NOTE: Wyeast 1388 temperature range is best in the 68-74 F range. Some people have reported issues with going above 74ºF, other people say it's fine. I try to keep my fermentations at 68ºF.

Post Fermentation (Optional!)

-Add 1 whole vanilla bean, 3 cubes American Medium toast and 2 cubes French Medium toast oak for 2-4 weeks to taste.

-You can also step feed small additions of honey until the yeast give up to sweeten. Just be sure your gravity is stable over several weeks to avoid bottle bombs! SG of up to 1.12 will still ferment dry, but the SNAs need to go in at 1.08 & 1.04 in this case.

-I've also had good luck racking on 3-5 pounds of frozen berries to make a melomel, but fruit in very prone to oxidation. Use good practices!

-This recipe can be adapted to cysers, pyments, braggots, metheglins or anything else. It's your mead. Experiment!

BOMM Gravity and Nutrient Update

After much research, I've established some guidelines for Wyeast 1388 to make mead making easier/faster (read "I got sick of step feeding").

It seems Wyeast 1388 alcohol tolerance in mead is 15.7-16% ABV. Using this knowledge, I've been adding more and more honey upfront to see if the yeast would remain clean. I'm very happy to say that it does. Below is a chart of starting gravities and where Wyeast 1388 will stop. Keep in mind it's alway plus or minus a few points. On rare occasions, the yeast can put on their super suits and go to 18% ABV. I've only heard of one case of this in 4 years though.

Original Gravity -> Finish Gravity

1.120 or less -> 1.000

1.130 -> 1.010

1.140 -> 1.020

1.150. -> 1.030

If you add more honey upfront, you need to adjust your nutrient timing. Since 1388 eats through 120 points, it's always subtraction of 40 points per addition. See chart below:

Nutrient Addition Timing Adjustments

1.120 - Add upfront, 1.080 & 1.040.

1.130 - Add upfront, 1.090 & 1.050.

1.140 - Add upfront, 1.100 & 1.060.

1.150 - Add upfront, 1.110 & 1.070.

Same amount of nutrients per standard recipe, just different gravity addition times.

Posted with permission from http://denardbrewing.com