Advice Needed for 1st-Time Brewer's Plan
Hi everyone! I am waiting on a few more materials to come in, then I'll be starting my first batch ever this weekend. Each thing I learn about brewing mead raises like 20 more questions, so I tried to eyeball a process that is simple enough, but covers all the basics and will let me try a few things out. My plan is to run this process for a few batches of "melomel", where flavors are added post-primary fermentation. If anything below seems out of whack, please let me know, and I will love you forever. Here goes:
- Primary Fermentation
Create a must with 4 gallons of water and ~12lbs of honey in a 5-gallon carboy. Dry pitch 1 packet of 71B yeast. Add yeast nutrients on days 2, 4, 6 w/ hydrometer readings on those days.
Let primary fermentation roll until no visible airlock bubbles. Take hydrometer reading, then test every week until no change in gravity. I assume this part of the process will take ~1-2 months.
- Secondary / Conditioning
Rack to two 2-gallon glass containers. Add fruit, spices, and herbs via mesh brewers bags. Leave for ~2 weeks. Swap for fresh brewers bags with the same ratio of fruit, spices, and herbs. Leave for another ~2 weeks. After removing the second round, test with hydrometer to see if gravity has changed at all. If so, let sit and test every ~week until there is no change in gravity. I assume this part will take a little over ~1 month.
(Note: I'm defaulting to 2 lbs fruit per gallon per bag, frozen and mashed)
- Cold Crash / Bulk Aging
Swap the airlocks out for solid bungs/caps, then cold crash the 2-gallon containers for a week. I don't plan on using fining agents for the first batch to see how clear I can get it on its own (in time).
After that, rack to 3 tertiary 1-gallon carboys with solid caps and set those aside for 3-12 months (I plan on bottling at 3, 6, and 12 months respectively).
All in all, I estimate it will be ~6 months from pitching to bottling the first portion of the batch. I go from one ~4-gallon must to three 1-gallon containers assuming that a gallon will be lost to testing, racking, and fruit conditioning. If there's some extra, I do have half-gallon containers as well. Or I'll drink some before bulk aging :)
Sorry for the megapost, I'm just anxious af about starting and would appreciate even 1 other set of eyes more knowledgeable than my own!