Citrus Spice Honeymead

Yesterday I started a 3 gallon batch of Citrus Honeymead. My version was based off this version of "Malkores Not-So-Ancient Orange Mead", which was based off a very ancient version of "Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM)".
For my 3 gallons of mead, I used the following:
10 pounds of clover honey (Costco)
1 Grapefruit
1 Orange
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
75 raisins
1 package Wyeast ACT4184 Sweet Mead Activator (yeast)
2.7 grams yeast nutrient
2.7 grams Diammonium Phosphate
3 grams Potassium Carbonate
1/4 tsp gypsum for my water (mineral content)

I started work on this 24 hours in advance by creating a starter culture for my yeast. I took a 12 oz jar and filled it with some honey water and added a little yeast nutrient. I pitched my sweet mead yeast into that jar and let it sit for 24 hours. This allowed my yeast to get a pre-start so they were ready to go when I need them the next day. I also stuck a gallon of filtered water into the refridgerator 24 hours in advance so it would be nice and cold.

Then on mead making day, I put all my honey into my cooking pot with a gallon of water. I heated that water to 160F degrees and held it there (it accidentally went up to 170 but I caught it and returned it back down). The water took a long time to reach that temp, and I used that time to cut my grapefruit and orange slices into 8ths. I removed the peel from the fruit. I removed all the pith from the peels and cut the peels into smaller pieces. Then I pitched the fruit and peels into the honey must so it could pasteurize. I held it for about 20 minutes.
I let the honey must cool for a while and added my refridgerator chilled gallon of water. I put my honey must into a fermentation bucket, filled it a little water to get it up to the 3 gallon mark, and let it cool to below 90F.
I took my hydrometer reading and it came out to 1.130. A bit higher than I thought it would. I'm guessing with my yeast type and the high hydrometer reading that this is going to end up some very sweet stuff. (My yeast will only go to 11% alcohol before it stops).

When it was below 90F, I moved my honey wort to a 3 gallon glass carboy and pitched my yeast. I still had a little room in my carboy for some water so I added more water (my OG was so high anyways). I think I probably added about a pint or less.
I attached a cap and blow-off hose to the top of my carboy. The other end of the blow-off hose is in a bucket of water. This allows carbon dioxide gas to escape from the carboy, but doesn't allow contaminating air back in.

So there it is. Because I did my starter culture, my yeast started work on this very quickly and I could see it start bubbling a bit in 2 hours.


I am following a staggered nutrient addition so my next addition will be tomorrow maybe.

Start date: 5/24/10
OG: 1.130 @ 90F degrees(before I added an extra pint of water)