Monghetti

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Hey Folks, I am trying to make my first mead tomorrow and just wanted to run a few things by all you more experienced meaders. Going against everything I read here, I want to make a "show mead" as my first mead. For some reason, the spiced meads/cysers just arent appealing to me at*the moment.

I've had only two commercial meads...Redstone, and Meadery of the Rockies. The Redstone was substantially sweeter and I think I would like to make light to medium sweet mead. I would like to do 5 gallons. I have 17 pounds of local raw wildflower honey that I am picking up tomorrow. Will that amount of honey give me a semi sweet mead? I would like to keep it simple and let it ferment out and still have a bit of residual sweetness. I am going to pick up some yeast nutrient and yeast energizer at the LHBS tomomrrow as well.

I realize that mead making can and usually is a lot more involved, but can I end up with a good mead with just the honey, water, yeast, nutrient, and energizer?

I have a packet of Cote De Blanc in the fridge as well as a montrachet. Will one of these do? I would like to not use a liquid yeast if possible. Finally, is 75 degrees an acceptable fermenting temp?

Thanks for all the assistance with onslaught of questions. Im excited!

thatnewguy

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ello ello! I too am fairly new to mead making but have been reading everything I can get my hands on. It helps when my brother decides to do something he goes all the way. He has been a tremendous help with how much he has learned.
As for the "Show Mead" there is nothing wrong with that. Most of the time, my understanding and from what I have seen, most fruit/spices in the primary barely come over once you rack it into the secondary. That isn't to say that nothing does come over...but what it is well drastically change what/if any do come over.
I rather like adding the fruit/spices, to ensure more of the flavour comes over, when I rack.

That seems, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, like a hell of a lot of Honey for 5 gallons. 2 Pounds is semi for a 1 gallon, and 3+ is sweet. I say start with 10-12 and back sweeten if necessary.
Always remember....all mead basically start/started as Honey, Water, Yeast. Different honeys/yeast can drastically change the taste. You can certainly make something good like that
Depends on the yeast. Different Yeast have different temperature ranges they will tolerate. Look up that particular one to be safe
Best of luck and cheers

AZ_IPA

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I will correct you Schramm's book (The Compleat Mead Maker) says to use 12.5-14 lbs of honey for a medium show mead (10 for dry, 15-18 for sweet).

check out hightest's FAQ's on nutrient additions - he spent a lot of time putting together some good info.

If I had to choose between Cote de Blanc and Montrachet, I'd definitely use the Cote; but I'd rather use EC-1118 or D-47, but that's just me....

and remember, you're talking months to years here for premium flavor....

jezter6

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Unless you completely overwhelm the yeast with alcohol and sugars - it is likely that just about any amout of honey under 18-20# in 5 gallons will end up dry on it's own.

2 choices: kill the yeasties when it's at your desired sweetness, or let it dry out on it's own and backsweeten.

I can say for certain that 15# will give you a big rocket fuel flavor that will take long time to age. I'm now down in the 9-12# per batch mode and using the extra honey to backsweeten as needed.

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Monghetti

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Thanks for all the input everyone. I think I'll go with a yeast that can take the highest fermenting temps. I'll go with 15 pounds of honey for a medium to sweet mead. I will let it ferment out and kill the yeast and backsweeten if necessary. This will be a true test of patience. I'm going to try and bulk age it for close to year so I won't be tempted to tear into those bottles of jet fuel.

For some reason when I try to open one of Hightests FAQ's they open in a document as a bunch of symbols. Would someone be willing to copy and paste the section on nutrient additions?

Monghetti

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Well I went for it! I bought 14 pounds of Colorado wildflower honey at a farmers market this morning for 30 bucks! I thought that was a pretty darn good deal!

I disolved the 14 pounds in 2.5 gallons of warm water. Topped off to 5.5 gallons. Rehydrated the E 1118 yeast in two oz warm water with 3/4 tsp of Go Ferm. Rehydrated the yeast for 15 minutes before adding it to the 80 degree must. (is it called must with mead or just wine?) I have the fermenter bucket sitting in a tub of water to maintain a more constant temp.

I plan on stirring gently/swirling almost daily and will add fermaid K at 1.075 SG. I think thats about all...Anything else I need to know?