Spiced Cyser - Brewlog and Recipe

Spiced Cyser

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Initial SG: 1.106

Initial Volume: 5.33 Gallons

Yeast: K1v-1116 (10g)

Fermaid-O: 82.4g (160ppm YAN)

Go-Ferm: 13g (19ppm YAN)

H2O: 250ml Bottled Drinking Water

Ferm-Cap: 1 Dropper plus 2 drops in Yeast Starter

Honey: ~9 lbs Winco Clover

Juice: 4.5 Gallons of Kroger Brand Apple Juice (SG = 1.050)

Procedure:

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Heat honey to warm and whip it into the apple juice in a plastic bucket fermenter.

Aerate for 15 minutes using an air stone.

Rehydrate yeast in Go-Ferm per directions.

Pitch yeast and place into a temperature controlled water batch set for 15C.

Day 0 - 9:20PM

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pH: 4.0

Temperature: 78F

Initial SG: 1.106

Initial Volume: 5.33 Gallons

Yeast: K1v-1116 (10g)

Fermaid-O: 82.4g (160ppm YAN)

Go-Ferm: 13g (19ppm YAN)

H2O: 250ml Bottled Drinking Water

Ferm-Cap: 1 Dropper plus 2 drops in Yeast Starter

Honey: ~9 lbs Winco Clover

Juice: 4.5 Gallons of Kroger Brand Apple Juice (SG = 1.050)

Must Temperature @ Pitch: 76F

Yeast Temperature @ Pitch: 80F

Pitched: 7/7/12 9:20PM

Corrected SG @ 60F = 1.108

Day 0 - 11:20 AM (14 Hours)

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Calibrated pH meter - It was off by -0.1 point

Sanitary Aeration for 5 minutes through air stone

SG = 1.104

Temperature = 60F

pH = 4.0

Day 2 - 12:00 AM (27 Hours)

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Sanitary Aeration for 5 minutes through air stone

SG = 1.098

Temperature = 60F

pH = 4.0

Added 3.25g Fermaid-K  - (16ppm YAN) Total YAN = 195ppm 

Day 2 - 12:20PM (39 Hours)

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Sanitary Aeration for 5 minutes through air stone

SG = 1.083

Temperature = 62F

pH = 4.0

Added 4g DAP  - (42ppm YAN) Total YAN = 236ppm 

Day 3 - 9:20 AM (48 Hours)

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H2S Detected - Very Slight

Sanitary Aeration for 5 minutes through air stone

SG = 1.060

Temperature = 64F  (Coolant off for last 6 hours. It is back online now)

pH = 3.9

Added 6.5g Fermaid-K  - (42ppm YAN) Total YAN = 278ppm 

Added 9g Fermaid-O - (18ppm) Total YAN = 296 ppm

Added 1 more dropper of Ferm-Cap to knock down foam...

Day 3 - 10:20 PM (48 Hours)

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H2S Detected - Stronger

SG = 1.042

Temperature = 62F

pH = 3.9

Added 15g Boiled Baker's Yeast  - (30ppm YAN) Total YAN = 327ppm 

Slight Stir

7/11/12 8:20AM

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H2S Detected - Very very slight

SG = 1.032

Temperature = 62F

pH = 3.9

Slight Stir

7/11/12 8:00PM

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SG 1.023

pH 4.1

62F

Slight Stir

7/12/12 9:30AM

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SG 1.016

pH 4.0

62F

Slight Stir

7/12/12 10:30PM

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SG 1.011

pH 4.0

64F

Slight Stir

Turned Off Cooling

7/13/12 10:20PM

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SG 1.008

pH 4.1

66F

Swirled

Moved to Shelf

7/14/12 11:59PM

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SG 1.008

pH 4.1

74F

Swirled

7/23/12 9:18PM

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Racked into 5 gallon BB

pH = 4.1

SG = 1.005

Appearance - Cloudy

Smell - Very much like wine.  Clean. No SO2 odours. Promising

Taste - 

Added 5.3g of K-Meta. The targets are (160ppm Free) (0.80 Molecular)

I am going to wait 3-4 days then check free SO2 using a titret. Based on the ratio that was bound I will calculate the addition to bring the Free SO2 to the target range...

   

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Let there be COCONUT!

Cool.  So that addition of Super-Kleer K.C. worked pretty well I would say.  The picture below doesn't really look it but once I shone a flashlight into it I could clearly see the compacted lees on the bottom.  Since most of the major crap fell out I decided to pull the trigger on racking and also add the coconut to the mix.

I found some bulk shredded died coconut at a local Smith's Grocery and bought 5 pounds of it.  It looked like a lot of Coconut in the bags, but in a 6 gallon carboy it looks like a LOT of coconut...

The racking went smooth.  My total volume of mead was just right.  As you can see in the photo below it came right up to the neck just as the racking cane started sucking air.  After this photo I ended up adding a touch of water to bring it up just a bit more...

Along with the mead itself I also added 6g of K-Meta (Potassium Metabisulfite) which works out to the addition of total SO2 = 150ppm.  Considering the rule of thumb that ~50% of added Sulfite gets bound immediately that results in 75ppm of Free SO2.  This mead's pH is 3.4 so that mean the molecular SO2 is 1.84ppm.  For normal bulk aging a molecular SO2 level of 0.8ppm is the target.  But since I put a bunch of very non-sanitized coconut into the mix I wanted to bump it up a good notch.  The nominal sensory threshold for Sulfites lies at a molecular SO2 level of 2ppm.  So my addition of 1.83ppm molecular SO2 should be just fine at this point.  Once I rack off of the coconut into a 5 gallon carboy I'll maintain a 0.8ppm Molecular SO2 level.

Here is what was left in the primary fermenter... YUMMY!

Well, that's it for the next few months.  I'll pop a few pictures here and there to show off its progress but at this point I'm going to be hands off...

Time to think of my next batch.


UPDATE: 5/21/12 12:30PM
After slapping the carboy around a bit along with some swirling and shaking I got most of the coconut to drop.  On further though I'll probably stick a racking cane down there and stir it up a bit once a week for 3-5 months....

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Fermentation is complete

I took a sample Wednesday night and subjected it to quantitative analysis.... I measured it.  At this point the gravity is down at right about 1.002.  But, that is a subject of some debate.  Here's the deal.  Hydrometers aren't exactly precision pieces of measurement equipment. I own three hydrometers and they are all off from each other by around two points.  I have been using the same hydrometer for every measurement for this batch.  That way the relative gravity readings are correct.

This becomes an issue however when trying to see if this is completely dry or not.  For this particular hydrometer, pure water measures at a gravity of about 1.004.  Based on that assumption I need to subtract 4 points from the measured value to get the real gravity.

By that logic, the mead is currently running at a gravity of 0.998.  Leading me to call this dry and finished.  The airlock is producing one blip every minute or so.  I am assuming this is just dissolved CO2 coming out and perhaps a final kicking of the yeast.

SG = 1.002 (Corrected to 0.998)

I also measured the pH @ 3.4.   With this pH it means I won't have to add too much total SO2 to protect this mead.

Update: 5/19/2012 5:00PM
I am trying something different.  I added some SuperKleer K.C. to promote a faster clarification of the mead before I rack onto the coconut.  I just don't want to carry over a lot of yeast and crap as I plan on leaving it on the coconut for a good while...  I didn't take a photo at the time I mixed it all in but here is one that I took about 4 hours after I mixed it up.  From my perspective this looks like it has already clear up quite a bit.  Let's see what happens.

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Updates Day 7

I've been a bit busy but the mead is making progress on its own.  Yesterday I cam home at lunch and took a gravity and pH reading.  The gravity was at 1.010 and the pH was 3.4.  So, its coming along nicely.

Last Sunday I found some unsweetened finely shredded dried coconut so I bought 5 pounds of it in anticipation of the mead's first racking.

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This morning I stopped by the bucket and observed the airlock was still moving.  Much more slowly than before.  About one bubble every 5 seconds or so. I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow.

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Maintenance Update Day 5

Fermentation seems to be chugging along at a good pace.  I stirred the must gently tonight and took a sample for Gravity and pH readings.

SG = 1.030

Pineapple coconut melomel (mead) - 1/2 Break is here! Day 4

Popped the fermenter tonight for the usual maintenance work.  Stir, Aerate, Measure, etc...  First the gravity...

SG = 1.052

This is awesome.  So I've reached the 1/2 way point.  (Not exactly but close enough!)  So that means its time for the final nutrient addition.  Cool.

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Added juice! Day 3.5

I've been worrying about the volume of the must.  I was at just a touch over 5 gallons.  That's not going to be enough to fill up a 6 gallon carboy even with the shredded coconut I plan on adding.

So today I bought 1 gallon of pineapple juice at lunch and brought it home.  I drank a glass and made up the volume with honey.  The pre-addition gravity of the must was 1.060.  The additional juice + honey came to a gravity of 1.077.  I mixed the juice/honey into the bucket and stirred it all up.  The must gravity measured at 1.062.  According to my math this all works out to make sense... and my total volume is now ~6 gallons.

Originally I used DOLE in a can, but this stuff should do...

I figure I'll loose about half a gallon or more as sludge after racking.  That should leave enough room in a 6 gallon carboy for the shredded coconut.  Can't wait...

Pineapple coconut mead - Houston...We have lift off. Day 3

Okay, so I started my usual mead maintenance tonight and aerated the must, skimmed a little more of the strange pineapple puke off the top.  But I noticed a very active and visible 'boiling' effect in the fermenting must.  I took a video.  Check it out...

Pineapple Coconut Melomel - Day 2.5

This morning was a bit rushed so I didn't get a chance to take and photos.  The big thing is I guess I hosed up pretty bad when I took my last gravity reading.  There was so much foam I couldn't really get a good read.  Today the foam was quite a bit less and I got a very clear hydrometer read @ 1.082

That make me a bit disappointed as the fermentation kinematics are less than I thought.  Oh well...

pH measured @ 3.4  So it is still dropping but within limits.


Update - 1:00PM I came home for lunch and decided to pull a Gravity reading.  1.080.  So, this is going a lot slower than my other mead's have.  Not a bad thing at all, just not what I normally get.

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Daily Maintenance Day 2

The fermentation is accelerating.  The airlock is starting to chug along now.  Let's see what the numbers will tell us.

First of all, I cracked the lid and saw this layer of pineapple vomit looking substance floating on top again.  In the end I'm going to be racking it off this crap so I've decided to skim it off.  Perhaps I've just ruined the whole thing... but I don't think so.

Doesn't that look appetizing

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Aeration Day 1.5

This morning the airlock on the pineapple mead was going along at a decent rate.  I guess the lag phase is now truly over.  Anyways, I got my aeration rig put together and started to aerate the must.  The degassing produced an impressive head of foam.  At one point it did overflow just a little bit.  Here's a video and some stills:

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - First night aeration.

So tonight was the first aeration for this batch.  The fermentation is still yet to really take off as the airlock isn't moving very fast at all.  I cracked open the lid to start the aeration with my trusty high volume aquarium pump, sanitary inline filter, and bubble wand...

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Lag phase is over

Today at lunch I came home and saw the air lock giving me a bubble every 10 seconds or so.  From my perspective that means its ready for some junk food!

I added 4g of Fermaid-K and 2g of DAP both mixed into some water then poured into the must.  Gave it a good stir and closed everything back up.  Time to get back to work!

Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead) - Brew day Pictures and Process!

First, some research:

• Here is a link to the GotMead site where one of the resident gurus of mead discusses pineapple mead:  http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8306
• And another...  http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12045
• One more...  http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9398

What did "I" learn from this.  My three gallons of juice in 5 gallons of mead may result in too little pineapple. Then again I plan to help counteract that by doing the fermentation under low temps (58F) and using a neutral yeast (EC-1118).  Overall I'm still full ahead go!

This is how the brew day went down:

I popped my honey into the microwave!  Oh god no!  I know a lot of sources say to gently warm the honey in a water bath and not to use a microwave.  I don't understand why not.  I've always used to microwave and had zero problems.  You mileage may vary.  Anyways, 10 lbs of honey for 4 minutes at high power did the trick and just warmed the honey enough to get it nice and thin.

Here is a shot of the honey water mixture with the stick blender in there whipping the shit out of it.

On to the next! Pineapple Coconut Melomel (Mead)

Alrighty then!

Since my primary fermentation vessel is free I decided to start something.  And what I've chosen is a pineapple coconut melomel.  Yummy! I was inspired by this video.  I don't have their recipe but I'll wing it on my own...

 This is something that my wife is going to enjoy.

Strawberry Melomel #2 - Racked...

Its been a while so here's what when down...

5/3 8:00AM - Started to smell really bad again.  A lot of H2S is being produced.  The big problem is that I don't have time to add any nutrients.

5/3 2:00PM - The smell started to dissipate on its own.  I'm just going to let it go and splash rack/ copper it when its finished...

5/5 9:00PM - The SG measures @ 1.002, pH @ 3.5.  Its dry now so I'm going to rack it off the gross lees.

As it turns out this shit smells... like shit.  That H2S is strong.  So I racked it through 10 feet of 3/8" copper tubing and splashed it into a 6 gallon Better Bottle.  The total yield was low. This didn't even come close to filling the carboy.  A good 5-6" of sludge was left in the bottom of the bucket.

I used a hose clamp to slow the flow through the copper pipe that should have given it enough time to react with the nasty.  I hope it did.

Added 1.5g of K-Meta and 2.5 tsp of Bentonite.  I also added 1/3 gallon of spring water to help make up for the loss...

I'll rack it in one month on 6/5.

Strawberry Mead #2

The smell is still gone.  Awesome!

Punched the fruit cap tonight at around 6:00PM.  Measured the SG @ 1.018, pH @ 3.5, Temperature @ 63F.

The taste is rough and young.  There is a bit of an off medicinal flavor... hopefully this will drop out with the yeast when they go dormant.  At this rate the bulk of the fermentation should be over in the next 3-4 days.  Then I'll let it clear out for a week or two and rack it off the bulk lees.

Strawberry mead #2

Measured SG @ 1.029  pH @ 3.4 Temperature @ 63F.
Taste is better than last time.  Less bitter.  Fruitier...

Strawberry Melomel #2 - The Stink Returns...

This AM the smell was back...  I'm at a loss here.  But since the last couple of time the smell was reduced significantly with a little nutrient addition, I'm going to do it again.  Added 2g of Fermaid-K and 2g of DAP.  Punched the cap and took a sample.

SG=1.042
pH=3.4
Temperature=63F

Sensory:  The taste is becoming noticeably bitter.  I assume this is because of the stressed yeast...  I hope this clears up after some aging.

Strawberry Melomel #2 - Updates

4/29 6:00 PM - Smells like a hobo is using my bathroom as a fart balloon!  Measured the SG @ 1.068, pH=3.4, Temperature = 59F.  The must is too cool so I raised the temperature of the water bath to 16C.  To help with the stinky ass I added 4g of Fermaid-K.  I also added 4/5 of a gallon of the must that I had reserved for later.  This raised the SG to 1.070, pH = 3.5, and lowered the temperature to 58F.

4/30 1:00 PM  - Damn it the stink is back!  I added 2g of Fermaid-K and 2g of DAP. SG=1.056, pH=3.5

4/30 10:00 PM - Checked on the fermentation and the stink is gone.  The temperature is = 64F.