Jeff lays out the basic recipe for a 12% starter mead recipe along with some discussion on what makes this different than the previous 8% recipe and what extra techniques we need to use to get the end results we’re looking for.
Mead House 12% Mead Recipe
Start with approx 1/4 cup warm (80-90 degrees Fahrenheit) water. Add 2g 71B yeast and 2.5g GoFerm and set aside to proof.
Add honey and water to a volume of 1 gallon and a starting gravity of 1.090. Add yeast and GoFerm mixture after the yeast has proofed. Degas the mead by gentle agitation 2x daily for the first week. Fermaid K is added in .4g doses according to the following schedule: 12-24 hours after initial activity has been detected in the airlock, 24 hours after first feeding, 24-48 hours after second feeding, and once gravity has reached 1.060. Fermaid O can be used instead with .8g doses in place of the .4g Fermaid K doses.
Nutrient Requirements Math (Inspired by TOSNA 2.0/ TiOSNA by Sergio Moutella)
Convert starting gravity to brix.
(Starting brix) x 10 x (# gallons) x (nutrient need adjustment) = nutrient need
Several common wine yeasts such as 71B, D47, etc have low nutrient requirements. Nutrient need adjustment here can be placed at ‘0.7’. Some yeasts by my experience such as high temperature kviek yeasts can go as high as ‘4.0’ for need. If unknown, ‘1.0’ or essentially not adjusting for need is a safe starting point, though research from the yeast manufacturer’s white pages for that strain is advised.
Divide nutrient need by 100 for Fermaid K, or 50 for Fermaid O to determine quantity in grams of that nutrient which will be required. This is then divided into 4 feedings according to the above schedule, rounding up to the nearest 10th of a gram for simplicity.
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