Mead of life: 2013

mandag den 30. december 2013

Weighing the hive - food status

In the past months I have weighed my bee hive 3 times after I did the final feeding. Last time I weighed the hive was the 26th of December. I am just using my suit case weight which makes it quite easy to do the weighing.

It is actually quite interesting to see how much food the bees uses during the winter time. So far it look like this

I am assuming that the initial weight loss is from the fact that the bees were still leaving the hive but coming back with only little pollen or nectar. Hence, they use much more food than they can collect. Then the bees get ready for winter and fill themselves with honey before the form a cluster for winter.

From the second to the third point the bees are dormant and do not take up any nutrients since they are still full from the initial feast :). Then from the third to the forth point the weight loss could represent the average of what the bees will use throughout the winter. I will be interesting to see if the slope if the curve will stay pretty much constant from now on. The slope between the last two points is 56 g/day.

Now one thing that I would expect to have an influence on the food consumption is temperature. The points have been measured from end October to end December so far and the average temperature of November was 5.9 C on the region where I live, and in December (so far) it was 4.3 C. So pretty much constantly 5 C with some fluctuation of cause. This is why I assume that the changes in weight loss is due to changes in the activity of the bees.

I hope the we will get some cold weather in January just to see the effect of temperature. Also, I can use the mass of the hive as a check up on the bees during the winter. I am already out of honey, so next year I want to harvest twice (at least), so I have to be sure that my little busy workers are doing fine :)

tirsdag den 17. december 2013

Mead characterization - by the numbers

I found a guideline for how to judge fermented beverages callled the Beer Judge Certification Program or BJCP. This "BJCP Style Guideline" (rev 2008) states the following limits for characterization of mead:

For FG
0.990 - 1.010 "dry mead"
1.010 - 1.025 "semisweet mead"
1.025 - 1.050 "sweet mead"

For OG and ABV
Hydromel:
1.035 - 1.080
3.5% - 7.5%
Standard mead:
1.080 - 1.120
7.5% - 14%
Sack mead:
1.120 - 1.170
14% - 18%

Just for fun, Ken Schramm has the following definitions for sweetness in his book (2003):
0.990 - 1.006 "dry mead"
1.006 - 1.015 "medium mead"
1.012 - 1.020 "sweet mead"
1.020 - N.A. "dessert mead"

Notice how BJCP has a mead at for example 1.023 to be considered as semisweet, whereas the same mead would be considered a dessert mead by Ken Schramm :o).

Just remenber, that these are just numbers to describe some basic characteristics of mead. Whether you enjoy the smell, taste, and mouth feel will always be an individual experience.

Recipe 3: Melomel of elderberries with star anise (continued 3) - first racking

Sunday I decided to rack my most recent mead for the first time. The mead had been fermenting for 2 weeks, and already it had almost stopped bubbling. This is by far the quickest fermentation I have done so far. So I can only say that addition of nutrition in a staggered is HIGHLY recommended.

The fermentation started to slow down in the beginning of the first week, and I think that if I had added some more MAP/MAC it would have continued fermenting at a higher rate and then stopped more abruptly. Next time :o)

Opening the fermenter the surface was now almost clear - no foam at all left. Though much was still sticking to the sides. I could not smell the star anise to any significant extent anymore, so I tried to taste. It was dry, alcoholic and without much taste at all (?) besides the taste of yeast. I will look forward to taste it again when the yeast has settled.

It was now much easier to test the pH with the stips so I assume that the color had lost some of the intensity. pH was now about 4.

Then I measured the density, and to my surprise it went straight to the bottom of the fermenter - it is only a 10 L. So I had to improvise a measuring cylinder...... as illustrated by the picture below

The density was now 1.008 which is much lower than I expected. Now, if the density started at 1.130 to 1.135, this means that the it had dropped by 0.122 to 0.127 units

Using the standard formula (OG-FG)/0.0075 you get an ABV of about 16.5%. Using the high gravity determination you get up to 19% which is a joke. I have to check this by an alternative method.

Anyway the FG is so low that it is too dry for my taste. I will add some honey to it to get some sweetness and honey flavor back. Next time I will either use a different yeast, with lower alcohol tolerance, or use more honey. My target FG should be a bit higher than I initially set out for, so 1.015 to 1.020 from now on :o).

lørdag den 7. december 2013

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 7) - Final racking before bottling

Just did the final racking of the cyser today. It is still very acidic with an aftertaste of sweet honey. I am still worrying if acetic acid is present, but it does not really taste like that. I even diluted a balsamico just to be sure. I will have to rely on my wife's taste buds tomorrow. Her skill in detailed tasting is incredible.

The color of the mead is beautiful - deep brown - and it is crystal clear. I ended up with about 17 L of a 20 L batch which is not bad considering how many times it has been racked.

The picture does not really do the mead justice when it comes to clarity. The light behind is just a flashlight for "special effects"

Finally I topped up the glass bottle with CO2 in the same manner as earlier and covered it up. I plan to leave it like this for at least 2 months.

torsdag den 5. december 2013

tirsdag den 3. december 2013

Recipe 3: Melomel of elderberries with star anise (continued 2) -addition of yeast nutrients

It is day 3 since I started recipe 3 and it is time to do the third addition of yeast nutrition.

I have tried to get DAP (di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate) but no luck. So I came up with an alternative which in effect results in exactly the same addition.

I did get my hands on MAP (mono-ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate) and I could of cause spike with twice as much (on mole basis) to add the same amount of ammonium ions. But that would also mean adding a large amount of phosphate which I am not so keen on. So as an alternative, I figured I would mix MAP with ammonium bicarbonate ("MAC") in the ratio 3:2 (by mass) and I would have added the same. Here is why

(NH4)HPO4 + (NH4)HCO3 -> 2 NH4+ + HPO4- + HCO3-

Since the must is about pH 4, HCO3- becomes H2CO3 = H2O + CO2 so in effect the addition is equivalent to the addition of DAP

And I learned something new. Ammonium bicarbonate is just a basic baking additive called "hjortetaksalt" here in Denmark - as you might have guessed I am not exactly the baking expert in the family :o)

On the web I can find several sites stating that for a high gravity must you need about 300 ppm of YAN (yeast assimilated nitrogen). You will also find the term FAN (free amino nitrogen) which is a constituent of YAN. DAP, MAP and MAC are all FAN components

To calculate how much to use you need to know the percentage by mass of nitrogen in each component of the addition. These are:

Ferment K: 13% N (from table)

MAP: 12% N (calculated)

MAC: 18% N (calculated)

The reason why DAP is the preferred additive is that it contains 21% nitrogen by mass, so you have to add less to get the same FAN content.

Now since the molecular weight of MAP is 115 g/mol and MAC is 79 g/mol, these should be added in a ratio of about 3:2 to have the same composition as that of DAP. So if you add 3.0 g of MAP and 2.0 g of MAC it corresponds to adding about 3.5 g of DAP. The mass difference between adding DAP or MAP/MAC [(3.0+2.0) - 3.5 = 1.5 g] is in effect just CO2 and water.

So today I added:

3.0 g of MAP x 12% = 0.37 g YAN

2.0 g of MAC x 18% = 0.35 g YAN

2.0 g of Ferment K x 13% = 0.26 g YAN

In total: about 0.98 g YAN to 8.5 L = 115 ppm

Initially I added 2.0 g Ferment K just after boiling and the following day another 3.0 g of Ferment K

5.0 g of Ferment K x 13% = 0.65 g YAN

to 8.5 L = 76 ppm

So all in all I have added a bit short of 200 ppm YAN.

I also found that it is recommended not to added any nutrition once 1/3 of the sugar have been consumed. I measured the density initially to about 1.135 and today it is 1.088. I expect the fermentation to stop at 1.025, i.e. 1/3 of the fermentable suger should be at 1.098 which was probably yesterday.....hmm. This is why I do not want to add all 300 ppm. But I must say that the fermentation has been sped up a lot by these nutrition additions and I will definitely be doing this from now on

As a final remark I measured pH with strips before and after the additions. The pH was unchanged at around 4. At least that was as well as it could be determined in the highly colored must :o)

søndag den 1. december 2013

Recipe 3: Melomel of elderberries with star anise (continued) -Happybubbling, but...

Day two and now must is happily bubbling. But as I removed the bag covering it fermenter to protect it from light I found that the airlock was flooded. This is one of these things I could probably have predicted.... The surface of the must is about 4 cm from the lid but the rubber plug that is used for the airlock sticks about 2.5 cm into the fermeneter and this is apparently too close to the surface.

Well off with the lid and another 3.0 g of Fermaid K was added - that is now 5.0 g in total. I stirred the must and hoped that I could stir plenty of air into it. But it started foaming so much that I was afraid the it would overflow the fermenter. Instead of stirrring, I left it and let the foam level drop before I re-attached the lid and airlock.

It did not take more than a few hours before the lid was covered with foam that had moved up and out of the airlock. Cleaned it again and attached the airlock. 10 min later the airlock was full of foam again.

I spend most of the afternoon cleaning the lid and flushing the airlock untill I go so tired of it, that I had to re-think the set-up. And with a "pretty please with sugar on top", I borrowed my sons slush ice bottle :o). Now at least I can wait some hours before cleaning.

Few minutes later ...... hmm

Recipe 3: Melomel of elderberries with star anise

The very last honey of my first season as bee keeper has been used for this recipe. This is a bit of an experiment, so I reduced the volume to 8.5 L - just in case :o)

I will try the two concepts that I recently read about on the Beer and Wine Journal (www.beerandwinejournal.com and search "mead"). These were staggered nutrition addition and potassium addition. The article is written by Chris Colby with input from Ken Schramm so it should definitely be worth a try. So here we go........

Ingredients

2.2 L of home made elderberry juice
1.7 g of star anise
Water to 8.5 L
7.0 g of Fermaid K yeast nutrition
(2.5 g of DAP or di-ammoniumphosphate [(NH3)2PO4] ) If I can buy this !!
4.25 g of pot-ash or potassium carbonate [K2CO3]
7g Vinoferm, Bioferm Killer yeast

The elderberry juice was prepared this summer when the berries of my tree were ripe and black. The berries were picked so that no leaves or twigs were present. Then the berries were extracted on a fruit boiler where the berries are actually steamed. It takes about 1.4 kg of berries to make 1L of elderberry juice, So the juice that I am using comes from about 3 kg of berries.

When I had just made the juice I tried to make a tea of diluted juice and honey. Just small cups to adjust the taste. I came up with a 1:3 dilution and with a good bit of honey.

But there is a catch. Elderberries contains cyanogenic glycosides which releases prussic acid (HCN). The prussic acid can be removed by boiling for an extended time. Now I did not know this, so after my dilution tasting, I got really sick even though the berries had been steamed. I tried again, this time boiling the tea for 15 min and I was OK. Felt a bit like a guinea pig in my own food lab :o)

Secondly, I had rinsed the flasks for the juice with Atamon which is a solution of sodium benzoate. As stated on the bottle, Atamon looses it "power" when boiled (?). Benzoic acid is quite stable but perhaps it is removed by being dissolved in droplets of the water vapor.

So when preparing the mead I wanted to make absolutely sure that HCN and Atamon was boiled off. The 2.2 L of Elderberry juice was mixed with 2.5 L of water and boiled for 45min.

I was aiming at 1.7 g of star anise and I was just lucky to find one with that mass :o).The star anise was crushed to to increase the surface area and added during the last 15 min of the boiling. I added what corresponds to 0.2 g/L as I know it is a quite powerful taste. (1.7g / 8.5 L = 0.20 g/L)

Then the honey was added. Since it was quite solid (not stirred enough) I tried to heat the container in the kitchen sink but it was only enough to liquefy the surface of the honey but enough for the lump of honey to drop into the pot. The container was rinsed with the warm juice and then the pot was stirred till the honey was dissolved. I re-heated the pot to 72C removed the heat and left it for 10 min .

Then the must was poured into a 10 L fermenter and filled it up to 8.5L with cold tap water. Made my own markings just to make it easy for myself. Then I added the Potassium Carbonate and there was no foaming or bubbles which I expected since the must should be acidic enough turn the carbonate to CO2. The fermenter was left to cool on the balcony throughout the evening but I took it inside later so that the temperature would not drop below 20C.

What a great tool this IR thermometer with laser aim. The actual measurement has to be taken a bit closer to the fermenter.

Next morning the temperature was 23C, so just perfect. I prepared a yeast starter by just adding the yeast to 50 ml of tap water heated to 26C. When the yeast was hydrating the temperature was increasing which could be felt on the glass I used. The yeast was left like this for 12min

While the yeast was hydrating I added the first portion of Ferment K -> 2.0 g corresponding to 31 ppm YAN in the must. Addition is a bit lower than I wanted but I was simply not able to buy DAP (?!?#¤) in either of the two brew stores that I frequently visit.

The density was significantly above 1.120 (the max of my hydrometer) but I estimate it to be about 1.135.

pH was measured with strips but since the the must is quite colored it is really difficult to read the strip :o). Best guess is about 4-5.

Again it is now just time to wait for the bubbling.....

onsdag den 27. november 2013

Preparing the last glasses of honey...

After taking the honey I needed for the two batches of mead I am working with now, I kind of forgot the last honey - about 7½ kg - still in the bucket I used when harvesting. I had spiked with crystallized honey to inoculate the crystallization, but nothing happened in the following weeks, so I assumed that the inoculation had failed.

Now that I opened the bucket the honey was completely solid. So solid that It was difficult to push a wooden spoon into it. Actually I broke it when I tried to dig a spoonful out "¤¤%#%&. It is becoming quite expensive in kitchen utensils since, according to my wife, it is "break one, buy a new set......"

I found that it was easier to cut it with a flat spoon from a rice cooker. Fortunately I have two of those, so armed with these tools I started to fill honey glasses with 450 g of honey. It took a very loooong time. Next year I will remember to do this while the honey can still flow like a liquid.

Go Movember !!!!! (I am looking so much forward to a full shave again)

To save me some work I took out 3.20 kg out for yet another batch of mead, though it will only be a 8.5 L batch.

All in all I ended up with enough 450 g glasses and 200 g glasses to get through Christmas and still have some left for family breakfasts, glazing of meat, salad dressings etc..... :o)

mandag den 25. november 2013

Weighing the hive - control of food status

After I harvested the last honey I fed the bees with Apivert three times during October. It was quite surprising that the bees were able to move 3-4 kg of Apivert into the hive in just 2 days. Wow - one bee carries a few µl so talk about a major team effort.

This was also the first time I saw that bees actually have a quite long tongue. Never seen that :o)

Anyway, I ended up feeding them 1½ bucket and by the end of October the entire hive weighed 30.5kg

Yesterday, the 24 of November it weighed 26.7 kg a loss of weight of 3.8 kg - so about 4 kg the first month.

I use the "suitcase scale" that is shown in the picture. Great and cheap tool - a "must have".

Throughout the winter I will weigh the hive to see how it develops. The mass should drop slowly throughout the winter. In the spring it should suddenly increase when the bees start collecting nectar and pollen again. Then it is time check on the bees again.

Last work with the bees for this year - formic acid and oxalic acid treatment

Go Movember :)

At the end of the season the bees are treated with first formic acid in October and then with oxalic acid in November.

I performed the formic acid treatment start October this year. For 4 day in a row 30 ml of formic acid was distributed on a cloth and put on the bottom plate of the hive. This was a massacre of the family. Usually dead bees are carried away the the workers but this time several hundreds dead bees were scattered all around the entrance of the hive. I could only hope that the queen was still OK.

Above: Evidence of massacre of formic acid treatment :(

I checked the tray 2 weeks after but I could only count about 160 mites.

Last weekend (16th November) it was time for the oxalic acid treatment. This is done by spraying an oxalic acid solution ON the bees. 35 ml of the solution was spread as evenly as possible on the bees between each honey board.

Yesterday I went back to check on the bees and I must say that I expected the worst. But I was relieved to find that there was not many dead bees. When checking the tray I could count about 400 mites. This is not bad considering I have heard of hives with mite counts of 2000-4000.

Above: Every black dot is a mite - and this is not that bad....

So now there should be no more work with the bees until the spring - besides an occasional check/cleaning of the tray once in a while.

søndag den 24. november 2013

Recipe 2: Sack mead (continued 2) - Racking

My sack mead was up for racking today. It has been bubbling nicely for almost a month now and I was curious to see how far it had come. I did set my hopes to high based on my experience with recipe 1.

Anyway pH was measured to somewhere between 3 and 4 with pH strips, so that was spot on

I measured the density to 1.012 which was great. This seems to end up with complete fermentation (target 1.010).

Going back to a previous entry the ethanol content can be estimated by:
Low estimate: ABV: (1.120-1.012) / 0.0075 = 14.4%
High estimate: ABV: (1.120-1.012) / 0.0065 = 16.6%

Now the high estimate seems to be just rubbish since the yeast should have a maximum of 16% which must be under the best conditions - and not initial try of an amateur :o)

Since the low estimate is for low ABV beverages (beer etc) and that the conversion should go up due prolonged fermetation phase (no sugar "wasted on" the lag phase and aerobic phase), I guess the ABV is about 15%.

I also read that fermentation can becomes inconsistent due to the lack of potassium. Since pH was a bit low (remember that I added a bit too much citric acid initially I figured that i would try to add a bit of "pot ash" as it is called in Denmark, or Potassium Carbonate (K2CO3)

I added 3 grams or 21mmol (= 42mmol (1,6g) of potassium in 19.5L = 84ppm K+) and checked pH again. I started fizzing heavily for a while due to relase of CO2. With strips there was no visual difference so the must is buffered. I think I should stop fiddling with it so I put the lid back on and attached a clean airlock. I did not bother with generating CO2 since the release from the must due to the carbonate addition should be adequate.

lørdag den 23. november 2013

Movember time

November is Movember time, and yes, I am participating again. It a great excuse to grow a mustache and see how it turns out even though I generally feel it looks silly. Now it is finally beginning to look like I mean it, and not like I just missed shaving my upper lip :o)

It is for a good cause, and it is fun. Go Movember !!!!

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 6) - clarifying....again

The fermentation never re-started, so now after more than a week I decided to rack it again to get rid of the excess yeast which has precipitated by now.

When I opened the fermenter the pleasant smell of apples and honey strikes me. Also, it is great to see how clear the mead has become. Even though it cannot be called crystal clear, I could see the siphon tip all the way to the bottom. Hmm, forgot to take a picture.

I measured the density and once again it was 1.066, so nothing has happened since the new yeast was spiked. I had hoped to see just a little change - but NO change at all.

The taste is still strongly acidic but with a pleasant sweet honey taste in the aftertaste. Perhaps storage will take the edge off the acidity, which will give it a genuinely pleasant taste.

Well, I racked the mead until the yeast in the bottom reached the siphon. I could transfer 18 L, so I have lost 2 L so far - not so bad considering the endless number of rackings so far :o)

I will use the same clearing kit as before. First Kieselsol was added and the mead stirred well. After 30 min the package of Chitosan was added and the mead stirrred well again.

To protect the surface I flushed the fermenter with CO2 in the same manner as before, closed the lid and attached the airlock, filled with fresh water.

It should be ready for long term storage in a carboy in about a week.

søndag den 10. november 2013

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 5) - ...bugger

Like a little boy I was getting up during the night to see if the bubbling had started. Not much happened but in the morning the lid was bulging a bit and the airlock seemed like it was almost going to release it first bubble - yes.

Best as I thought that I had successfully started the fermentation again, the pressure in the fermenter slowly went down, and the water level in the airlock evened out - as if the gas is let out of a ballon.

--- so close but no cigar ---

I do not think that the mead is not going to ferment any more. I will attempt to clear it (again!) during the coming week, and then leave it to mature.

My best guess is that the earlier used yeast was still active and had killed of the newly added yeast.

All I can say is: "Bugger"

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 4) - Re-starting fermentation (racking again! 4th time)

OK, time to see if I can get the fermentation restarted.

Ingredients

Vinoferm - Bioferm Killer 7 g

Wyeast yeast nutrition 2g / 10L

To get the fermentation going again I am going to add the Bioferm Killer yeast when it is through the lag period and well into the respiratory phase.

I dissolved 20 g of sugar in 200 ml of boiling water in a 500 ml flask. Once the sugar was dissolved I added 0.5g of yeast nutrition and swirled the solution well. I put the solution in the refrigerator until the temperature was 23C (target was 25C or below). The flask was closed and the solution shaken violently to get as much air into solution as possible. Then the yeast was added - the entire package - and the solution was swirled again to mix.It did not take long before the bubbling started and soon a thick layer of foam was generated. I guess the yeast now had now already entered the respiratory phase.

Not sure if it was even necessary, I thought it might be advantageous to acclimatize the yeast to the must, so after 2 hour, I sampled 200 ml of must which was stirred with the kitchen mixer to get as much air into it as possible.

This was then mixed with the yeast starter.

Now the catch could be the the old yeast comes out of its dormancy and knocks out the Bioferm Killer - but with the name KILLER it should stand a change, I hope.

An hour later the must was transferred (again) back to a clean and disinfected fermenter. But this time the aim was to mix plenty of air into the must so I just poured it into the fermeter ensuring plenty of splashing so the the yeast can continue the respiratory phase and multiply for a while yet, before entering the fermenation phase.

An airlock was attached to the fermenter, and now it is just time to wait - wait and wish that by this time tomorrow the airlock will once again be bubbling....fingers crossed.

fredag den 8. november 2013

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 3) - Racking 3rd time for maturing

It has now been over a week since I added the clearing agents so now I assumed it was time to transfer the mead to a glass flask for maturing. Opening the fermenter I got somewhat disappointed - the mead did not look quite clear.

I figured that it might not be so bad so I started transferring the mead and it becomes so clear: The mead is NOT clear at all. "#¤#¤"%&!

The clearing agent did not do the job. On the bottom of the fermenter there was a layer of about 5 mm so at least something had precipitated.

After the transfer I topped of with 5 L of CO2 to protect the surface of the mead.

Honestly, I think this is my own doing. I used all of the apple juice - pulp and juice - instead just sieving it before boiling so I probably have a large excess protein and other components that are difficult to precipitate - way more than the kit for precipitation could handle.

I also measured the gravity to 1.066, just as the last measurement. On the other hand pH had raised a bit to pH 4, so all conditions are just right for further fermentation. Perhaps the "unknown" knocked out the Kitzinger Port that I bought and an ABV of about 10% is the limit of this "unknown" yeast.

The taste matches the results. So far the mead has an initial strong acidic mouthfeel, which is then followed by sweetness of the residual honey. The aftertaste is pure sweet honey. Each end of the spectrum but not many taste notes "in the middle" to round off the taste.

I think I will try to add a well hydrated portion of Bioferm Killer to see if I can the fermentation going again. This should take the edge off the pure honey taste, and aging should reduce the acidity.

I can hopefully buy some Bioferm Killer yeast tomorrow and get on with the fermentation.

torsdag den 31. oktober 2013

Make your own cheap CO2 generator

In regards to my initial batch (recipe 1) I was a little worried about transferring the mead from one fermenter to another and loosing the protective CO2 layer covering the surface. CO2 is heavier than air so all I need is just enough to cover the surface. That said, I am not sure that there is enough in the solution to generate a new layer.

What to do then? Buying a CO2 spray is expensive and using compressed gas you need expensive equipment. So why not just prepare a CO2 generator yourself.

All you need is sodium bicarbonate (= baking powder) and citric acid. Both chemicals are available in any drugstore (for example Matas here in Denmark)

Generation of 5 L of CO2

Equipment:
- A flask that can contain 250 ml
- A stopper for the flask with a tube that can be used as a transfer line to the fermenter
- A decent scale
- A beaker that can contain a bit more than 100 ml

Procedure:
1) Add 20 g of sodium bicarbonate to the 250 ml flask
2) Add 30 g of citric acid to the beaker and dissolve in 100 ml of water. It dissolves slowly but surely with a gentle agitation
3) Add the citric acid solution in small steps to the 250 ml flask (I usually add in 5 steps with the smallest volume added first)
4) After each addition close the flask with the stopper and attach the other end of the tube to the airlock of the fermenter. Ensure that the lid is partially opened so that excess air can escape. (I just inserted a spoon in a small opening)
5) When all the sodium bicarbonate has dissolved fully and the solution is no longer fizzing the reaction is over.
6) Remove the CO2 generator, close the lid firmly and attach the airlock.

Very simple :o). With whatever losses of CO2 in this set-up you should at least get 2 L into the fermenter which is plenty to cover the surface. The reaction endothermic so you can feel a slight cooling effect in the reaction flask. Also pH of the solution after reaction is about 5 so it can poured in the sink when cleaning up.
___________

If you find it interesting to see why I ended up the 20 g citric acid and 30 g sodium bicarbonate then read on :o).

Using the ideal gas equation I can find that at 22oC I need 0.23 mol CO2 to generate 5.5 L of gas - ~5 L for use and ~0.5 L to fill the flask and tube.

Sodium bicarbonate and acid generates CO2 and water as shown below
NaHCO3 + H+ --> CO2 + H2O + Na+
... so 1 mol of sodium bicarbonate becomes 1 mol of CO2.

So 0.23 mol of NaHCO3 equals 19 g since the molecular weight is 84 g/mol. Assuming a purity of 95% then 20 g is needed.

Citric acid is used because it is easily available and non-volatile and non-toxic. Citric acid actually contains 3 acid groups, so 1 mol of citric acid is equivalent with 3 mol H+. But when the reaction has ended pH of the solution is about 5 which is in the range of pKa(2) of 4.75, hence 1 mol of citric acid only releases about 1.5 mol H+.

If 1 mol citric acid releases about 1.5 mol of H+ then only 0.15 mol of citric acid is required. The molecular weight of anhydrous citric acid is 192,1 g/mol which means that 29 g of citric acid is needed. Again, assuming a purity of 95%. the actual amount becomes 30 g.

QED :o)

onsdag den 30. oktober 2013

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued 2) - Racking 2nd time

Ingredients:
Kieselsol 15 ml
Chitosan 50 ml

It has now been 3 weeks and 5 days since I prepared the batch. For the past week there has not been any bubbling from the airlock, so I am assuming that the fermentation has stopped. I had hoped that the mead would sort of clear but it is not even close.

When I opened the fermenter a very pleasant smell filled the kitchen - so far so good. But the solution was very murky and was about as clear as orange juice. I am wondering if I will have any change of fully clearing it.

Anyway, to start with I measured the relative density to 1.066 - still higher that I was aiming for so perhaps the port yeast from Kitzinger is not able to push more about 10-12% ABV under the given conditions (Depending on which calculation method is used). Also pH was measured again and as before pH was somewhere between 3 and 4. I am somewhat disappointed, that the fermentation has stopped so soon.

After the measurements, the mead was transferred again to a third container which had again been cleaned well and disinfected with iodine. Care was taken not to transfer the yeast sediment on the bottom. The sediment was very easily stirred into the solution, so it was not possible to avoid that some sediment was transferred too.

I used this clearing agent which is a standard package consisting of two solutions which have to be added in separate steps - first the Kieselsol then the Chitosan. The order of addition is apparently important.

So, first the 15 ml of kieselsol was added. It is basically a slurry of silicon dioxide particles. The particles are negatively charged and should precipitate yeast and proteins efficiently. I have not been able to find out the mass per volume of particles but apparently this is a standard mixture. After the addition the solution was stirred rapidly to ensure a good mixing.

Then the 50 ml of Chitosan was added. Chitosan is linear polysaccharides which is derived from the exoskeleton of crustaceans. These particles are positivly charged in acidic solution and causes particles to flocculate, i.e. stick together to form larger particles which will in the end drop out of solution. Again the solution was stirred well before the lid was sealed. The airlock was attached and filled with water, and now it is just time to wait (and hope) that the mead clears.

søndag den 27. oktober 2013

A little care of one self....

Getting a second child and carrying fermenting buckets takes its toll on dad :o). I had a voucher for Chinese therapy/massage something that I got long time ago and I figured I could use it now that I was on leave from work.

I enter a small, and very Chinese looking clinic. Is was asked to lie down and the Chinese doctor started working. Now, my voucher just said massage, but he started using these cups. Fair enough, I have seen the latest Karate Kid with Jackie Chan, so I figured that it would do no harm.

Afterwards I was really tired and really felt loosened up - but damn, I was not told about this......

Recipe 2: Sack mead

This is a basic mead recipe that I found in the book "The complete mead maker" by Ken Schramm. It is slightly modified due to the yeast that I used, so here we go

Ingredients:

7.20 kg of my own garden honey

about 15 L of tap water

Wyeast "yeast nutrition" 2 g / 10 L

Vinoferm - Bioferm Killer (up to 16%, low residual sugar)

All equipment was first washed thoroughly and then sterilized with an iodine solution.

I started by adding 7 L of water to my 15 L pot and began bringing it to a boil.

The original recipe use 6.8 kg (15 lps) of honey to about 19 L (5 gallons). Since I will end up in 20 L then the mass of honey need to be scaled up to 7.2 kg. The honey was weighed out in two bowls.

My yeast, Bioferm killer, goes up to 16% ABV whereas the original recipe used Lalvin 71b-1122 which goes to 14%, so I would expect my mead to be a bit more dry even though I also expect my honey to be quite low on water. I still need to get this measured, but so far I estimate 15% water.

Once the water was boiling I tool the pot off the heat and placed it in the kitchen sink. Now it was time to add the honey. Best as I am holding the larger bowl over the pot the !"¤#"#"¤ thing breaks in half and falls into the pot with a great splash. So I got some kitchen cleaning to do tonight...

Anyway, both pots was finally added and I started to stir to get it dissolved. As with the last mead (recipe 1) I checked the temperature and it had dropped to 60oC. I heated the pot a bit and when the temperature was 66oC I turned off the heat. Shortly after the temperature was 69oC which was high enough (as long as it is above 65oC). After 10 min the temperature had dropped to 66oC and it was time to transfer the solution to the fermenter.

I placed the pot on a stool and the fermentor on the floor and just poured the solution into the fermenter with as much splashing as possible to oxygenate the solution - and yes, the floor and cupboards need a wet cloth for a quick clean-up afterwards. The volume of the must added up to almost 12 L and I topped up the fermenter to 20 L with cold tap water.

The temperature was now 40oC so I had to place the fermenter on the balcony to cool off with the lid put on loosely and a long thermometer in the hole for the airlock. Even though it is end of October it is quite warm (14oC) outside, so it would still take a while for the mead to cool off. When it was time to call it the day I took the mead inside, and planned yeast spiking the following morning.

Next morning the temperature was only 23oC so it was time to spike yeast and nutrients. 4.2g of Wyeast "yeast nutrition" was mixed with about 0.5 dl of 32oC warm water. Afterwards the 7g of yeast was hydrated also in about 0.5 dl of 32oC water. Both solutions were added to the must after 15 min.

While the solutions were left to hydrate, the density was measured to 1.120 with hydrometer (this was the max of the scale of the one I have). pH was also measured with strips to about 6. The optimal pH for wine yeasts should be around 4 so 35 g of citric acid was added which lowered the pH to somewhere between 3 and 4.

Actually I initially added 25 g and measured pH to around 5 after stirring. So I added another 10 g. Then it dawned upon me that it takes some time for the citric acid crystals to dissolve so I stopped any further additions. After the yeast and nutrition was added I waited about one hour and measured pH again and got the result above. I was aiming at pH 4 which I think would have been just perfect with addition of the initial 25 g - shit happens and yet another lesson learned.

Now all was ready and the lid was sealed. The airlock was filled with a bit of water and the entire fermenter covered in a black plastic bag. Now it is time to wait for the happy bubbling to begin - again :o)

lørdag den 19. oktober 2013

Estimating %alcohol

I have found 3 ways of estimating the final alcohol percentage in alcoholic beverages.

I:
The first is just based on the concentration of sugar added to the must. I have used the calculations for recipe 1. The calculations can be seen below.

Honey	7.50	kg
Sugar content	85%
Sugar	6.38	kg
Convesion factor	17.0	g/L/%
Total volume	20.0	L
Theoretical ABV	18.8	%
Actual ABV	15.5	%
Residual sugar	1.11	kg
Concentration of residual sugar	55.3	g/L

The sugar content of the honey is estimated so far since I do not have a refractometer. When I get hold of one I will be able to measure the water content in % by mass. The sugar content will then be calculated at 100%-%water.

All the parameters can easily be measured or calculated except one - the conversion factor. This is an experimental factor that can only be set from experience. The number 17 g/L/% has been found by searching the internet. It means that for 1 % of alcohol by volume (ABV) to be produced on 1 L of must, then 17 g of sugar is needed.

There are some reasoning behind this figure, though. The classical equation for conversion of sugar to alcohol is

C6H12O6 -> 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2

Glucose Ethanol Carbondioxide

(sugar) (alcohol)

i.e. 1 mol of sugar becomes 2 mols of ethanol. The molar mass of glucose is 180 g/mol and the molar mass of ethanol is 46 g/mol. Hence for every 180 g of glucose, 2*46=92 g of ethanol is produced. Put in another ways the mass yield is 92g/180g*100% = 51%

Now, 1% of ethanol by volume can be converted to mass by multiplying with the density 0.79 g/ml which becomes 7.9g ethanol / L of must. If the conversion yield was 51% then the sugar needed would be 7,9g/0.51 = 15.5 g sugar / L of must.

Well, yeast also need energy for multiplying and life processes to perform the conversion, so the use of sugar needed will be higher. The literature that I have found so far states figures from 17 g sugar/L up to 19 g sugar/L. I have chosen to start with 17 g/L and adjust later when I have measured the ethanol content.

ABV after ended fermentation depends on the alcohol tolerance of yeast or the time when the fermentation is stopped by for example addition of sulfite. I selected the port yeast because of the higher tolerance and I have no intentions of stopping the fermentation :o)

I also calculate the residual sugar. Wines have somewhere between 1-3% sugar left (10-30 g/L). I want my mead to be a bit sweet, so I figured about 50 g sugar / L would suffice.

II:

Once you get started preparing the mead the density can be measured with a hydrometer. The density (or gravity) is measured relatively to water and is therefore without unit. The typical scales are Oechsle, Baume, or Brix. I prefer hydrometers where the density is measured in Oechsle since it is pretty much the same as relative density.

When the must is ready for yeast addition, the density is measured with a hydrometer. The relative density is typically defined at 20C but the yeast is added at 25C, so the density is typicaly a bit higher than what is actually measured initially. SG is the term used for the density or "Specific Gravity" at any time point. The initial measurement before the yeast is added is called Original Gravity or OG. Afterwards SG can be measured at any time to follow the fermentation. When fermentation stops, either naturally as when the alcohol tolerance of the yeast is reached or when sulfite is added the measured gravity is called Final Gravity or FG. The difference between the starting point and the ending point (OG-FG) is a measure of how much sugar have been converted.

To estimate the ABV I use the simplest estimate where ABV and (OG-FG) behave linearly, i.e. one can be converted to the other my multiplying a constant. The constant that I have found is based on beer so it might not be quite adequate, but it is a best estimate so far. The constant I use is 1/0.0075 so the calculation becomes

ABV = (OG-FG) / 0.0075

If I can get access to measure the alcohol content very precisely for example by gas chromatography, I will adjust the constant to match the OG-FG measurement.In that manner I can estimate ABV more precisely though only for a narrow range of high OG musts.

III:
I found a so called advanced calculation to calculate ABV. It looks like this

ABV =(76.08 * (og-fg) / (1.775-og)) * (fg / 0.794)

The relation between (OG-FG) and ABV is no longer linear, and ABV depends on both OG and (OG-FG).
If OG is fixed at various levels, ABV can be plotted against (OG-FG)

All lines goes through (0.0) and they are all ALMOST linear, so the difference between each line can be estimated by the slope. This is the exact same slope that is used in the constant of the simplified expression above (which is actually 1/slope).

If we put OG in a table against the respective slope and convert it into constant used above, we get the following

OG	1.14	1.12	1.1	1.08	1.06
slope	157.40	149.66	144.53	139.71	135.16
Constant	0.00635	0.00668	0.00692	0.00716	0.00740
Selected	0.0065

As it can be seen from the table above the lower OG (starting density) is, the closer the constant get to 0.0075 as used above. Since most meads that I will produce are probably in the OG range of 1.12 to 1.14, a constant of 0.0065 is more adequate to use as a general constant.

Hmm, if this is so, the alcohol tolerance level will be reached much earlier than expected and I will end up with a very sweet mead. I am quite curious to know how different the constant will be compared to one used so far (0.0075). More on that later if I get to measure the actual alcohol content.

fredag den 18. oktober 2013

Recipe 1: Cyser with rosehip (continued) - Racking 1st time

Ingredients:
Wyeast "yeast nutrition" 2 g / 10 L

Today was the second week after the preparation of the my first batch of mead and it is now time to rack it it to a second fermenter. This was quite easily done by placing the initial fermenter on the kitchen table and put two plates underneath to tilt it. Take the fermentation lock out first before moving the fermenter, so that the old water in the lock is not pulled into the fermenter by accident. It can be infected. With a siphon the liquid content was moved to the second fermenter, a process that takes about 15 min. This has to be done with care so the air is not mixed into the must. Hence, take your time to do this.

The must was now quite murky and not even remotely clear. The yeast that have fallen out of solution so far was laying like a layer of mud on the bottom of the fermenter. The rosehip pieces were floating covered with yeast also. I transferred as much of the liquid as I could untill the I could see the siphon filled with the muddy layer of yeast. I could transfer about 19.5 L.

The mead smelled very much like white wine, with a very sharp acidic tone. I hope this will become more moderate after some storage time.

I then measured the gravity, SG to 1.069, so ABV = (OG-SG) / 0.007.5 = (1.140-1.069) / 0.0075 = ~9.5%. There is still some way to go. The yeast (Kitzinger port) should be able to go to 15-16%, so I will check again in another two weeks. For the yeast to be able to continue to its max ABV the conditions have to be optimal. pH was still somewhere between 3 and 4, measured with pH strips. Finally I added some nutrients (Wyeast "yeast nutrition") corresponding to 10 L assuming that there is still some nutrition available in the solution from the initial addition. A quick stir to make a vortex - NO splashing - and then the lid was tightened and the fermentation lock was attached - now with fresh water . The fermenter was wrapped in a black plastic bag to limit sun-light.

Hopefully the fermentation has ended within the next two weeks and then it will be time to clear the mead

torsdag den 17. oktober 2013

And so I became a farther again

Great things have happened these past few days. I became a farther once again. My wife gave birth to a baby boy the 15th of October , 52 cm long and weighing 3450 g. He will be named Alexander. He is so cute and his brother Julius is so happy that "his" baby finally was born. Both mother and baby are doing great.

Alexander was born within 4 hours after the water broke, which is a lot faster then with Julius, whose birth took 18 hours. He has an excellent appetite and is generally eating and sleeping, and in the evening, he is looking around "checking out" our flat for a few hours before he sleeps again. There is something different getting your second child. Everything is so much more relaxed, and you have so much more time to enjoy the kid rather than worrying all the time. So to all you parents with one kid, who, like I, have been wondering if there is room and time for a second child - trust me - there is :o)

mandag den 14. oktober 2013

Good stuff to read

I figured it would be advantageous to study a bit before preparing my first mead. There are quite a lot of recipes on the internet but most leave out what I think is significant details of the brew such as honey types, OG, fermentation temperatures, yeast selections, etc. Basically all the information needed to repeat the mead.

I also found that danish mead recipes are often based on old recipes and are often spiked with alcohol. In my opinion an old recipe does not necessarily live up the expectations to an alcoholic beverage today. Honey would have been more difficult to obtain, and what was available perhaps not as clean of wax and bee parts as every hobby bee-keeper today are able to produce. Secondly, mead was also often prepared from leftovers in honey boards or even old (wet) honey in which microorganisms was growing. Hence, according to these recipes, one typically boil the crap out of the honey and add spices which have a strong taste. To top it off wild yeast was used, which would add a certain randomness to the taste

Fortunately, the purity and freshness of the starting materials today can be easily controlled. So why not produce mead with minimal boiling and try to balance tastes between a few ingredients.

As always a quick search in Wikipedia will quickly give you the basics. The list of mead categories was an excellent input when deciding what kind of mead to make and also great search words when looking for various recipes of a certain kind of mead. I decided that my first mead should be a cyser, but bochet and capsicumel are curiosities I just have to try later :o)

The cyser that I made is based on the recipe by Snoremark (Snoremarks Mjød) which won a price in 2011 at the danish honey festival. I figured there would be a fair chance to get decent mead on the first try. Again, lots of the specific details are missing from the recipe and the mead that I prepared will only conceptually the same. Fingers crossed that it will still be good.

I recently got hold of a book called "The complete Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm. It is highly recommendable reading. It is clear that the book is from US where field are so huge that you can claim something like "Star Thistle Honey". Recipes where you are mixing two kinds of honey 1:3 seems like a joke considering how expensive specialized honey is. Also, you have to have a huge field for it to be large enough to claim a pure flower type of the honey - No problem in US but in a small country like Denmark you will have to settle for season variations of honey :o)

søndag den 6. oktober 2013

Recipe I: Cyser with rosehip (Æblemjød med hyben)

Ingredients:

10 L of apple juice from "Inger Marie" apples (English name unknown)

5 L of apple juice from Cox Orange apples

385 g of fresh yet frozen rosehip where all seeds have been removed.

7.50 kg of my own garden honey
Zymex Pectinase enzyme + maltodextrine (10g)

"A fruit wine package" with yeast (unknown) pre mixed with nutrients

Kitzinger Port yeast (5g)

Now that all the ingredients were in place it was time to prepare my first mead. As always, all equipment was first washed thoroughly and then sterilized with an iodine solution.

Then it was time to boil the apple juice. I only have one 15L pot so the boiling was done in two steps.

1) Shake the containers with juice from Inger marie apples (2x5L) to stir up the sediment and pour it all into the pot. Add the rosehip. Once defrosted the last rosehip seeds are floating and can be collected. Bring the solution to a boil and let it boil for 60 min. It will have stopped foaming and the rosehip have become softer Pour the solution from the pot into the fermenter and cover with the lid.

2) After rinsing the pot, the 5L of Cox Orange apple juice was added and boiled for 30 min. The pot was taken off the heat and the honey was added - all the honey. The bowl was rinsed with the hot apple juice to get it all out. The honey was dissolved in the apple juice by stirring. Then the temperature was measured to 54oC which was a bit too low. The pot was put on the heat again and the temperature was raised to 74oC. Then left for 10 min. Temperature dropped to 69oC. Then the solution was poured into the fermenter together with the rest of the apple juice.

Why this circus with the temperature. The typical internet recipe tells you to boil the crap out the honey while skimming it thoroughly for wax and bee parts. But seriously - My honey was sieved twice, and the surface of the honey was cleaned twice. It is very low in wax and are are absolutely no bee parts left. Furthermore honey has antiseptic properties so the only thing to worry about is wild yeast which (as far as I know) can be inactivated at a temperature above 65oC. The bonus is that the main part of all the great flavors in the honey can be preserved.

I topped of the mead to 20L with cold tab water. So now, the solution just need to cool down. I do not have a cooler, so I had to leave it until the temperature had dropped to 35oC. The batch was placed indoor at 22oC so the cooling took a loooong time. I put a large thermometer through the how for the airlock to monitor the temperature and finally, after 20 hours, it was time to pitch the yeast.

With a hydrometer, I had used to measure the gravity of beer, I tried to measure the gravity of the mead. It was way out of scale. The scale maximum was 0.120 so I had to estimate OG to 0.140. Hmm, somewhat higher that anticipated.

pH was measured with pH strips and it was somewhere between 3 and 4 so that was just great - no need to pitch any acids to the mead - that was the goal of using acidic apples :o)

Then the pectinase enzyme was added (10g). I was wondering if I should have added more since the apple juice was not sieved so there was plenty of apple pulp present. I hope that it will be enough to clear the most after fermentation. I have clearing agents available too if necessary (I will find out in two weeks time.....)

I had purchased a "fruit wine yeast package" where the yeast and nutrients were mixed. To the best of my knowledge there is no chance that the yeast could ferment the sugar content, and residual sugar would be way to high for my taste after fermentation. Fortunately I had a package of Kitzinger Port yeast, saved for another purpose, which I pitched to the mead too. I guess the port yeast will take over when the other yeast gives up. I did not prepare a yeast starter. which I should probably have done, at least for the port yeast to let it get the best start. Therefore it took another 2 days before the fermentation was up and running.

Now, the joyful bubbling from the airlock now fills the living room 24/7.

It all begins with bees...

Last winter I participated in a bee course just to get an idea of the basics of how to keep bees. I had absolutely no prior experiences and my general impression was that bees took care of them self. Ah, not quite but ignorance is bliss.

Another "surprise" was the amount of equipment needed. I went shopping with my family and found that I could hardly have the beginners package in the car. In Denmark the typical size of a stacking box is 12"x10". I decided to use Hoffmann frames instead of frames with corner blocks and so far I think it works well for me - (but I do not have much knowledge for comparison....)

After a few evenings of collecting, gluing, and generally getting familiar with the equipment it was time to pick up my first family. It was a small family of Buckfast bees bread in Denmark by Svend Sejr about 1500 individuals. The queen was new with a yellow mark. Unfortunately I was on holiday the weekend it arrived, but fortunately I got my family to pick up the bees. With a little help from a bee keeper from the bee course, the bee family got safely positioned in our garden.

Throughout the summer I participated in the practical part of the bee course in the school bee farm and used the experience on my own hive shortly after. It was a great way to be sure that I did not do anything too foolish to my bees at home. From time to time my family also came but I must admit that they did not find the same enthusiasm in bee-keeping that I did, but the bees have at least been accepted as part of the garden.

So far it has been quite easy to deal with the bees. They have behaved like a text-book example. The few mishaps (which will be posted later) are solely due to my own screw-ups. Hopefully I have learned the lesson for next year......time will tell...

Starting from about 1500 bees the family grew quite large quick and since they have been placed in a garden area, there is always pollen and nectar available in abundance. Soon I could add both the second box for extending the family and the third box for honey collection. I did try the forth box also for honey, but it was a bit late in the summer, so it did not really pay off. In the end I had one full box (10 frames) almost fully covered with honey cells, and a few that I could "steal" from the second box which had not been used for breeding but just for storing honey.

Then it was time to extract the honey. A fellow beekeeper and I decided to do it the same day because you do need lots of equipment and plenty of water to clean it all afterwards. Being two just makes things easier.

First, each frame needs to be peeled.

Fill the loop and spin the frames carefully so that the honey comes off from both sides with breaking the wax

And collect the beautiful and very fragrant raw honey! :o)

All in all I ended up with about 25 kg of honey from the first year - enough for several batches of mead! And still there is all the honey we can eat, honey for presents and some that we can sell.

I am already thinking that perhaps we should have 2 hives........