Thread: Got Mead?

Well the first batch quit brewing, the balloon went flat and the bubbles quit, so here is the end result of the Orange/Lemon at racking time:




Racking




Racking




Racked for second fermenting...
(Long Term)

I did try it, not quite what I was expecting... I hope age helps it out...
I added about one cup of honey in the new jug.

Originally Posted by NoseWarmer

I did try it, not quite what I was expecting... I hope age helps it out...
I added about one cup of honey in the new jug.

When you say its not what you were expecting - what were you expecting? A lot of people who taste at this point before long term aging (6 months minimum) say it tastes a bit off. Aging is meant to help a lot.

Originally Posted by wedwards

When you say its not what you were expecting - what were you expecting? A lot of people who taste at this point before long term aging (6 months minimum) say it tastes a bit off. Aging is meant to help a lot.

I was expecting sweet... I knew that it wasn't ready... But there really wasn't much flavor at this point...

Originally Posted by NoseWarmer

I was expecting sweet... I knew that it wasn't ready... But there really wasn't much flavor at this point...

I am no expert, but if I read correctly, the trick is to keep adding honey in small amounts until the yeast die off from too much alcohol (you will get a maximum of around 15% from memory), after which point the honey will start to sweeten it, instead of fermenting into alcohol.


Be very careful as you add more honey though - if its oversweetened, its hard to reverse, but you can always add more honey if its not sweet enough.


Do you know what alcohol percentage you have at this point?

Originally Posted by wedwards

Do you know what alcohol percentage you have at this point?

No idea at this point, but it is VERY noticable... Has that burn...

It's already coming around, the balloon is inflating quite nice on this second life.

Originally Posted by NoseWarmer

No idea at this point, but it is VERY noticable... Has that burn...

It's already coming around, the balloon is inflating quite nice on this second life.

If the fermentation is still going strong, I would be inclined to add another cup of honey and leave it for 2 more weeks, then rack it again and see where its at. Basically, the trick will be to add small amounts of additional honey while fermentation is going strong, without overpowering the yeast. At the same time, you dont want to add too much honey or it will be sickly sweet (unless you like that kind of thing).

Dang you guys are an addictive bunch.I couldn't stand it any longer.I broke down and went to the liquor store and bought a nice bottle of honey mead made here in The Republic of Boulder CO. the plus is it came in a nice blue 750 ml old style recap bottle which is about 3/4 liter.I shall be using that when I make my own mead plus a few extra bottles in the future. And off topic but....Hey Nose...I also broke down and bought a Peterson military mount briar and some very nice honey nut tobacco as well.so now while the laundery is drying,I'm gonna fry up some smoked sausage n eggs in the cast iron.then I'm gonna sit down to a nice glass of honey mead served in a tall pilsner and smoke my third bowl of honey/nut tobacco for the day and when I'm done.I'm gonna hone my blades and have a nice shave Yesss. Did I mention Carmen Electra is here massaging my feet and tellin me how freakin awesome I am . King of the Castle Ma !!!!

Originally Posted by wedwards

Thats very cool, and so simple. I make my own beer, wine, spirits, etc, but have never tried mead - will be rectifying that tonight!

Let us know how it turns out.

I also have a same thinking and view like you .I also make own beer and wine,I will look forward for Mead also and try it also.....

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Originally Posted by Nightblade

Dang you guys are an addictive bunch.I couldn't stand it any longer.I broke down and went to the liquor store and bought a nice bottle of honey mead made here in The Republic of Boulder CO. the plus is it came in a nice blue 750 ml old style recap bottle which is about 3/4 liter.I shall be using that when I make my own mead plus a few extra bottles in the future. And off topic but....Hey Nose...I also broke down and bought a Peterson military mount briar and some very nice honey nut tobacco as well.so now while the laundery is drying,I'm gonna fry up some smoked sausage n eggs in the cast iron.then I'm gonna sit down to a nice glass of honey mead served in a tall pilsner and smoke my third bowl of honey/nut tobacco for the day and when I'm done.I'm gonna hone my blades and have a nice shave Yesss. Did I mention Carmen Electra is here massaging my feet and tellin me how freakin awesome I am . King of the Castle Ma !!!!

Man when you go over the edge you make sure it is a good drop huh?
;-)

It may seem strange to many here, but I actually prefer my meads young. The sharp snap of the alcohol before the sugars mellow it all back out with the subtle teases of sweetness stand out if you look for them. I like a nice sweet dessert mead occasionally, but those I can find quite readily so the impetus to make it is...well lacking.
This is of course not to say that the art of aging is not to be admired. The reasoning behind my choices to brew though are to find things that I can not get easily. Like a nice heathered ale or an oaked IPA (where the oak mellows out the hops like it would during a nine month journey).

Originally Posted by wedwards

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.

This is basically exactly what I had planned. I live on an acreage, and we are having water hauled in to our cistern, so I don't like the amount of rinsing I have been doing with bleach. I love the idea of storing and reusing 5 or 10 gallons of premixed starsan in some carboys.

Nosewarmer, what yeast did you use for these batches? How warm was the area they fermented in? Fermentation temperature influences the flavor characteristics of beer, so imagine it would be true for meads, but I don't know if that is true. I've only ever used one yeast for meads - Lavlin EC-118, which I would also use for cider. Only reason I haven't tried anything else is that I have lots of this sitting around.