First mead

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Alright, here we go FINALLY. My first mead. Well, as of right now it's only ape juice. Against the recommendation of some in other forums I went ahead and just juiced about 40 lbs of my apples. Process was fine but my juice is more of a must. After processing apples through my juicer I also poured the juice through a nylon paint strainer but I'm still left with a crazy amount of pulp (?) in the batch. For now I've sealed the juice off in an initial fermentation bucket hoping it will settle. Plan on using a racking cane tomorrow bro get this into my carboy and mix honey and Camden tablets, with adding yeast and likely just front loading dap the day after that.

Is there any recommendations anyone has to alter this plan? Anything more I shot do about this pulp (bentonite?). Thanks in advance!

 

[Raptor99]

Leave the fruit pulp in the must for primary fermentation. Much of the flavor comes from the pulp. Then when fermentation is almost finished, you can siphon if off the sediment and put it in a carboy to begin clearing.

Be sure to add pectic enzyme, which is necessary for breaking down the cell walls and helping the must to clear.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Leave the fruit pulp in the must for primary fermentation. Much of the flavor comes from the pulp. Then when fermentation is almost finished, you can siphon if off the sediment and put it in a carboy to begin clearing.

Be sure to add pectic enzyme, which is necessary for breaking down the cell walls and helping the must to clear.

Was literally just picking up enzyme when your message came in. How much to add to one gallon must?

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

Updating to share progress. So far just a few random questions (highlighted bold) but if you have any suggestions or something you would do otherwise please share. Comments and criticism welcome.

After collecting my juice I knew I had more than a gallon but not quite sure how much more. I picked up a few more gallon jugs and Adobe extra apple juice (no preservatives) to top off where needed. I figured if I can get two batches going, why not try two different recipes? I'm going for one mead and one cleaner summer cider.

I'm so glad I decided to do this. The juice I had perfectly fit my two carboys. My mead recipe consisted of half a lemon, 1.25 lbs honey and the remaining ~ 0.9 gallons of my juice. SG reading for this is 0.093. The summer cider is pure juice and half a lemon, with some apple peels in there. One recipe I saw did this to impart a bit extra apple flavor so I thought I'd give it a shot. IG of the cider was 0.051

Both batches have so far been treated with one Camden tablet, 1g wine tannins, 1/2 tsp peptic enzyme. Last night when I mixed my batches together they were quite cloudy with pulp. As this is my first ever brew, I was amazed how fast everything settled for each batch. Looking at the thick layer of lees, I'm assuming when I rack these I'm going to have to top them up. Would I top off with some of the apple juice I bought when this happens? I figure I could top off juice to the cider easy enough and just include stabilisers. The cider I'd like to bottle condition to add a little more effervescence and I imagine adding the juice with added sugars would impact my bottle pressure calculations. Not sure how to deal with that.

In the meantime, tonight after 24 hours I plan on pitching my yeast. Using Lalvin ec-1118 for both batches. Also plan on adding DAP via simple front load method. Add DAP then with my yeast, or add it 12/24 hours after pitching yeast? TIA for all tips and comments. Excited to finally have the inaugural brew underway. Here's to many more.

 

[Raptor99]

I'm assuming when I rack these I'm going to have to top them up. Would I top off with some of the apple juice I bought when this happens?

Yes, you could top off with the same juice. That will add sugar, so it will restart fermentation and increase cloudiness. Another choice would be to top off with a similar cider that is already finished.

After doing my first batch or two that way, I learned to start with an initial volume more than the size of my carboys. For cider, I might start with 1.5 gallons in a food grade bucket, then when I rack it into my 1 gallon carboy for bulk aging I have enough to fill it to the top. It is helpful to have several different sized bottles and carboys, so that you have a place to put the excess when you start aging, and still fill them all to the top. For example, a 1-gallon jug + a 750 ml wine bottle. (You can get a smaller drilled stopper that will fit wine bottles, so that you can add an airlock. Two years ago there was a sale on apple juice in glass 1/2 gallon jugs. I bought a bunch of them, because that is a very useful size.

 

[GreatNorthernLlama]

One of those learning curves I suppose... Of course I have all kinda of food grade buckets etc, but followed all the recipes etc I see online too literally. Great tip for next time thanks. This time around, topping off with a completed cider like strongbow or something is probably my best guess. Now that I'm thinking about it though, if the loss is pretty great with such a thick layer of sedimant, I've got a bunch of those large 3 litre wine bottles. I could maybe just step down from a gallon to 3 liters?

 

[Raptor99]

@GreatNorthernLlama I think that your 3 liter bottles might be just about right. You'll need to get some #3 drilled stoppers so that you can add airlocks. But I would not rack until fermentation is mostly finished, and the foam settles down.