Alcohol calculations:
honey: 0.6 simple sugars plus 0.2 complex (g_sugar / g_honey). Use 0.6.
honey: 1.4 g_honey/ml => 0.84 g_sugar/ml_honey
grape juice: 0.14 g_sugar/ml
orange juice: 0.09 g_sugar/ml
frozen grape juice: 0.60 g_sugar/ml
frozen orange juice: 0.40 g_sugar/ml
frozen juice: 355 ml/container
Alcohol density: 0.79 g/ml
sugar density after dissolved: 1.6 g/ml dissolved, 0.7 g/ml granulated sugar
sucrose: 0.54 g_ethanol/g_sugar
fructose & glucose: 0.51 g_ethanol/g_sugar
167 ml per small champagne bottle
500 ml per glass bottle (3x)
29.6 ml/floz
Use 1.5 g glucose for 167 ml bottle
Example: grape wine
15% ethanol =
( 96 oz*29.6 ml/oz*0.14g_sugar/ml +
X_frozen_cans * 0.6 g_sugar/ml * 355 ml/can ) * 0.51 g_ethanol/g_sugar / 0.79 g_eth/ml
/ (96 * 29.6 + X * 355)
X=2 cans grape juice per 96 oz grape juice for 15% alcohol.
Example: grape juice mead
15% ethanol =
( 96 oz*29.6 ml/oz*0.14g_sugar/ml +
X_ml_honey * 0.84 g_sugar/ml_honey ) * 0.51 g_ethanol/g_sugar / 0.79 g_eth/ml
/ (96 * 29.6 + X_ml_honey)
X = 450 ml_honey = 630 g = 15 floz = 22 oz wt for 15% alcohol
add 2 cans frozen orange juice for 17%
or 1.5 cans frozen grape.
cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, hops
Sucrose to ethanol
C12H22O11 + H2O => 4C2H5OH + 4CO2
sucrose: 342 mw
ethanol: 46.1 mw
46.1*4/342 = 54% alcohol by weight, 1.2*54 = 63% by volume
Fructose & Glucose:
C6H12O6 => 2C2H5OH + 2CO2
glucose & fructose same formula: C6H12O6 (fructose slow to ferment) 180.16 mw
2*46.1/180.16 = 51.1% alcohol by weight.
Alcohol 0.79 g/ml
Honey: only 58% glucose & fructose, 0.5% sucrose, 20% other more complex sugars (80% total).
0.7 g_sugar/lb_honey is probably close
May 5, 2022
17% alcohol mead/beer.
grape juice, frozen orange & pineapple, hops, honey, lemon juice, clove, ginger, & cinnamon (powders).
grape juice 4 gallons
orange and pineapple frozen juice, 5 each (total 3,550 ml almost a gallon
7 pounds honey (about 2 quarts)
Clove, ginger, cinnamon, about 1 to 3 tablespoon each. Maybe 1/8 oz each when I need 1 ounce.
hops, 2 ounces (standard 5 gallon recommendation.
I started 1/3 packet of yeast in 1/2 gallon grape juice w/ 1 cup sugar 24 hr before.
I poured 1/2 or 1(?) gallon grape juice with 7 pound honey into big post. While that heated I added all other grape (3 gallon) & frozen juices (1 gallon) to 5.5 gallon bucket. When it reach 140 F I added the above spices & hops. Stirred. When it reached 180 F I turned it off, stirred. It was a bit too thick. After it cooled, I squeezed 4 lemons. (risky, but it has good oils I didn't want to ruin). I poured hot mash into bucket that had 3 gallon grape juice and 1 gallon frozen juices (thawed to room temp earlier) , then added the 1/2 gallon starter grape juice with yeast. Bucket was exactly full when I finished, had to siphon off little over gallon, so siphoned off over a gallon into 2 grape juice containers. Next time use 4.5 gallon grape juice. Had to hot glue bubble to lid. Top closed OK.
calculated 19% alcohol
It had a lot of gunk floating on top. I don't really know what caused that. Hopes? Spices interacting with honey? Pineapple? Seems like everythig contributed, when a plain grape wine had nothing.
Simplest sulfur-free wine:
1 part Welch's frozen grape juice to 1 part water. Add bread yeast (or any wine yeast), shake for O2 addition. Shake again in 2 days. Wait 10 days. Enjoy.
===========
2019 mead with citrus, some grape, and spices (a melomel + metheglin) 5 gallons:
In 2 gallon pot: mix the following and bring to 120 F:
(not going above 120 F keeps honey flavor better)
10 pounds honey ($38) 10/12.1 = 0.826 gallons
1 gallon water
In small pot brought to 180 F
0.2 gallons water
10 cloves, crushed
3 level TBSP cinnamon
1.5 tsp nutmeg
1/3 ounce hop pellets (10 g) per 5 gallons (flavor & bacteria prevention). This 1/3 as much as Ale that is medium on hops.
In 6 gallon bucket make 3 gallons:
1.3 gallons water
6 cans frozen orange juice (0.33 pound sugar per can, 12 oz/can = 0.28 gallon)
2 half gallon grape juice (320/454 = 0.7 pounds sugar per half gallon, 1.4 pounds)
2 tsp pectinase (for clarity and flavor extraction)
In future, let it ferment first with only honey, grapejuice, and 1/4 the needed Fermaid and spices. After honey is finished in 4 days, add 1/2 the organe juice. After 4 more days, add the other half.
Mix all 3 above and Let cool to 85 F before adding yeast starter.
6 to 24 hours before create yeast starter
Lalvin 71B-1122 (the best because it eats acids present in citrus) in 2 oz 104 F water for 20 minutes (2 oz cools at the right rate). Added some dextrose to this and was foamy at end. Better to make 2 cup with yeast nutrient and honey 24 hours prior to casting. Don't forget to oxygenate it.
EC-1118 yeast for high alcohol, 18% (carries risk of additional fermentation after bottling)
D47 or 71B-1122 for 14% ("sweeter")
After fermentation has started good (1/3 finished according to manufacturer), add 5 grams of yeast nutrient. Fermaid K is probably best. Also oxygenate the must at this time, but not later, except for racking.
Update: I'm was not going to add Fermaid K because I want to leave some sugars for sweetness, but then it started slowing up a lot in fermentation and I decided I didn't want sweetness, so I added a tsp fermaid K and did not add another 6 can of frozen orange concentrate.
Only add oxygen once during initial fermentation and no more. Rack without adding air (siphon is held below liquid level).
Fermentation is supposed to be finished mostly in 4 days. Primary fermentation is supposed to take 2 to 4 weeks, letting a lot settle out after fermentation. I'm thinking about racking straight to bottles after this. The bottom of the bucket seems to have a lot more good flavor. The sweetness and alcohol can be tasted and adjusted
Super Kleer is the best finer/clarifier to use at racking to secondary, but people indicate it tastes better without using a finer or clarifier.
One month seems to a pretty fast secondary "fermentation" before bottling. Most say 3 to 6 months. This seems to be mostly for clarity. At least another 3 to 6 months I think is recommended in bottle.
Bottling: 1 gram sugar per 6 oz champagne bottle gives beer-like CO2.
Alcohol content [10 lb honey/2+(4.1 lb juice sugar, sugar, or dextrose)/1.5]/5 gallons * 10% = 15.5%
This is slightly less than previous batch. I wanted a little less alcohol and calories.
[ update: this had high alcohol and high sugar. maybe the honey has more than 10/2 = 5 lb sugars ]
4/9/2019 (6 am): I did the above ratios for 1/2 gallon as my inoculator (used 1 packet of 71B yeast.. Every 30 minutes I shook it and sucked off the bubbles to expel CO2 and add a little oxygen. Did not use fermaid K or DAP or sugar, but did use pectin. I suspect what most people are calling giving more O2 to yeast is actually just reducing the CO2 (acid) level. At 6 hours it was bubbling once per 5 seconds.
At 7 hours it had maxed at 4.5 secs per bubble. Added 1 g Fermaid K (2x too much) and shook a little to mix (disturbed bottom, but did not release much CO2 from must.Was 9 seconds per bubble immediately after and 6 per bubble 5 minutes later. 25 minutes later it was back at 4.5 sec/bubble.The bubble cap is rising 4 mm before dropping. It's inner diameter is about 22 mm. This is about 1.5 ml, but there is an inner tube projecting into part of the airspace that is not the cone at the top 1.25 ml per bubble is my best estimate. 40 minutes after inoculation later it is 4.33 secs/bubble. 70 minutes after inoculation it is 4.15 sec/bubble. I did it too soon: no proof Fermaid K helped. 2 hours after inoculation it is 3.5 secs/bubble. 3.3 hours after inoculation, 3 secs/bubble.
4/9/2019, 6 pm: 12 hours after initial 1/2 gallon starter above, I made the rest of the batch (it was 80 F) and mixed in the 1/2 gallon starter. 12 hours later it was about 0.75 secs/bubble. 6 more hours and it was about 3 bubbles per second.
4/10/2019, 2 pm: 20 hours after inoculation, a bag test showed about 1 gallon in 10 minutes which is 7.5% in only 24 hours.
4/11, 3 am 1/2 gallon in 10 minutes (~ 3 bubbles/sec)
4/11, 8 am, 1.5 bubbles/second. Alcohol so far is maybe only 5%, based on bubbles and taste. I made 4 small 187 ml glass bottles straight from wort before stirring in oxygen. Then I stirred soe and made 2 more. Then I added 1 tsp Fermaid K (because bubble rate was slowing fast and it was still sweet) and stirred top layers again to add more oxygen and made 2 more bottle. 1/2 bottle from first 4, I shook a lot to add more oxygen. Bubble rate was back at 1 bubble/sec in only 1 hour.
5/1/2018: got back from cruise and finally bottled. Added 1 g sugar for CO2, but it does not seem to be working. It is sweeter than expected, but still has kick-butt alcohol. Going to try adding fermaid to a bottle.
=======
CO2 bubble calculation. 1.98 mg CO2 per ml CO2 (500x expansion is < 1333x air's expansion because it's molecular weight 3x more = moving 1.7x slower => needs more molecules per volume for equal momentum pressure). Alcohol atomic mass is 92/88 mass of of CO2. DEnsity if 0.794 g/ml. So
1 ml CO2 = 1.98 mg * 92/88 / 0.794 = 2.6 ml alcohol.
I estimated 1.25 ml/bubble.
For 5 gallon bucket, 1 bubble per second gives 1.5% alcohol per day. (1.25 ml/bubble * 3600 * 24 bubbles/day * 2.6 ml alcohol/ml CO2 gas / 3785 ml/gal / 5 gal = 1.5% per day.
1.25 ml/bubble is 1.2 gallons/hour at 1 bubble/sec.
I measured this at 1.5 bubbles/sec and it looked as close as I could estimate to the expected 1.2 * 1.5 = 1.8 gallons in an hour.
=============
By weight, the sugar to alcohol conversion results in 51.1% of the sugar mass converting to alcohol and 48.9% converting to CO2 (the 51.1 and 48.9 come from the chemical reaction to create alcohol from sugars, C6H12O6 –> 2(CH3CH2OH) + 2CO2, where the amu of sugar is 180, 2 alcohols is 92, and 2 CO2s is 88; for alcohol –> 92/180 = 0.511, and for CO2 –> 88/180 = 0.489). This equates to an alcohol conversion efficiency of 64.37% when converting back to volume (0.511 / 0.794). 0.794 = density of alcohol
=====
Trying to brew a mead. Recipe:
5 gallons total
Honey is acidic which can help yeast and prevent bacteria. This may have too much raw sugars and not enough honey which may allow bacteria to grow, since I'm not using hops or sulfites and did not heat most of the water (charcoal filter) and simply add 0.7 lb sugar at the end. The Chlorox I used for sterilizing was unknowingly only 2% instead of 5% and I diluted it a lot, but it still should have been plenty for the bucket and lid as I kept them wet.
1+ gallon water in 2 gallon pot heat to 170 F or higher
Added:
8 pounds honey (2 pounds per gallon for 10% alcohol)
3 pounds dextrose (for fast start) (1.5 pounds per gallon for 10% alcohol)
2 pound cane sugar (syrup solids added)
6 cloves
1 TBLS cinnamon (do 2 next time)
1 cinnamon stick, broken in 5 pieces
2 oranges, squeezed into mash, cut in about 20, 1 mm thick trips added to mash.
1 big lemon, same strips as above
I forgot to use hops as a way to prevent bacterial growth, but I possibly added enough sugar for 18%, so it may be sweet.
All the above brought to 200 F, then allowed to cool, covered. Took 2 or 3 hours to cool.
2 cans frozen orange juice, added after wort has cooled to below 140 (for this process).
2 TBLS yeast nutrient and 3 gallon filtered water added in 5 gallon bucket.
Lalvin 71B-1122 in 2 oz 104 F water for 20 minutes (2 oz cools at the right rate). Added some dextrose to this and was foamy at end. This is an expensive yeast ($5) because it minimizes acids. Rapid starting but moderate overall. 14% max alcohol. A paper indicates an expected S-curve for fermentation starting steeply down from 24 to 72 hours, and finishing at 84 hours (3.5 days) for fructose, glucose, and malic acid for several types of yeast, including this one. But maybe there are better yeast to use for citrus because Malic is the dominant acid in apples, peaches, pears, watermelon, and bananas. The starting with 20% sugar (10% alcohol by 2 sugar = 1 alcohol estimate) and 0.6% malic acid (both in g/L). This resulted in 12% alcohol. They mixed every 12 hours, possibly only for sampling purposes. EC-1118 is more common but does not decrease acids. D47 is also used.
Used 20:1 water-bleach mixture for sanitizing bucket, utensils, and air lock.
Make sure wort is less than 86 F before inoculating.
2 gallon pot was completely full. Wort was 130 F when added in 5 gal bucket with yeast nutrient, 2 cans of orange juice concentrate , and 0.7 lb dextrose added late (but included in 3 pounds above). It was 75 F after finishing 3 gallons were added, when yeast was added.
Sugar calculation: 0.7*8 lbs honey+0.5 lb/can*2 cans frozen juice+5 lb sugar = 11.5 lb sugar
11.5 lb /2 = 6.25 lb alcohol
5 gallons * 8 lb/gal = 40 pounds
6.25/40 = 15.6% alcohol max. (this yeast gives 14% max, so it's moderate sweet, not dry)
But a paper indicated I'm 20% too low on my alcohol content. Maybe I'm doing it on weight basis and 20% more is normal volume basis.
5 gallon bucket lid pretty much touched top at 5 gallon, so needed to jury-rig the air lock to not dip into liquid.
Yeast was added 11:30 am 11/7/2015.
1 small bubble every 30 seconds 30 minutes later.
1 good bubble every 20 seconds 6 hours later
1 good bubble every second 18 hours later
===
fast fermenting, high alcohol yeast:
ec-1118
DV10
QA23
2226
V1116 (K1)
uvaferm 43
4th day added 2 gallons with 1 can orange juice 1 can grape and 1 oz hops. Fermentation bubbles boomed again, mostly due to more oxygen or maybe the dilution. It was very sweet at this time, but after two more days of the intense bubbling starting again, it was very alcoholic.
==============
1 part Welch's frozen grape juice to 1 part water. Add bread yeast (or any wine yeast), shake for O2 addition. Shake again in 2 days. Wait 10 days. Enjoy.
===========
2019 mead with citrus, some grape, and spices (a melomel + metheglin) 5 gallons:
In 2 gallon pot: mix the following and bring to 120 F:
(not going above 120 F keeps honey flavor better)
10 pounds honey ($38) 10/12.1 = 0.826 gallons
1 gallon water
In small pot brought to 180 F
0.2 gallons water
10 cloves, crushed
3 level TBSP cinnamon
1.5 tsp nutmeg
1/3 ounce hop pellets (10 g) per 5 gallons (flavor & bacteria prevention). This 1/3 as much as Ale that is medium on hops.
In 6 gallon bucket make 3 gallons:
1.3 gallons water
6 cans frozen orange juice (0.33 pound sugar per can, 12 oz/can = 0.28 gallon)
2 half gallon grape juice (320/454 = 0.7 pounds sugar per half gallon, 1.4 pounds)
2 tsp pectinase (for clarity and flavor extraction)
In future, let it ferment first with only honey, grapejuice, and 1/4 the needed Fermaid and spices. After honey is finished in 4 days, add 1/2 the organe juice. After 4 more days, add the other half.
Mix all 3 above and Let cool to 85 F before adding yeast starter.
6 to 24 hours before create yeast starter
Lalvin 71B-1122 (the best because it eats acids present in citrus) in 2 oz 104 F water for 20 minutes (2 oz cools at the right rate). Added some dextrose to this and was foamy at end. Better to make 2 cup with yeast nutrient and honey 24 hours prior to casting. Don't forget to oxygenate it.
EC-1118 yeast for high alcohol, 18% (carries risk of additional fermentation after bottling)
D47 or 71B-1122 for 14% ("sweeter")
After fermentation has started good (1/3 finished according to manufacturer), add 5 grams of yeast nutrient. Fermaid K is probably best. Also oxygenate the must at this time, but not later, except for racking.
Update: I'm was not going to add Fermaid K because I want to leave some sugars for sweetness, but then it started slowing up a lot in fermentation and I decided I didn't want sweetness, so I added a tsp fermaid K and did not add another 6 can of frozen orange concentrate.
Only add oxygen once during initial fermentation and no more. Rack without adding air (siphon is held below liquid level).
Fermentation is supposed to be finished mostly in 4 days. Primary fermentation is supposed to take 2 to 4 weeks, letting a lot settle out after fermentation. I'm thinking about racking straight to bottles after this. The bottom of the bucket seems to have a lot more good flavor. The sweetness and alcohol can be tasted and adjusted
Super Kleer is the best finer/clarifier to use at racking to secondary, but people indicate it tastes better without using a finer or clarifier.
One month seems to a pretty fast secondary "fermentation" before bottling. Most say 3 to 6 months. This seems to be mostly for clarity. At least another 3 to 6 months I think is recommended in bottle.
Bottling: 1 gram sugar per 6 oz champagne bottle gives beer-like CO2.
Alcohol content [10 lb honey/2+(4.1 lb juice sugar, sugar, or dextrose)/1.5]/5 gallons * 10% = 15.5%
This is slightly less than previous batch. I wanted a little less alcohol and calories.
[ update: this had high alcohol and high sugar. maybe the honey has more than 10/2 = 5 lb sugars ]
4/9/2019 (6 am): I did the above ratios for 1/2 gallon as my inoculator (used 1 packet of 71B yeast.. Every 30 minutes I shook it and sucked off the bubbles to expel CO2 and add a little oxygen. Did not use fermaid K or DAP or sugar, but did use pectin. I suspect what most people are calling giving more O2 to yeast is actually just reducing the CO2 (acid) level. At 6 hours it was bubbling once per 5 seconds.
At 7 hours it had maxed at 4.5 secs per bubble. Added 1 g Fermaid K (2x too much) and shook a little to mix (disturbed bottom, but did not release much CO2 from must.Was 9 seconds per bubble immediately after and 6 per bubble 5 minutes later. 25 minutes later it was back at 4.5 sec/bubble.The bubble cap is rising 4 mm before dropping. It's inner diameter is about 22 mm. This is about 1.5 ml, but there is an inner tube projecting into part of the airspace that is not the cone at the top 1.25 ml per bubble is my best estimate. 40 minutes after inoculation later it is 4.33 secs/bubble. 70 minutes after inoculation it is 4.15 sec/bubble. I did it too soon: no proof Fermaid K helped. 2 hours after inoculation it is 3.5 secs/bubble. 3.3 hours after inoculation, 3 secs/bubble.
4/9/2019, 6 pm: 12 hours after initial 1/2 gallon starter above, I made the rest of the batch (it was 80 F) and mixed in the 1/2 gallon starter. 12 hours later it was about 0.75 secs/bubble. 6 more hours and it was about 3 bubbles per second.
4/10/2019, 2 pm: 20 hours after inoculation, a bag test showed about 1 gallon in 10 minutes which is 7.5% in only 24 hours.
4/11, 3 am 1/2 gallon in 10 minutes (~ 3 bubbles/sec)
4/11, 8 am, 1.5 bubbles/second. Alcohol so far is maybe only 5%, based on bubbles and taste. I made 4 small 187 ml glass bottles straight from wort before stirring in oxygen. Then I stirred soe and made 2 more. Then I added 1 tsp Fermaid K (because bubble rate was slowing fast and it was still sweet) and stirred top layers again to add more oxygen and made 2 more bottle. 1/2 bottle from first 4, I shook a lot to add more oxygen. Bubble rate was back at 1 bubble/sec in only 1 hour.
5/1/2018: got back from cruise and finally bottled. Added 1 g sugar for CO2, but it does not seem to be working. It is sweeter than expected, but still has kick-butt alcohol. Going to try adding fermaid to a bottle.
=======
CO2 bubble calculation. 1.98 mg CO2 per ml CO2 (500x expansion is < 1333x air's expansion because it's molecular weight 3x more = moving 1.7x slower => needs more molecules per volume for equal momentum pressure). Alcohol atomic mass is 92/88 mass of of CO2. DEnsity if 0.794 g/ml. So
1 ml CO2 = 1.98 mg * 92/88 / 0.794 = 2.6 ml alcohol.
I estimated 1.25 ml/bubble.
For 5 gallon bucket, 1 bubble per second gives 1.5% alcohol per day. (1.25 ml/bubble * 3600 * 24 bubbles/day * 2.6 ml alcohol/ml CO2 gas / 3785 ml/gal / 5 gal = 1.5% per day.
1.25 ml/bubble is 1.2 gallons/hour at 1 bubble/sec.
I measured this at 1.5 bubbles/sec and it looked as close as I could estimate to the expected 1.2 * 1.5 = 1.8 gallons in an hour.
=============
By weight, the sugar to alcohol conversion results in 51.1% of the sugar mass converting to alcohol and 48.9% converting to CO2 (the 51.1 and 48.9 come from the chemical reaction to create alcohol from sugars, C6H12O6 –> 2(CH3CH2OH) + 2CO2, where the amu of sugar is 180, 2 alcohols is 92, and 2 CO2s is 88; for alcohol –> 92/180 = 0.511, and for CO2 –> 88/180 = 0.489). This equates to an alcohol conversion efficiency of 64.37% when converting back to volume (0.511 / 0.794). 0.794 = density of alcohol
=====
Trying to brew a mead. Recipe:
5 gallons total
Honey is acidic which can help yeast and prevent bacteria. This may have too much raw sugars and not enough honey which may allow bacteria to grow, since I'm not using hops or sulfites and did not heat most of the water (charcoal filter) and simply add 0.7 lb sugar at the end. The Chlorox I used for sterilizing was unknowingly only 2% instead of 5% and I diluted it a lot, but it still should have been plenty for the bucket and lid as I kept them wet.
1+ gallon water in 2 gallon pot heat to 170 F or higher
Added:
8 pounds honey (2 pounds per gallon for 10% alcohol)
3 pounds dextrose (for fast start) (1.5 pounds per gallon for 10% alcohol)
2 pound cane sugar (syrup solids added)
6 cloves
1 TBLS cinnamon (do 2 next time)
1 cinnamon stick, broken in 5 pieces
2 oranges, squeezed into mash, cut in about 20, 1 mm thick trips added to mash.
1 big lemon, same strips as above
I forgot to use hops as a way to prevent bacterial growth, but I possibly added enough sugar for 18%, so it may be sweet.
All the above brought to 200 F, then allowed to cool, covered. Took 2 or 3 hours to cool.
2 cans frozen orange juice, added after wort has cooled to below 140 (for this process).
2 TBLS yeast nutrient and 3 gallon filtered water added in 5 gallon bucket.
Lalvin 71B-1122 in 2 oz 104 F water for 20 minutes (2 oz cools at the right rate). Added some dextrose to this and was foamy at end. This is an expensive yeast ($5) because it minimizes acids. Rapid starting but moderate overall. 14% max alcohol. A paper indicates an expected S-curve for fermentation starting steeply down from 24 to 72 hours, and finishing at 84 hours (3.5 days) for fructose, glucose, and malic acid for several types of yeast, including this one. But maybe there are better yeast to use for citrus because Malic is the dominant acid in apples, peaches, pears, watermelon, and bananas. The starting with 20% sugar (10% alcohol by 2 sugar = 1 alcohol estimate) and 0.6% malic acid (both in g/L). This resulted in 12% alcohol. They mixed every 12 hours, possibly only for sampling purposes. EC-1118 is more common but does not decrease acids. D47 is also used.
Used 20:1 water-bleach mixture for sanitizing bucket, utensils, and air lock.
Make sure wort is less than 86 F before inoculating.
2 gallon pot was completely full. Wort was 130 F when added in 5 gal bucket with yeast nutrient, 2 cans of orange juice concentrate , and 0.7 lb dextrose added late (but included in 3 pounds above). It was 75 F after finishing 3 gallons were added, when yeast was added.
Sugar calculation: 0.7*8 lbs honey+0.5 lb/can*2 cans frozen juice+5 lb sugar = 11.5 lb sugar
11.5 lb /2 = 6.25 lb alcohol
5 gallons * 8 lb/gal = 40 pounds
6.25/40 = 15.6% alcohol max. (this yeast gives 14% max, so it's moderate sweet, not dry)
But a paper indicated I'm 20% too low on my alcohol content. Maybe I'm doing it on weight basis and 20% more is normal volume basis.
5 gallon bucket lid pretty much touched top at 5 gallon, so needed to jury-rig the air lock to not dip into liquid.
Yeast was added 11:30 am 11/7/2015.
1 small bubble every 30 seconds 30 minutes later.
1 good bubble every 20 seconds 6 hours later
1 good bubble every second 18 hours later
===
fast fermenting, high alcohol yeast:
ec-1118
DV10
QA23
2226
V1116 (K1)
uvaferm 43
4th day added 2 gallons with 1 can orange juice 1 can grape and 1 oz hops. Fermentation bubbles boomed again, mostly due to more oxygen or maybe the dilution. It was very sweet at this time, but after two more days of the intense bubbling starting again, it was very alcoholic.
==============
Two Melomels from Curt Stock
Meadmaker of the Year (2005) and Northern Brewer mead kit creator Curt Stock shares two of his favorite melomel recipes with Brewing TV. Now you can make your own! See Curt make a similar melomel in Brewing TV Episode 21. Both recipes scaled for five gallon yield.
Black Currant Cherry Melomel
- 22 lbs Wildflower Honey
- 8 lbs Black Currants
- 12 lbs Tart Cherries
- 3 gal Water
- 3 tsp Yeast Energizer/Nutrient Blend (Fermaid-K and DAP)
- 10 g Lalvin Narbonne Yeast (71B-1122)
Approximate OG: 1.161
Target FG: 1.030 - 1.040
Estimated ABV: 16.1%
Super Berry Melomel
- 21 lbs Wildflower Honey
- 12 lbs Triple Berry Mix (Blackberries/Raspberries/Blueberries)
- 6 lbs Strawberries
- 96 oz Black Currant Juice (free of preservatives)
- 2.3 gal Water
- 3 tsp Yeast Energizer/Nutrient Blend (Fermaid-K and DAP)
- 10 g Lalvin Narbonne Yeast (71B-1122)
Approximate OG: 1.158
Target FG: 1.030 - 1.040
Estimated ABV: 15.8%
Staggered Nutrient Additions (SNA):
I prefer to use Fermaid-K (yeast energizer) and diammonium phosphate or DAP (yeast nutrient) for adding the additional nutrient requirements of the yeast during fermentation. One teaspoon of Fermaid-K and two teaspoons DAP should be adequate for a 5-gallon batch. You can mix them together for a stock blend and add them using the following schedule:
- Add ¾ teaspoon yeast energizer/nutrient mix immediately after pitching yeast.
- Add ¾ teaspoon yeast energizer/nutrient mix 24 hours after fermentation begins.
- Add ¾ teaspoon yeast energizer/nutrient mix 48 hours after fermentation begins.
- Add ¾ teaspoon yeast energizer/nutrient mix after 30% of the sugar has been depleted.
Anyone who has ever stirred a fermenting beverage knows the foaming, triggered by the release of CO2, can make one heck of a mess! To help minimize this, you should mix the nutrient blend into ½ cup of must and add it back to the fermenter. Then begin to slowly stir the must to release the main portion of the CO2 gas. After the foaming has subsided you can begin to stir more vigorously. Mix the must well enough to introduce plenty of oxygen into the fermenting must. Oxygen is needed by the yeast throughout the growth phase. Oxidation is not a huge concern until you get past 50 percent sugar depletion.
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