Clover Mead For Strawberry Melomel

Abby and I made another mead on Sunday morning.   This time around was 4 quarts of Clover Honey from a somewhat local source.   I wanted to go with about 4 gallons this time, to get the Original Gravity somewhere in the 1.100 range, and we were successful with that, though we had to add a little extra from a honey bear that I bought when I bought the rest of that.    2 gallons of the water were leftover Milksick water from the Cherry Stout.

The whole thing pretty much went right as planned.   We've been doing the "no heat" method, and have had a decent amount of success with it (no failures so far, anyway).   I'm also doing the stepped feeding & stirring, as outlined by Ken Schramm in The Jamil Show on Mead.  That basically involves stirring in nutrients every day or two, to provide additional oxygen for yeast growth, and to give them the nutrients they need as they deplete their reserves.    Essentially, you keep them from getting too stressed, since honey is a nutrient wasteland.

We did soak the jars in a hot water bath this time, which made the honey pour very easily, and made stirring it into the water pretty much a breeze.   

This coming weekend, we're planning to run down to a Local Farm that does "pick your own" strawberries, and I'll be getting several pounds of them to put into this.    I'll top, clean, and freeze the berries, then thaw them and get them near room temperature before adding them to the must, once it's up near the 10% alcohol mark.

Clover Mead for Strawberry Melomel

Batch Size (Gal): 4
Honey (Gal): 1
Anticipated OG: 1.100

Sugar
4 1-quart jars of Weber Farms Clover Honey

Water
2 gallons Milksick water
1 gallon Clearview water

Yeast
Lalvin 71B-1122 2 5g packets, rehydrated in 1 cup of 100F distilled water

Extras
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Energizer
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Nutrient

Notes

• Mixed on Sunday, May 14 2011, around 9AM  
• 24.75 Brix, ~4 gallons
• Airlock activity by 8:40PM
• Temperature in the house has been in the low 60's
• 9PM Tuesday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/2t Yeast Nutrient and stirred pretty vigorously.   A lot of gas came out of suspension, but the gravity hasn't changed much yet.   Maybe 1/2-degree Brix.  pH around 3.8
• 9PM Thursday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred vigorously.   pH still 3.8, gravity 23.5 Brix
• 10AM Saturday Morning, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred.  pH 3.6, gravity 20.5 Brix