My mead.

[thebelgianpanda]

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.

[Cartierusm]

Sounds good. Apple mead is by far the hardest to make correctly.

[thebelgianpanda]

I didn't know that, how come?

[Cartierusm]

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.

[DRBREW]

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.

[Tea]

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.

[Baby Chee]

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.

[Tea]

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.

[Dean]

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)

[wharris]

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?

[Tea]

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.

[Dean]

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.

[Tea]

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.

[wharris]

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.

[Dean]

RC212 is very prone to H2S.  Blech! 

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.