Thread: Got Mead?

Originally Posted by terry stewart

you need to make the 5gal if you make just 1 gal after racking it 2or 3 times you may get 2 bottles 6mo is a long time to wait for 2 bottles

That would work if a person had the extra space and two bottles is better than none.

I agree with Nosewarmer.I live in a tiny studio apartment.I would love to get a recipe for some mead yeilding a humble one gallon amount.It's not like I live on the stuff after all.

If you were anywhere near me I'd lend you the space and a carboy haha...

But I would agree, 2 bottles is better than 0.

Originally Posted by Nightblade

I agree with Nosewarmer.I live in a tiny studio apartment.I would love to get a recipe for some mead yeilding a humble one gallon amount.It's not like I live on the stuff after all.

I'd hate to brew 5 gallons of anything and not care for the flavor... I figure that with one gallon batches I can find a "mixture" with out added waste...

I've tried the star-san and other sudless soaps. I used to soak bottles in a 40 gallon garbage pail... I went back to bleach.

It's very few things I find necessary to brew, and I've pared down on the gadgetry, including chemicals and special sugars and all that stuff and my brewing results are better.

Originally Posted by fdben

I also have been using bleach mostly for convenience.

I'd like to get my hands on some star-san - the stuff sounds good. Aledgedly no rinse, and it can be reused multiple times.

Originally Posted by Snake

I've tried the star-san and other sudless soaps. I used to soak bottles in a 40 gallon garbage pail... I went back to bleach.

It's very few things I find necessary to brew, and I've pared down on the gadgetry, including chemicals and special sugars and all that stuff and my brewing results are better.

Hmm. Good to know. I won't go out of my way to find some yet. I have to be careful with the bleach though due to some stainless steel equipment, like my kegs. Just have to watch the concentration and contact time though - haven't had any issues yet.

I usually bottle mead, but I'm thinking I may keg this one and carbonate it. Might be good.

Another delicious treat is freeze distilled mead....

Originally Posted by fdben

I also have been using bleach mostly for convenience.

I'd like to get my hands on some star-san - the stuff sounds good. Aledgedly no rinse, and it can be reused multiple times.

I use starsan for all my brewing (beer, wine, spirits, and now mead ) and it is the best thing I have found yet. I mix up a 5 litre batch of the stuff and leave it in my fermenters while they are not in use. When I brew, I just give the fermenter a shake and then pour it out into another fermenter. The bubbles are your friend and no rinsing required. As soon as it goes cloudy, replace with a new batch.


You must have cleaned (with chemicals/cleaning "stuff") before using starsan however - it is purely a steriliser, not a cleaner. I use PBW, oxyper, and something from local home brew shop called stericlean (which is a cleaner and steriliser in one, but requires rinsing), depending on what I am doing at the time.


Using this method makes it really quick and easy on brew day and saves me hours cleaning/sanitising stuff which I just want to get the brew done and going.

Originally Posted by Snake

I've tried the star-san and other sudless soaps. I used to soak bottles in a 40 gallon garbage pail... I went back to bleach.

It's very few things I find necessary to brew, and I've pared down on the gadgetry, including chemicals and special sugars and all that stuff and my brewing results are better.

Have heard of people using bleach, but never really had any clue how much to use or how to use it, especially given its improper use could put a precious brew at risk!! Although, from reading up about bleach, it seems that some of the powdered cleaners/sterilisers effectively convert to a watered down version of bleach.


Would be interested to know what your process is.


I filter all my wines (and the occasional beer), and clean the filters using napisan, which hasnt had any adverse taste/quality issues so far.

Originally Posted by wedwards

Have heard of people using bleach, but never really had any clue how much to use or how to use it, <snip>

Would be interested to know what your process is.

Not much of a process. Spoonful of plain bleach per gallon of cold water and rinse everything with it, let it sit five to ten minutes and then rinse well. Nose test tells you when the bleach is gone. Small stuff can be just tossed in the bleach solution, like airlocks, bungs and things like that. Rinsing is the important part here. I'm yet to ruin a batch of anything with bleach, though I thoroughly messed up a five gallon batch of strawberry wine with campden tablets once. Sad, sad day.

Originally Posted by wedwards

I filter all my wines (and the occasional beer), and clean the filters using napisan, which hasnt had any adverse taste/quality issues so far.

I filter nothing! I keep raw gelatin for the occasional wine that needs finning, but since my technique and feel for making wine and brewing has improved I hadn't had to use it in the last ten years.

And, one more time, that's just the way I do things. As I mentioned in other posts I'm "frugal", so if I don't have to spend money on something, I won't. I've friends with $600 stainless fermenters sitting on $250 stands and it works for them... it's just not my way.

3Gal Blueberry Mel and 3Gal Red raspberry Mel. Just need to get some more litre bottles to put these into and I'll be good to go.

Michael