Mead

Alcoholic beverages which are not classified as spirits.

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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

Just made another 5 gal with 10 lbs wild flower honey, trying for a dryer mead this recipe and possibly a blend once finished with the sweeter stuff.

I've found that once chilled the sweeter mead is excellent but if it warms up on ya the sweetness is a bit overpowering imo.

2 lbs per 5 gal should get me a nice dry mead and I'll check and see if I like it or back sweeten to my taste after the first racking.

The melomel is freaking fantastic already and is racked and starting to clear nicely so a few more months should be bottling time.

5 gal of orange blossom
5 gal of blue berry blossom
Arrived yesterday!!!
Should keep me busy for the year and make some fine mead :thumbup:
Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I haven't touched either of my new honeys but just wanted to update about the raspberry and traditional.

The raspberries will need another racking this weekend and I think it will clear nicely after, the flavor is good with the berries and the honey is on the back end and I think 6 months it will nice and clear and bottled, I'm keeping it in the barn to keep cool and let the the yeasties fall and I'll keep there till it gets right damn cold before bringing in the house.
I may keep in the crawl space since it doesn't fall below 50f, I'd like to get a few keg setup to force carbonate and serve chilled and by the time it's ready I may already have that. lol

The traditional is not clearing all that well but slowly getting there, after the first racking there has been a load of yeast falling but I opened it the other day and it seemed like it was still fermenting... well I'll let it keep on keeping on till it's ready.

I have a 5 gal dry traditional at my mom's house I haven't seen in 2 weeks and I added all the nutes at the beginning because a great mead maker said that's what he does so that's what I've done. I think it is going to be fine but I need to get it home so I can keep up with progress.
10 lbs for a 5 gal and d47 and the temps have been in the mid 60s and that's ideal so I'll see Saturday when I visit her and strap it in my truck like a baby.

I need to go and buy 2 new 15 gal fermenters for this new mead I plan on and also one for enough for a couple stripping runs plus a spirit run for another project.
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Re: Mead

Post by Old Town »

So what's the other project your working on?
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bilgriss
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Re: Mead

Post by bilgriss »

I agree with the sweet/cold statements. I'd have to bottle really sweet meads in 4oz containers for the right size. It's just overwhelming beyond that, but nice for a sip. There's definitely a point though where you can have both sweetness and drinkability, with the right recipe. Hit that 'sweet spot' (pun intended) and don't throw away your recipe. I'm sure this is different for everyone.....

Keep us posted on the new honeys after they're in process.
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kiwi Bruce
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Re: Mead

Post by kiwi Bruce »

Hit that "sweet Spot" and you become a Viking!
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jb-texshine
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Re: Mead

Post by jb-texshine »

kiwi Bruce wrote:Hit that "sweet Spot" and you become a Viking!
A Viking God you mean!
To hit the sweet spot try($)double ferments,one sweet and one dry,then blend.
I do it when I buy special honeys so I get what I want. But that's mostly in 1gallon ferments.
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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

Well the other project will be a cheaper honey and make some honey shine, using D47 at a higher temp to get more of the esters to come through, stripping low wines down to 10% Then using the backset at 15% for a spirit run.
Then using the backset for a corn sugar head wash. later later later.

Orange blossom will be traditional
blueberry will be traditional and some melomel

oak aging in a Balcones 5 gal barrel

120 lbs of honey I think I have options eh!
jb-texshine
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Re: Mead

Post by jb-texshine »

Make a razzberry melomel but for distilling (o.g.1.070ish) and double distill it,leave it white. Let it sit a 4-6months and you'll be pleased with it. I age it in glass with natural cork so it can breath a bit. I also collect the heads in small jars as the heads carry over a lot of raspberry that can be blended in small amounts back into the keep. You'll find the right jar.
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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

hell yeah jb, that sounds delicious!
I just picked up another 20 lbs of clover and might get another 20 tomorrow or Monday.

The D47 is working good and I might ferment at a bit higher temp than for my meads so it will throw out some more of the fruity esters, I just bought another 15 and 12 gal fermenter from ts today and looks like that will be the next project!

All the frozen fruit at Walmart is on sale because of the holls so I'll pick up 8 lbs tomorrow as well.
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I just thought of it when I took a sip of my overly dry cider and it hit me... Blend some of this to my slightly too sweet mead!!!
I think this could be a beautiful beginning here :thumbup:
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bilgriss
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Re: Mead

Post by bilgriss »

Yeah, I think that could work well. A cyser by blending. I have some old mead that sat on the lees too long, and a dry cider that never developed much flavor. I've been considering combining them for a distilling run, but haven't gotten the energy together to unbottle all of them.
Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

Well, that was the plan until I opened the cider.... It had a funky almost medicine type of flavor to it so that was definitely a no go for the blend.
Even though the mead is sweet it was a hit for thanksgiving, it's not sickly sweet but it's sweeter than I would like.
I'm about to receive a package from a fellow distiller which will consist of raspberry mead and some sake, I'm looking forward to tasting and I'll return the favor with some of my infected dunder rum once properly aged and it's almost there and it's tasting better and better by the week.
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Re: Mead

Post by The Baker »

How do you package the samples?

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Re: Mead

Post by jb-texshine »

Personally,I feel as though sweet meads are best served cold and in smaller glasses. And dry mead just slightly cooler than room temp. Sweet mead can get a bit too sweet after a bit of drinking.
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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I have no idea of how it's packaged until I get it and open, I've not yet sent a package myself so I dunno. lol

As for the mead, I served it ice cold and in wine glasses to some family and they loved it, it was gone before some of the other bottles which made me feel good about it. now I'll let the rest go for 6 more months.

I still have 3.5 gal and I'm going to rack it once more into 1 gal jugs and rest in the fridge for the time.

I have a 5 gal batch with only 2 lbs per gal and it's stalled out, I'm going to check ph, rack off the lees, aerate and repitch the yeast with a dry mead yeast, then later down the road I'll blend the dry and sweet together for a more balanced mead.

I've still not cracked open the blueberry or orange blossom but it's looking like I'll wait till spring when the temps are better but knowing me that won't happen. lol
Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I finally racked off the stalled mead and repitched some ec1118 and it's going good now.
ph was mid 4s and the temp was a bit low sitting near a window so I moved it over by the hot water heater and is now a comfortable 75f

Fizzing like soda, smelling better and better.

I'll rack again in 2 weeks and Let it finish then do a blend.
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I just finished racking a traditional mead into 3-1 gal jugs and is clearing nicely but is still a bit sweet for my taste so I'll pop in some airlock and keep at 75 until it's a bit less sweet.

Some of these batches were made with a lower end wild flower honey and it seems to not want to ferment dry, the jugs all say honey not blended or mixed with any other sweeteners so I assume it's all honey.

I've done batches with sweet mead smack pack, ec1118 and D47 and bakers with the proper nutrition, proper rehydraded yeast, proper temps per each yeast used and just can't seem to make a dry mead so I can blend the bad boys so they aren't so damn sweet.

They all have great flavor, just a bit too sweet for me unless they're cold as ice when serving and in small quantities.

Any suggestions are welcome.
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bilgriss
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Re: Mead

Post by bilgriss »

Champagne yeast and some nutrient, stirred every few weeks, gently, to keep the yeast suspended.

I pulled out a 2008 Ancient Orange the other night, chilled and shared a couple glasses. It's still too sweet for my taste, but it mellowed fairly nicely over the last decade.
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I started another mead tonight, og 1.070 so about 10% ABV potentially.
I went with ec1118 and did my tataric acid and fermaid o.
Will degas tomorrow and for the next 3 days and add the nutrients in steps as prescribed and in hopes of getting a very dry mead this time.

The wife is pissed because I put it in the laundry room to keep out of these sub freezing temps we're having all this week but she'll get over it before long (I hope lol)

I'm going to start another one tomorrow as well, ancient orange but I'm not going much higher than 12% and cold crash it before it's completely dry as I want a semi dry, not semi sweet. And yes according to the mead guru's there is a difference, a round 1.010- 1.020 give a slight backend of the sweeness and I hope to slow it to a crawl at that point and use the stuff I can't remember the name of as it will stop the yeast. Plus alot of racking and cold crashing.

This stuff is getting pricey so I better do alot now before the woman stops me and I'm back in the barn during this cold ass weather. lol

I just took a look and I hope I left enough head space it the carboy, the foam is getting up in the neck already and it's only been 4 hours. If it goes over I might be sleeping in the barn after I clean up the mess.

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Re: Mead

Post by yakattack »

Shine0n wrote:I started another mead tonight, og 1.070 so about 10% ABV potentially.
I went with ec1118 and did my tataric acid and fermaid o.
Will degas tomorrow and for the next 3 days and add the nutrients in steps as prescribed and in hopes of getting a very dry mead this time.

The wife is pissed because I put it in the laundry room to keep out of these sub freezing temps we're having all this week but she'll get over it before long (I hope lol)

I'm going to start another one tomorrow as well, ancient orange but I'm not going much higher than 12% and cold crash it before it's completely dry as I want a semi dry, not semi sweet. And yes according to the mead guru's there is a difference, a round 1.010- 1.020 give a slight backend of the sweeness and I hope to slow it to a crawl at that point and use the stuff I can't remember the name of as it will stop the yeast. Plus alot of racking and cold crashing.

This stuff is getting pricey so I better do alot now before the woman stops me and I'm back in the barn during this cold ass weather. lol

I just took a look and I hope I left enough head space it the carboy, the foam is getting up in the neck already and it's only been 4 hours. If it goes over I might be sleeping in the barn after I clean up the mess.

Shine0n
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HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

Ha ha, no doubt!
This am it was settled down to a coke fizz and I could see the inside churning like a washing machine so it may be good. ( I hope )

It smells good so far... kinda like a brewery :thumbup:
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

This am I went to check on some mead I racked for the 2nd time, I had put it in 4 half gal mason jars and cold crashed them then racked again, well there was till some yeasties woken up in there because I opened one to have a taste and the fn lids were so tight I had to use a jar opener and man were they tight.

I'm thinking of using champagne bottles for these and let the carbonate, it's a traditional on AO now for 3 months.

It's off the wood and tasting pretty good with some sweetness of the oak and a hint of vanilla. Got a ways to go yet!
jb-texshine
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Re: Mead

Post by jb-texshine »

Don't forget to save the oak to use for a whiskey or something.
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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I still have it in a pint mason jar with some juice on the top, maybe even make an essence with it. Who knows, it seems like the right thing to do.

The one in the closet is rolling right along, slower but moving. My house is too warm for the D47 and the 1118 is doing its thing.

I watched a 1.5 hour with Ken Shram (I think that's how it's spelled) and he mentioned using 71B and also mentioned that it was high OG tolerance more so than other strains so that's on my list for yeasts to use. Also DAP was his main thing not fermaid o as he said you need alot more of it than DAP so that's on the list too.

So much more than honey, yeast and water to this stuff but I'm liking it!
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Re: Mead

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

I was looking through a copy of “Brew Your Own” homebrew magazine and ran across an article about “session meads.”

It said many were designed to be “objectively dry” having no residual sugars.

Might work as a blend for the sweeter meads.
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Shine0n
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I think that's what I'm aiming for with this one now, something to blend to some sweeter meads.

Ima different kind of breed so I may like the dry mead who knows,

The next few will be melomels, definitely more raspberries, black currants, cherries, blueberries, a mixture of 2 or more.

Endless possibilities
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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

I had no fruit but did have 3lbs of blueberry blossom honey (single jar) so I used it in a 1 gal ferment, rehydraded some D47 in 104°f water, made a slurry of 1tsp fermaid o and 1 tsp of tartaric acid and added at 90°f.
OG is 1.110, high I know but I want this to be a sweeter mead and with the addition of the acid I should be able to balance it out in the long run.

I'll do step nutes at 1/3 and see how this one pans out.

I have a nice syphon that get down to the yeast but it works above the yeast bed so I'll loose little on the racking part (I hope)
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Re: Mead

Post by The Baker »

Pour VERY hot water over a metal lid before attacking it with the jar opener.

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Re: Mead

Post by Shine0n »

The one I used looks like an oil filter wrench and I did run as hot as it would get in my faucet.

I was a bit nervous because of the pressure in there and I know from experience that hot water and pressure can lead to bad situations real quick but it ended up just fine, thank goodness.

I have 3 5 gal and one 6 gal fermenters with airlock but when racking down from a smaller batch I put in mason jars and closed them a little to tightly, a lesson learned no doubt!

I'm going to stop this one gal batch at 1.020 and put in a champagne bottle and wire tie the top to carbonate, I will do more research on this before going with that as I have no idea other than I want it carbonated.

Anyone here ever done this?
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bilgriss
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Re: Mead

Post by bilgriss »

Friend of mine did exactly that and ended up with some nice sparkling mead. Puts champagne to shame for sure.
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