Recent content by tweake

i would dissolve a bit of the honey in a glass of warm water and taste it first. if its tastes bad don't use it, cause thats what the beer will taste like. a lot of the honey flavor comes from its sweetness which you loose when its diluted and fermented. also if its fermented on the warm side...

i won't know for sure until i open them but some are around 2 years old now. no signs of anything leaking out.

screw cap wine bottles are much the norm here. i've had no problems reusing the cap. none have leaked so far. also you could use nova twist which clamps onto the neck of the bottle.

that more bottling rather than brewing. beer dosn't have to worry much on nutrient, often a different heat range, mead doesn't have any mashing etc. your thinking of aussie. i'm not having much luck with manuka and bush honey. official description of manuka honey includes "earthy" and thats...

as far as making mead like wine or beer, i would say mead is nothing like beer brewing. granted there is the style of mead that is low in alcohol like beer, but other than that i can't think of anything that is beer like in mead making.

what was added? did you rack it off the yeast before add the chem?

yes. wine guys do SNA anyway. no reason not to. only thing is maybe a small reduction in the amounts of nutrient as the grape will add some.

i think you hit it on the head with "not tailored specifically for yeast". your doing natural mead making. its up to you if you want to switch to commercial nutrition or try and find better natural nutrients.

right time to step on a few toes.... raisins are dried grapes. wine is only grapes and wine makers still add nutrients. so the nutrients your going to get out of just a few raisins is sweet stuff all. as honey has practically no nutrition you need way more nutrients for mead than wine, not...

the big long crawl is a nutrient problem. the type of nutrients used and how they are added make a big difference.

use a pressure cooker to heat it in. as long as pressure doesn't get to high you will retain everything. i know guys that do cider and they pasteurize it after it been bottled.

leave the oaking to last. the reason for that is so you get to taste what a basic mead is like just after fermented and what its like as it ages. you can always add oak later on that way you get to taste the DIFFERENCE. certainly read the label of any additive. nutrients instructions on the...

i'll annoy the oldies by saying please ignore this. nutrients are critical for good fermentation. without it there be a range of problems from not fermenting to poor flavors. as medic as mentioned thats a show mead ie a "show off" mead. "see i can ride with no hands" best left to the pros...

i would get any dead bees out. you do not want them going off while in the must. the original advice may just be what the bee keeper is used to. some markets required a low bacteria count in honey. as the limit they set is so low they are forced to pasteurize the honey. they simply may be...

wheres your yeast nutrient ??