Started my 1st Acerglyn Mead Today

[DonMcJr]

First I hope everyone is having an Awesome Summer!

Well I started my 1st Batch!

Acerglyn Mead - 13 lbs of my own Honey from my Hives and 1 Pint of my own Maple Syrup!

Must OG: 1.110

5 Gallon Batch.

Here's some Photo's...

Getting Ready...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1239826_10151539131675936_874555196_n.jpg

The Must

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/524429_10151539131665936_844220984_n.jpg

Must and Water and Yeast

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/1002921_10151539131655936_1573924392_n.jpg

Must OG @ 83.6 F

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/541792_10151539131895936_201910730_n.jpg

[DonMcJr]

Waiting for Fermenting to start!

https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/933975_10151539131985936_234887941_n.jpg

Here's two videos:

1st Batch of Mead...


http://youtu.be/9UpuEC873FM

After 4.5 hours is Fermenting already!


http://youtu.be/CsW8QpgzBNY

Now at 6.5 Hours it's Bubbling every 60 Seconds!

[happy thoughts]

Hope you're also having an awesome summer and have recovered from your spring surgery, Don. :) Good luck on the Acerglyn! I'm sure you're having fun with that. I'd love to hear more about it. Your maple pics and videos are always entertaining. Still, I'd rather discuss it here where many more of us maple minded folks could benefit from your experience and where so much other info on maple can be found. That said, I'm hoping the purpose of your post is not just meant to promote your own forum. I wish you all the best but honestly I have about zero interest in hunting and fishing and there isn't enough maple stuff on your site to keep me interested and returning. If you want to meet and talk maple with me for one, it's going to be here or nowhere.

[DonMcJr]

Nope my signature I deleted... that was from the BS that I've long forgot about now. My arm numbness is gone and there's not a lot of pain but doc and PT still have me on a 5 lb restriction... Slow going...

Really all I know about Mead I learned from a website GotMead and Ken Schram's Book "The Complete Meadmaker". But I can answer any questions that I know from what little I have learned so far...:cool:

[PerryFamily]

Pretty cool.

Happy Thoughts, couldn't agree with you more.

Good luck

[Clarkfield Farms]

Looking good, Don. Remember that it likes aeration and staggered nutrient additions -- but, I just saw this thread, and you're about past that point by now. I didn't watch the videos but maybe you mentioned it in them.

It's absolutely the best, indescribable sensation drinking what you made from what you raised, having a glass right where it all began.

What yeast did you use? D-47 seems to do nicely; I like EC-1118, but it seems to blow flavors and aromas right out the airlock especially with honey and maple syrup. How many gallons in the fermentor?

Good luck! Hide at least a few bottles where they'll be safe for a few years or more, it really is amazing to chart the changes that take place over time. Mead and acerglyn are not like wine or any other kind of - well, "beverage." They're made for aging beautifully.

- Tim

[DonMcJr]

I added nutrients in the must like Ken Schrams Book said. She's fermenting great bubbling every 1-2 seconds still!

The kicker is it's My Honey, My Maple Syrup and water from the ground (Well water filtered that is very good quality) all of it is from my property and my hard work! That's just too cool!

I used Red Star Montrachet which is good to 13% ABV. D-47 is good too it's to 14% ABV but the EC-118 is a Champange wine yeast and will ferment to 18% and pull a lot of flavors out like you said.

Now this is my 1st batch and I am by far not an expert but I learned that much in my research. Lavin 71-B is a good Mead yeast too... Check out this chart and they have a discussion forums that's neat too http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=625&Itemid=42

I put 2 teaspoons of nutrient in a 5 gallon batch... what do you do when you step feed it and how do you aerate in the 1st few days of brewing it?

Can't wait to try it when it's ready but it's gonna be awhile!

[Clarkfield Farms]

TYPICALLY, and I stress that because there are more "rules" than there are mead makers out there, you aerate (actually, oxygenate with welding-quality O2 and an airstone) vigorously (3-5 minutes) and add approximately 1/3 - 1/2 of the nutrients prior to adding the yeast, then another 1-2 minutes of O2 and 1/4 - 1/3 of the remaining nutrient the 2nd or 3rd day, then another aeration and the remainder of the nutrient about the 5th day. The reason is that honey is a very tough cookie for the yeast, and the Original Gravity is generally high; yeast like it a bit more gradual. In fact, my personal OPINION is that the addition of honey/maple syrup/other fermentable sugars would follow the same scheduled additions as aeration and nutrients, except for the fact that you cannot calculate the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) with any certainty because you do not have any sort of starting gravity to work with if the sugars are added incrementally. I don't pretend to know the science behind it, and I may well be full of it on this matter, but in order to make the yeast happy it only makes sense to gradually increase the fermentables as their numbers grow, and they're converting sugars to ethanol, thereby lowering the shock factor of having too much sugar to work with at any given time. Also, the yeasts used are highly tolerant of rising ethanol levels, particularly when it's done gradually as I've pointed out. Anyways, my two cents only.

As for aeration, naturally this is only done during the primary fermentation when the goal is to foster massive yeast reproduction rates. Oxygen is "free" at this time, normally, especially with winemaking: primary fermentation vessels for wine are open, covered only with breathable material such as cloth in order to exclude bugs and debris. The must is also aerated during this fermentation stage by daily stirring and, in the case of red wines, by punching down the cap while it's still in contact with the must and before it is pressed. The yeast have free access to atmospheric O2. Since you're working with a closed primary fermentation vessel, and since mead/acerglyn are GENERALLY not transferred or racked to a secondary vessel once the primary fermentation is done because you are eliminating atmospheric O2, you need to aerate. And the stepped or staggered yeast nutrient additions are for the same reason as too much sugar in the beginning: Too much too soon, greatly stressing the yeast which could lead to a stalled fermentation and having to use a "rescue yeast" along the lines of EC-1118. Which again leads me to believe that fermentable sugars should follow suit with nutrients; but, again, calculating ABV becomes a bit of an issue.

I have to say, I am not yet a fan of 71-B or any other Narbonne yeasts, YET... D-47 is good, and I tell you what, although 71-B is generally for reds and D-47 generally for whites, try them both for making hard cider. It is my OPINION that 71-b adds WAY too much floral character to EVERYTHING it's used in; some of my red wine grapes that shouldn't have had ANY floral notes REEKED of an overpowering bouquet of roses!!! I mean, yeah, it's AMAZING, but at the same time it was like having the whole darn bouquet shoved up your nose! And no one should have to TASTE overpowering roses... :) When used in hard cider, SAME BATCH for both yeasts, the 71-B was overwhelming until it had bottle conditioned for several months; I didn't bottle until about 3 or 4 months after fermentation ceased. After all that time, it was very good.

The D-47, on the other hand: My whites love it, and it loves them. They make the kind of wine that wants to be made. And for cider? Oooh la LA!!! lol! Wonderful. In fact, people that know cider think I'm amazing, but it's got NOTHING to do with me, I'm just -- well, the yeast pimp. I put the yeast and the fermentables together and let Nature take its course. :) Seriously, the hard ciders from D-47 are better than anything we've had anywhere else, including Fly Creek Cider Mill and theirs are good. But, they use a Champagne yeast, pretty sure it's EC-1118 or its equivalent.

That's another thing, as long as EC-1118 isn't allowed to ferment to dry, or is limited by having low ABV potential such as with something like cider, it does a nice job and generally leaves the flavor and aroma profile intact. But, it's like an all-season tire: not as good as a snow in the winter, not as good as a summer tire in the summer, but it's "good enough."

Go to www.homebrewtalk.com and go to the mead section if you haven't already been there. gotmead is a great site, but there's a LOT to be learned over at HBT and it's a lot friendlier. Anyways, there's a recipe for a pyment (grapes + honey) over on gotmead, it's one of the many "Joe's" recipes if you're familiar with them, it's a quick mead ready in 3 WEEKS!!, believe it or not, and it IS good. In fact, my father asked me for all that I had left! Anyways, here's a link: http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=119&Itemid=6 In fact, I have used EC-1118 in that recipe, and it was a real hit, maybe better because it hit the higher notes a lot faster.

OK, just realized how long this is, I do get carried away... sorry.

- Tim

[DonMcJr]

Thanks for all the info...ive seen hb too but not the grape and honey...gotta check that out!

Ok I have 2 bottles of tannin...is that grape tannin or does it specify grape on the bottles?

Also I have 5 apple trees with alot of apples...tell me what to do witb the apples so I can use them in wine making...press them to cider? Is there a small home kit to do it?

[Clarkfield Farms]

Don, there's a lot you can do with them, but first: do you know what variety they are? Or wild? One of my favorite things to make is a blend of apple cider, maple syrup and honey... hmmm, seems I recall it also being most everybody I know's favorite thing to drink, too! lol, but it does like about 10 months or better to age, unfortunately keeping ANY of it around for more than a year is a truly rare occurrence. Once people know it's ready, they'll swarm me worse than black flies in the spring.

As for the pyment, oh wow is it good. And not just that quick-mead recipe, they're all good as far as I'm concerned.

Tannin - it should be written as "Grape Tannin." What brand do you have, LD Carlson?, Crosby & Baker?, or --????

[rayi]

Glad to see your back and doing well. Funny thing I saw your you tube vidio and wondered where you were.

[DonMcJr]

Thanks Rayi!

Yeast...I am not near my supplies so I'll check the brand later or tomorrow...BUT...

I found and went to a home brew store today a half hour away...so I now have Grape Tannin and a bunch of other stuff LOL! I'm gonna be visiting this store a lot :lol:

[rayi]

I hear there are a couple good suppliers on that side of the state. Might want to google wine recipies and look at the Jack Keller site. He has alot of good info and a great blog that goes back a good number of years. Winepres has alot of info and a recipe book for free. I can't remember the site but there is a mead page. Good hint if you have a basement. Rack the mead or wine down the steps. Each step is a month so if its at step three it's been racked 3 times. i also put a hard paper tag on every thing with the recipe and enought space to write in additions, racking and comments.

[DonMcJr]

Thanks Rayi!

I just started my 4th batch, a Cherry/Cinnamon/Vanilla Mead on Sunday. Once it's done to bottling status and it tastes ok I will post the recipe...

I also did a batch of the Joe's Ancient Orange from www.gotmead.com and it's going strong!

I bottled my 1 gallon batch of quick 3 week mead and it will get you drunk for sure but I am hoping the flavor gets better with age...

My 5 gallon Acerglyn Mead is racked for the 2nd time into a glass carboy and aging and appears from my taste test after the 2nd rack to be turning out great!

Fun stuff!