# Suggestions for adding some body to mead



## David Violante (Oct 23, 2020)

I made 5 gallons of mead back in June following a very basic recipe from an online meadery. I used 9# of raw honey to 4.5 gallons of water, and D47. It fermented to about 8.5% ABV. This was my first and I’m considering it a success. It turned out great but a little thin. When I make another I would add probably twice as much honey. I’m happy with it no doubt but wondering if there’s a way to give it some more body at this point. Oak? Vanilla? Banana? (I have a banana fosters mead stuck in my head... ), just additional time, back-sweeten with a little more honey...


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## VinesnBines (Oct 23, 2020)

I think 18# for five gallons would be your minimum. Some recipes suggest up to 5# per gallon. Your suggestions will add flavor...not sure about body. More honey will restart fermentation which is another route you might choose. I would probably make another mead using as much as 5# per gallon and try blending. Maybe you would take your five finished gallons and break it up to experiment. Say make another one gallon using 5# honey, blend that with a finished gallon of the thinner mead. Take the other four gallons and try other things you have suggested, more honey in one, vanilla bean in another, oak in a third and just age the last gallon or try your banana idea. You could also make a fruit heavy wine and blend with the thinner mead; nearly every fruit blends well with mead.


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## BernardSmith (Oct 23, 2020)

VinesnBines said:


> I think 18# for five gallons would be your minimum. Some recipes suggest up to 5# per gallon. Your suggestions will add flavor...not sure about body. More honey will restart fermentation which is another route you might choose. I would probably make another mead using as much as 5# per gallon and try blending.



Five pounds of honey per gallon? I am not sure that any yeast is capable of transporting sugar through cell walls at that concentration . That starting gravity would be 1.175 and that has (nominally) a potential ABV of 23% (or 46 proof). That ain't mead. That's a liqueur. Two to three pounds of honey per gallon is pretty standard an ABV similar to most wines (12 -14%) .

That said, five pounds often refers to the amount of fruit (for flavors) you might add to a must.. but not usually, sugar itself which is what honey essentially, is.

Mouthfeel is what it sounds like you are looking for, David, and that might be benefited by greater viscosity of the mead so that it coats the mouth rather than pours down your throat like water. More viscosity might be produced by some yeasts that produce greater amounts of glycerol - DV10 comes to mind; more sweetness (so back sweeten with honey); and more tannin - so perhaps add oak. You might add some glycerin but that will also add some more perceived sweetness so if you prefer a drier mead that may not be on the cards... There may be other techniques that I am not suggesting.


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## VinesnBines (Oct 23, 2020)

Making Mead: Tips from the Pros - Brew Your Own


Expert advice on turning honey into tasty mead.




byo.com





This article has the suggestion for up to 5# honey per gallon.


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## BernardSmith (Oct 23, 2020)

OK.. I see that but I also see that Hamilton, someone the author cites qualifies his 5 # of honey with the following...
"Use 1.5 to 5 pounds of honey per gallon, *depending on your target for residual sweetness *and alcohol content. The more honey, the more residual sweetness and the greater potential for a high, final alcohol content".{Jon Hamilton} (my emphasis).. but given that the published tolerance for alcohol of any yeast you buy is a nominal figure and that the actual tolerance can be far in excess of the published (guaranteed) tolerance then relying on residual sweetness is a crap shoot. But also - from the very same document you cite we have Gordon Hull stating "*A good beginner batch is two US gallons* of traditional semi-sweet still mead with a target alcohol content of 16% by volume. *This recipe needs two quarts (4 pounds) of amber honey."* (again, my emphasis) *- *which is 2 lbs of honey per gallon, by Hull's estimate. But finding two gallon carboys is a little bit of a challenge for that to be an unqualified "good beginner batch". One gallon carboys are ubiquitous, as are three gallon carboys..but two?


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## VinesnBines (Oct 23, 2020)

I think one gallon batches are good for trialing. I have 2 gallon buckets but not carboys. Anyway, if our OP tries a one gallon with more than 2# of honey, he/she can always add more water if the fermentation doesn't start. With five gallons the OP has a ton of possibly stuck mead.


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## David Violante (Oct 23, 2020)

I like the idea of doing another mead that is a bit more concentrated and then combining the two, and also trialing a few variations for taste. Thank you @VinesnBines for those suggestions. I also hadn’t considered combining it with some other wines. 

@BernardSmith you're right about the mouthfeel and so I would like to bench trial a few additions to see what they do overall. I was considering back-sweetening with some honey (after using potassium sorbate) and perhaps some tannin as well. I do want to see what glycerine does, as you’re right it’s a bit on the ‘thin’ side in terms of body.

I began the recipe with just about 2# of honey per gallon which brought my ABV to 8.5%. I imagine more would bring the potential ABV up but would it add the other characteristics of mouthfeel?

I better eat before doing all this bench testing...


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## BernardSmith (Oct 23, 2020)

Two pounds of honey dissolved to make 1 gallon of must should result in a mead that is closer to an ABV of 9.5 but two pounds of honey added to a gallon of water will result in more than a gallon of mead and the ABV will be lower. Do you see the difference? But that said, as a matter of technique, you might want to begin with more than a gallon so that when you rack after active fermentation has ended you have a gallon in the carboy and no headroom. But that will mean that you want to focus less on the volume and more on the starting gravity. My own preference is to aim for 1.090 (about 3 lbs of honey) and whatever volume of water that takes to achieve that gravity.


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## David Violante (Oct 23, 2020)

Ahhh... yes... that makes sense. I think for practicality and as a matter of practice, I would like to stick with using a hydrometer and measuring SG. That having been said, I just added a teaspoon of honey to 250ml of this mead and it made a huge difference. It is still a little ’watery’ to me, but I’m also a fan of big reds so.... I’m going to up the experiment to a gallon tomorrow and see how it goes. Tannin is next.


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## BernardSmith (Oct 23, 2020)

But you are absolutely measuring the gravity. The difference is that what you are aiming for is a very specific specific gravity and not the gravity that is the result of random amounts of honey and water. So... if you REALLY want to add 5 lbs of honey you might need /want to make 2 gallons of mead... Or 4.5 gallons or ?? because what you REALLY REALLY want is to begin with say, a gravity of 1.090 - OR 1.100 or whatever... but the SG you select , you select for a reason and not because you've pulled that number from a hat. That said, a gravity of around 1.090 results in a well balanced wine - where flavor and alcohol are nicely balanced and where you can relatively easily balance tannin and acidity and mouthfeel with that ABV and that richness of flavor... A mead or wine that is at 18% ABV may result in the alcohol over-powering the flavors and the sweetness and flavors ... etc


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## Aleatoric (Oct 24, 2020)

BernardSmith said:


> OK.. I see that but I also see that Hamilton, someone the author cites qualifies his 5 # of honey with the following...
> "Use 1.5 to 5 pounds of honey per gallon, *depending on your target for residual sweetness *and alcohol content. The more honey, the more residual sweetness and the greater potential for a high, final alcohol content".{Jon Hamilton} (my emphasis).. but given that the published tolerance for alcohol of any yeast you buy is a nominal figure and that the actual tolerance can be far in excess of the published (guaranteed) tolerance then relying on residual sweetness is a crap shoot. But also - from the very same document you cite we have Gordon Hull stating "*A good beginner batch is two US gallons* of traditional semi-sweet still mead with a target alcohol content of 16% by volume. *This recipe needs two quarts (4 pounds) of amber honey."* (again, my emphasis) *- *which is 2 lbs of honey per gallon, by Hull's estimate. But finding two gallon carboys is a little bit of a challenge for that to be an unqualified "good beginner batch". One gallon carboys are ubiquitous, as are three gallon carboys..but two?


Indeed ... WHY NOT 2-gallon carboys? This is a serious thorn in my side, thank you very much. Anyone else noticed this severe lack of ability to efficiently rack down?

Geez. (oops, exposed a pet peeve)


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## Aleatoric (Oct 24, 2020)

I clicked on this due to the fact that recently two things of note related occurred. 1. A new local friend presented me with a couple bottles of some very very strong, and very rich, full-bodied mead, and 2. I've been playing with oak and glycerin. 

For the most part, I've enjoyed my own meads very much, even the strange experiments. Age hides many sins, and indeed, if one does not admit to that weird flavour being accidental, a few months or year+in bottle will make that weird flavour into "character" "depth" "full" "rich" or at least "interesting and unique, can I have some more please?"

Taking chunks of used wine barrel staves, crosscutting them into 1"-2" bits, splitting those and "toasting" them with a torch, then dropping those into carboys, growlers, bottles, decanters, etc. of various wines, meads, beers, for various amounts of time has yielded some rather interesting and luscious results. In fact there are three such chunks in my glass now. By itself, the oak adds a sense of body, and a lingering "something" I'm not qualified to try to express. Strong at times, but I've never actually felt that I've over-oaked anything. Yet. Under, for sure. But that's OK.

Also, being a maker of wild blueberry and huckleberry wines, I have at times found that the perceived body is lacking. Oak helps, but so too does glycerin. This, I have overdone. Best to take one's time with it, as if you mix some into your wine or mead and take a taste test, your palate will be skewed if you adjust and taste again soon. Best to wait. This is one thing that does not seem to mellow with age, as far as I can tell. 

Together, oak (with my version of "toasted" which is more of a "burnt to a crisp in some spots, barely browned in others") and glycerin seem to have made some very interesting and amazing results.


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## Rice_Guy (Oct 24, 2020)

Yes why not? 


Aleatoric said:


> Indeed ... WHY NOT 2-gallon carboys? This is a serious thorn in my side, thank you very much. Anyone else noticed this severe lack of ability to efficiently rack down?


_the latest tests in carboys was PET two gallon and 2.5 gallon with a 120mm lid, ,,, as a cover/ airlock it gets a 4.5 inch silicone stretchable bowl cover which will balloon as pressure builds, plus a non porous saucer.

_


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## franc1969 (Oct 24, 2020)

Rice_Guy said:


> Yes why not?
> 
> _the latest tests in carboys was PET two gallon and 2.5 gallon with a 120mm lid, ,,, as a cover/ airlock it gets a 4.5 inch silicone stretchable bowl cover which will balloon as pressure builds, plus a non porous saucer.
> View attachment 67331
> _


I've done this at home.  Odd sized pickle jars for settling wine. I do have actual 2 and 2.5 gallon carboys, they vintage ones from what I have collected.


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## Aleatoric (Oct 24, 2020)

Clever airlock!

I should have specified, however: "Why not 2-gallon GLASS carboys?" 

Not only is it that I prefer glass, but also the narrow neck for O2 minimization. 

I do use plastic in some cases for primary, but those don't need O2 protection or airlock. I never do anything over a week in plastic.



Rice_Guy said:


> Yes why not?
> 
> _the latest tests in carboys was PET two gallon and 2.5 gallon with a 120mm lid, ,,, as a cover/ airlock it gets a 4.5 inch silicone stretchable bowl cover which will balloon as pressure builds, plus a non porous saucer.
> View attachment 67331
> _


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## BernardSmith (Oct 24, 2020)

In my opinion those wide mouthed jars are great as primary fermenters but after active fermentation has ended the surface area of the wine is very large and that encourages oxidation. Carboys with narrow necks are preferable for wine. For beer - which is aged in weeks not months or years, wide mouths are perfect. That said, I have no good idea why 2 gallon carboys are not made or if they are why they are not commonly available.


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## Aleatoric (Oct 24, 2020)

Oh .. case against small necked carboys of course is when some idjit thinks he's all clever and stuffs a bunch of random sized toasted oak chunks in there. 

You do know wood swells when soaked in liquid, right?

You have my permission to laugh at my expense. It was (ahem) "interesting" trying to get those chunks out.

But the mead (a High bush cranberry mead, racked for final clearing last night) tastes rich mellow and smooth and full of yumminess. Not sure how much of that is the oak, but I did have quite a few chunks .. for about a month.


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## David Violante (Oct 25, 2020)

So I didn’t get to the mead yesterday, it was a day of yard work and then racking. Hopefully today. I do like the suggestions of oak as well. I have a medium toasted oak spiral to try. I picked up some glycerine to bench test as well.


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## Aleatoric (Oct 25, 2020)

After you determine your ratio, you add the glycerine just before bottling. I like to do it as I vacuum rack, for easier mixing, less stirring. Remember to allow time to give your palate a chance to reset before each tasting.

With the oak, know ye that I started out using oak tentatively, and in fact would split batches. (Oaked and not oaked). One wine I found three versions in my cellar: Oaked, blended, and non-oaked. I say with some confidence that I strongly prefer the fully oaked. but if you are still playing with 5 gallons (nominal) why not split it into two 1 gallon jugs (non oaked) and 1 3 gallon carboy (fully oaked) for your own edification? 

My taste tester (Wifey) is giving me feedback independent of knowledge of use of both glycerin and oak in both wines and meads. She always likes it, but I remember at first she was annoyed with me for spending the money for the ingredients. The results indicate it's worth doing.

The spirals are great .. really strong at first, so tasting is skewed, but I have found it really mellows through after a bit of time, so remember that, too.

Good luck!



David Violante said:


> So I didn’t get to the mead yesterday, it was a day of yard work and then racking. Hopefully today. I do like the suggestions of oak as well. I have a medium toasted oak spiral to try. I picked up some glycerine to bench test as well.


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## David Violante (Oct 29, 2020)

I finally go to the mead yesterday and added half the honey of what I thought tasted good, so as not to over do it. I'll check it again in a week to see how it doing. It's far easier to add more to it later on than take any away (I did add potassium sorbate a few days ago well ahead of time).

I also added a medium toast american oak spiral. 

I didn't try the glycerine yet, that will be next ...


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## David Violante (Nov 17, 2020)

Following up... the mead tastes pretty good with the added oak although it's still pretty light. I didn't think the oak would fix that, but it is a nice additional flavor. Since it's my first mead, I'm going to still call it a success with the knowledge that I need to start with more honey next time to give it more body and with enough water to bring it to a slightly higher ABV. It is currently at 8.5%. I still have glycerine to add, but that gets added closer to bottling right? Also, as I understand it, mead should sit for quite a bit more time. All in all, great experience, and it tastes pretty good too. It's a good place to start. 

@BernardSmith I see that you're in Saratoga Springs... we will have our EMS conference there next year in October (hopefully). I would love to meet up at some point in person!


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## BernardSmith (Nov 17, 2020)

Assuming that the Covid 19 pandemic will be under control, that might be very possible. I spend half my week (normally) in NYC and half the week in Saratoga: I am with the State U of NY in Saratoga but my wife teaches in Manhattan and it is easier for me to commute than it is for her. So if your conference and my days in Saratoga coincide connecting would be lovely.


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## David Violante (Nov 17, 2020)

Ah very cool. We could meet sometime in NYC too, I'm sometimes down there to teach depending on my schedule. The conference is usually Thursday through Sunday. I'll PM the details.


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## BernardSmith (Nov 17, 2020)

argh..When I travel to NYC, I usually travel Thursday and return either Sunday PM or crack o'dawn Monday... But again, my travel depends on my wife's schedule and during Covid19 she has been teaching online 3 days out of 5 and so we have been based in Saratoga... So, I guess everything will depend on how effective our control of this pandemic will be by next fall.


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## winemaker81 (Nov 18, 2020)

@David Violante, at this point, it may be best to treat the 8.5% as a strong beer. My local shop sells drops for carbonating beverages -- my son purchased a bag as he's going to sparkle some of a cherry-cider kit he purchased. Sparkle a gallon, wait a month or 2, and try it. Carbonated and chilled, the lesser body may not be noticeable.

I buy food grade glycerin by the gallon (this is about 1/4 the price of the little bottle in the shop). I add 1 oz/quart when making liqueurs (which is why I purchased it), and starting this year I add 1 oz/gallon to wines. It certainly added body to wines, and for reds enhanced fruit but did not produce a perceptible sweetness. However, I suspect adding more than I did _would_ produce the perception of sweetness. If you try glycerin, start with a gallon of wine and add 1/2 oz glycerin, stir well, and taste. Add more until it's "right". Note that glycerin is thick and heavy, and requires a bit of effort to ensure it dissolves. 

@BernardSmith's advice closely matches what I did for my last *metheglin*. I diluted 15 lbs of honey to make 6 gallons, and my OG was 1.089, which (IMO) is a good target. I ferment wines dry and backsweeten to taste (when desired). Yeast is not reliable to plan for the yeast's limit to expire at the point you desire. Backsweetening let's me hit the desired flavor profile.

Professionals manage to stop fermentation, as in adding spirits. Why are they successful? When you're making 1,000 barrels of wine, you'll hit some high and some low, but can average it out. Sell the ones that don't make the target under a different label.

You can do a lot of things to sweeten -- my son made a blackberry melomel, felt it was too thin and light in flavor. His solution was to backsweeten with commercial cherry juice.


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## David Violante (Nov 29, 2020)

@winemaker81 Thank you for the suggestions and many apologies for such a late reply... I am going to try the glycerine and I’ve been thinking that it would be good to do a small but really full bodied batch (1 gallon) that I can use to improve this one. There’s now a little headspace with all the testing and tasting, so I need something to fill that headspace. By the way, thank you for all the information about second run wine on your website. Very helpful.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 3, 2020)

100 PPM FT Blanc Soft (may want to do a bench trial with 50/100/150, but 100 is my most frequent target), one vanilla bean split lengthwise per gallon, half oz per gallon med+ oak *cubes*, half american, half french for 3-4 months will enhance your mouthfeel dramatically in even a dry mead. 

The byo article posted earlier is filled with some pretty dated and bad advice. Please don't boil your honey. 

Here is a good recipe that uses modern practices that will produce a sweet mead around 12%:






recipes/beginner/0001 - mead


r/mead: Welcome to /r/Mead. Be friendly and civil!




www.reddit.com





The rest of the wiki there is a fantastic reference for modern practice. 

My usual dry traditional is the following:

3lbs honey per gallon of desired must volume, target OG about 1.100
3g/gal QA-23 rehydrated in 6.25g/gal go-ferm
2g each Fermaid O and Fermaid K, divided equally into four additions at 24, 48, and 72 hours post pitch, with the final addition at the 1/3 break (about 1.070). 
Bentonite per package directions added with first nutrient addition at 24h. No need to rehydrate/slurry if you don't want to bother, just yeet it in dry.

Rack to secondary 2 weeks after it has run dry, with the additions I mentioned at the top of the post.


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## David Violante (Dec 3, 2020)

Thank you, I hadn't considered Blanc Soft or vanilla, but I do have a medium toasted oak spiral in. Is it too late for the blanc soft and vanilla? I looked through the Scott Labs site and they say you can add it post fermentation. Just wondering if you have any experience with that.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 3, 2020)

Fine to go ahead and add. 100ppm is .38g/gal


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## David Violante (Dec 7, 2020)

Ok... I’m going to take a zero (F minus) on this one. I decided to make the additional gallon of mead to add to the first fermentation (thank you all for suggesting this) and began following your recipe @dmw_chef. I was making it with my son and we were slowly adding honey to get the SG to 1.100. We then added potassium metabisulfite and for whatever reason just went on and added the Fermaid K and O. (Sigh...)

Will KMeta affect the Fermaids? Should I re-add the same dose at the 24 hour mark (like I should have) or just leave it and follow the rest of the schedule? Holy moly. Glad it was only a gallon.


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## sour_grapes (Dec 7, 2020)

I really don't know the answer to your question. However, I do not think the k-meta will harm the nutrients at all. I think you have to wait the normal time for the k-meta to dissipate, but then you should be fine to proceed with fermenting.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 8, 2020)

David Violante said:


> Ok... I’m going to take a zero (F minus) on this one. I decided to make the additional gallon of mead to add to the first fermentation (thank you all for suggesting this) and began following your recipe @dmw_chef. I was making it with my son and we were slowly adding honey to get the SG to 1.100. We then added potassium metabisulfite and for whatever reason just went on and added the Fermaid K and O. (Sigh...)
> 
> Will KMeta affect the Fermaids? Should I re-add the same dose at the 24 hour mark (like I should have) or just leave it and follow the rest of the schedule? Holy moly. Glad it was only a gallon.



don’t bother adding k-meta at the start. Honey isn’t like grapes where you have to out compete wild yeasts. Mead isn’t wine and there’s plenty of conventional wisdom from the winemaking world that don’t apply 

just aerate the crap out of it to dissapate the k-meta/replenish the oxygen in the must the k-meta has scavenged, and you should be fine. Follow the rest of the schedule, don’t forget to aerate real well with each addition. Don’t rack until fermentation is completely done. Add 25ppm k-meta (.2 g/gal) each time you rack and before bottling.

in the future, never add anything containing DAP at pitch, including ferm K, it can be toxic at that stage and cause off flavors due to stress. If you’re not using go-ferm, add O only at pitch.


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## David Violante (Dec 8, 2020)

@dmw_chef Ok thank you~ I’ll sparge with oxygen and continue as planned.

Very interestingly, here’s today’s article from Wine Maker Magazine on Mead... I couldn’t imagine heating up or boiling honey though. That just seems so wrong to me. 

I have an email into Scott Labs asking the question about GoFerm products and potassium metabisulfite. I’ll post their response. Paul, thank you... let’s see what they say.


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## winemaker81 (Dec 8, 2020)

A lot of older recipes included boiling the honey. I use hot top water to dissolve the honey, nothing hotter.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 8, 2020)

David Violante said:


> Very interestingly, here’s today’s article from Wine Maker Magazine on Mead... I couldn’t imagine heating up or boiling honey though. That just seems so wrong to me.



Oh lord. That's what you get when a winemaker tries to write about mead, a lot of their thinking is a decade or two out of date; to be fair, modern mead making has advanced dramatically even in the last 5-10 years that it's hard to keep up unless you're really plugged in. So much in there flies in the face of modern meadmaking practice and process.

Don't boil your honey, there's no need to sulfite before pitching yeast. It's a toss up whether there will even be viable wild yeast in your honey, and especially if you're rehydrating with go-ferm with a proper pitch rate (at least 2g/gal) will out compete the heck out of any wild yeast that happens to be there.

Nutrition isn't one size fits all, it needs to be calculated based on the OG/expected FG/organic YAN supplied in melomels, and adding nutrients on a schedule past the 72 hour mark - especially DAP at the 6 day mark is just batty - most of my ferments are pushing 8-9% at that point, so it's a great way to get urine off flavors as yeast can't consume it past that point.

There's no need to acidulate your must, I've never had one start at a pH more than 4.

There's no need to rack every 4-6 weeks to assist in clarifying; between bentonite in primary and oak in secondary, almost all of my meads are crystal clear at 3 months.

I could go on, but I need to be working 

Edit: Looks like the article was plagarized from Mead additives - Finding My Words

(what did I say, a decade out of date )



> I have an email into Scott Labs asking the question about GoFerm products and potassium metabisulfite. I’ll post their response. Paul, thank you... let’s see what they say.



k-meta in the must won't interact with the go-ferm, but will interfere with a healthy fermentation by scavenging oxygen needed by the yeast for a healthy growth phase.


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## David Violante (Dec 8, 2020)

I heard back from Scott Labs today: 

_"The potassium metabisulfite (KMBS) will not impact the Fermaid K or Fermaid O. I would just plan to wait and do your next scheduled addition of Fermaid K and Fermaid O at 1/3 sugar depletion. If you haven't added the yeast yet, I would do so now and see how the fermentation goes. Make sure to follow the proper rehydration protocol for the yeast you are using. Usually you want to get the yeast in before the nutrients (so you are feeding the yeast you want to feed and none of the native population). As you noted, it's better to add it 24 hours after you inoculate so that the yeast has time to build up it's population before you feed it the nutrients."_

Asked and answered. I'll give an update of how it goes. Heading to oxygen sparge it now.


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## winemaker81 (Dec 8, 2020)

David Violante said:


> Scott Labs:
> _Usually you want to get the yeast in before the nutrients (so you are feeding the yeast you want to feed and none of the native population). As you noted, it's better to add it 24 hours after you inoculate so that the yeast has time to build up it's population before you feed it the nutrients._


That is interesting -- I add nutrient when inoculating, and never heard of doing otherwise. On the surface, waiting makes sense.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 8, 2020)

winemaker81 said:


> That is interesting -- I add nutrient when inoculating, and never heard of doing otherwise. On the surface, waiting makes sense.



Depends a little, IMO. In musts with organic YAN already present, and/or you're using go-ferm (which does have a YAN contribution on its own), no nutes at pitch. In a mead must without using go-ferm, ferm-o at pitch is a good idea. DAP/ferm-k at pitch is always not a great idea.


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## David Violante (Dec 8, 2020)

What pH do you typically shoot for? The author of the above article says 3.5 and a 0.65 TA. This is only my second mead so not much experience with it here. That seems to be the range of reds as well. Since I already added the nutrients, it sounds like I should forego the goferm.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 8, 2020)

David Violante said:


> What pH do you typically shoot for? The author of the above article says 3.5 and a 0.65 TA. This is only my second mead so not much experience with it here. That seems to be the range of reds as well.



I don't know if you saw my reply above that was held for moderation for some reason. I would encourage you to take what's in that article with a giant grain of salt; it was written as early as 2012. The practice of modern mead making has advanced significantly since then, and the article advocates practices that are generally discouraged now. 

Few meadmakers stress about pre-acidulating the must. I personally have never seen a must I've mixed start above 4, and you'll usually end out at 3.5 or less. I adjust acidity post fermentation to taste according to bench trial. 



> Since I already added the nutrients, it sounds like I should forego the goferm.



If you haven't pitched yet, I would go ahead and include it during rehydration. The nutrient additions I suggest presume the YAN contributed by go-ferm, and go-ferm has sterols, vitamins, and other things that are taken up by yeast during the lag phase which are not present in either ferm-k or ferm-o.


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## David Violante (Dec 8, 2020)

@dmw_chef Great - thank you for sending that over again. I did not see it until just now. OK... yeast is rehydrating with GoFerm, I've sparged the must with oxygen. The SG is 1.100 and the pH is 3.6.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 8, 2020)

Sounds like you've got a mead in the making my friend. Can't wait to learn how it turns out.


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## David Violante (Dec 11, 2020)

Update... I rechecked the SG before adding the yeast and it was actually closer to 1.110. It has been fermenting pretty well and I followed the schedule for nutrient additions. It has been fermenting at around 72 and is today down to 1.030 and still going. I added an airlock and will keep watching.


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## Raptor99 (Dec 11, 2020)

dmw_chef thanks for your explanation. I am planning on starting my first batch of mead soon and this answers a lot of my questions. I've been wondering if yeast energizer (North Mountain brand) would be sufficient. It looks like I need to order some Fermaid O.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 11, 2020)

'Energizer' is typically considered to be roughly equivalent to fermaid K, but we don't really know for sure. The fermaid products are basically the only nutrients out there (besides DAP) that have rigorously verified YAN values published. Package doses are never sufficient, they presume you're making wine with 100-200 YAN must, a honey must will have like 30 if you're lucky.


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## David Violante (Dec 14, 2020)

OK - so it looks like it has finished. It is at 0.998, not much outward CO2 production that I can see and the temperature dropped from 73 to 68. FermCalc says it's at ~15% ABV. I racked it off the gross lees and after an hour there were more. I'll rack it off those again later today and add sulfite. It tastes FAR better than my previous mead. I attribute this to using more honey at the start, and using more nutrients and spacing them out. Thank you for all the help everyone. I'm most likely going to mix the two and end up with a nice (better) summer mead.


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## dmw_chef (Dec 14, 2020)

Nothing wrong with letting it sit on the fine lees for awhile. I personally wouldn't rack again until you're done with the oak.


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## David Violante (Dec 26, 2020)

So... it looks like it cleared pretty well! The headspace is down because I just sampled it. I’ll move it into some smaller containers. It’s very smooth, full of flavor. I’m not sure it’s going to make it to many smaller containers....


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## dmw_chef (Dec 26, 2020)

Looks great; just bentonite in primary or did you otherwise fine?


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## David Violante (Dec 26, 2020)

Just bentonite in primary.

This clearing is after one rack when fermentation ended, and then again after two weeks (there was a lot of lees again on the bottom of the container). I’ve had it in a 65F ‘cellar’ since fermentation ended. I racked the second time in fear of a previous H2S experience that I didn’t want to go through again. I think that was because of lack of nutrients though. 

I don’t think it’s going to make it too long.... thank you for the great mentoring!


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## David Violante (Dec 26, 2020)

David Violante said:


> I don’t think it’s going to make it too long.... thank you for the great mentoring!


@WineMaker, @BernardSmith, @Aleatoric and everyone here, that goes for all of you as well.... This really turned out so well!


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## Ty520 (Jan 7, 2021)

BernardSmith said:


> But you are absolutely measuring the gravity. The difference is that what you are aiming for is a very specific specific gravity and not the gravity that is the result of random amounts of honey and water. So... if you REALLY want to add 5 lbs of honey you might need /want to make 2 gallons of mead... Or 4.5 gallons or ?? because what you REALLY REALLY want is to begin with say, a gravity of 1.090 - OR 1.100 or whatever... but the SG you select , you select for a reason and not because you've pulled that number from a hat. That said, a gravity of around 1.090 results in a well balanced wine - where flavor and alcohol are nicely balanced and where you can relatively easily balance tannin and acidity and mouthfeel with that ABV and that richness of flavor... A mead or wine that is at 18% ABV may result in the alcohol over-powering the flavors and the sweetness and flavors ... etc



In my opinion, high alcohol, high sweetness and more intense flavors and richness can work well to balance each other out when all are present simultaneously


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## winemaker81 (Jan 8, 2021)

Ty520 said:


> In my opinion, high alcohol, high sweetness and more intense flavors and richness can work well to balance each other out when all are present simultaneously


A good example is port.

However, especially for beginners, I lean toward Bernard's POV. Make 1 or 2 gallon batches, first targeting a table wine ABV, e.g., 11% - 13%. If higher ABV is desired, increase the OG in successive batches. This gradual process provides experience, and if a batch does not turn out as desired, there's only 5 or 10 bottles to deal with, not 25 to 30.


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## Ty520 (Jan 8, 2021)

winemaker81 said:


> A good example is port.
> 
> However, especially for beginners, I lean toward Bernard's POV. Make 1 or 2 gallon batches, first targeting a table wine ABV, e.g., 11% - 13%. If higher ABV is desired, increase the OG in successive batches. This gradual process provides experience, and if a batch does not turn out as desired, there's only 5 or 10 bottles to deal with, not 25 to 30.



Oh i agree, just pointing out that you can achieve a palatable,balanced wine on the other end of the abv and sweetness spectrum. Also, some people may not like dry mead, and might think back sweetening is their only option, but back sweetening results in a very different final product. 

But yes,learning by doing via small batches is the best way to go


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