New Hobby: Mead

Alcoholic beverages which are not classified as spirits.

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StillLearning1
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by StillLearning1 »

Bumping this thread out of excitement! I started a one gallon batch of this last night and I followed the recipe exactly. This is my very first time fermenting anything without the intent to distill it. In fact this my first time fermenting anything that didn't come from the tried and true section! I'm going into this pretty blind I just had the extra jug and airlock and figure hey why not!

I just wanted to share some excitement with my HD buddies. I guess if there is anything that i really should know about this the heads up would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise I'll let you guys know how it turns out round about September!
But what the heck do I know.....I am still learning.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

dan_buddy wrote:Well would you pm if I have questions ?
Sorry, Dan, somehow I never went back to this thread to see your questions... You are welcome to pm me, but my mead experience is limited to just one batch. I let it ferment out dry, macerated a bunch of raspberries in it for a few weeks, then added priming sugar and bottled it so that it would be more like a sparkling wine. It ended up a little overcarbonated, had to open each bottle over the sink, and lost a few to explosion. I remember it being pretty fantastic stuff, but I didn't know much back then. Still don't, really. Long time ago, no Idea what the recipe was, but I bet it was based on something out of the Papazian beer book. He had a prickly pear recipe in there that continues to sit quietly on my bucket list. I need to figure out when them prickly pears are in season and make a road trip to go get a bunch. Maybe this year.
StillLearning1 wrote:Bumping this thread out of excitement!
Thanks for the bump, SL1, I keep meaning to get back around to getting a batch of something like this in the carboy.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by StillLearning1 »

Back for an update:

The mead finished about two days ago and has cleared what I would call completely. I popped the airlock off a second ago and it smells....well good but strong. Its almost an overwhelming strong orange smell that drowns out everything else. I can smell just a touch of the clove I think but mostly just oranges.

I'm really tempted to rack into another jug at this point but that's not what the recipe said to do. The orange and raisins are still on top but its very clear from there down to the yeast in the bottom.

So anyways not sure what my plan is at this time, but I sure am excited to try a sip soon!
But what the heck do I know.....I am still learning.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by StillLearning1 »

I doubt anyone is following but back to update again.

Well I learned that I had no idea what a "cleared" wash was. Up till now every ferment I've done has been in a white bucket or a grey brute so I could only see the wash from the top. I decided to let this jug sit until last night and when I went to look at it it was CLEAR. like Coors light clear. Excited now to let my stilling washes clear a little longer and see if it make a big difference.

So I racked to a second jug last night and I unfortunately got into the yeast bed a little bit so a second racking may be in order soon.

The taste at this point was really really good! :D the honey taste is there and so is the orange. I could not taste ANY Clove or cinnamon however. At this point I would not say it is amazing but very good, to me anyways. Excited to see how the taste will change over time.

Any suggestions on long term storage for aging? I'm thinking just wine bottles with the cork on top....
But what the heck do I know.....I am still learning.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

StillLearning1 wrote:I doubt anyone is following but back to update again.

Well I learned that I had no idea what a "cleared" wash was. Up till now every ferment I've done has been in a white bucket or a grey brute so I could only see the wash from the top. I decided to let this jug sit until last night and when I went to look at it it was CLEAR. like Coors light clear. Excited now to let my stilling washes clear a little longer and see if it make a big difference.

So I racked to a second jug last night and I unfortunately got into the yeast bed a little bit so a second racking may be in order soon.

The taste at this point was really really good! :D the honey taste is there and so is the orange. I could not taste ANY Clove or cinnamon however. At this point I would not say it is amazing but very good, to me anyways. Excited to see how the taste will change over time.

Any suggestions on long term storage for aging? I'm thinking just wine bottles with the cork on top....
That all sounds pretty good. I never tried a mead with the spices and flavors you're using here, but the raspberry one I did was good. I used to make beer, so I would always bottle my mead in 12 oz longnecks and cap them. If you want to try a sparkling mead, just add a little corn sugar for priming when bottling, it will carbonate in the bottle.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by StillLearning1 »

Thanks for the reply MC.

Yes the spices kinda confused me on this, I'm surprised I can't taste then at all. Makes me really want to do another batch without them to compare.

Thanks for the tip on the corn sugar! My lady really loves sparkling wine so that will probably happen. While I was thinking about how to do that I had a realization: THIS HOBBY IS LEGAL!!!! Haha I honestly forgot that I can go to the brew shop for help! I gotta get used to brewing out of the closet if I'm going to keep making mead! Lol
But what the heck do I know.....I am still learning.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Jolly Boots of Doom »

If you want something tasty and one that ferments fast make a melomel or a honeyed cider, I have a five gallon batch that just finished after about a month and a half came out at about 10% abv and sweet as the day is long.
Recipe:
2 gallon apple juice or cider
6 lb of clover honey
1 lb sugar (white or brown to preference I like a lighter meade so I use the white and the juice together)
1 tbsp of vanilla extract (real stuff not the imitation)
pinch of cinnimon
pinch of nutmeg
ale yeast
water to 5 gal

dissolve your honey and sugar in your apple juice or cider, continually stirring until fully dissolved. let cool to room temp, transfer to your fermenter add your vanilla cinnimon and nutmeg then add your water to 5 gal and shake vigorously for as long as you can, then pitch the yeast and shake it up again. let sit for about 3 weeks and its alcoholic enough to drink at about 5% and delicious but really starts hitting its stride at about 2 months and 8-10%, I've yet to let one sit that long before it gets tasted down to about 4-4.5 gal though, drinking it prematurely just means its going to be sweeter, but if you want to keep that honey flavor, nectar of the gods and all, drinking it sooner is no sin.(the ancient Norse mead was closer to an alcoholic syrup than a wine) as a bonus if you play with the spices just right it comes out tasting just like apple pie.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

I'm finally getting around to doing a raspberry mead.
I had a glass of Schramm's Black Agnes last night and it was pretty inspiring.

I remember seeing this recipe from Jimbo last year:

Here's a recipe for a Raspberry mead thats incredible. I made this sweet mead recipe up on the fly, shooting for a sweet mead by going high on the gravity rather than killing the yeast to retain some residual sugar with potasium sorbate or other toxin (wife is sensitive to preservatives). Its REALLY freakin good and I have it on tap now.

18 lbs honey
Water to make 5 gallons.
Yeast Nutrient (Fermax). Per instruction.
71B-1122 Yeast.
Let ferment for 2 weeks.
Add 5 lb bag of frozen raspberries
Let ferment for 2 more weeks
Rack and let sit for 2 months,
Keg or bottle and enjoy.

It turns out pretty high ABV, 16% ish as the approach here is let the yeast go until they give up. 18 lbs honey in 5g is more than the yeast can deal with, so it remains sweet.


I'd like to use this recipe, and I'm wondering if anyone thinks it would be worthwhile to "step-feed" the honey rather than start out with such a high OG.

I've done step feeding with my rum, and it seems like it might cause the yeast less stress in this mead, but then again I've read that honey ferments can be prone to stall so maybe I shouldn't mess with it once it begins.

Just wondering if anyone out there has opinions or experience with adding honey throughout the fermentation process.
Btw, I won't be distilling this, I will be bottling it as mead.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Sweet lord and hubba hubba, this stuff is amazing good.
I did do the step feeding with the honey, not sure if it made any difference, but I will say that this is approximately one million times better than any mead I made years ago.

I started out with an OG of about 1.06 and kept adding honey until I had added about a gallon and a half. When fermentation died out I added the raspberries.
I wound up filling a 6 gallon carboy with water, honey, and raspberries by the time all was said and done, and let it set with the fruit for several weeks.

I just racked it off the fruit and lees, filling a 5 gallon carboy, and had a small sample: fantastic.

Sweet, smooth, and strong, huge raspberry flavor.
I'm going to let this sit and see how clear it will get.

This is going to be a very special brew!
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Mikey-moo »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Sweet lord and hubba hubba, this stuff is amazing good.
I did do the step feeding with the honey, not sure if it made any difference, but I will say that this is approximately one million times better than any mead I made years ago.

I started out with an OG of about 1.06 and kept adding honey until I had added about a gallon and a half. When fermentation died out I added the raspberries.
I wound up filling a 6 gallon carboy with water, honey, and raspberries by the time all was said and done, and let it set with the fruit for several weeks.

I just racked it off the fruit and lees, filling a 5 gallon carboy, and had a small sample: fantastic.

Sweet, smooth, and strong, huge raspberry flavor.
I'm going to let this sit and see how clear it will get.

This is going to be a very special brew!
I made a copy of this recipe last year when it was originally posted... totally forgot all about it... I think I might have to make some mead once I've finished with all the Rum :-)
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by StillLearning1 »

I gave up on my Mead aging. I just didn't like where it was and didn't think it would get any better.

Mixed it with 2 gallons of fients and ran off some of the best, most complex, drink I've ever made. The Mead was almost exactly one year old when I did this. It's been on oak since I ran it and it's just amazing. :thumbup:
But what the heck do I know.....I am still learning.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

ive just fired up some mead last night. plan is for a session mead so my gf has something to drink in quantity over the holiday period. esspecially for meadnight on hogmanay.

heres the recipe.
Tropical Forest Organic Honey Tub 3.18 Kg (zambia) give or take a few grams that may have been missed or been eaten.
yeast nutriants as recomended on packaging.
27g so4 yeast.
20l of fine scottish cooncil juice.

O.g. ended up @ 1.046

added the honey to the water on a low heat to help disolve it. add to fermenter. pitch yeast.

it was inspierd by gosnells london mead.
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Mikey-moo
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Mikey-moo »

That sounds delicious!

Edit: http://www.payneshoney.co.uk/honey-in-bulk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow is supposed to be a good source of bulk honey in the UK... I do like the sound of that Gosnells mead though :-)
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

mikeymoo thats awesome i will be using that site for future orders. now i want to make tasmanian letherwood, spanish lavender, spanish orange blossom and nz wild forest.
more into the session type like gosnells. if you get the chance try theres its really tasty. ive chatted to them a bit about what they do.
gosnells wrote:we use lager yeast ... we use high lager temps &cut short fermentation using pasteurization in the bottle. if doing it at home [aging mead] the longer the better
my idea is to keep track of f.g. and taste and when im at my desired abv 5-6% keg it, chill it and carbonate it then drink it as long as it tastes good.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Mikey-moo »

The youtube video on their site pretty much gives away their entire process... I'm thinking I could pasteurise in my water bath... soooo tempting...
I've got two more 'traditional' style meads on the go at the moment - one orange blossom, one mixed honey from 3 local suppliers. Only a gallon of each but should be good :-)
Let us know how yours turns out though please :-)
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

Will do. Excited to have it in my kegorator for the non beer drinkers I know.

it knocked down 0.006 in 24h
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

looks like if you spend £100+ you get free shipping. now i just need to find £100 :P
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Mikey-moo »

WooTeck wrote:looks like if you spend £100+ you get free shipping. now i just need to find £100 :P
If you find it let me know... I've been looking for ages and need all the help I can get!
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

thats my mead keged. f.g. 1.008 it could have continued but its in my kegorator now. a little dryer than intended. tasted better around the 1.011 mark but its still very drink able. sort of fruty honey notes. interested to see how the carbonation will change the experiance.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

receved good feedback at my home brew club last night for my mead. light floral honey low in carbonation, delecate flavours. no one had a bad word to say and thats unusual.
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by Mikey-moo »

WooTeck wrote:receved good feedback at my home brew club last night for my mead. light floral honey low in carbonation, delecate flavours. no one had a bad word to say and thats unusual.
Woo hoo... great result WooTeck :-)

I don't have a local home brew group sadly :-(
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

its fun but the next day can be a little tough. allthough the quality of the group has come along way since i started going and the hangovers are less painfull. last month was 10%+ beers the following friday was rough
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by whistlewetter »

I have a 5 gallon batch of triple berry wine nearing the end of fermentation. When I rack it to the carboy and free up my fermenter, I have 5qts of local honey that I have been planning to do a mead with. My wife buys the honey from a lady she works with and we really enjoy the taste of it. It is a very dark honey. When my wife purchased that much honey the lady asked her if I was going to make a mead. She told my wife that she has a couple of friends that use her honey for meads and they are tasty. Ive never tasted a mead much less made one so I am hoping it turns out good!
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Re: New Hobby: Mead

Post by WooTeck »

just about fermented dry the second batch off mead. this time the honey way different that the previous even though I came in the same tub. the new one tasted a lot sweeter than the last and didn't have the same fruity funky character that I enjoyed.

for the new batch I used more expensive nutrients that the lhbs recommended & fermented a little higher than I intended (trying to dial in my new heater for the brew room). fermentation was quicker than last- 5ish days instead of about 10 days.

O.g. 1.050
sample at day 7 1.004 a lot dryer than I intended. had a slight musty/dusty character to it. not terrible but not overly enjoyable plan is to back sweeten with a little honey to try cover up this flaw.
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