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).