Home Distiller

Joe said his recipe was nearly fool proof, so I didn't mess with it. It made a very nice mead, so I did my next batch exactly the same and it is bubbling away very happily. When it is finished, I will make another exactly the same.

Making cider, I tried several varieties of expensive wine yeasts and now only ever use bakers yeast. It works faster and tastes as good, if not better, so when Joe says to use bakers yeast I don't doubt it will do a good job.

Update..the non-standard mead has started to bubble..woohoo!!!
Gonna just let it roll...I'm thinking the room temp was a little low for the C-Yeast. The original is kicking butt...as expected. Well , will let you all know in afew months how it tastes...AX

2nd update: Made a 5 gal batch as per original method. I let it cook a few days till it slow down, added water to take up head space...but still left room..bout 3 inches. WARNING: Be sure to keep an eye on it, I blew my airlock 4' in the air due to foam up. Guess I should have waited a bit longer...I'm such a rookie at this! Other 2 jugs smell AWESOME..as does my entire house. Thanks for pointing me in right direction. God help you all if i EVER decide to distill.

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There was a lot of wax in my last one and it was settling out in the froth. Looked dangerous, so I only sat the cork on the jar until the wax stopped rising and I had scooped most of it out. Still got a tiny puke after I added the last water and sealed it, but it never got out of the airlock.

If you are ever worried about having a fountain, don't use a bubbler. Use a hose into a jar. I've had a molasses fountain in the laundry. That didn't go down too well with the Missus.

Hi all,

I've been wine making for a couple of years now and one of my favourite recipes (ever) is Black Forest Melomel.

For those who don't know, melomel is a form of mead which includes fruit to give it a different flavour.

I use-
500g of frozen Black Forest fruits
3lbs honey (clear/cheap)
1litre grape juice
Citric
Nutrient
High alcohol yeast
Pectolase

I started off by boiling the honey with water and skimming off the 'scum' but if you buy buy cheap honey! it's usually filtered plenty enough! it's just not worth doing it. Obviously, if you're using expensive 'non runny' hunny, then boil and skim.

Add all ingredients to a bucket and make up to 5litres.
Add fruiting at room temperature, pitch yeast.

I normally ferment to dry, stabilise, throw in more honey to backsweeten (I use something nicer for this)

If you filter AFTER back sweetening it's crystal clear.

This recipe is by no means finished, but it's delicious.

I've also toyed with feeding with honey... High alc yeast can get to 18% no problem....would be interesting to make a fortified version of this recipe.... Could actually be incredible

Ps. Mead is nasty xx

I use the method of first third fermentation nutrient additions by moonlight meadery. Its quick to finish and gets them awards so its good enough for me. I also use strong honey. Rewarewa was what I used last. Strong enough I can pile the fruit in and not worry about overpowering the flavour of the honey. Also ferments in just 7-9 days.

Tasting update for our mead...JOAM in 5gal..ROCKS! The Champagne yeast Mead..WHEW!!! STRONG, Dry with orange aftertaste. 3rd-1gal bottle, which was a mix of both, well is Hi Alc % with a bit of bite. All are worth drinking.