Orange Blossom Mead (BG)
First attempt at a mead.
Brewed 4.5 gallons on 2018-10-19
Preboil gravity: 1.109
Original gravity: 1.109
Final gravity: 1.000
ABV: 14.3%
Apparent Attenuation: 100.0%
Split batch with Orange Blossom Mead w/ Cherry Puree (BH)
Process notes
2018-10-20
Half a cup of water, boiled and cooled. Added 1/4 tsp Fermaid K and 1/4 tsp Nutriferm. Dumped in fermenter.
2018-10-21
No Krausen and fermentation is fairly light. I'm worried the yeast may not have been very viable. (These packs were from Northern Brewer; the packs for BH were from Fermentation Solutions.)
2018-10-21
Half a cup of water, boiled and cooled. Added 1/4 tsp Fermaid K and 1/4 tsp Nutriferm. Dumped in fermenter.
2018-11-01
Half a cup of water, boiled and cooled. Added 1/4 tsp Fermaid K and 1/4 tsp Nutriferm. Dumped in fermenter. Fermentation picked up after 2nd yeast addition, but not super vigorous.
2018-12-21
Racked to 5 gallon carboy. SG is ~0.99. Put in closet to clarify. Tastes a bit hot now.
2019-03-19
Bottled 45 375mL bottles. Great clarity. Pale yellow. Light honey, floral aroma, alcohol is subdued. Flavor seems a bit acidic. No major alcohol burn. Pretty clean and easy drinking.
Boil for 5 minutes
At 0 minutes
18 pounds of Orange Blossom Honey (Maillard Malt brand, bought from Northern Brewer. Water was boiled for 5 minutes to sanitize, then honey was added at 120° while it continued to cool to pitching temp.)
Yeast
2018-10-19
Pitch 3 packs of Lalvin 71B-1122 Dry Wine Yeast (LallemandBrewing) at 68°. (Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil, cool, and rehydrate the packs. Added 1/4 tsp Fermaid K and 1/4 tsp Northern Brewers Nutriferm Energy to the mixture.)
2018-10-26
Pitch 3 packs of Lalvin 71B-1122 Dry Wine Yeast (LallemandBrewing) at 70°. (SG is 1.076 and fermentation seems to be stalled, so adding more yeast. Rehydrated in half a cup of water along with 1/4 tsp Fermaid K and 1/4 tsp Nutriferm. The mead has a sweet honey aroma and flavor. Slightly hazy. Nothing seems off at least.)
Dry additions
2019-03-13
5 milliliters of Biofine Clear Clarifier. (Mead was still very hazy, so hopefully this clears it up.)
Beer competition results
Scored 32 in 2020 NHC.