Validate version of Curt Stock's melomel before we begin ple

Hello all

We are making our first batch of mead this weekend using Curt Stock’s Triple Berry recipe we found on the web. We found NB’s video with Curt hugely informative.

21 lbs wildflower honey
4 (48 oz bag) triple berry mix from SAMS
6 Lbs stawberries from sams
96 oz black currant juice (Dierbergs on Eldredege Payne in Chesterfield)
2.3 gallons of water
3 tsp Fermaid K / DAP mix
10 g Lalvin 71B-1122
3 gallons of spring water

We plugged the ingredients into Beer Smith and it shows an Estimated ABV # of 24.4% which seems kinda high. Could our recipe version be wrong? When we transpose 21 to 12 the Estimated ABV goes to 13.7%

We will be using SNA as he suggests

We are looking for an end product which is semi-dry (not too dry, not too sweet)

Thank you!!!

The yeast strain you are using only has an alcohol tolerance of up to 14% ABV. Not sure how you’d get to the 24% you got from the beer smith.
Unless I am missing something here… I’ve used champagne yeast to up to 18%, but I’ve yet to find how you can possibly ferment that far beyond your yeast tolerance.

Anyone?

I agree that it must be 12 lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch. 21 lbs give a SG of 1.214. That will never ferment. 71B will sometimes go to 15% with SNAs. Sometimes. ABV tolerances are measured in grape must. That is like comparing apples and oranges.

I think I would add 8 lbs of honey to start, then let it ferment dry. Add more honey to the gravity you want and let it ferment again. Continue this process until the yeast give up. This way you don’t end up with a mead that is too sweet. Since the target gravity is 1.04, I would add to 1.03 for each addition to make sure you don’t overshoot.

loveofrose, I do want to know more about this, but I don’t want to clutter up the OP’s thread… I’m starting a new post on this…

Thank you !!! I am glad I asked. The cost of ingredients with the currant juice and 21 pounds of honey is $184 so I really did not want to create an expensive large vat of overly sweet juice.

I think I will try the 8 pounds of honey as suggested.

With Beer Smith I picked a style called “Fruit Melomel” which provides the estimated starting OG and ABV. You then select ingredients. As you increase or decrease the number of pounds of honey (or other sugars) there is a scale (red, yellow, green) that is adjusted along with the ABV. Thus at 21 pounds of honey and 17 pounds of fruit the ABV showed 23+%.

It looked like a great tool for a newby like me – probably would be better if I actually understood what everything means

Most of the software will assume ridiculous things like yeast exceeding 20% ABV. Also, the software is really designed for beer. As a result, it’s mead calculations are flawed on a fundamental level.

You can check out gotmead for a wealth of mead centric information.