Ethanol 4: Mead

It's a rainy spring Friday and I have nothing to do. Actually, rainy doesn't quite describe it. It's pouring outside. Like inches/hour pouring.

So what to do? Make some alcohol!

Day One

24 oz of clover honey in 1 gal of water, Red Star Champagne yeast. Ed: that's about half the honey I have used in previous 1-gallon batches.

Again I got no head-foam forming during the yeast startup. I left 30 minutes, and everything went from clear to cloudy, and there was a little fine fizz, but no real foam. I really should find out what's up there. Maybe it needs to be aerated more at the very beginning. The water's certainly warm enough, and I left a substantial amount of honey in the starter. I'm guessing it's either aeration or maybe just the fact that I'm using a whole packet of yeast (enough for 5 gal) and there's some overcrowding going on. We shall have to see.

Anyway, combined the yeast starter with the rest of the honey water, put an airlock on it, and sent it on its way.

NB: The "right size" cork for the gallon  jugs I'm using is an 8. An 8½ works, but the extra size makes it a bit tougher to get into the neck, while an 8 fits perfectly.

Day 3

The honey is producing steady a stream of CO2 at this point, so I'm going to let it proceed, even though I suspect it's happening on a relatively low biomass of yeast. This may or may not mean it takes longer to finish fermenting. I'm in experiment mode, not outcome mode, so that's fine.

Day 8

A steady fizz from a cloudy mass. So the yeast didn't get killed or crippled. We shall see how long it takes to calm down.

Day 27 Update

Bottle has gone almost totally clear, with yeast sludge at the bottom. It's fizzing, but only about half as much as before.

Day  34 Update

After another week, the entire process seems to have stopped. I siphoned the contents into a few snap-cap bottles and set them aside.

Ethanol 3 (mead)

Day 1 (Dec 31): Started new batch of mead: 24oz of honey in 1gal. Some problems.
- It appears to have been too much honey, since not all of it dissolved.
- The red-star yeast again failed to "head", but again was anarobic within 24 hours.
Day 3 (Jan 2): Fizzing like mad. Far more effervescent than soda. All trace of excess honey is gone.
Day 5 (Jan 4): Same state.
Day 8 (Jan 7): Still going strong. 1 bubble (at least 1cc) every 10s or so. Rate could be twice that.
Day 10 (Jan 9): Fizzing waned yesterday, and continues to wane today. Large yeast sediment at the bottom of the container.
Day 12 (Jan 11): Weak effervescence, significantly clearer solution.
Day 17 (Jan 16): Still bubbling very slightly. Looks almost like apple juice clarity-wise.
Day 22 (Jan 21): Faint effervescence still present. Probably done within 1-2 days.
Day 27 (Jan 26): No fiz for two days. Decanting. The substance is as clear or clearer than storebought apple juice. Sp Gr: 0.994
My vinometer (not a very accurate measure) says it's about 15% alcohol by volume, which is 12% by mass.

Ethanol 2 (mead and cider)

Started two liters of mead and 1 gal of hard cider. Both were bubbling within 8 hrs.

Progress Report

Day 11: Bubbling almost completely stopped. Poured off & sampled.

Vinegar 1

I took 300mL of mead and separated it from the rest. Placed it in an open 1 gallon glass jug and shook vigorously to oxygenate
Day 2-4: Shaken vigorously daily and left in necked open bottle.
Day 5: decanted into and out of a beaker to measure the volume (listed as 300mL above)
Day 14: Still smells of alcohol rather than acetic acid. Shook again to oxygenate.
Day 16: A little mold on surface. Shook the entire bottle (mixing mold into the alcohol) to oxygenate.
Day 28: The scent has become considerably more vinegar-y.

I am reminded of some old pieces of pottery my grandmother kept: large, cylindrical glazed containers with 5-8 gallon capacities, with no lids whatsoever. She called them vinegar jars, and I'm left wondering if they didn't lack ceramic lids because they were meant to be covered with cheesecloth, allowing oxygen in but (perhaps) not mold. I'll have to look into that.

Ethanol 1 (mead)

I started this on Friday, 21-Sep-2012.

Pretty much directly out of "Caveman Chemistry" for this one:

* 16oz (300cc) of honey
* 1500mL water
* 1 packet of yeast
* Wake the yeast with water & sugar
* Mix in 2L drink bottle
* Cap

Progress Report
Check regularly! The book says "check every day" I'm pretty sure that if I had waited for 24 full hours, the bottle would have burst. There was a slight exhalation after 8 hrs, and after 16 it gave a serious "pop", then foamed & frothed for a couple minutes.
Day 2: Airlock (bought a cheap plastic "inverted cups" airlock and a rubber cork)
Day 4: Bubbled more or less continuously for 2 days (so far)
Day 7: Still bubbling away.
Day 12: Bubbling seems to have stopped. Will check again tomorrow.
Day 13: Bubbling completely stopped. Decanted.

Nota Bene
The ambient temperature throughout this endeavor has been on the order of 80 degrees F, sometimes warmer. This is around 10 degrees warmer than is recommended, which may account for the rapid transtion into and out of carbon dioxide production.