Mead Diaries - Nov 19, 2013

I had a pack of yeast left over after my last two batches, and they both got off without a hitch. So I decided to add a 3rd batch and try out a few more things. And definitely, things are on the informative side of things. More research has also lead to more respect for just how much of a game of tug-o-war fermenting beverages can be.

The test of weekend was using a larger primary fermentation container.

Reading up seemed to indicate people doing this for a variety of reasons. Though, in general there was very little consensus. Reasons varied from easier access to the must to stir up fruits for melomels, to additional aeration, and then to easier access to adding more nutrients throughout the process.

I don't do melomels (yet). So it was the other 2 ideas that had me going.

One of my general goals from a scientific and hobby standpoint is to reduce the total fermentation and aging time as much as possible while still ending up with something that both tastes good and has an alcohol content somewhere above 12%.

In the process of researching and testing to reach those goals we wound up at this weeks incredibly ad-hoc experiment. The rig was a plastic container of kitty litter, cleaned out and rigged up with a hole for the airlock.

The first reason for this was aeration. Everyone has a different approach. Apparently, I was as odd as I thought I was in doing primary fermentation in a glass carboy with an airlock. The other end of the spectrum however was the people who like using a food grade pale with plenty of head room. And the argument for the head room and intermittent aeration is that the yeast reproduce much faster in the presence of oxygen. But, if they have already started making alcohol it can contribute to potentially undesirable flavors that take time to age out.

And so we reach the tug-o-war. If you don't have a healthy enough starting colony due to not enough aeration you can end up with a population of yeast struggling to convert the sugars to alcohol. And stressed yeast mean off flavors. But, if you aerate too long, or incorrectly, you get same sort of outcome but for different reasons.

Now, my rig is/was terrible. In retrospect, next time I'll just run out to the local homebrew place and pick up a proper air-tight fermenter. Because this one wasn't. There was a MIGHTY vigorous fermentation going on in there and absolutely no activity in the airlock. Frankly, I don't think much excess oxygen got in, in my rig. Given the rate of fermentation and that there were no gaping holes, escaping gas was likely winning out over oxygen getting in. And I only left it like that for 2 days.

But, as you might have gathered from above... yes it appears to work as advertised. This is massively more aggressive a ferment than I've ever seen. I think 2 days of giving it a little extra aeration and second dose of yeast nutrient is unlikely to harm anything. And as a result I have promisingly fast looking fermentation going on.

Due to my faulty rig however, I wasn't comfortable leaving it in that terrible primary fermenter any longer. This will make testing the later addition of yeast nutrients a little more tough. So, I may hold that off until a later batch for testing. Also, with a proper primary fermentation pail, I may actually move to try a melomel. Perhaps raspberry. One of my reasons/concerns for not doing this in the past has always been that a glass carboy makes it hard to punch down the fruits that float to the top.

Anyway... enough of that for tonight.

[update]
Meadtoberfest seems like it is going to taste AMAZING. I added sorbate to the batch as I'm hoping to slow this one down. It just keeps on going, but only at a very slow rate. While doing so, I took a quick sip. BOLD apple flavours still lingering. Unfortunately, tastes like it will still need a lot of ageing. But, damn is it ever looking like that will be one bitchin' mead. I think this is due to the second bit of cider I added. It was different from the first one, much less clear and had a lot more flavour. Also, adding it after primary fermentation also means less yeast to gobble up the sugars.
[/update]

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