Holiday Mead

http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/



Clean and sanitize everything that will come into contact with your must.

1. Dissolve honey in small amount of water (leave room to add additional water to reach batch volume).
   
   
2. Add
   6 whole cloves
   6 whole allspice (crushed)
   3 2-inch cinnamon sticks
   
   
3. Add water to your batch volume minus volume for yeast slurry.
   
   
4. Aerate the must with a drill stirrer or shake/stir vigorously for 15 minutes.
   
   
5. Pitch yeast.
   
   
6. Record specific gravity and temperature for future reference.
   
   
7. Apply airlock. Ferment per your yeast temperature specs.
   
   
8. Degas twice per day for first week of fermentation.
   
   
9. Dose nutrients per nutrient protocol instructions below. To avoid mead eruption accidents, degas must and dissolve yeast nutrient doses in 1 cup must prior to adding to the fermenter.
   
   • At 24 hours after you pitch your yeast, add 4.7g Fermaid O to your must.
     
   • At 48 hours after you pitch your yeast, add 4.7g Fermaid O to your must.
     
   • At 72 hours after you pitch your yeast, add 5.2g Fermaid K and 3.6g DAP to your must.
     
   • When the must reaches the 1/3 sugar break (1/3 of all available sugars are consumed, i.e. 1.120 starting gravity reaches 1.080 or 21 Brix reaches 14 Brix), but no later than 7 days after yeast pitch, add the last dose of 5.2g of Fermaid K and 3.6g of DAP.
     
   • If mead starts to show signs of yeast stress from low nutrients after last nutrient dose (evidenced by sulfur smells), add 4.7g Fermaid O as needed to supplement for a high nutrient requirement yeast.
     
     
10. Rack when yeast is done fermenting, as evidenced by no drop in SG for two full weeks. Also rack within 3 weeks of sediment layer forming on the bottom of an aging vessel to avoid autolysis flavors.
    
    
    Packaging:
    8oz gallon cranberry juice concentrate
    
    • Take a sample of finished mead and blend carefully measured quantities of mead and juice to taste to determine the correct ratio. Add to keg or bottling bucket and transfer mead on top. Then bottle or keg or whatever.