Ok, so over this weekend, I've made a batch of mead with heather honey.
One of the things I want to clarify, is the answer to what might be a good idea to do if a problem is encountered.
So, the recipe I was using, was the one in the recipes section "Modern" Mead.
I'd opted for "sweet" so planned to use 4lb of honey to the gallon.
From previous attempts, I know that making a must with 4lb of honey can result in quite a high starting gravity, IRO 1130 to 1140.
Some of the WAH contributors would frown at that, in the belief or with the suggestion that you shouldn't start a ferment much above 1090 (ish).
But, having looked around the net, it does seem quite a common practice for mead makers to start meads at that level - though I understand it can sometimes be problematic.
So, what's best to do ?
Is it likely to better, especially for the newer mead makers to aim for a lower gravity, but to remember that depending on the yeast and it's alcohol tolerance, that the ferment can be "fed" with more honey later on i.e. further through the ferment process ?
Or to suggest that it's probably a non-issue to follow a recipe "blindly" ? and make the ingredient quantities exact ?
Then there's the main problem I encountered with this batch. One of pH values.
As most here will already know, with pH values, the lower the number the more acid, the higher the number the more alkali. Which is fine.
My problem arose, because you will find if you look around the net, that on average, honey seems to be about 4.0 to 4.5 pH, but as with any natural substance, those values can vary quite wildly.
In my case, I'd mixed the honey, water, tea and yeast nutrient. I wanted to check the pH level before adding any acid, and while I wouldn't have been surprised to find a reading of between 4.0 to 5.0 somewhere, I was completely taken aback to get a measurement of 6.36 - damn near neutral (neutral being 7.0).
Now this also highlights one of the controversies of mead making particularly. The addition of acid to a must.
It seems that there are 2 schools of thought, adding acid to a must to achieve a certain pH value before pitching yeast, or not adding any acid until the wine has finished fermenting and adding the acid to taste, or possibly to a certain pH value.
Now in my case, I was hoping that the must would have had a pH low enough to not add the acid until after the ferment, but with a reading of 6.36, to the best of my understanding, I could easily expect fermentation problems.
So initially, I just added the 1 teaspoon of citric acid recommended in the recipe. That only seemed to drop the pH by a small amount.
It did stress me out some, as I was at a loss, as to what I should be doing.
To start with, most of the available info mentions the issue of increasing a pH value if it's too low i.e. adding Calcium Carbonate, but there seems very little info about what to do if it's too high.
Of course, there is the obvious one of adding more acid, but it seemed to me, that in this case I'd need to add rather a lot.
So what's right ?
In this instance, I've used some of the guidance/advice I've received from both forums and from "normal" websites/documents that I found and read. The result being that instead of adding just the 1 tsp of citric acid, I have a total of 4 tsps of acid in the batch, 2 of citric and 2 of tartaric.
The result of this action has been to drop the pH value of the must down to 4.29, which as I currently understand things, is OK.
The issue here, being that of the 2 schools of thought mentioned above, one says that you should start a must/batch/ferment at a certain value, whereas the other says that yeast will do it's job ok right up to just the acid side of neutral (IRO 5.0 to 6.0 or so).
So which is the better suggestion for the new mead maker ?
I for one, certainly don't know. Whether you end up with a better taste/flavour without acid during ferment or not ?
Of course, honey is no different from other flavouring type country wine ingredients inasfaras it's nominally already acid. Plus there are quite a number of other factors that affect taste/flavour/acidity levels/sweetness etc etc, but that's not what I'm trying to clarify.
It's trying to establish a "best practice" for a new mead maker.
regards
JtFB
p.s. Oh and any posted suggestions, could you be kind enough to explain why you think it best to do something a certain way, rather than just "because that's how I do it" - if possible of course. I'm fully aware that there's many different levels of knowledge here at WAH, I'm just trying to put "it" into one place and/or clear up some of the potential confusion that can surround mead making (and no, I don't "do" rocket science either, I leave that to my brother ).
One of the things I want to clarify, is the answer to what might be a good idea to do if a problem is encountered.
So, the recipe I was using, was the one in the recipes section "Modern" Mead.
I'd opted for "sweet" so planned to use 4lb of honey to the gallon.
From previous attempts, I know that making a must with 4lb of honey can result in quite a high starting gravity, IRO 1130 to 1140.
Some of the WAH contributors would frown at that, in the belief or with the suggestion that you shouldn't start a ferment much above 1090 (ish).
But, having looked around the net, it does seem quite a common practice for mead makers to start meads at that level - though I understand it can sometimes be problematic.
So, what's best to do ?
Is it likely to better, especially for the newer mead makers to aim for a lower gravity, but to remember that depending on the yeast and it's alcohol tolerance, that the ferment can be "fed" with more honey later on i.e. further through the ferment process ?
Or to suggest that it's probably a non-issue to follow a recipe "blindly" ? and make the ingredient quantities exact ?
Then there's the main problem I encountered with this batch. One of pH values.
As most here will already know, with pH values, the lower the number the more acid, the higher the number the more alkali. Which is fine.
My problem arose, because you will find if you look around the net, that on average, honey seems to be about 4.0 to 4.5 pH, but as with any natural substance, those values can vary quite wildly.
In my case, I'd mixed the honey, water, tea and yeast nutrient. I wanted to check the pH level before adding any acid, and while I wouldn't have been surprised to find a reading of between 4.0 to 5.0 somewhere, I was completely taken aback to get a measurement of 6.36 - damn near neutral (neutral being 7.0).
Now this also highlights one of the controversies of mead making particularly. The addition of acid to a must.
It seems that there are 2 schools of thought, adding acid to a must to achieve a certain pH value before pitching yeast, or not adding any acid until the wine has finished fermenting and adding the acid to taste, or possibly to a certain pH value.
Now in my case, I was hoping that the must would have had a pH low enough to not add the acid until after the ferment, but with a reading of 6.36, to the best of my understanding, I could easily expect fermentation problems.
So initially, I just added the 1 teaspoon of citric acid recommended in the recipe. That only seemed to drop the pH by a small amount.
It did stress me out some, as I was at a loss, as to what I should be doing.
To start with, most of the available info mentions the issue of increasing a pH value if it's too low i.e. adding Calcium Carbonate, but there seems very little info about what to do if it's too high.
Of course, there is the obvious one of adding more acid, but it seemed to me, that in this case I'd need to add rather a lot.
So what's right ?
In this instance, I've used some of the guidance/advice I've received from both forums and from "normal" websites/documents that I found and read. The result being that instead of adding just the 1 tsp of citric acid, I have a total of 4 tsps of acid in the batch, 2 of citric and 2 of tartaric.
The result of this action has been to drop the pH value of the must down to 4.29, which as I currently understand things, is OK.
The issue here, being that of the 2 schools of thought mentioned above, one says that you should start a must/batch/ferment at a certain value, whereas the other says that yeast will do it's job ok right up to just the acid side of neutral (IRO 5.0 to 6.0 or so).
So which is the better suggestion for the new mead maker ?
I for one, certainly don't know. Whether you end up with a better taste/flavour without acid during ferment or not ?
Of course, honey is no different from other flavouring type country wine ingredients inasfaras it's nominally already acid. Plus there are quite a number of other factors that affect taste/flavour/acidity levels/sweetness etc etc, but that's not what I'm trying to clarify.
It's trying to establish a "best practice" for a new mead maker.
regards
JtFB
p.s. Oh and any posted suggestions, could you be kind enough to explain why you think it best to do something a certain way, rather than just "because that's how I do it" - if possible of course. I'm fully aware that there's many different levels of knowledge here at WAH, I'm just trying to put "it" into one place and/or clear up some of the potential confusion that can surround mead making (and no, I don't "do" rocket science either, I leave that to my brother ).
Comment