Dad's Apple Pie

OG 1.151
3.9 gallons cider (75%)
1.29 gallons honey (25%)

3 packages Lavlin 71B yeast - White wine yeast. Ferment at 62. Allow up to a 4 degree gain in temp during primary fermentation. Don't go too hot or you'll get fusel alcohols.

I'm using wildflower honey because it's what I have available. Hopefully the spices and apples will cover the muddled honey. I tasted the honey before buying. I liked the honey, but I can’t recall tasting a honey I didn’t like.


Process:

Warm honey to lukewarm temp so it's easier to pour. Add 1.5 gallons of must to carboy. Use 2 gallons of must to dissolve honey. Pour mixture into carboy. Rinse containers with remaining 0.5 gallon of must. Add 6 crushed campden tablets to must. Wait 24-48 hours to aerate must and pitch yeast. After a few hours, check gravity. It takes a few hours for fruit gravity to stabilize.


Pitching process:
It is important to follow these steps in order. Mix together 1/2 cup warm water with GoFerm addition at 104 F (lukewarm). Slowly mix in yeast. Then slowly add must to mixture until temp is within 10 F of must. Aerate must with pure O2. Use a slightly longer aeration duration due to the higher gravity and lower solubility of O2 into the must. Pitch GoFerm/yeast/must/water mixture. Pitch pectic enzyme. Aerate again at 12 hours with pure o2

Yeast nutrient process: Stagger yeast nutrients every 24 hours for the first 3 days and at day 7. Use 4 grams nutrient for each addition. May want to rehydrate nutrients before adding to the must. Otherwise it will create a nucleation point and the co2 could cause foam to spill.

PH: monitor the pH daily and add a tsp. of potassium bicarbonate (more if needed) if the pH drops below 3.5.

De-gas process: degas twice a day during primary fermentation (4 - 5 days). Use a wine whip or something similar.

Secondary process: Rack to secondary at 3 weeks. Monitor gravity periodically. When gravity has reached terminal, add spices(See "Spice process".) Wait until desired flavor has been achieved then rack again. Add super kleer, wait for mead to clear up then add potassium metabisulfite for it's antioxidant properties.

Spice process: Add spices after racking to secondary. High quality cinnamon and vanilla is super important. Michael Fairbrother recommends Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans and Vietnamese (saigon) cinnamon. This is real cinnamon. Michael doesn't give amounts so I'm starting light. Start with 1 bean and 1/4 tsp cinnamon, add more to taste.


Resources Used:
Moonlight Meadery episode on the Beersmith podcast as inspiration for this mead. Michael covers the honey/cider ratio along with Kurt's Apple pie ingredients and the processes he uses to create mead. http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/07/26/moonlight-meadery-with-michael-fairbrother-beersmith-podcast-43/

Used Brad Smith's article on Melomels in BYO magazine for staggered nutrient addition and de-gas schedule. Must be a member to view the article. Highly recommend becoming a member. https://byo.com/article/melomels-brewing-big-fruit-mead/