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Many of us know the importance of topping up the carboy to prevent air from ruining some good aging mead. Now, there are several ways to do this, but one of them involves using glass beads to fill in the gap. I used to do this as well, but I have encountered a slight problem. Do not use glass...

After a loooong time, here's an update! I was a bit worried for the fermentation, in particular on the dosage of carbonate (I was using ammonium carbonate to double as a nitrogen source). The small 1L plastic bottle got infected, so I threw it away after primary (smelled like fart), but the...

To make a long story short: I got glass-beads after the vacation, and racked. I had it standing untill recently, and only a small layer of sediment settled out during the last half year. Today I bottled it, despite it not having cleared up completely. All in all the yield is around 4 liters...

My first thought goes towards the question: How long do you age the brews before tasting? Also, I would guess the type of honey can also have quite a bit to say.

Okay. Problems. The glass has not arrived yet, and I leave for my 2-months vacation tomorrow morning. This is how it looks like right now. Working on getting to borrow 4L of glass jars. It's dry and degassed, so shouldn't produce that much preassure.

Never tried to make acerglyn, but I would assume it's pretty much the same as with a regular show-mead. Maple-syrup may not be as acidic as honey can be, but you should certainly add nutrients. Adding yeast or not depends on how far it's gotten. Since it's already startet with a wild yeast...

2.5Kg of clear glass-pebbles are on their way. Should be about a liter, or just about the right amount. I will wait another two weeks to see how it progresses, but from the looks of it the separation between the layer and the rest of the liquid is becoming more and more clear.

With an OG of 1.075 you'll end up with a very dry mead with very little of the honey-flavour, so keep that in mind when considering additions. With the amount of honey you plan for it's very easy to overrun any of the flavours from the honey. Increasing bitterness is usually a way of...

In about two weeks time I'll be leaving for summer vacation, and I have this to consider (picture). During vacation I'll be away for about 2 months, and will not be able to rack in the meantime. The heather mead settles very slowly, and right now it's one millimeter gross lees. Yeast is...

Clearing can take a while, depending on the honey and yeast used! I would guess degassing will speed up the clearing process a bit. chilling the brew to below the yeast's preffered temperature range is a known way to make it clear faster as well. If you let it sit without doing anything, I...

Well, they only sell 5L (1.25 gallon) carboys in these areas! If it goes too far down, it's usually just enough to tilt the thing untill the hydrometer gets into reach. If it gets stuck somehow, then I sanitize a rubber glove and fish it out with one finger.

I usually check gravity directly IN the carboy, using a well sanitized hydrometer ofcourse!

Technically "hydromel" is an old term for mead in general, but these days its english use generally refers to a mead of less than 8-9% ABV. So if you were to enter a competition with your meads, those would be entered as hydromels yeah. It's interesting to note that an old english definition...

+1.5 gallon of Lemon Blossom Honey. 390.5 Gallons total.

It should be fine to open the bung, as long as you don't leave it off for too long. If it really is stalled, a tiny bit of oxygen might actually be beneficial! I'd say: Get it up to 70F, shake i a bit around, take a measurement with the hydrometer and let it sit for a day to see if anything...

If you have the sorage, wait and see. It will problably not be good without aging anyways. I don't know enough biochemistry to tell what will happen, but chances are the yeast will be able to convert some of the ill-tasting salt into something else in one way or another. Heck! Before the...

It's difficult to tell. Airlock activity is no certain indication. If you can, try to get hold of a hydrometer. In a situation like this I'd usually ask about the initial reading and the curent reading. This, in addition to knowing what type of yeast was included with the kit, would have...

Honey's here! And now it's there... The honey is more on the viscous side, a little like syrub, and very sweet. It has a very interesting taste; It's certainly floral, and in one way it has a hint of the smell you get when rubbing a lemon-tree leaf. On the other hand the sweetness is just...

As long as you know your stuff and how to use a hydrometer, things should in general be fine no matter what kind of honey you use. There are three golden rules to any kind of brewing, including meads: PROPERLY sanitize all equipment, and boil the water if not using bottled water. Know...

I will keep you all updated when the time comes around! A tip if you want to buy honey from aboard. Go to the country's local ebay page, and search for the name of the honey you want in the local language (google translate is of great help). Use Google translate yet again to translate...