Apple Honey Butter Mead — 3 Gallon Batch Plan

A Git-backed project plan for a future 3 gallon apple honey butter mead fermented in a 6.5 gallon bucket.

Core idea: build an apple-cyser style base with preservative-free apple cider/juice + honey, then create the dessert “apple honey butter” profile after fermentation with honey backsweetening, vanilla, cinnamon/warm spice, and tiny butter/butterscotch extract additions by bench trial.

Status

Planning only — no reminder schedule has been created yet.

Start reminders only after Jason confirms the actual brew day/pitch time and measured original gravity.

Quick recipe summary

Field	Target
Batch size	3 US gallons, fermented in 6.5 gal bucket
Style	Sweet/semi-sweet apple dessert mead / cyser
Base flavor	Apple cider/juice + honey
Finish flavor	Honey butter, vanilla, warm apple spice, optional butterscotch/butter note
Yeast	Lalvin 71B-1122 recommended
Target OG	~1.095–1.105
Expected ABV if fermented dry	~12.5–13.5%
Flavor timing	After fermentation, stabilization, and bench trials

Start here

1. Read shopping-list.md.
2. Read recipe.md.
3. Brew using process.md and day-1-brew-day.md.
4. Track readings in logs/fermentation-log.md.
5. Use schedule-template.md only after brew day is known.
6. Use bench-trial.md before any full-batch post-fermentation flavoring.

Critical rules

• Use apple juice/cider with no potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, or other fermentation preservatives.
• Ascorbic acid / vitamin C is usually fine.
• Use pectic enzyme because apple products can cause haze.
• Do not add butter, dairy, cream, or oily ingredients.
• Do not add extracts/spices during active fermentation unless intentionally changing the plan.
• Stabilize before backsweetening/flavoring.
• Bench trial before full-batch flavoring.
• No bottling until gravity is stable after backsweetening/flavoring.