Recent content by Mead-muncher

Thanks for your reply, it was very useful! I dont remember the yeast strain from memory, i remember the pack has 'ideal for fruit wines' on it, i will have to wait till i get home then check the website for the HBS i ordered it from. Once i know the max ABV and strain it will be easier to...

I want to make a red cherry mead, i've got a whole bunch of 6ltr plastic water bottles that i want to use. I bought some red cherries, the Oregon Brand, but not puree whole (pitted) tart red cherries... i have a couple of questions... Should i strain off the liquid/juice and discard that...

Thanks for your reply, i didnt notice any sediment in the bottles, they have been stored undisturbed for several weeks now and was careful when the bottle was taken from my conditioning fridge. I know its probably a little early as mead should be aged for 4-6mths before consumed, my...

So I opened another bottle last night to try it, I was quite suppressed to hear an light but audible hiss as I popped the cap off and it was very lightly sparkling when it was poured. It was a little clearer than before, but still a little hazy/cloudy. The taste of the mead has mellowed a bit...

Ok Quick update for you all... the mead finally stopped bubbling away in primary, so i racked it off into a secondary container, topped off with spring water to bring it back upto the 6ltr mark and left it for another 30 days (or so) A little bubble activity at first but i am talking about a...

Well everything is bubbling away nicely, created a blow off tube for the second carboy whilst I await a proper airlock to be delivered. There is a visible difference between the two bottles, the airlock one has a slight 'head' on it and is bubbling about once per second whilst the blow off tube...

Thanks, I had planned for 30 days, I was just wondering if that's the preferred "standard" or if there are other things to look out for...

I have them both under airlocks now, getting a bubble every few seconds. The foamy top has gone this morning on both of them. Happy with the progress and activity now :) Racking: is there anything specific I should look for as a sign it's time to rack? Slow down/stop in the airlock activity...

Well looks like that has helped, 12 hours later and I'm now seeing activity in the airlock. Slow but steady bubbles (1 every minute or so) the one that is air locked has a very thin layer of white foam on the top (millimeters) and the one with the cloth has formed a slightly thicker foam which...

Thanks for the comments. I just tried a reading and it's very high, in fact I couldn't get a reading it was off the chart :( so I just tried separating the brew into two bottles and adding more spring water until I got a reading of 1090-1100. I then put both bottles back into the cooler which...

After reading around a bit more, I found lots of posts claiming they stir or shake their mead during the first few days as the yeast needs the oxygen... So I opted to replace the airlock with a cap then shook it around, gently at first then a bit more aggressively after for a total of 2mins...

So I got my mead started yesterday (along with some other brews) I used a less scientific approach (used a 6ltr plastic bottle, filled it about 1/3rd with honey, topped off with spring water to around 2inches from the top, got my yeast started (EC-1118 ) in a small glass of warm water with some...

Well "her in-doors" has allowed me to buy a wine fridge instead of messing around with thermostats and domestic fridges, so I have a controlled environment for brewing :) 72bottle wine cooler with a max temperature of 25degrees. I reckon I can get 6-8 one gallon bottles in there comfortably, the...

The three types of yeast I'm starting out with are; 1. Lalvin 71B-1122 2. Lalvin EC-1118 3. K1-V1116 I have researched these (after I ordered them - lol) and it seems I got lucky on two of them, seems they are "ok" upto 30c which is about right, I figure with a dark room and...

I'm all very new to this, and I live in a very hot country, so I would like to ask how long the mead brew needs to stay under controlled temperatures? I plan to get a cheap fridge/freezer and modify it with a external thermostat to get things at the right temperature, but it would be good if I...