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White Nights Mead

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Nicole Schwartz "AmazonV" edited this page Sep 11, 2015 · 7 revisions

White Nights Mead - 4 gallons

Ingredients

Steps:

ON BREWING DAY

  1. Remove the yeast from the refrigerator, and “smack” as shown on the back of the yeast package. Leave it in a warm place (70-80° F) to incubate until the pack begins to inflate. Allow at least 3 hours for inflation; some packs may take up to several days to show inflation. Do not brew with inactive yeast — we can replace the yeast, but not a batch that fails to ferment properly.

  2. Sanitize the fermenting equipment – fermenter, lid or stopper, fermentation lock, funnel, etc – along with the yeast pack and a pair of scissors.

  3. Fill a sink or cooler with hot tap water and soak honey container(s) to make the honey easier to pour. If your honey is crystallized, don't worry - all raw and natural honey crystallizes over time, especially in colder temperatures. Soaking the honey container in hot water will turn it back into liquid form.

  4. Fill fermenter with 1.5 gallons of room temperature water.

  5. Add the contents of ONE sachet of Mead Nutrient Blend to the water in the fermenter and stir before honey is added.

  6. Boil 0.5 gallons of water.

  7. While water is coming to a boil, pour honey into the fermenter along with the room-temp water and nutrient.

  8. Take the boiled water and carefully pour a small amount into each empty honey container.

  9. Replace covers and shake to dissolve remaining honey (Caution: pressure will build in containers! Open carefully!)

  10. Pour the warm water and dissolved honey into the fermenter. Top up with additional water as needed to achieve a volume of 3 gallons. The mixture is now called the must.

  11. Stir the must until all honey is dissolved and well mixed. This may take 5 to 15 minutes, possibly longer

  12. Using the sanitized scissors, carefully cut open the yeast pack and pour the slurry into the fermenter.

  13. Seal fermenter with a sanitized airlock and locate fermenter in an area that is 65 to 70 deg F.

  14. Fermentation should start within 24 hours.

BEYOND BREWING DAY – FIRST ONE TO TWO WEEKS

  1. Add the remaining nutrient sachets following the schedule below. Remember to carefully sanitize all equipment used to stir the must for each nutrient addition. Warning: adding nutrient and stirring may cause the mead to foam over. Before each nutrient addition you should briefly stir the mead to release residual CO2; this will help prevent foaming. Add one sachet of Mead Nutrient Blend 48 hours after yeast pitch and stir.

BEYOND BREWING DAY – SECONDARY FERMENTATION

  1. When fermentation stops and the specific gravity as measured by a hydrometer is stable (has not changed over the course of two days), carefully siphon the mead into a sanitized three gallon secondary fermenter. Leave as much sediment as possible in the primary fermenter.

  2. Let the mead clarify in the secondary fermenter for the time recommended by your kit. You may wish to add a fining agent such as isinglass to facilitate clearing, and/or potassium sorbate to prevent further fermentation.

BOTTLING DAY

  1. If the mead is to be bottled, we recommend that it be a still mead (no carbonation). Sanitize siphoning and bottling equipment and bottles. Carefully siphon the mead to a bottling bucket and fill the bottles.

  2. If you wish to make a sparkling mead (carbonated), we recommend racking the mead into a sanitized soda keg and force-carbonating with CO2 gas.

  3. Bottles may be consumed 2 weeks after bottling or kept and aged for 6 months or more to achieve superior flavor

Batches

##1

Brewed On

8/29/15

PH-4

SG 1.080

Racked On

9/9/15

SG 1.000

Bottled On

Pictures

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