Mead Newbie

Hey guys! Im pretty new to the home brew scene and I have a couple questions about mead. A few days ago I made a one gallon batch of mead, and I'm wondering when it will become alcoholic and when I can drink it! I'd rather not let it age for 6 months as the instructions say, so basically I'm wondering how soon my mead will become alcoholic and drinkable?

Since its your first batch, start drinking it right away, but make sure to bottle a small amount and let it sit for the 6 months. You'll immediately regret not aging the whole batch, but you'll understand it a lot better by tasting the difference firsthand.

What I'm trying to say is, freshly fermented mead is NASTY. I always age mine at least a year.

In all seriousness, you should follow all the instructions for your mead, then bottle it and forget you have it. In the meantime, make some of EdWort's Apfelwein. That stuff can tolerate a quick turn around, and itll help take your mind off of the mead.

^^seconded. Depending on your yeast you can get noticeable amounts of alcohol within a week(!) But drinkable is up to you and the taste is guaranteed to improve with age. I've seen posts here about eight year old bottles, though you certainly don't have to go that long.

My suggestion for a meanwhile drink is five-day country cider (check the recipes page.) Nothin wrong with covering up a bit of young ferment funk with a bit of extra sugar

Or since you're new, do you have bottles? A gallon of mead goes into 4 or 5 (750ml) bottles depending on how well you rack it.. perhaps the waiting would be easier after a trip to the liquor store!

Thanks for the info guys! Ill probably wait a month or so before trying it. At what point should I rack the mead? My yeast is a bread yeast, will that decrease the alcohol content?

If you're using bread yeast, I would just let it sit in the primary until it gets clear. Usually takes about 10 weeks.

Bread yeast will die off early, leaving your mead a bit sweeter. What was your OG? I've found that my bread yeast brews crap out at 9% abv, which is plenty for me.

Are you making JAOM? If so just follow the instructions, he knows what he's doing.

Im sorry but im not sure what JOAM or OG are?

JAOM - Joe's Ancient Orange Mead
OG - Original Gravity

Oh ok, Im using a recipe from stormthecastle.com, and unfortuneatly i didnt test OG.

blackbriarmeadery said:

unfortuneatly i didnt test OG.

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Can you post the recipe? We can tell you more about what to expect

Sure, I used this recipe, and subbed bread yeast for the lalvin. http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm

That's Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. Someone stole the recipe and published it without credit. Your OG would have been about 1.120 with 3# honey, but you won't ferment dry as the yeast will die off before consuming all the sugar. Bread yeast can't tolerate high alcohol concentrations.

The best way to handle this mead is not to rack it, but instead wait for it to clear up in your primary jug, which takes about 10 weeks. You'll know when it's clear, it'll just happen one day. Even better would be to wait until the orange pieces sink to the bottom; that's how you know it's really done. Then you can rack it and bottle.

If you put the whole orange in there, which is fine, you're going to be dealing with the bitterness of the pith (the white part of the peel). It's going to take a while for t to age out. Taste a bit when it's ready: if the bitterness is overpowering, do like I said in the first post and forget you have it for at least a year. If you dont mind the taste though, there's nothing stopping you from enjoying it immediately.

When it is ready, take a final gravity reading and post it here, we'll take a guess at your ABV.

Above all, make sure it is clear before bottling, and preferably wait till the oranges sink.

Whoa thanks for all the info! I don't much like the sound of bitter mead, so i guess Ill wait awhile before tasting.

I followed the JAOM recipe and ended up with a dry mead that was about 15% alcohol. Of course it was my first time and I didn't really know what I was doing...

meaderbaker said:

I followed the JAOM recipe and ended up with a dry mead that was about 15% alcohol. Of course it was my first time and I didn't really know what I was doing...

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You must have had an extra-healthy yeast!

Ok just one more question I promise! When I rack the mead do i continue to use an airlock or should I just seal the vessel?

My first few meads were made with bread yeast (JAOM) then later I started experimenting with others. The next few batches I used Lavlin EC-1118 (a champane yeast) and it left it with absolutely NO sweetness. I liked the bread yeast better untill I tried L47, it left some sweetness. I added more honey and a little sugar after I racked it off the Lees and oranges and put an air lock back on. It slowly started working again, but left some of the sugars. It is gonna most likely taste awful at the first racking, but it will blow your mind when you rack it again in about 8 months later. It will be clear enough to read a newspaper thru and will have developed a true wine taste. Then after bottling and corking and aged for another 3-6 months it will have transformed once again and it will make you proud!

YES leave the airlock on after racking! I have learned that there is no such thing as fast mead!-Giddy

Continue to use an airlock until you are ready to bottle. I never put this mead in a secondary, I just wait for it to clear naturally, as per Joe's instructions.