Mead using winemaking techniques?

[lockwood1956]

There was (I noticed) a lot of honey in the cupboard, (Morrison's pure clear Honey)

So I decided to make some mead using standard winemaking techniques.........thought it might be interesting to just do what I do when preparing a wine must (it must work surely?...pardon the pun)

So I took 3 X 454 g jars of honey, it was crystallised as it was oldish, so I popped the jars into a pan of water and brought to the boil, and let it simmer for about 5 Min's while I watched it carefully

[lockwood1956]

Took the now runny honey and put it into primary bucket (5 litre....may prove to be too small!)

Added water to 4.6 litres, this gave me a starting SG of 1.084 (happy bunny )

Added 1 tsp pectolase and 1 tsp Tronozymol (good quality nutrient)

Tested the acid content, and the TA measured as tartaric was 1 g/l slowly added acid till I got a TA of 7 g/l (it took 4 tsp)...this is the figure for Titratable acid measured as tartaric...the figure would be 4.6 if expressed as sulphuric acid (Ritchie's test kits)

I used citric acid because.......well i just figured it suited the profile better (I just did ok?)

Whilst adding the acid, I kept tasting, and after 4 tsp the honey was really fruity before that the must was very bland indeed, I like my musts to be as near to balanced as is humanly possible, so adding acid at the start was the way to go (didn't test pH as acid test and taste test was enough to tell me I had a good must)

[lockwood1956]

Yeast starter was prepared in advance...

I used about 2 tsp honey, 100ml of 40 deg C water, a pinch of Tronozymol, pinch of citric acid, and pitched in the Lalvin 71B-1122

fired up almost instantaneously.

once must was prepared and balanced I pitched the yeasties.....

if this ferments to dry (0.990) it will give me a mead of around 12.77% ABV

watch this space

[lockwood1956]

looked in on must 1/2 hour after yeasties pitched in....


Its started fermenting already (I love quality yeasts, yeast starters, and balanced musts, dont you?)


here endeth the first lesson

[w_c_b]

I will be interested to know if this does indeed finish at or below 1.000. In my experience, mead musts do not acid balance in the same way that wine musts do. The culprit is gluconolactone, which naturally teeters with gluconic acid to tend to push the net pH down, even though the TA in the must may be quite low. A classic "unbuffered" organic acid balance situation.

That is why often mead fermentations will stick, especially when acids are added at yeast pitch. The pH of the must drops precipitously as carbonic acid is formed when the CO2 produced by fermentation goes into solution, dropping pH to the point where the yeast simply give up.

That may not be the case with your must, as it is fairly low starting gravity at 1.084. You may also be the beneficiary of alkalinity in your water. However you may yet find that the finished mead's acidic "bite" ends up more than you expected from your taste of the unfermented must. I will be very interested to hear how this all turns out for you.

[lockwood1956]

I will be interested to know if this does indeed finish at or below 1.000. In my experience, mead musts do not acid balance in the same way that wine musts do. The culprit is gluconolactone, which naturally teeters with gluconic acid to tend to push the net pH down, even though the TA in the must may be quite low. A classic "unbuffered" organic acid balance situation..

I will of course keep you posted on how the ferment proceeds, but from my reading (as yet limited) on the subject, the conditions you describe would only be prevalent in anaerobic conditions, this must will be undergoing aerobic ferment to at least 1.000 and finishing in an anaerobic condition, so I'm hoping to negate the pH drop from excess CO2 production and saturation.


well thats the plan (but I could of course be wrong... but my understanding is that high SG musts are the main contributory factor in stuck ferments, stressing the yeast....but this experiment may answer a few questions for me.)

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=139522&rendertype=abstract

[lockwood1956]

There certainly are some interesting articles written about mead

http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html

[rjb222]

There certainly are some interesting articles written about mead

http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html

Excellent read

[fatbloke]

-----%<-----
Tested the acid content, and the TA measured as tartaric was 1 g/l slowly added acid till I got a TA of 7 g/l (it took 4 tsp)...this is the figure for Titratable acid measured as tartaric...the figure would be 4.6 if expressed as sulphuric acid (Ritchie's test kits)

I used citric acid because.......well i just figured it suited the profile better (I just did ok?)

Whilst adding the acid, I kept tasting, and after 4 tsp the honey was really fruity before that the must was very bland indeed, I like my musts to be as near to balanced as is humanly possible, so adding acid at the start was the way to go (didn't test pH as acid test and taste test was enough to tell me I had a good must)

Part of this is yet another place I'm getting confused.

TA = Titrateable Acid ?

Why would the TA (if I understand the abbreviation correctly of course) be measured as tartaric ?

Then you mention that to change the TA it took 4 tsp but then you mention that you used citric. Not tartaric.

Can you elaborate a little about this Bob ? Because I'm clearly missing something here........

Or maybe I'm thinking of something completely different.......

Cheers

JtFB

[StockeyDAW]

Well I am surprised that you are into the mead making. Did not expect to see that in a good many years. It is "Honey Wine" and it works for me to treat it that way.

I find that the sweetness of the honey is far to great and it therefore masks the acidity of the honey (fruit etc). Measuring acid at this time is not accurate better to measure the acidity after the fermentation is complete. At least that is the way I do it and it works for me.

pH measurement before the fermentation starts is the way to go here. At least that is what I have found. I add tartaric so that my pH's are in the area of 3.3-3.55 before pitching the yeast. This works for me the best with through clean no stuck ferments. Honey varies on the varietal as do various grapes for acidity, pH, and all this depends on the season, the source of the bees food the soil conditions, the amount of rain etc, etc.

Adding acid (citric) and measuring the acidity just before bottling works great and we are able to adjust to our taste.

Boiling honey results in the loss of flavor and aroma. Best to pasteurize at approximately 170 degrees F and skimming the foam off the honey at that time. I have always used this method.

Process honey has lost some of its flavor and aroma. I suppose you can compare it with using a fruit juice instead of the actual fruit in making country wine. better to use a varietal honey - more control, know what flavors you have as in varietal grapes. I have found that ther is a great deal of difference in getting hone from the honey farm and the store bought honey.

Nic pics Bob good that you have time to prepare these things. Hope it all works out for you Daw

[Duffbeer]

There certainly are some interesting articles written about mead

http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html

Ouch, now that's not fair, I was read up tonight and then you posted this!!!

[lockwood1956]

TA = Titrateable Acid ?

Why would the TA (if I understand the abbreviation correctly of course) be measured as tartaric ?

Thats just the way test kits experss it, either as tartaric g/l or sulphuric g/l its the termimnology that is rthe confusing bit

Then you mention that to change the TA it took 4 tsp but then you mention that you used citric. Not tartaric.

Can you elaborate a little about this Bob ? Because I'm clearly missing something here........

the test kit expresses it as tartaric or sulphuric, no matter what kind of acid you use...think of it as titrateable acidity (the ammount available to the user) not in terms of there is this much tartaric acid in the must, the test kit expresses it as tartaric is all.

make sense?

[Rich]

Thats just the way test kits experss it, either as tartaric g/l or sulphuric g/l its the termimnology that is rthe confusing bit

the test kit expresses it as tartaric or sulphuric, no matter what kind of acid you use...think of it as titrateable acidity (the ammount available to the user) not in terms of there is this much tartaric acid in the must, the test kit expresses it as tartaric is all.

make sense?

No, well sort of. I'll read it again when I've had a drink...

[fatbloke]

Thats just the way test kits experss it, either as tartaric g/l or sulphuric g/l its the termimnology that is rthe confusing bit

the test kit expresses it as tartaric or sulphuric, no matter what kind of acid you use...think of it as titrateable acidity (the ammount available to the user) not in terms of there is this much tartaric acid in the must, the test kit expresses it as tartaric is all.

make sense?

Yes I think so - plus it might help if I get the instructions out of the "ritchies acid kit" I got last week and gave them a damn good reading

but also because I understood about testing the pH of the must, pre-pitch, but as long as it's reasonably within parameters, not adding further acid (though I also have DAW's suggestions in mind) until it's finished fermenting. Then testing the acid and adding/modifying accordingly - I'm guessing that with traditional meads that's just about which acid one prefers, though with country wines - might it then be more prudent to add the type of acid that is in the original fruit ??? (after checking your fruit/acid chart of course).

Or have I (yet again) got the wrong end of the stick ???

regards

JtFB

[StockeyDAW]

Below is a terrific link on acids and their use in wine making. Like a small reference manual for me and my wine and mead making process. Hope it is of some help to anyone interested. Tartaric to adjust the acidity in all. In country wines and Mead's also tartaric for adjustment and use citric to adjust to taste after the fermentation process although malic could also be used sparingly (see reasons why in the link). This process works very well for me. Cheers Daw

http://www.bcawa.ca/winemaking/AcidCntrl/AcidControl.htm