The wee beasties ain't all that picky, and each strain has it's own character. Here's a quick rundown of some yeast strains and their alcohol toxicity attenuation numbers. The quicker the yeast dies off, fermentation stops and you're left with more sugars in the mead, resulting in a sweeter taste. 1118 18+% 1116, 18% D-47, 14% T-58, 11.5% US--05, lower attenuation than the above, but can't find a number right now. NOTE: I've also seen cheater babies that sweeten more after the yeast has died off. I think that's how they make Nyquil. ;) Thanks! |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 8:10:06 PM EDT
[#6]
I'll be using staggered nutrient additions with the next mead I make, which will probably also be a cherry melomel. It's supposed to make them drinkable much faster.
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Posted: 8/4/2016 10:40:18 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'll be using staggered nutrient additions with the next mead I make, which will probably also be a cherry melomel. It's supposed to make them drinkable much faster. Care to share how and when you will stagger? The one i'm making calls for racking once a month for 6 months, then bottling. Seems like a long time to me... |
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Posted: 8/4/2016 11:05:17 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Care to share how and when you will stagger? The one i'm making calls for racking once a month for 6 months, then bottling. Seems like a long time to me... Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I'll be using staggered nutrient additions with the next mead I make, which will probably also be a cherry melomel. It's supposed to make them drinkable much faster. Care to share how and when you will stagger? The one i'm making calls for racking once a month for 6 months, then bottling. Seems like a long time to me... Staggering, IMO, is a good thing. Yeast do not like shock, whether that be temperature, osmotic, physical, or nutritional. Our understanding of yeast physiology and the impact of nutrients and their timing is getting better every day. There's a philosophy out there that adding you total nutrient addition over a longer time period reduces the "sugar crash" that yeast can experience when nutrients are added all at once. Think about it like this: how does our own metabolism work best? With one huge meal a day, or with 5 smaller meals staged throughout our day? The answer is 5 smaller meals. Apply that to your nutrient regime. Now, there's a couple of caveats, that may or may not apply. In a production environment, it would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming to add nutrients 5 times during a fermentation... hence the development of time delay nutrients. Secondly, once the alcohol reaches about 10%, nutrient adds are mostly ineffective. The yeast cell is limiting the transport of material across the cell membrane, and alcohol is becoming toxic at this point. So any nutrients you add towards the end of fermentation will most likely not be used by the yeast and will be left for other potential spoilage organisms to use. |
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Posted: 8/8/2016 2:54:50 PM EDT
[#9]
Thank you all for the information/comments. I'll update as it progresses.
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Posted: 8/10/2016 11:07:21 AM EDT
[#10]
My batch was "cooking' furiously at first with bubbles coming through the airlock about once every second. Now it's down to 11 seconds between bubbles. It has been 7 days exactly. I'm thinking when it gets down to 30 seconds or so between bubbles I'll rack it. Thoughts?
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Posted: 8/10/2016 12:27:50 PM EDT
[#11]
At least a minute unless you want it sparkling!
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Posted: 8/10/2016 12:40:38 PM EDT
[#12]
In for the learning.....
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Posted: 8/10/2016 6:20:26 PM EDT
[#13]
I just checked my copy of The Compleat Meadmaker. Wait 3-4 weeks to rack. It should be at or close to final gravity.
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Posted: 8/10/2016 7:20:33 PM EDT
[#14]
Thanks!
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Posted: 8/10/2016 7:43:49 PM EDT
[#15]
Just for the record, the times I made mead or melomel I really liked my results using White Labs Trappist Monk ale yeast
This yeast functions well in a high specific gravity, which is part of the problem when you're trying to get a mead started. I really enjoyed the full flavor of the finished product as well. |
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Posted: 8/11/2016 10:15:44 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Just for the record, the times I made mead or melomel I really liked my results using White Labs Trappist Monk ale yeast This yeast functions well in a high specific gravity, which is part of the problem when you're trying to get a mead started. I really enjoyed the full flavor of the finished product as well. Thanks 
My bubbles slow down by 3 seconds each day now. It doesn't concern me, just posting what I discovered. |
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Posted: 8/12/2016 7:35:23 AM EDT
[#17]
Patience
What's your sg? |
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Posted: 8/12/2016 7:46:25 AM EDT
[#18]
Tag
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Posted: 8/12/2016 1:42:54 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Patience What's your sg? I am patient, as I said, I was just pointing it out. I have no idea what my SG is. The device is waiting on me to get home. |
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Posted: 8/19/2016 5:46:54 PM EDT
[#20]
1 week after first racking.
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Posted: 8/19/2016 10:40:12 PM EDT
[#21]
Nice color!
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Posted: 8/20/2016 1:44:06 AM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Nice color! Thank you sir! |
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Posted: 9/11/2016 1:09:38 PM EDT
[#23]
A few days after the second racking on the cherry. When I racked this for the second time I kept about a shot and a half back for tasting. It is delicious.
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Posted: 9/11/2016 3:10:43 PM EDT
[#24]
Looking good! What's your bubble rate at this point?
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Posted: 9/11/2016 3:17:40 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Looking good! What's your bubble rate at this point? Too long to wait around and count. It is very very slow. At this point it's just aging, or very slowly fermenting. |
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Posted: 9/11/2016 9:47:35 PM EDT
[#26]
As a mazer myself, I'm interested in more details.
What type of honey? Just common clover? What type of cherries, sweet or tart? Did you juice the cherries yourself or buy cherry juice? Did you sanitize the fresh cherries in any way? What type of OJ? Pulp or no pulp? Did you take any specific gravity measurements? I have a feeling this will be high ABV, dry mead. 3 lbs of honey in addition to the cherries and using 1118 should push you north of 10-12% I would think. ETA: You say you won't bottle for a year. I would recommend aging longer if you can. My first batch of orange blossom honey show mead I bottled at the 1 year mark and it was a little rough on the alcohol notes. I let the bottles sit for another solid 6 months and they were better. By the 1 year mark in the bottles (2 years since pitching yeast) they were really starting to become good. It is now 2.75 years since pitching yeast and they continue to improve. The bottle I had last weekend was pretty fantastic. Age makes it all better. I also made 20 gallons in that batch, so I have a few more bottles to go around 
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Posted: 9/11/2016 10:28:15 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
As a mazer myself, I'm interested in more details. What type of honey? Just common clover? What type of cherries, sweet or tart? Did you juice the cherries yourself or buy cherry juice? Did you sanitize the fresh cherries in any way? What type of OJ? Pulp or no pulp? Did you take any specific gravity measurements? I have a feeling this will be high ABV, dry mead. 3 lbs of honey in addition to the cherries and using 1118 should push you north of 10-12% I would think. ETA: You say you won't bottle for a year. I would recommend aging longer if you can. My first batch of orange blossom honey show mead I bottled at the 1 year mark and it was a little rough on the alcohol notes. I let the bottles sit for another solid 6 months and they were better. By the 1 year mark in the bottles (2 years since pitching yeast) they were really starting to become good. It is now 2.75 years since pitching yeast and they continue to improve. The bottle I had last weekend was pretty fantastic. Age makes it all better. I also made 20 gallons in that batch, so I have a few more bottles to go around Texas wildflower honey, raw, unpasteurized. Dark red fresh cherries I bought at the market (specific type not listed) I pitted the cherries and froze them overnight, when thawed they oozed juice. I put all the cherries and juice in the must I did not sanitize other than to wash and freeze them I just bought a small bottle of OJ with no pulp, don't remember the brand but made sure it was actual OJ i did not get any gravity readings. You are right about it being dry but is has very strong cherry notes. I am thrilled at the taste at this point. I am going to keep racking once a month for a total of 6 months and the leave it for 6 months. I'll probably get a little taste here and there along the way. i I find it to be excellent at some point I'll stop and bottle it. I am hoping for at least 12% ABV and more. ETA: My batch calculator says potential ABV is 16.34 |
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Posted: 9/12/2016 8:01:07 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I am hoping for at least 12% ABV and more. ETA: My batch calculator says potential ABV is 16.34 I would guess that 16% isn't out of the question. My batch with 1118 with 15 lbs honey in 5 gallons yielded 14.7%. |
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Posted: 9/12/2016 2:05:17 PM EDT
[#29]
SG today = 0.995
Batch calculator says it should be 15.77% ABV. Now to let it age
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Posted: 11/7/2016 2:28:47 AM EDT
[#30]
After racking once a month for 3 months I had a very big space in the bottle. I back added the juice of another 1 lb cherries and 1/2 cup of honey.
This an awesome mead. I will probably bottle in December. |
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Posted: 3/30/2018 12:28:11 AM EDT
[#31]
So how'd it come out? If you bottled in December of '16 and aged for a year you should have drank a few bottles by now.
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Posted: 3/30/2018 1:19:41 PM EDT
[#32]
What do temperature do you mead at ?
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Posted: 3/30/2018 2:37:59 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
What do temperature do you mead at ? |
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Posted: 4/16/2018 12:23:57 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
What do temperature do you mead at ? |
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Posted: 4/16/2018 12:53:15 PM EDT
[#35]
Alas for @buckshot_jim.
He made a brew so potent that he never recovered from drinking it! 
I'm really interested in hearing how it came out, should you ever recover.
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Posted: 4/16/2018 4:17:56 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Alas for @buckshot_jim. He made a brew so potent that he never recovered from drinking it!
I'm really interested in hearing how it came out, should you ever recover. |
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Posted: 4/16/2018 11:03:26 PM EDT
[#37]
Excellent!
I look forward to your next brew thread. I'm starting to get the urge to replace my old brewing gear and start making fruit wine and melomel again. |
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Posted: 10/3/2018 12:58:12 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Excellent! I look forward to your next brew thread. I'm starting to get the urge to replace my old brewing gear and start making fruit wine and melomel again. I just opened a bottle of this. It is absolutely wonderful, if a bit strong. The alcohol content is high but there is no harshness and the finish is excellent. I am happy. |
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Posted: 10/3/2018 1:01:32 PM EDT
[#39]
Excellent!
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