Reddit reviews The Stainless Steel Mix-Stir

I use this for aeration.

Which basically punches the fruit cap, too.

I rack as much as "necessary." For this one, I expect:

• Near the end of fermentation, from bucket to carboy.
  
  
• About 1 month after fermentation ends, to leave behind the bulk of the solids.
  
  
• 3+ months after fermentation ends, to rack onto stabilizing elements and back sweeten.
  
  
• If, for some reason, I need to fine it (and history indicates that I will not - all my berry melomels seem to drop clear nigh-instantly), I'll rack it off the fining agents about a week after adding them.
  
  
• (Edit) And of course, I'll rack immediately before bottling.

This

>Pumping air into it via a turkey baster

that visual just made me giggle.

it all depends on how much head room, and what container you have.

Shaking could give you a geyser, adding air via a turkey baster wouldn't likely do anything, but you could use it to stir slowly for a bit.

If your in a bucket and have good headspace, you could hook this up to a drill and give it a few spins mid bucket.

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edit: wasn't done... hit save to soon.

I have one like this, that I got from my LHBS

The difference between good mead recipes and bad mead recipes is basically just nutrition. You take a gravity reading and adjust nutrition from there, or you target a OG in the first place. Nutrition is covered pretty extensively on the wiki, if you go and poke at it and don't understand I'll help you with whatever you need.

The ones that collapse really just degas, they don't aerate that great and they are kind of expensive, but they are better than trying to shake a carboy for sure

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Brewer-GK-FZ2V-0QIS-Stainless-Mix-Stir/dp/B0064OG79E/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1CT39XMP9GDQ4&keywords=wine+stirring+wand&qid=1574100177&sprefix=wine+stir%2Cindustrial%2C194&sr=8-6

[mix-stir tool] (https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Brewer-GK-FZ2V-0QIS-Stainless-Mix-Stir/dp/B0064OG79E) you can find them cheaper, or make one.

they are good for aeration, and also for cooling the wort too (once you are under 120F or else you risk melting the plastic fins)...you can mix the wort so hard that it will create a whirlpool and you will see the bottom of your kettle if you get the angle right. very powerful.

i also use the mix-stir tool for when i add oxyclean to a vessel and want to stir it into the water without clumping. the mix-stir will make the best lather in a few sections, with no left behind oxyclean graduals

IMHO considering something like this will be used on every batch, I wouldn't hesitate to spend a little more on something I knew was made from the correct materials.

When you say whirlpool paddle, are you attempting to oxygenate or are you just trying to gather trub in the center of the kettle? If attempting to oxygenate, might as well just get a wine whip, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Brewer-GK-FZ2V-0QIS-Stainless-Mix-Stir/dp/B0064OG79E/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=wine+degasser&qid=1568906877&s=gateway&sr=8-7 . Otherwise you can always use a spoon to stir the pot as it's cooling; the upgrade there is usually a pump system.

OK well I'll give you my recipe, here's what you'll need:

1 large stock pot 30-32 quarts is what you're shooting for. I got mine at Walmart for much less than this.

Yeast nutrient I prefer fermaid K but you can use Fermax, avoid DAP for a while it's kinda rough to dial in for a novice and can cause funky stuff to happen.

Campden Tablets

Wine Tannin

Some form of CO2, you can use Wine Preservation spray or if you paintball like me, fill your tanks up at the local place, and just use a regulator to dispense it.

WLP-099 for yeast. You can also use Wyeast 4347 if you want it to finish a bit sweeter.

You need a bathtub full of apples (not kidding) this is about ~100-150 pounds. I live in New England and buy cider apples for cheap money when they're in season from an orchard.

18-21 pounds of honey depending on which yeast you're using and if you want it to finish sweet or dry, I like to use orange blossom honey for this recipe, but anything light such as clover or some wildflower honeys will work. If you go with the Wyeast stuff stick with 18 pounds, if you're using the White Labs stuff and you still want some residual sweetness, go for 21 pounds.

A juicer to crush your apples. You could do this manually, but you will hate your life.

A Carboy stirrer or a Wine Whip You could use a super long stainless steel spoon, but in all honesty these do a much better job.

A big ass primary bucket this is what I use now, but if you've got a pair of 6.5 gallon buckets you're good too. I drilled a hole in the top for my "dry airlock" These open at 0.25 PSI, and they're both indestructible and cheap, plus you'll never have to worry about forgetting to fill your airlocks.

2 6.5 gallon glass carboys (these will be MUCH cheaper locally due to shipping costs)

1 All in One Wine Pump with a 10" house filter setup You can get the 1 and 5 micron filters cheaper on Amazon then the site they link there, and for the 0.5 micron finishing filter you get that HERE


Start with a bathtub full of apples with the stopper in, after the tub is full, fill around the apples with hot water. let that soak overnight to loosen up the dirt and hydrate the apples as well as you can. All hot water, no cold for this. Stir up the apples gently.
Wash the apples in bunches the next day, I have my kids help me with this, any ones with bad spots they put aside so I can either reject them outright or just cut the bad spots off. Cut the apples into quarters, only remove the stem and any leaves don't worry about the core or seeds or anything else. Any bad spots or worm eaten apples throw into the garbage.

Run all of the cleaned apples through a juicer. Put the pulp into your big primary bucket & put the juice into your big ass pot.

Heat the juice to 200 degrees, add 3 to 3.5 pounds of honey per gallon of juice (depends on what yeast you're using) and stir until well mixed (and still at 200 degrees.) This is to pasteurize the apple juice and kill any wild yeast or other microbes. Don't boil it, 200 degrees is fine. You should have about 7-7.5 gallons of juice from a full bathtub of apples plus a crapload of solids.

Add 1 teaspoon of Fermaid K nutrient, 1/2 teaspoon wine tannin, and 2 crushed campden tablets, stir that bitch up good.

Pour that on to the apple solids in each bucket. Mix it quickly, and make sure it's still at least 185 degrees F. This will pasteurize your apple solids. If it is under 185 degrees, then either pour in some boiling water and get it back to temperature OR siphon some juice out, reheat that stuff and pour it back. This is the ONLY time you can add ANY water, and if you're quick with the apple juice you won't need boiling water and it will turn out MUCH better.

Wait 24 hours.

Pitch your yeast. For this brew I make a big ass starter of the WLP-099 or the Wyeast 4347. With 3.5 pounds of honey per gallon plus the 100% apple juice liquids, I end up with around 35-37 Brix, giving me a high potential alcohol. The WLP-099 typically eats it nicely if step fed and aerated daily for the first week to give around 22-23% ABV while still finishing sweet with 3 pounds per gallon of honey and the Wyeast 4347 it will finish slightly sweet at around 20-21% ABV.


Let it sit on the apple mash for 30 days, for the first week use the Carboy stirrer to mix it up good, every 3 days add 1/3 teaspoon yeast nutrient for the first 9 days (so initial addition during creation of the must, and an additional 1/3 teaspoon on days 3, 6 and 9 so 2 teaspoons total fermaid K.)

Let the mash sit unmolested from day 12 to day 30.

Siphon that off into glass carboys for secondary.

For this step I normally pull the mead through a 5 micron and then a 1 micron filter (both in a single pass with my filtration setup) this doesn't remove the yeast, but it makes sure no apple particulate is transferred into your secondary. It will still be very cloudy though, to the point where it is opaque, that's fine.

Hit the carboys with some CO2, either from wine preservation spray or the paintball canister setup like I said.

This is where I add spices and any other flavor. I have made a number of differently spiced Cysers, but my typical secondary includes 1/16 teaspoon of ground cloves, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground cinnamon.
After 30 more days I rack it off that, passing it once again through the 5 and 1 micron filters.

Then I hit it with CO2 to prevent oxidation and bulk age it. It doesn't move for at least 6 months, 12 if I can leave the carboys full for that long. After 2-3 months aging you can swap to a solid bung as you don't need the airlock anymore.

The mead will clear during aging. When it's transparent, it is ready to bottle. I do one more pass from my carboy through a 0.5 micron filter into another carboy, then siphon into my bottling bucket. I don't like bottling with my vacuum pump I suck at it and just make a big ass mess.

Yea it's a lot of work, but it's some of the best Cyser you'll ever have, and it's got one helluva kick so take care when you drink it.