Halle

on Saturday, October 10, 2009
I got 1.5 litres of quince juice and decided it'd probably be best to use it ASAP. This involved using my last free 5L demi (I like to keep one free to rack into) so I need to either bottle something in the next few weeks, or buy an extra. I used the blender to mix the juice with the honey, as this honey is very 'heavy' and is almost impossible to stir in by hand.

Halle
1.5 litre freshly made quince juice
1.5 kilo Bulgarian flower honey (same stuff as Fennah and Ehle)
Half a teaspoon yeast starter/activator
half a teaspoon Doux yeast

SG: 1.100
That's very high, so it remains to be seen if it'll actually start. I asked the Internets for help about if I should dilute (which would necessitate some fuss with demi's) and someone said that there are people who start all their mead from such a high SG, so I should just see what happens.

The quince juice smells amazing, there's a bit of a honey scent there already, and has a pretty pink blush - the combination will hopefully work well. I have high hopes for this one.
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4 comments:

  1. Edmund11 October 2009 at 13:03

    With a very high SG the yeast can stop fermenting early, leaving you with a very high FG (low attenuation, a "stuck fermentation"). The usual safeguards against this are: make sure there's plenty of air swirled into your must before fermentation starts (some people bubble oxygen through it); use an extra-large batch of yeast starter; add plenty of yeast nutrient or other protein source to ensure healthy yeast replication; if fermentation slows down early, add another batch of the same yeast strain; or use a higher-attentuation yeast strain, like champagne yeast, to finish it off.

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  2. Edmund11 October 2009 at 13:05

    Oh, another practice is to hold back some of the must and leave it unfermented, then add it gradually throughout the fermentation, but for a beginner it's hard to ensure that it remains uncontaminated.

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  3. Arwen11 October 2009 at 15:31

    Thanks for the ideas. I ran the honey&juice through the blender and I figure that should take care of the oxygen thing?
    Interesting what you write, I thought the problem would be at the start, didn't realise that stopping early was a concern here. It has now started, though slowly (1 bubble/12 sec), not the sort of vigorous start I usually see.
    Adding more volume is a problem (or I would have watered it down further) so I will probably add a second starter if it does stall.

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  4. Edmund11 October 2009 at 20:03

    Oh, and don't hesitate to give the mead a swirl in the fermenter every now and again to keep the yeasties awake. At Bass Brewery they used to call this "taking the beer out for a walk".

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