Mead help

So after purchasing a bottle of the golden good stuff, my partner in crime and I decided lets give making mead a whirl, we purchased some champagne yeast, 3lbs of honey and 2 gallons of spring water combined all of them in our throw together mr.beer kit, that we modified to have an airlock, using an old army medic trick with a latex glove. We also have a second batch brewing at one gallon with some apples and cinnamon in it, for this we used just a simple brewers yeast. We are keeping them at a constant 70 degrees. Any tips, ideas, or help. If we are doing something wrong let me know we want this to be a drinkable experience. If anything here's hoping it's turns out OK

I would do a little searching around on the the website but it from everyting I've done and read the ratio of honey to water is normally 3lb:1gallon. everything else sounded good though.
RLTW

You will end up making mead, but the end product will be very dry and likely will be hot (harsh) for a while. Try doing some searches here, on the net, and on a site called gotmead. It can get a bit involved.

It's pretty easy to get honey to ferment out into alcohol, however there is a bit more involved in getting the product an optimum fermentation for a refined product. You'll need some special nutrients, and you'll need to keep an eye on fermentation temps and PH. It's more than I can explain in a couple sentences, and I have fairly limited experience myself.

Also be aware the timeline for a smooth drinkable mead is many months of aging, and by many is often measured in years.

So my issue seems to be too little honey in the mixture, from what I am being told good to know, and do a batch at that measurement to see how it compares to what I have brewing away. Thank god I joined this forum. There were other places telling me two pounds per gallon.

2 lb per gallon would get you an ok mead if you use a low-alcohol tolerant yeast, but it would probably still take it dry. 3 lb is much more common.
Just a FYI:
1.5 lb per gallon : 7.3%
2 lb per gallon : 9.7%
3 lb per gallon : 14.1%
4 lb per gallon : 18.3%

Though actually hitting 18% in a mead is pretty involved and requires a lot more effort to do, as just mixing it up probably would get the yeast that far even if they have a tollerence high enough.

I picked up a high end champagne yeast, at a brewing company. What kind of percentages will that produce for me without it dying off?

Odds are good you'll hit 15-16% just doing what you did. Hitting 18% (which they can be capable of) requires a little more technique. It's not too late to add a little honey to your batches.

I would like to add to this thread that using 3# of honey in two gallons is not bad. You may end with an ABV of around 7.5-8% which is as good as a good beer. The norm is about 3# per gallon but your way will result in less alcohol and it may lend itself to be drinkable sooner. While you wait for this to ferment get a hydrometer to read gravity measurments later and look up stableizing mead. When the ferment is done you can stableize with simple cheap chemicals to prevent further fermentation and add more honey to get the gravity you want. This may finish somewhere below .998 gravity but you can add honey a little at a time until wou hit 1.01 for a slightly sweet drink, 1.02 for a medium sweet & 1.03 for a sweet drink.

You may also want to get some nutrients into there as well. The best nutrients and what most mead makers use is something like DAP or Fermentaide( Not sure what this one's called, Ferm-K, something like that) I use DAP, your local brew store should know this. Many use a cup of finely chopped rasins or something similar. I say chopped due to the fact it will be easier for the yeast to get to the nutrients. As far as DAP, I use 1 tablespoon per 5-6 gal. I have read that 1 teaspoon may be suficient too. I tend to use yeast that are nutrient hogs, I believe champaign yeast is a nutrient hog in general but I wouldn't go over 1 tablespoon for it. Oh, in case you are interested 3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon.

Also, after the fermentation slows down a lot (usually 3 weeks to a month) you will need to rack it (that is take it from one vessel to another leaving the lees or sediment in the previous container) This will make it clear quicker. Once you can read through it, you can bottle and age it. Aging is just letting it sit in a nice dark, cool place. A basement or closet will do, or back of cubbard. You should age it 8 months to a year, and that's after it's clear. It may be palitable after 6 months but it is sooo much tastier after a year.

Hope it goes well.
Matrix

Thank you guys for all the input, are they any brew kits you guys would recommend? I am currently looking online and going to brew shops and seeing wine kits that are more than capable on producing mead, but my friend would also like to be capable of doing a couple batches of beer in between mead, so no matter what we are in the end going to purchase several five gallon buckets, but what kits have worked best for you and why?

Go without a kit. The best way to learn. Just research things on this site and GotMead.com. Two best sites for mead that I have found and this one is primarily beer. I am sure some of the beer gurus here can let you know what you need to buy or do. Some say that extract beer is as easy a way to start beer as mead. I just brew mead so I don't know.

Matrix

there is very few mead kits around and most i have heard of are poor.

i would forget kits and simply learn mead. the basics are really easy and once you get your head around the fermentation side of things you will find it easy. understanding the fermentation is important and you will find it cross overs to all other brewing.

no need for a lot of buckets, two buckets will keep you going every day of the week.
what you need lots of is carboys.

We are currently looking into carboys, specifically the 5 gallon ones, any cheap suppliers on the internet?

i got some stuff from northernbrewer and they seemed to be fair priced. If you want to do your primary fermentation in a glass carboy and plan on making 5 gallon batches I would sudgest getting a 6 or a 6.5 gallon carboy for your primary fermentor. Then when you switch it over to a 5 gallon for bulk aging. Good luck.

IMO a brew bucket is better for primary because it's easier to pour stuff in, and to aerate.

huesmann said:

IMO a brew bucket is better for primary because it's easier to pour stuff in, and to aerate.

Click to expand...

I am in favor of using both. I start a primary in a glass carboy. When I add fruit or something to the secondary and when I oak, I use the brew bucket as it's easy to get stuff in and out. I also am in favor of a large mesh bag to put fruit in and smaller muslin hops bags for spices or oaking. Makes it much easier.

I also like to, if the fruit type permits, to render my fruit to juice and just add juice to the secondary. With Mango, Strawberry, and other very fleshy fruit this is not possible.

Happy Brewing
Matrix

Cheap carboys are difficult to find at volumes over a gallon. If you want a gallon carboy, though, you can just repurpose one of those gallon jugs of table wine (e.g. Carlo Rossi). Best place to get one of them outside of buying the wine itself is probably a bottle redemption place. Offer them 25¢ or something per bottle. You'll get gallon carboys for cheap, and they'll get more money for them than they would by redeeming them.

TL;DR version: cheap 5 gallon glass carboys are hard to find.

Matrix4b said:

I am in favor of using both. I start a primary in a glass carboy. When I add fruit or something to the secondary and when I oak, I use the brew bucket as it's easy to get stuff in and out. I also am in favor of a large mesh bag to put fruit in and smaller muslin hops bags for spices or oaking. Makes it much easier.

I also like to, if the fruit type permits, to render my fruit to juice and just add juice to the secondary. With Mango, Strawberry, and other very fleshy fruit this is not possible.

Happy Brewing
Matrix

Click to expand...

@Matrix,
Do you think it would be better to turn cherries into juice? I got some split cherries in my primary right now and am a little worried about volume issues when I change to secondary.
Thanks,
Zbay

you can just repurpose one of those gallon jugs of table wine (e.g. Carlo Rossi)

Click to expand...

These work great, get some #6 stoppers and you are ready to go, I have an elderly couple next door that puts 2 spotlessly cleaned ones on the step of my garage every other saturday morning, I think I am up to 16-18 of them now lol