I also ended up with about 1 gallon of honey water that I made from sparging the collected wax over the closed-up extractor. This water will later be added to the Must to bring it to a good yeast pitching temp.

Nothing really out of the ordinary here, it is a very basic recipe and consists of the following:

• 1 Gallon of Raw Honey (Actually I had a little under)

• 1 Gallon of Raw Honey Water

• 2 Lbs. Local Honey (Only added because I did not have enough of my own)

• 2 Cups Black Teat (5 Tea Bags)

• 1 Pkg EC1118 Yeast

• 3 tsp LDC Yeast Nutrient

• 1/2 tsp LDC Yeast Energizer

I added 1 gallon of hot tap water (well water) to the bucket containing my 1 gallon of raw honey.

Using a long plastic spoon, mixed the honey and water until the honey was completely dissolved.

Note that once you mix the honey and water it is called a Must.

This honey and water mixture is then poured into my sanitized Fermzilla Allrounder.

I then added an additional 1/2 gallon of hot tap water to the Fermzilla and mix well with my plastic spoon.

I added about 1/4 cup of 98-degree water to a measuring cup.

I added about an ounce (couple tablespoons) of my current must mixture to the water.

1/2 tsp of LDC yeast energizer was added as well and mixed until dizzolved.

I then added 1 Pkg of EC-1118 yeast and mixed well.

Set aside

I mixed up 1/4 cup of water with 3 tsp of LDC yeast neutralizer in a glass and stirred until dissolved. This mixture is added to the must.

I brewed 2 cups of black tea using 5 tea bags and added that to the Must.

I fill the Fermzilla to the 5-gallon mark.

I take a sample and perform a specific gravity test using my hydrometer. I got a reading of 1.088 which is not high enough.

I mixed in 2 Lbs. of local honey and added water until the specific gravity is 1.095. In my case I ended up with about 5.75 gallons.

Note that you don’t have to take a sample, if you sanitize the hydrometer, you can take the reading right inside the Fermzilla.

Using the air pump and air stones, I aerated for 30 minutes.

I then added my yeast/energizer mixture to the Must and gave it a little swirl with the spoon.

I added a spunding valve previously set to 15 psi. to the air in post. (The post not connected to the dip tube)

I placed the Must in a warm location. This particular room fluctuates between 72-degrees and 76-degrees Fahrenheit.

Notice the tube going from the exhaust of the spunding valve and a jar of water. This is to help me see the activity.

Noter here that I have filled the take with 15 psi. of c02. This turned out to be a mistake.

For the first 24 hours I saw little or no activity at all. This could have been caused by a combination of errors on my part.

1. I let the yeast/energizer set too long.

2. I introduced c02, thus displacing the initial oxygen needed to get things started.

I released the pressure and removed the lid. I then aerated for 30 minutes to get some oxygen back into the tank and Must.

I mixed up some warm water, Must and yeast and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

The mixture was pitched into the Must and re-sealed the tank. I did not add any c02 to the tank.

Within 2 hours I had some pretty vigorous fermentation going on and pressure starting to build.

Within 4 hours the tank had reached 15 psi. and the spunding valve was bubbling away into the jar of water.

Using my picnic tap, I pulled a sample into a jar so I could test the specific gravity.

Lots of c02 and foam. I just let it rest for a few minutes to clear the foam.

I actually take two samples. A very light sample to clear out any Must that is already in the dip tube line. And a second one that will be tested.

In just 24 hours after the re-pitch, I had a specific gravity of 1.065 which gets us to 4% ABV.

In just 48 hours after the re-pitch, I got a specific gravity reading of 1.038 and 7.5% ABV.

I decided to rack and filter to a carboy.

I purchased this 20” x 2.5” filter unit and placed it between the Fermzilla and the carboy.

I’m using a 5 micron filter.

It did pull out all the particulate matter but still left some yeast haze. I will tray and age this for about a month.

FermZilla All Rounder

My goal is to eventually get a large stainless steel conical. Before taking that plunge, I wanted to experiment with pressure fermenting mead on a smaller (and cheaper) scale.

This is the pressure fermentation vessel that I used. I feel it’s the least expensive ways to get into pressure fermentation. Note the Fermzilla is pressure capable, and you will need to purchase a few more items if you want to ferment under pressure.

As it comes you can do un-pressurized fermentations out of the box.

Note that you can also use a cornelius keg in the exact same way. You can get them used or new and they already come with the Ballock posts. You will still have to purchase the floating dip tube. It comes with the parts to connect to the cornelius keg.

Carbonation Caps

These caps screw onto the posts provided in the lid of the Fermazilla. They literally turn the Fermazilla into a keg.

BlowTie Spunding Valve

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As the mead ferments it will start to build pressure. You need a way to control the amount of pressure that builds up by bleeding off the excess. A spunding valve is used for this purpose. This one works very well.

Tubing for spunding valve bubbler

I like watching the activity in an air lock to gauge the activity in my ferments. By attaching this tubing to the spunding valve and into a jar of water, you can see the bubbles from the excess Co2.

Fermzilla Floating Dip Tube and Filter

While not required to pressure ferment, this dip tube attachment will allow you to take samples and transfer your mead to other vessels. If you have a fridge large enough to hold the Fermzilla, you can even use it to dispense for finished mead.

Picnic Quick Disconnect Tap

I used these quite extensively throughout this fermentation to pull some test must for daily testing purposes.

Air Pump

While you can use a spoon or other devise to add oxygen to your initial must, I have found a small air pump and air stone works so much better.

Please note that this is optional, you can also aerate by whipping the must with a large plastic spoon.

Air Stone

These are pretty cheap, and work very well. They are used to add oxygen to aquariums. Remember to spray some sanitizer on these before placing them in your must.

Tubing for Air Pump

Used to connect the air stone to the air pump.

24” Plastic Stirring Spoon

Never use a metal spoon inside your fermentation vessel. They will cause small scratches that will make it impossible to properly clean the fermenter.

Glass Hydrometer

This is the actual hydrometer that I am using.

5Lb C02 Tank

This is the tank that I purchased. It has worked perfectly. In my area it costs me about $25 to fill.

Note that you can ferment under pressure without a C02 Tank. But I have to say once you get one you won’t ever go back.

C02 Regulator

While you can certainly find cheaper regulators, you can’t go wrong with a Taprite regulator.

Ball lock line assembly

You need this to connect the regulator to your pressure vessel.

Yeast Nutrient

This is the nutrient that I used. Others will work as well.

In the past I have only used diammonium phosphate (DAP) and decided to try this one. It contains both urea and diammonium phosphate. That said from research I have found it contains quite a bit more uria than diammonium phosphate. This is not a good thing as uria is good as a plant fertilizer but not so good for you in fermentation.

Yeast Energizer

While totally optional, I have found that this can help get the yeast of to a fast start.

I had some issues using this energizer in this fermentation. I will be changing my procedure for using it or eliminating it completely in future fermentations.

Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

Since I am new to both raw honey and pressure fermentation, I decided to try different yeasts to see how they perform under pressure.