RECIPE:
15 lbs Clover Honey from costco
12 lbs Mixed Berries (frozen) from costco
3 2/3 gal Drinking water from costco
8-30-14: Pitched yeast & added 1st dose of nutrient mix, S.G. 1.110
8-31-14: Added 2nd dose of nutrient mix, S.G. not taken
9-01-14: Added 3rd dose of nutrient mix, S.G. 1.040
9-03-14: Added a pinch of nutrient mix , S.G. 1.012
9-04-14: S.G. 1.000, Racked into carboy, added 4 lbs of pureed berries directly to carboy bringing it to around 5 gallons.
9-06-14: Racked back into ferm bucket to get rid of cap and lees
9-08-14: Racked into carboy and covered
As of today 4-01-15 it is still covered and I have kept the vodka in the full
Depends on what your final plan is. Are you planning on a dry mead or going to backsweeten? Has it cleared? If so, you can go ahead and bottle it now if you want, assuming you’re keeping it dry, and let it age in the bottles for several more months before you start drinking it. Or you can just leave it in the carboy for another several months if you want, assuming it’s topped up. If I were you, I’d take a sample and have a taste. Based on that you can decide if it needs any adjustments (acid blend, backsweetening, etc) or if its currently good as is, in which case you’re pretty much done.
I’m hoping for it to be on the sweeter side and not to harsh on the palate. i need to clear it more I know that for sure, I was going to check my local shop to see what they had to clear but if nothing else i’m going to but Super-Kleer on ebay.
any help on making a sparkling sweet version of this, I was thinking maybe half and half on the 5 gallon
Mead will usually clear on its own with time and maybe some cold crashing. Otherwise, good old fashioned knox gelatin works great. Search the forum for how to use it, there’s plenty of info out there.
You can make it sparkling or you can make it sweet. You can only do both if you have the ability to force carbonate it. If you want to sweeten it, you need to first stabilize it by adding 1/2t potassium sorbate and 1/8t potassium metabisulfite per gallon. This effectively kills/neuters the yeast (which is why you cant make it sparking). Then wait a day. Then add honey/sugar/whatever to sweeten. You can pull a sample and dose at different rates to see what tastes best, but I think sweetening up to a gravity of 1.015 or so is pretty safe for a sweeter mead, without being a dessert level sweetness. Assuming you’re starting dry (<1.000) that equates to about 0.4lb of honey per gallon. Keep in mind, mead tends to sweeten up as it ages so don’t overdo it. After sweetening, give it more time in the carboy to clear, and to make sure that the stabilizing was effective and your sweetening honey doesn’t start fermenting which would give you some serious bomb-type issues if you bottled it.
For sparkling, just add some priming sugar just like you would for a beer. Some additional champagne yeast will also help.
