Pyment recipe with Welches Grape Jelly

[RobertHSmith]

The grape juice I got was concord grape juice. It smelled great when I put it all in with the honey. It is going to be hard to wait for this to finish.

[bmock]

The grape juice I got was concord grape juice. It smelled great when I put it all in with the honey. It is going to be hard to wait for this to finish.

Just sate yourself by having a glass of grape juice with a little vodka.

[RobertHSmith]

I've gotten these SG's of the parts of this pyment from the web:
Honey SG = 1.425
Concord Grape Juice = 1.075

using that I've estimated that the OG was 1.151

Code: Select all

Part                    SG       QTY     PTS
--------------------------------------------
Honey                1.425  1.25 gal  531.25
Concord Grape Juice  1.075  4.50 gal  337.50
--------------------------------------------
              TOTAL  1.151  5.75 gal  868.75

Do those numbers seem right?

[jmwc95]

Your math is correct.

[RobertHSmith]

This thing is starting to slowly settle down and settle out. Should I wait for it to settle out mostly before going to secondary to clear up?

[Witch Doctor Dale]

I would.

[RobertHSmith]

I put this in secondary a couple of days ago. I don't have the gravity reading with me, but think it was 1.066. I'll revise this if necessary when I get home.

The taste, good, wait, damn good. It was very sweet, had a strong honey backbone and a good concord grape flavor, but not overpowering.

So I had a thought about getting it to clear faster, now that I am moving my kegs into a top freezer refrigerator, the keezer is free to do some laggering in. I think when I'll do a couple of laggers in the near future and then slide the pyment in there too. I figure it would help it clear faster.

Thoughts?

[RobertHSmith]

I was thinking of moving this to another secondary carboy today, so I took a gravity reading, 1.064. If it started at 1.151, is now at 1.064, that is at 11.6% ABV. It's also clear with no apparent haze.

I'm considering adding some campaign yeast, or another yeast to help dry it out a little more, but right now, it's good, really good.

For those experienced mead makers, would you try to dry it out some more or let it age then sorbate it and bottle it?

[JE]

I, personally, would let it age maybe a month or two...sorbate (if needed) and let it sit for 48 - 168 hours...bottle and age in bottle a month or two...share, impress and enjoy!

In that order specifically!!

Sounds good, though...we will have to compare your "Flight of the Concord" Grape Pyment to my "Not Quite White" Grape Pyment...just because we can!

[Witch Doctor Dale]

1064!!!! I can't handle things that sweet. The sweetest mead I ever made was a 1036 (32?) and I thought that was borderline cloying. Champaigne yeast will take it down, or should, another 10-15 points. Go for it!

[RobertHSmith]

after a month of renewed fermentation with champagne yeast, the gravity has only dropped to 1.061.

It's noticeably dryer and has lost a lot the little bit of cloying taste that there was.

It's going to go into another fermenter tomorrow with some sorbate to kill the yeast and to clear up, if any, in the loggering fridge.

[wnordmann]

You could thin with water to reduce the sweetness. It would reduce the alcohol and flavor at the same time, but it is an option.

[StLBeer]

Maybe freeze it then pour off the unfrozen part and you have an Eisen Mead?

[JE]

Maybe freeze it then pour off the unfrozen part and you have an Eisen Mead?

That will make the sweetness more cloying, me thinks...

I would just, ummm, not worry about it! If it tastes good to you, then leave it at 1.061. Sorbate, let it sit a bit, and bottle that stuff! It only gets better and more mellow with age. Hold a bottle off until that baby turns 21!

Just a thought...