Ok, I could not wait for the Tax money to come in to start making yeast pee alcohol and poop carbon dioxide. Yeah, it sounds nasty but we have been drinking it for thousands of years. Anyway, I went to the local brew supply shop and picked up a gallon jug, fermentation lock, rubber bung, cap to shake the contents without spilling it and some Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast. That was a whopping $8.68 total. Yeah, it broke the bank.
I came home and sanitized everything completely. I used bleach mixed with water. I rinsed everything over and over again to make sure no bleach was left. I had 5 pounds of honey and I just added it all to the carboy and topped it off with water. The must is about 3 inches from the rubber bung right now. After adding the water I shook the gallon jug for 10 min. If you have never shaken a gallon of liquid for 10 min I suggest you do this. It will work your arms and hands. Mine are wore out. While I was shaking the must I had the yeast getting started. After the shaking was over I pitched the yeast into the must and shook it for another min. Added the fermentation lock and called it good. It is setting on my desk behind me.
I picked the Premier Cuvee because it has a high alcohol tolerance. That may sound really crazy but when you understand that alcohol kills yeast you can see why we need it to live as long as possible so we get as much alcohol as possible. Yeah, I am shooting for jet fuel on the first batch. Within the next 24 hours the little yeasties will start doing their stuff and we will see bubbles really humming through the fermentation lock.
Why did I decide to do a gallon of mead for the first roll through? That is easy, I had the honey to do it. I am concerned about how much honey I used since it usually calls for about 4lbs. of honey for one gallon, but I keep seeing people add more and more at the end to get their specific gravity up. I really didn't have the money for the hydrometer so I am working blind on the first try. I really don't have issue with too much honey. It will just mean that at the end of the fermentation I will have a little bit sweeter mead. That is if this yeast doesn't do its job and eat all that sugar and pee me some alcohol! :)
More updates later!
Chuck
AFTER NOTE: I was really concerned that I didn't get all the cleaning agent out of the jug before I added the must. I am glad to say that I have bubbles coming out. If I had not gotten it all out all of the yeast would have died and I would not be seeing bubbles now.
No comments:
Post a Comment