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GENERAL BOARDS => Other Artisan Crafts => Topic started by: Tea on August 13, 2008, 09:34:20 PM
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Just in case you thought I was pulling your leg. This one should be ready by October.
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What the heck is that, it doesn't look like any beer I used to make!
So that's what mead is, I had no idea, is there fruit in there? Is it a one gallon carboy with fermentation lock? Is it from store bought kit like beer or from raw ingredients?
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Ok, so when do you ever think I have bought any kit??? Actually I don't even know if you can buy a mead kit.
This is supposed to be a recipe that even a fool couldn't mess up. So sounded just what I needed. After having my original mead on the go for the last two years, I needed something quick to bolster my failing spirits.
That one is in a 5 gallon demijohn in a basket so nothing to show.
This one is still fermenting, thus the airlock and yes that is a 1 gallon, or I should say, 5 ltr demijohn. It is honey, orange, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, water and yeast. The fruit should all eventually drop and the must (honey water) clear around the 8-10 week period. ABV should be around 14% if I have done everything right.
Started another one using tangerines, and I must say that even at this early stage, they taste wonderful.
The next one I want to try is a mocha mead, but still collating all the ingredients that I am wanting for that one.
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Thanks Tea, sadly I only ever made beer from kits.
Wow, never new anything about mead and that there is such a range. Found a quick guide to making mead here (http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/brew-1-gallon-of-honey-wine-mead.htm).
Too many hobbies, not enough time, going back to work Monday . . . holidays over.
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Update on my mead. It is now nearly 2 1/2 mths old. I have oaked it and racked it. It is still clearing as you can see from the pic, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks it will clear completely.
Considering this is young, it has been very much a surprise, and as you can see from the level in the demijohn, well sampled by everyone.
Final ABV is around 13-14%. Not bad.
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Some photo's from this year's crush.
Fermentation:
(http://vxxvgg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pa7LGYPPBARBgl8ImolrHeyKJk9mrX8HZgGfWS-_wy1qOgwTTl0b4yHjly5fdtcQvDkdrnuTWYp0/1003080711a.jpg)
(http://vxxvgg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pa7LGYPPBARBKcxhfnVfbpCvNorOX8KhIR-yQgBUm47Q8xB2DTYzQXBdznSyOkZqc3R38qAEuMZ8/1003080711b.jpg)
Pressing: (my crappy homemade press)
(http://vxxvgg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pa7LGYPPBARB2jU2wO4-irR-MrL8QP_ZXWkduxF7rhlnKDZ1kpEGdEDJq71AB1GOSPdpLwGa615k/1005081321.jpg)
(http://vxxvgg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1paf9Z9X-1QWD6DRQ72iXcMFb4MmL4hw2oJR__I9S-Lwmu-u1V7U2xiqNmR_BNPDjoWgLcSzqm430/1005081323a.jpg)
My son topping off the carboys with argon.
(http://vxxvgg.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p6xoLKUHtxIBJLa9tRpn9RfiZPsc6pmSlMo2ABOxkyBDiyyeipHcAcFJBG1J-xG2RgRHyCc6nNj4/IMG_0181.JPG)
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Wayne and Tea... are you using locally available grapes and honey etc.? Being up in ND there is not a really strong supply of grapes however, I was just at a meeting last evening about 'going local'. One of the crops they are really pushing besides the fruits and veggies is grapes. I'll have to do some looking into it...
As for honey and my understanding of mead from another member in our local brewing club... you really want the raw honey for mead? He's talking like bee legs and all! :^) What has your experience been Tea??
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I did pick about 300lb of some local Chancellor grapes off the vine. (high acid.)
But, alas, I had to buy into a trucked-in shipment of central valley Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. (picked monday, I crushed on saturday) They come in 1000lb boxes.
I picked out 300lbs of boxed cabernet grapes, crushed them there at the vineyard, and collected must into my primaries. I did the initial chemisty onsite, added sulfites and drove home.
not ideal, but good cab does not grow where i live.
now that i think about it. I need to re-locate to where good cab grows AND i can get raw whole milk.
I'm 0 for 2 in Ohio.
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mmm I don't know that I want "bees legs" floating around in my mead, so filtered honey is preferable. Not heated or watered down with glucose, just pure honey.
I get 30kg containers of honey from a local producer here, and hope to get some honey from Bundy (a member here on the forum) when his next lot is collected. It should make a good traditional mead.
Unfortunately I live no where near grape or apple growing areas, as I live in the tropics, so my range of fruit is different. So far I have been using concentrated juices, not ideal, but for now it will have to do, or frozen berries. The mead pic above has citrice fruit in it.
The next mead that I want to start will be a multi berry melomel, but I will be using all frozen berries. I have some orange blossom honey on order from America, so just waiting for that to arrive first.
Cartierusm apparently has been making mead for years, so he probably has much more qualified advice than me.
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Hark! Did I hear my name....Mead to the rescue. What needs knowing? Anyway, you can buy mead kits but they rip you off. I can get local honey here in SF but they want a fortune. I usually buy from http://www.millershoney.com/ and I just saw the prices and they've increased a lot since I last bought. I buy 5 gallons at a time of usually Orange Blossom. Last time I bought a year and half ago was probably $75, now it's $105. Glad I have a good amount left.
Making mead is easy if you follow simple rules. The same is said about wine and I'm sure Wayne will agree the physical act and basic knowledge of wine making is easy. The problem is what happens when something goes wrong, what to look out for during the entire process and the hardest part is how to adjust (for many things acid, sugar, ML, etc...). So making basics is easy. You do need some tools basically a hydrometer is essential. If anyone is seriously interested I can make a detailed post on how. If anyone is interested start now with a few simples things. Bee (get it bee..ha ha), be on the look out for local honey, good deals can be had at farmer's markets. Honey shouldn't be expensive for good raw honey. Although that statement is true the current trend is more expensive as bees all over the world are dying due to enviroment, actually has scientists baffled, so demand is up and production is down. You need raw honey so don't buy store bought honey, raw honey is fresh and can be filtered and heated a little just to move it around while processing, most store honey is heavily heated and destroys many wonderful things in the honey. Nex thing is pick up some yeast, next time your around a home brew store get some Lavin 1122B or D47 or Prise De Mousse Champagne yeast. The Prise is called something different I always forget, I started using Prise about 16 years ago then they changed the name about 8 years ago for some reason. Just get a couple packs of Lavin and you'll be set. Get a hydrometer. You really can start with that. You don't need big pots or stoves...long story, but the biggest argument in all of mead land is to boil or not to boil your wort (pronounced wert, means the raw unfermented liquid). I won't go into the diatribe but you don't need to boil. If you have malice and forthought you should order some 2 oz. mead nutrient packs from http://www.thebeveragepeople.com/ . Other mead nutrient packs are not kosher, I mean they're just repackaged beer nutient kits. The beverage people make from scratch a nutrient pack made from natural chemicals from a study of mead in the 60's where the scientist actually broke down the exact chemicals needs to provide the correct diet for yeast in a honey solution...another long story, but honey is deprived of lots of nutients on it's own.
Holy cow how long can I make this post...mind you I'm in bed on my laptop...read me a bedtime story Mayor McCheese.
P.S. Bee Legs Rule.
Tea, what part of Aussie do you live? Because Aussieland has some awesome wines...Hell I might open a Penfolds right now, alas I'm about to go to bed and after all that wine the only people I would be able to insult with my drunken rage would be in my dreams and that would just be a waste...Oh I mentioned this because you said you live in the tropics and don't have access to grapes. You can buy kits from Canada that some amazing frozen slurries that are not like boxed kit wines, very fresh, but shipping would again be a problem, but think of it this way you're lucky enough to have Nicole Kidman.
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Well I live on the central coast of Queensland. Up in the hot humid tropics. I have been looking at some grape concentrates that I can get down south, so that is in serious consideration at the moment.
You know what I think is unfair. Here in Aussie as have honey's such as leatherwood, yellow box, outback, iron back, melalucca.
In USA you have honey's called, clover, orange blossom, raspberry, blackberry, lavender... sigh
Of course I have no idea what they taste like, or how they compair to Aussie honey's, but they just sound so wonderful.
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Trust me try them. There are litteraly thousands of different honeys and some of the most wonderful honeys are weird sounding. Avacado honey is excellent. I would love to try leather wood, if you want to trade some honey I'll make up a care package when I divide up the cultures.
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Leatherwood is a white honey from Tasmania, and is definately a cultivated taste. It is very very strong, and for my taste, too strong. My mother and husband though love it. It would probably be great for a traditional mead though, as I think the flavours would be too over powering for a melomel or cyser type.
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Sounds good to me.
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Get your honey from Winco. I buy it and have made mead for years. I only have 5 gallons fermenting right now but have a new 15 gallon fermenter I'm going to use here shortly.
One problem with mead, it has to age a LONG time. At least a year.
B
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HAAA, you so funny, 1 year..aww come on. My entire wine cellar is almost full and it's all Bordeaux that I won't be able to touch for 20-30 freakin' years. Aging my mead is a piece of cake. I have some of my original batches from 20 years ago, I bet it's like an orgasm in a bottle.
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Well I don't know that it needs to be 20-30 years but if you can get it to last that long, it should taste great.
I have noticed that 3-5 years seems to be the norm though.
Brian have you ever tried the JOA recipe (Joe's Ancient Orange). It is an excellent recipe for a beginner, well anyone really, and takes around 3 mths from pitching, to a very drinkable sweet melomel of around 12-13% depending on you yeast. If you follow the recipe it is almost fool proof and a great way to keep your hands off the other meads that you are wanting to age.
This pic is of my 15ltr demijohn that has an apple, date and honey and treacle cyser that is supposed to be aging. As you can see, at 4mths it is very drinkable, so I am in the process of making another 30lt batch that I hope to age for at least 1 year, and see what the difference is, as the changes in the mead in four months is amazing.
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Tea for the 20-30 years I was talking about Bordeaux.
Mead can be aged even longer, there are some companies that have 50 year old mead for sale, they've been in business for centuries.
Ancient Orange, I know someone who's a Got Mead Subscriber.
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You're not kidding, and it was one of the best finds for a long while. Apart from this forum BTW.
So have you ever tried the JAO?
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No, I haven't but people love it. I've been making it so long I'm sure I've made something similar. We have to trade mead, maybe in the new year, I really can't afford to spend anything right now.
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I don't know Cartier, I feel like chickening out on this one. If you're used to waiting 20 years to taste your mead, mine are going to be woefully inadquate compared to that? :-\
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I don't wait 20 years...LOL, read the post I was talking about wine. I wait at least 1 year, though, it's almost necessary.
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These are some of the mango's that we picked on our trip up the valley. About 25 of the really big ones are going to find their way into a mango and guava melomel that I hope to start in the next few days, as long as I can get my hands on some raw honey.
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Tea,
Nice haul on the mangos, I think my wife would trade her husband for fresh pick mangos. ::)
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Well I sometimes think I might do that also, if I could get my hands on some fresh black, blue, and raspberries, etc. They are not to be found here (apart from the frozen variety) and if they do appear, they are around $8 for 3-4oz.
Still waiting for my honey to start the next couple of meads.
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I have some blackberry mead sitting in a carboy aging. It's been aging for about 1 1/2 years and its all fruit from my property.
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Hi Carter blackberrys are as scarce as hens teeth here, so apart from the frozen variety, it is out of the question for me. But I dream...
Well I finally got around to starting my mango mead.
18lb varietal honey
18lb bowen mangos
6ltr guava juice
3 vanilla pods
Rain water to 30ltr
10gr QA23 yeast
nutrient
So far this one is fermenting well and is looking promising. It is the most wonderful sunshine colour and the flavour at the moment is quite pleasant. not what I was expecting but still interesting. Will be interesting to see how this one ages.
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I have some blackberry mead sitting in a carboy aging. It's been aging for about 1 1/2 years and its all fruit from my property.
That has to be very satisying.
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Tea, that's going to be one sweet Mead. Do you prefer them sweet or dry. I'm sure you know but for others here who don't. Just becasue mead is made from honey it doesn't have to be sweet. I make mead that is as dry as white zin. Grapes start out sweet but most wines are in the dry range.
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Well I don't know if it is going to be sweet Carter. The OSG was only 1.095 which I thought was fairly low, and was wondering if the sugars from the mango's was going to bring that up as they released. Also the yeast I used will ferment out to around the 16% mark. At the moment SG is falling around 12 points a day, so yesterday it was 1.050 so this morning is am expecting it to be around the 1.038 mark and it is only beginning day 4 of fermentation. I am beginning to think this one might well be semi dry, if not dry.
Personally I do prefer a sweeter wine, so I will reserve the decision to back sweeten later if I think it needs it.
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I was out a little with my guess, the SG this morning was 1.034.
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Yes that is low. It's fermenting fast.
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20-1-09 SG 1.018
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Wow, that is fast. must be bubbling away.
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Tea, do you ever use nutrients in your mead?
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I use DAP for my wine, but not until my wine is about 2/3 done fermenting.
I find if i give it the "candy" too soon, i get a sweeter wine.
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You use this?
Me, I prefer Diammonium Phosphate.
In all seriousness, mead because it is void of any and all nutrients it requires a special blend of nutrients to fement without stress. In the 60's a professor did an actual reseach study and came up with the perfect blend of nutrients that honey needs to produce mead. I've been using it for 20 years as the first home brew store I visited and still use make the formula up and it's, you guessed it, The Beverage People.
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I certainly do feed my meads. Fermaid K is the only nutrient here that I can find so I have been sufficing with that. Must look again at the Beverage people, just got an order from them for other things so I could have ordered some at the same time. Drat
Anyway I usual feed it at end of lag, then at the 1/3 sugar break and at any other time that I feel that it needs it. This one however has chewed through nutrient, and I have been feeding it nearly every 36 hours, and usually in 2tsp increments. It started getting that "underfed" smell again last night, but I only gave it 1tsp as I am concerned that it will be salty if I add too much.
Yes Wayne it is really bubbling along. Was blipping @ 1-2 per second, but it now down to 1 blip per 1-2 seconds.
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If I can back up the bus a little and give out some information, regarding boiling honey?
I am a bee keeper of some 60+ years, and cut my hind teeth on honey/mead and keeping bees. Boiling honey has raised a few eye brows over the years, but about 2 years ago I tried it with a slight twist.
Boil the honey with the majority of water used for the final mix, it takes quite a while and scoop off the foam as it forms, using a rolling boil. The amount of foam seems to be indicative of the total sugar count, lighter honey will produce more scum.
When getting close to the final scum add 1 heaped tablespoon of 'Irish Moss' finings, in the last 10 mins.
After allowing the wort to cool down after straining, you'll find in the bottom of the pot a slimy, lumpy mixture with the Irish Moss mixed in with it, which should be discarded
When the mead has been finally fermented it will clear very much quicker and give crystal clear mead with no extra work or wait.
I believe it removes excess pollen and protein.
Just an idea for clearing the final product.
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I have often thought about using Irish Moss as a fining agent in my strawberry wine. Sounds like now i have to give it a try
:)
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Hi Beeman and thanks for your imput. I have never used irish moss, but I remember reading a thread about it on the Gotmead forum, and there were mixed feelings in regards to it's use. Apparently those "in the know" felt that it added other "properties" that were, in the end, not that desirable, even though it may have cleared well. I just remember that the over all tone of the thread was negative towards it's use.
In regards to boiling honey, that pretty much is rarely done now too. It is felt that the high heat ruins the properties and flavours of the raw honey. It is usually just disolved with hot water first before anything else is added. Personally I have made only one mead using the boiling method and after two years it is still only just drinkable. So I don't boil any more.
In regards to my mango mead the SG yesterday was 1.008. The flavour is full of fresh fruit, with an interesting twist in there, and dry. Still blipping away happily.
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Tea, glad to hear the mead's going good. When did you start that batch becuase you had a super fast fermentation? Tea, you probably already know this as a member of Gotmead and you said you like sweeter wines you can add different compounds, such as potasium sorbate to help stop fermentation and come out with a sweeter wine. Or are you going just let it bee?
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Yes I know that I can add other things, but that I why I like making things myself, is to that they are not full of chemicals etc. For now I am going to just let it bee, and see what happens. Even though it is dry, the flavours are really out there and full, and strangly not a bitter/tart dry, it is still all fruit. Well at the moment anyway. Still got a way to go yet before it is finished.
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I hear ya, I just thought I'd mentioned it and knew you knew, and I too don't like to add extra stuff. I never use sulfites to sterilize even though every one in the industry uses it, I prefer to have the natural effect too.
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I'm not a mead person, but without a sulfite like Potassium Metabisulfite, how do you do you make your mead biologically stable?
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Wayne not sure what you are meaning by "biologically stable"?
SG this morning .998 which means that it is around 13%ABV at the moment.
My Rosh Hashana melomel (apple, dates and honey) is just over the 15% using the same yeast (and it's not finished yet), so I expect the mango to go a bit lower yet.
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Cloning, we're coming for you Wayne....HAAA HAA. Oh, sorry, evil scientist at work.
For one you're adding a perfectly healthy yeast in large quantities to a solution made just for them, so they'll be the dominate yeast. Plus when I filter I use a plate wine filter so it comes out sterile, I go down to something below .5 micron, I think. I've never had a mead go bad yet, lucky me.
P.S. In my early days I used to boil which killed anything is the solution before fermentation. Wayne, mead is not the same as wine, such as you don't need to blanket the wine as your transfering it from container to container. It also doesn't oxidize as easily as wine. I tell people when I give them my mead that just keep it in the frige and bring it up to room temp to drink. After opening just store it in the frige and it should last 3 weeks or more. I tell them to just drink it until it starts to taste off as it won't hurt you.
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Biologically stable.
What i mean is that there are critters (microorganisms) that really really want to live in your mead (i am projecting my wine to your mead)
Sulfites decompose into free and molecular sulfur dioxide. The molecular SO2 creates an environment that prohibits the growth of those bad organisms that really really want to ruin your mead.
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Well I may be wrong here, and Carter can correct me, but the reason we feed the mead is to reduce the production of the sulfur dioxide which is a sign of the yeast stressing, as they produce off flavours in the mead. The mead is aerated a number of time daily in the initial stages to release any build up of these gasses, and to introduce oxygen back into the must to keep the yeast healthy.
Sanitation is most important, which I don't think I need to tell you. I have a mead (sweet) that is 2 1/2 year old, and it has never been effected by mould etc, and the only time I have ever heard on one being efected was due to poor sanitation.
Well fermentation in the mango mead came to an abrupt halt late yesterday afternoon. Even though this yeast can go to 18%, I think that it has chewed through all the available sugars and pooped it's self out.
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Well the SG is sitting on .997, and even though it is dry, the flavour is all fruit and a hint of some spice in there too. Very different, but it definately has promise. Hopefully the honey flavour will pick up more as it ages.
Thinking I might let this sit for a couple of days then do the first, of what I am told will be many rackings, to get the mango fibre out of the must. Thinking that I might add another couple of vanilla beans in the secondary too.
Anyway all in all I am happy with this one.
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You are right,
I was referring to the time after yeast fermentation (and any other) was complete.
But i am just projecting my wine into your mead.
I know nothing of mead. (Although Carter is trying hard to bring me up to speed!)
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Tea as long as your a purist at heart you can add a little honey to the final product as long as you use potassium sorbate or something to stop further fermentation. I personally have never added honey to sweeten the final mix, but I am going to do so on the blackberry mead I made 2 years ago. It's still in the carboy after a few rackings, I would leave it but the blackberry bush on my property is gone and I don't want a mead that is that dry, it's in the same range as yours.
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Yes I have been thinking about backsweetening, it's just that my last attempt to do that was a complete disaster. No matter what I did, including cold crashing for a month, worked. Every time I added honey it started fermenting again.
So I am going to let this one sit and age for a while and see if it grows on me, before I make any further decisions.
Have you made a final decision to back sweeten your's, or is that still in the though process too?
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Tea, if you add any sugar at all even honey it will referment unless you treat it first with Potassium Sorbate or Sulphite it. No matter how much clearing you will do the yeast is still in there, you basically have to sterilize the solution.
I will sweeten my blackberry as it's got a ton of flavor, lots of blacberry notes, but is very dry. But I'll probably let it set another year, when I get around to it.
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I sorbated three times, to no avail. It was very frustrating.
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P.Sorbate only makes the yeast sterile for further reproduction, but doesn't stop current fermentation from yeast that are still active.
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Excellent distiction Carter.
To make it biologically stablile, you will need both sulfites and potasium sorbate!
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Yes I have read that somewhere since then.
Onto another topic. In the thread "For the Ladies" I posted a pic of one of the bees that I add to my things. Not a great photo, but you should get the idea.
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Ok, so when do you ever think I have bought any kit??? Actually I don't even know if you can buy a mead kit.
This is supposed to be a recipe that even a fool couldn't mess up. So sounded just what I needed. After having my original mead on the go for the last two years, I needed something quick to bolster my failing spirits.
That one is in a 5 gallon demijohn in a basket so nothing to show.
This one is still fermenting, thus the airlock and yes that is a 1 gallon, or I should say, 5 ltr demijohn. It is honey, orange, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, water and yeast. The fruit should all eventually drop and the must (honey water) clear around the 8-10 week period. ABV should be around 14% if I have done everything right.
Started another one using tangerines, and I must say that even at this early stage, they taste wonderful.
The next one I want to try is a mocha mead, but still collating all the ingredients that I am wanting for that one.
This actually sounds even more like methaglin than mead, (methaglin is a spiced mead). This looks terrific, can you share your exact recipe?
very pretty! We've made 2 meads thus far.
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Hi LadyLiberty, technically you are right, it is not a mead. Although I wouldn't call it a methaglin either as the spices are almost not there in the end. With the predominate flavours being orange and honey I would tend to think that it would come under the melomel catogory. How ever what ever it is, it is usually just refered to as JAO or Joe's Ancient Orange, after the gentleman that came up with the recipe. THe original recipe is about 2 pages long with a lot of banter and humor in between everything, so I will just give you the bare bones.
1 gallon batch Sterilise absolutely everything as usual.
3 1/2lb Clover honey or your choice honey
1 large orange (cut into 1/8th) Choose a nice orange and leave out the pith or an orange with almost no pith. You need the zest though, so if you cut off the pith don't forget to include the zest.
@ 25 raisins approx
1 stick cinnamon
1 whole clove
pinch of nutmeg and allspice (optional)
1 tsp fleishmann bread yeast (not the rapid rise one)
water to 1 gallon
Dissolve honey and put in carboy.
Wash orange well (pesticides??). Cut into pieces, and push into the carboy along with the raisins, cinnamon, and spices. Top up with water leaving around a 3inch head room.
Shake very very well to aerate must.
When at room temp put in 1tsp of the yeast (fresh and in date). Shake again to incorporate. Put in airlock and store in a dark cupboard that is out of the way. Leave it do it's thing for around 8 weeks at which time it should have stopped fermenting, and started to clear. When the fruit has dropped (sometime between then and 3mths) rack into a clean glass carboy for storage.
You can drink it when it starts to clear if you want. Depending on the yeast this usually ferments out around 11-13%.
This is fool proof recipe and a great one for those that haven't made a mead before. This is a sweet one. Hope you enjoy.
I just started a traditional mead this afternoon, with just water and honey and nutrients. It is just starting to come out of lag, so I am watching this one anxiously.
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They're all meads! ;D Just different names for differnt types, same as Bordeaux is a wine.
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Hi LadyLiberty, technically you are right, it is not a mead. Although I wouldn't call it a methaglin either as the spices are almost not there in the end. With the predominate flavours being orange and honey I would tend to think that it would come under the melomel catogory. How ever what ever it is, it is usually just refered to as JAO or Joe's Ancient Orange, after the gentleman that came up with the recipe. THe original recipe is about 2 pages long with a lot of banter and humor in between everything, so I will just give you the bare bones.
1 gallon batch Sterilise absolutely everything as usual.
3 1/2lb Clover honey or your choice honey
1 large orange (cut into 1/8th) Choose a nice orange and leave out the pith or an orange with almost no pith. You need the zest though, so if you cut off the pith don't forget to include the zest.
@ 25 raisins approx
1 stick cinnamon
1 whole clove
pinch of nutmeg and allspice (optional)
1 tsp fleishmann bread yeast (not the rapid rise one)
water to 1 gallon
Dissolve honey and put in carboy.
Wash orange well (pesticides??). Cut into pieces, and push into the carboy along with the raisins, cinnamon, and spices. Top up with water leaving around a 3inch head room.
Shake very very well to aerate must.
When at room temp put in 1tsp of the yeast (fresh and in date). Shake again to incorporate. Put in airlock and store in a dark cupboard that is out of the way. Leave it do it's thing for around 8 weeks at which time it should have stopped fermenting, and started to clear. When the fruit has dropped (sometime between then and 3mths) rack into a clean glass carboy for storage.
You can drink it when it starts to clear if you want. Depending on the yeast this usually ferments out around 11-13%.
This is fool proof recipe and a great one for those that haven't made a mead before. This is a sweet one. Hope you enjoy.
I just started a traditional mead this afternoon, with just water and honey and nutrients. It is just starting to come out of lag, so I am watching this one anxiously.
Thanks so much for going to the trouble of posting this! We are due to make a new mead soon, so I would love to try this, and short of meeting you and sharing a glass, this is the next best way to enjoy your creativity. Thanks again, that was very kind of you :)
Cheers!
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Well I hope it turns out and you enjoy it. This is a mead to have on the go at all times, as it gives you something to drink while allowing the long term meads to get to their full maturity before being consumed. Oh just a thought, if you are going to scale up this recipe, scale up everything expect the yeast. You might want to add maybe another 1/2 tsp for a 5 gallon batch, but that would be all.
My traditional mead is blipping along merrily this morning, so that is encouraging.
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Carter just to clear up the confusion, I put in three doses of camden tab and potasium sorbate, then as a last ditch effort cold crashed. That mead is sitting in a dark corner, learning to behave itself at the moment.
Well on Monday I racked the 15lt JAO that had finally cleared and dropped it's fruit. Finished in only 6 weeks, but I think that is due more to the temps here than anything else. I also made a 5ltr test batch using some honey that Bundy had given me. This mead is just honey, water yeast and nutrient, and is bubbling along nicely at the moment.
Yesterday I racked the mango mead and lost only a couple of litre to fruit and yeast sediment, as down to around 28 ltr, but many more racking to do yet, so that will decrease. Also racked the apple honey and date one, and was left with 26.5ltr. So between sterilising, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, it finally got done.
LadyLiberty took a photo of the JAO for you. It never ceased to amaze me how these things clear up. They start out so murky and end up clear and sparkling.
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Sounds good Tea. I would crash clear it, by that I assume you put it in a refrigerator and let the particles settle, then add the Psorbate and or sulfite so it doesn't have to work so hard before clearing.
Also next time you can take your target Specific gravity and work backwards then either put in enough honey so that the yeast you're using doesn't go over it's alcohol limit, thereby leaving residual sugar. Or get a less aggressive yeast and find out it's alcohol tolerance and work backward from there. Although with adding so much fruit you won't know before hand so you might have to have a couple different strains on hand and add more honey before pitching the yeast.
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Carter did you see my note to you on page four, where you could see one of the bees that I use as my "signature"? Just wondering. Have a look in the thread "For the ladies".
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Very cute. I did look but I looked at the wrong thread originally, I looked at the "quilts" one, and I didn't want to say anything in case the bee was large as life, then I would have felt stupid... ;)
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Well the honey only mead has finished fermenting and the FG is 1.004, so it ended fairly dry too. After I get a couple of these into their aging containers I would like to start a berry mead.
Carter any advice on making a berry mead? The base recipe that I am using says to add the fruit after fermentation and let sit for a couple of weeks. Would it be best to add the fruit in a bag or free in the carboy?
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Tracey, can-o-worms, can-worms, Tracey. Now that you've been introduced...LOL Actually its not a can of worms but there are lots of option. Let's first discuss when to add. If you add the fruit in the beginning at primary fermentation you get more "berry" alcohol and more of an essence in the nose and mouth but not the taste, so much, of fruit. If you add it after primary fermentation, after the initial sugar has been used and the yeast are near their limit of alcohol tolerance, then you get more berry flavor and some of the essence. If you add it after everything is said and down, and after you've stopped the yeast from making more alcohol, then that really is flavoring and to me that's not a melomel. So choose what end result you want.
Next use fresh fuit if you can, if you can't use frozen. No frozen? then use natural fuit extract from a home brew store, it's basically concentrated juice.
If you don't have a plate filter for filtering your meads so they're crystal clear then use a hop bag, found at any home brew store. While you're at the home brew store get a 7 gallon plastic bucket with air tight lid, have them or your DH drill a 1 1/4" (hole saw) in the top and get a #7 drilled rubber bung (rubber cork with a hole in the center for an air lock). Most home brew stores have lid with the hole already in it. You can do both primary and secondary (if you choose to do a secondary ferm) in the bucket. It makes it real easy to do fruit. Actually you really can't do it in a carboy unless you're up for a huge mess. Make sure you use pectic enzyme when using fruit or you'll never get your mead clear. If you need clarification on any of this sutff let me know.
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mm well I might have to re-think, as I only have access to the frozen variety.
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Nothing wrong with frozen, I'm sure you'll love it.
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mmm well now you've planted doubt in my mind, so I am still undecided.
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TRACEY!!!LOL I don't know what I said in the orignal post to make you think that but get it out of your head. Sometimes I get a little exuberant...
But the truth is a lot of wine makers, wine of this type, will tell you to freeze fresh fruit anyway. The process of freezing creates ice crystal in the fruit helping to break down the cell walls releaseing more fruit and juice.
I rarely make mead from fresh. I have a few fruit trees and bushes and I always freeze them as I'm not ready to make mead right then and there.
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Sorry Carter my mistake, I read this sentence and missed this IF...
Next use fresh fuit if you can, if you can't use frozen. No frozen?
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Ok so I am feeling relieved, I can use frozen, great, and also some bottled tart cherries. Have been eyeing everything off for a couple of months now, so will start getting everything together.
One lesson that I have learnt is to balance the OSG against the yeast that I am using. Did the traditional mead, and even though it was supposed to be a sweet mead, I used the EC1118 yeast which ferments to 18%, and as I didn't add extra honey to compensate for this, I now have a dry honey mead. So I have learnt a valuable lesson. I am hoping to use RC212 as it is supposed to be good for the retention of fruit flavours and colour. Have you used this yeast before, and what are your thoughts?
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I use all sorts, EC1118, D47, Priesse De Mousse (which is called something else now, don't remember).
If you need help calculating final gravity before you start let me know.
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I have a couple bottles of apple mead that a friend made about five years ago, it is very, very good, and as clear as a perfect lager. I'm a pretty good brewer, but this guy does things with mead that border on magical. He makes a blackberry Valerian root mead which is hands down the best I've ever tasted.
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Sounds good. Apple mead is by far the hardest to make correctly.
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I didn't know that, how come?
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Becuase of all the apple juice you have to use and honey, the balance is hard, plus the balance of acidicty. But the hardest parts is contorlling the fementation, becuase you have some much apple juice rick with nutrients it's hard to keep the yeast from gorging themsleves right away and producing acetals (butterscotch flavors). You can have a run away fermentation if you're not careful. You want yeast to take time to produce alcohol not gobble everything up. It's just like a human, you gobble everything up and you get the squirts (sorry for the visual) same with yeast.
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I have been making mead for just over 10 years, my wife is allergic to sulfites and that's why I started brewing/vinting my own to begin with. NO SULFITES ever, especially in mead, the properties of honey allow it to last virtually forever without spoiling, no preservatives required!
A compromise to the "boil or not to boil" controversy is pasteurization, I heat my honey, with about half of the final volume of water, to 185 deg F and skim off any white scum (bee legs, wild yeast, etc.) until no more white scum forms, add a meadster's acid blend, yeast nutrient, and Irish moss, add the rest of the water, pitch the yeast and call it good. The subtle flavors of the honey are retained and any potential contaminants are neutralized.
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Well Carter, if you are still reading every now and then, I am about to start my berry mead. Just made up my apple and date mead, and it should be finished fermenting by the weekend, so the berry is next up.
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It's been three years since I made a beer. I've never been into mead, but did dozens and dozens of regular beers with whole grain. In November I'll go to make a light lager.
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Update for you Carter.
Date and apple mead fermentated out to around 17%, now aging.
Fermented out the must for the berry, again fermented out to around 16% divided into two containers, one 13lt the other 14lt and added just over 10lb of blueberries, blackberries, cherries, raspberries, and some currents to each container. A bit of fermentation has stated again, but that fine. Punching down the cap a few times a day.
Also started a grape pyment with some petite verdot concentrate that is just the most beautiful ruby red. Used the RC 212 yeast in the hope of retaining the colour. Fermentation is powering along beautifully, so hopefully in another 12mth to 2 years this one will be ready to consume.
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Wow, I hardly ever read this section! Another mead maker! I love finding gems like this. From the first post, I'd have to say that looked like Joe M.'s ancient orange mead.
I've been making wine, mead, and beer for many years now, and my parents did it before me. I do disagree with Carters statement about Cyser (apple mead) being hard to make. It's actually one of the easiest to make and the balance is easy to achieve too based on the tartness of the cider you start with.
Good luck with your next berry mead! I like D47 for berry meads as well as spiced meads (metheglin)
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Well Carter, if you are still reading every now and then, I am about to start my berry mead. Just made up my apple and date mead, and it should be finished fermenting by the weekend, so the berry is next up.
what is the difference 'tween an apple mead and an apple wine?
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Dean, great to have another "mazer" here, not that I really qualify as that term, but your family certainly does. I do tend to agree with you on the apple cysers, though because I have only ever made one recipe, I didn't feel that I had enough knowledge on the subject. Just thought that maybe because I was using a proven recipe was what made the difference. I would have liked to try the D47 for the berry mead, but only had 71B and some EC 1118 which was also a recommended yeast for the melomel. Yes the first recipe was a JAO. I am wanting to try using the 71B in this recipe instead of the bread yeast, in the hope for a better yeast pack, and a clearer cleaner taste.
Wayne probably the addition of honey, which is of course what makes it a mead. Maybe Dean can answer that question better than me.
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Yep, it's just the addition of Honey that makes it a mead. Otherwise, it is apple wine. If it is lighter in alcohol (7% or under) it can also be called a hard cider. Not all ciders are sparkling, and some can be still like wine.
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Update on my meads. The berry mead bubbled away again for another two weeks, finally fermenting out at around 19%. Scooped off the fruit, racked a couple of time and it cleared beautifully. This is definately a keeper, and I am thinking that at the rate I am consuming this, that I really need to start on another batch. If it is this good, young, what is it going to be like with a bit of age under it's skin. Very pleased with this one.
The grape mead needs some doctoring. The RC212 doesn't like hot weather, and produces sulfurs, very easily. Unfortunately, even thought the weather was beautiful when I started this one, it turned hot and humid at around day 3, so then the troubles started. So even though it fermented out at around 15% I need to get the sulfur out before I will know whether I have lost this one or not. Will update again later.
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Congrats on the Mead.
I switched from RC212 this year due to some of the issues you mentioned.
I switch to Enoferm BDX due to its tolerance for mistakes and its not prone to H2S. It also is tolerant of high alcohol.
But that is a red-wine yeast.
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RC212 is very prone to H2S. Blech! :P
In order to prevent it again, RC212 needs quite a bit of nutrient and DAP. Fermaid K has both and works well.
Now, to get rid of that H2S. You can "splash rack" to help aerate it, which may get rid of a lot of the H2S. What I do, is rack to a clean vessel, but leave the hose close to the top of the carboy. This pours the liquid in and splashes it. If your H2S is more drastic and this doesn't get rid of it all, take a copper rod, and clean it up very well with emery or fine sandpaper. There should not be any oxidation on it. I like copper rods over copper pipe as I don't have to clean the inside of the pipe too.
After the rod is clean, you will stir your mead with it for about 5 minutes. Think of this as early degassing. Wait 48 hours and see how much you detect of the H2S now. It should be very little.
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Thanks Dean I have been told about the copper rod, which I am get to get the chance to do. In the mean time though I might aerate then do the copper trick. Double precautions can't hurt. Wish I have know about RC212 before I started. Oh well, live and learn.
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Any recipes for alcohol free mead.
Mike
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Yep,
Mix honey with water and drink up... :)
Alcohol free wines require reverse osmosis to deconstruct the wine's ingridients (water,alcohol,dry matirial) seperating the alcohol by distillation and bringing the seperate pieces back togther.
If your looking for some fermentation flavour\aromas you can start an active fermentation and quickly stoping it by throwing it into the freezer leaving you with less then 1-2% alcohol,
It must be kept extremly cold or it will referment,an alternative to storing it outside will be to pasteurize.
If you catch H2S quickly you can deal with it before it reduces into marceptan which is suppose to smell like cabbage.
Use these tips:
http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm (http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm)