Simple Mead in a Hot Climate

[DonMoleon]

While I'm at it, I have a question about how much yeast to use...

The directions I have say to use "1 packet" of baker's yeast, but I don't know how much a standard packet is. Plus, I'm using 4 lbs of honey, opposed to the 3 lbs they recommend, and twice as much fruit.

Can anyone give me a good guess of how many grams of baker's yeast I should use per 1 gallon?

[spiderwrangler]

Wine yeast packets are usually 5 grams. Not sure on bread yeast as I have it by the pound and only use less that an half tsp per loaf.

[DonMoleon]

I just did a search on amazon for Fleishcmann's yeast (the brand the recipe suggests) and it looks like the packets are 7 grams each.

Should I be ok with 7 grams, or add a bit more to take into account extra honey and fruit?

[adamK]

I don't think adding more than a pack will do you harm. I don't think you will get to the overpitching regime by adding a second packet, though you might be adding extra dead cells (the beauty of dried bread yeast...) leading to potential autolysis. If you transfer to a second fermenter in a reasonable amount of time, though, it shouldn't be a problem.

[DonMoleon]

I don't think adding more than a pack will do you harm. I don't think you will get to the overpitching regime by adding a second packet, though you might be adding extra dead cells (the beauty of dried bread yeast...) leading to potential autolysis. If you transfer to a second fermenter in a reasonable amount of time, though, it shouldn't be a problem.

I will likely be transferring to a secondary after 2-3 weeks. I'll add more fruit at that point as well. Is it ok to leave the fruit in the secondary for 6+ months, or should I remove the fruit at some point earlier?

[DonMoleon]

I made the mead last Sunday, so I figured I may as well post the recipe here (not that I recommend anyone try it if they have access to good yeast). The following day I listened to JZs podcast on mead, and it was really informative. I wish I had listened to it BEFORE making the mead... oh well, you live and you learn. The biggest thing I learned was that it is not necessary to do a boil for mead. I actually boiled my honey in some water first, thinking that pasteurizing it would be beneficial for some reason. I'll skip that step below. Another useful tip would be to put the yeast in a small amount of water for 10 minutes before making the mead (I just tossed them in dry with all the other ingredients, which probably killed a lot of them).

Ghetto Mead (1 gallon)

Ingredients:
Store brand honey - 4 lbs
Raisins - 2 dozen
Fruit of your choice (frozen) - 1 lb (seperated in half)
Baker's Yeast - 7 grams

Directions:
Add all of the ingredients (half of the fruit) into a fermenter. Fill the remaining volume with water to the 1 gallon mark. Seal the fermenter and shake it up thoroughly. Attach airlock and store in a cool location for 2-3 weeks. Transfer mead to a secondary and add the remaining half of the fruit. Forget about it for at least 6 months to a year.


As mentioned previously, I made 2 batches with this recipe. I put mangosteen in one and clementine oranges in the other. I took OG readings of 1.129 for both, which is probably a little lower than the recipe above would turn out, because I actually filled the water a bit past 1 gallon to 4 liters, plus I probably lost a bit of honey when transferring it from the (unecessary) boil. I'll post another gravity reading in a few weeks when I transfer the mead to a secondary.

Has anyone else tried a recipe like this (ie using regular baker's yeast)?

[DonMoleon]

Visable fermentation appeared to come to a halt after 7 days, and at 10 days I decided to take a gravity reading and found that ithe mead was at about 7% ABV.

Is this a normal rate of fermentation? I am concerned that it is going to slow, or perhaps the yeast died out and it will never hit that 11%+ ABV target.

I know mead typically needs a minimum of 6 months before it's decent to drink, but is that because it needs lots of time to ferment, or because it needs a lot of time to condition? How long does the avergae mead take to hit a double-digit ABV?

[Ozwald]

Don't worry about the amount of alcohol as much as the actual gravity number. With your numbers I'm calculating that you're sitting around 1.059, is that correct? How did you prep your yeast before pitching? Rehydrate? Nutrients? If you just sprinkled the dry yeast on top, it's probably stressed & pooped out. It may not have a very high alcohol tolerance either. 7 grams is considerably underpitching, which would add to the yeast stress as well. Without knowing more details my first thought is you need some nutrients & a better pitch of yeast.