ScottyB-Brewing wrote:I got 16 pounds of orange blossom honey, probably gonna use about 14 pounds, I'm thinking about 3.5 gallons of water, maybe a little more. I'm just gonna heat it to no higher than 120 at the most. I'm going for 5 gallons at the most.
Anybody got any tips for a first time mead maker folks?
What about the water? I use RO water with it built up depending on the style when I brew beer. Should I just use straight RO water or what?
Skip the heating of the honey. Nothing bad can live in honey, therefore there is no need to heat. All you would be doing is driving off all the delicate aromatics of the honey. If you want to make things a bit easier on dilluting the honey, just heat up one gallon of water to throw over the honey and stir, then use cold water to fill to 5 gallons.
As for the water side of things... Water profiles do not matter all that much with mead making. The rule of thumb is, if the water tastes good, then it is good to use. If you're going with RO water, I would just add enough ppm of calcium (50-60ppm) just to aid in flocculation/clarification. Otherwise you'll be waiting quite a while for your mead to be brilliantly clear.
I have great drinking water at home, but lacks calcium. I normally add in my 60ppm of calcium when making my meads, and get crystal clear mead in under three months.
Recipe wise, follow this protocol:
- 16 lbs of OB honey, fill with water to 5 gallons
- Pitch
10g of Lalvin 71B rehydrated with Go-Ferm
- Ferment in 7.9 gallon bucket for primary, so you can aerate to release CO2 easily
- FERMENT @ 62-64F for best results
- Aerate to release CO2 twice a day for the first week
- First three days add 3/4 teaspoons Fermaid O (or Fermaid K if you dont mind adding DAP to your mead)
- Day 7, add a dose of 1 teaspoon of Fermaid O/K
- You can rack into a carboy if you want at the 1 month mark
- Then just let it ride
Taste at the three month mark, thank me later
Good luck!
SGT ScottyB-Brewing 
