Sweet mead AA

[mookow]

Using the White Labs Sweet Mead yeast (I believe #720), what has been the general results with regard to the apparent attenuation? I plan on making a mead with 12# of Orange Blossom honey, a can of OJ concentrate, and a couple of split vanilla beans (and, of course, a fair bit of yeast nutrient). However, I'm just wondering what my expected AA (and thus, alcohol content) should be. I'd like to make a sparkling mead out of this, so if my yeast is going to be killed off by the alcohol levels let me know how much I should back off on the honey content.

[DecoJuicer]

I used almost the same recipe, and my ABV was 9.2%. Here was my recipe so you can compare:

13lbs Orange Blossom Honey
3 Vanilla beans(split and scraped)
1 CUP thawed orange juice concentrate
WLP#720

I didn't use any yeast nutrient. Last time I tasted it, it was pretty raw still, but not bad. From what I have heard, you might want to go with more honey. Some people that I have talked to at my LHBS recommend 3lbs per gallon.

[rougetrout]

3lbs per gallon is pretty standard.

The sweet mead yeast can grow in 12% ABV but my results have always been a little lower. I have hit 11.3% and 10.7 but if you don't want to completely dry out your mead it is the way to go.

Also 1oz of yeast nutrient/gallon!

[mookow]

Originally posted by rougetrout
3lbs per gallon is pretty standard.

The sweet mead yeast can grow in 12% ABV but my results have always been a little lower. I have hit 11.3% and 10.7 but if you don't want to completely dry out your mead it is the way to go.

Also 1oz of yeast nutrient/gallon!

I'm probably going to boil 10oz of yeast slurry in the water that will be added to this mead, and then toss in some actual yeast nutrient after fermentation has been going for a while. I'll be getting that slurry from a brewery, so the yeast should be nice and healthy... until they get boiled, that is. That should leave my mead yeast with plenty of nutrients available. However, I do have a question about campden tablets. I just picked some up at the LHBS, and the package recommends two different strength mixtures, depending on what you plan to add it to. Should I treat the mead the way it recommends wine be treated?


EDIT: Should I be making a starter for this mead? And if so, what should I use for the starter?

[Otis_The_Drunk]

If your making a sparkling mead, do yourself a favor and bottle it in champagne bottles. beer bottles sometimes tend to make grenades.

[mookow]

Another question: If I wanted to repitch onto the yeast cake from a mead, should I do that with the yeast cake left from primary, or secondary?

[rougetrout]

I am not sure-- i have always kept my mead in secondary for months so i assume that the yeast are quite dead at that point. IMHO The best bet would be the primary

[mookow]

Originally posted by rougetrout
I am not sure-- i have always kept my mead in secondary for months so i assume that the yeast are quite dead at that point. IMHO The best bet would be the primary

The only problem I see with that is that the yeast cake in primary will be full of the yeast that flocculate early, and thus you may not get a complete fermentation and/or a fermentation that takes a long time to complete because most of your yeast flocced out ASAP.