# Racked my first mead today



## WVMJ (Apr 2, 2012)

YOu might have just stirred up the CO2 and its degassing, or stirring up the yeast gave it a breath of new life. Just keep an eye on it and continue to monitor the SG. Good luck on your first mead. What yeast and honey did you use? WVMJ


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## MaydayMalone (Jan 19, 2012)

Looking forward to starting a batch very soon. Will be the first time. I pulled 30 pounds of goldenrod honey off of the hives specifically to make a batch.


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## gunter62 (Feb 13, 2011)

This was my spring honey, mostly tulip poplar I suppose, but definitely not a straight varietal. This was what I had left after bottling. I followed the recipe for Joe's ancient orange except for the yeast, I substituted Lalvin d-47 for the bread yeast. I adjusted my SG to 1.104 hoping for a semisweet 14% abv beverage. The sample I took during racking tasted pretty good! I know it should get even better with time. Right now, I'm just having fun with the process.


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## WVMJ (Apr 2, 2012)

So if you added the oranges you might want to take them out soon, the wine yeasts will draw out a lot of bitterness from the pith, one reason why JAOM is so sucessfull is its bread yeast is not that strong, not that much alcohol to pull stuff out of the pith, and its sweetened a lot to cover the pith tastes. We did it once with wine yeasts, turned out very bitter, you have to follow the instructions for JAOM. WVMJ


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## gunter62 (Feb 13, 2011)

Yeah, I wish I had read a little more before jumping in, I would probably just pealed and squeezed the oranges. When I racked, I pulled the fruit and spices. When I tasted my sample, there was a bit of bitterness, but not bad. I'm having fun, and that's the goal for now.


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## WVMJ (Apr 2, 2012)

You have to be careful not to be hypnotized by the bubbles going thru the airlock, you can loose a lot of time like that  WVMJ


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Yeah you blew the JAOM warranty big time. The wine yeast will tend to take it dry and then it may be too bitter for you. You can always sorbate and sulfite it and backsweeten to balance that bitterness if you need to. I found out it is much better if you follow the recipe exactly. I decided to add a bunch of mandarin oranges extra, mainly because I had them. SO I had more sugar than the bread yeast could handle and it finished really sweet. Then I thinned it out with honey/water mixture the same SG as the mead and worked it some more. It didn't end up all that much drier, but the real sweet original was better. Bottom line is that it is great sport. Now that I have found out that melter honey works fine for a lot of meads, I can make a lot of batches pretty cheaply.

And Yes! I wonder how many man hours are wasted watching airlocks~! It is terrible.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

>And Yes! I wonder how many man hours are wasted watching airlocks~! It is terrible.

Add that to watching bees going in and out of hives and you brewers must be pretty busy! Or can you watch hives and airlocks at the same time in one sitting?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I just tried to explain to my wife while I was laughing at the watching air locks and landing boards. The poor deprived girl told me I need to get a life. I LIKE my life. But your premis is SILLY! One would have to climate control the mead as the temps would be too variable outside and too hot altogether on good bee flying days! What you would do to my bubble rate!


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

You need to do what I do. Hives in every corner, outside of every window and door. These three are outside my office in front of my desk. I could have the mead right there on the desk and watch both the bubbles and bees at the same time. Of course, I would have to eliminate office work.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I guess I just don't think out of the window or the box. You are a rich man with such potentialities. But I like my now stable 63 degree brewspace. The heat of the ferment keeps the brew mid to upper sixties and I get nice non stressfull slow fermentations.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

odfrank said:


> Of course, I would have to eliminate office work.


From the looks of your desk....you already have.
Don't get offended. Mine looks worse....without a view.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

odfrank said:


> You need to do what I do. Hives in every corner, outside of every window and door. These three are outside my office in front of my desk. I could have the mead right there on the desk and watch both the bubbles and bees at the same time. Of course, I would have to eliminate office work.


Maybe if you didn't watch the bees so much you could clean up that cluter on your desk and make room for a carboy:lpf:


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