Hello all. First post here. I started brewing mead in the late 80’s and have always been partial to a very dry finish with lots of honey nose. Got my first recipe from “Making Mead: A Complete Guide to the Making of Sweet and Dry Mead, Melomel, Metheglin, Hippocras, Pyment and Cyser by Acton. I made three 5 gallon batches and got very satisfactory results with the following cobbled together recipe:
1.75oz Tartaric
3.25oz Malic
.9oz Tannin
6 pinches Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt)
15 milligrams B1
6 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Potassium Phosphate / Ammonium Phosphate)
Campden Tabs
15lbs Unfiltered Honey
Champaign Yeast
Water to 5.5 gallons
Mix honey with warm water & acids, tannin & nutrient. Add 2 campden tablets per gallon of must & wait 24-36 hours.
Pitch yeast & ferment for 30-45 days until dry. Temp range 70-75 degrees F.
Rack to 5 gallon carboy. Add 1 campden tablet per gallon. Top off and fit with airlock.
Rack again when heavy deposit forms or 3 months. Add 1 campden tablet per gallon.
Age 3-4 months, then Bottle & mature 1-3 years.
Of course I always had slow and unsteady fermentations, hence the 45 days in the primary. The 6-8 month tasting tasted like rocket fuel, but by the 1-2 year mark I consistently had a spectacular end product. But by the mid 90’s I switched solely to brewing beer because of the instant gratification.
Now I’m missing the taste of my old mead homebrew and have decided to jump back in. WOW! Has the world of mead making changed. It looks like I can rework my old recipe for a much more efficient product. So I need your help.
I picked up some Go-Ferm to help in yeast rehydration. I got Fermaid-K & DAP to take the place of the mag sulfate, B1 & Nutrient. I have studied the Staggered Nutrient Addition and am ready to rock.
Questions:
1) Some sources recommend adding the acids & tannin in the secondary or later. Good advice?
2) I have an air wand & oxygen tank that I use in aerating beer must before pitching yeast. Is that good practice here? Some sources say to do that with every addition of nutrients. Good Advice or just shake or stir each SNA?
Any other advice would be helpful.