Solid mead recipe

I'd like to make a 5 gallon batch and age it. I was planning on buying a one gallon jug of local clover honey, with 5 gallons of water. (is that enough honey?) What else would you add? Which yeast do you like?

Thanks for the help

Waylit said:

I'd like to make a 5 gallon batch and age it. I was planning on buying a one gallon jug of local clover honey, with 5 gallons of water. (is that enough honey?) What else would you add? Which yeast do you like?

Thanks for the help

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A lot of recipes use between 3 and 3.5lb of honey per gallon, hence if you made a gallon of honey up with 4 gallons of water, you're gonna be IRO 2.4lb per gallon (it'd be about 5 gallons total liquid). If you have a fermenter of an appropriate size, then you could just increase the honey by 3lb, for 15lb total, and then mix that up with the 5 gallons of water, giving you just over 6 gallons. which in a large(ish) bucket is fine.

What else ? DAP (di-ammonium phosphate), Fermaid K, and yeast - I'd go with K1V-1116, as it's got a wide temperature range, needs low nutrients, etc.

What might be best if you haven't made any meads before, would be to have a read of the Gotmead NewBee Guide and then make a batch of the JAO recipe in the guide, as it's easily mixed, straight forward and you can get all the ingredients at the local grocery store......

fatbloke is right. 1 gallon of honey is about 12 pounds, so unless you want a mead that is exceptionally dry you'll need to up the honey input.

fatbloke said:

and yeast - I'd go with K1V-1116, as it's got a wide temperature range, needs low nutrients, etc.

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You like it better than D47? I would be interested to hear your thoughts on one vs the other.

Thanks!

i think D47 has a very narrow temp range to work in. if your temps are all over the show you may find it stops early. that can be a problem as it only goes to 14%.

tweake said:

i think D47 has a very narrow temp range to work in. if your temps are all over the show you may find it stops early. that can be a problem as it only goes to 14%.

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My temps ARE inconsistant as I live in a small apartment and don't have access or funds to keep it at a steady constant temp...so I am going to try KV-1116 on my next gallon batch. Should I use the whole pack in one gallon? Will it hurt the flavor/fermentation of the mead?

( just don't want yeasty tasting mead...and I have no experience with kv-1116 )

I'd increase the amount of honey, 12lbs in 5 gallons will give you about 12% ABV & just about any wine yeast will take it dry. I'd also be sure to use yeast nutrient/energizer/DAP (diammonium phosphate) to ensure a healthy fermentation.
Here's a list of wine yeast strains & their various properties, choose your yeast the way you would choose a tool.
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp
And yes, you can use a whole sachet of dry wine yeast (rehydrated as per instructions) in a 1 gallon batch, they're good for batch sizes 1 - 6 gallons.
Regards, GF.

I know this goes against everything mead makers say, but I do a ginger mead about 4 times a year w/ exceptional results using Nottingham ale yeast. It's very tolerant, and doesn't dry out the mead like other yeasts can. I bottle most of mine as sparkling mead, and thats the only other yeast involved ( 1/4 package 1118 added , rehydrated , to bottling bucket).

Would also recommend reading hightest's excellent basics stickied up at the head of the forum.....

I've found that 12 lbs (roughly a gallon) of honey produces a dry mead in the 12% - 15% ABV range. 18 lbs of honey OTOH produces an extremely sweet, almost a sack mead in the 20% - 25% range. I once managed to get a ginger sack mead up to about 30%.

Agreed, yeasty meads are funky in a bad way. Best option I can find to avoid it is to filter your mead during rackings.

tweake said:

i think D47 has a very narrow temp range to work in. if your temps are all over the show you may find it stops early. that can be a problem as it only goes to 14%.

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And it produces a lot of fusels if you ferment it over 68f/20c ......apparently the analogy is paint thinner........

tinman1 said:

I know this goes against everything mead makers say, but I do a ginger mead about 4 times a year w/ exceptional results using Nottingham ale yeast. It's very tolerant, and doesn't dry out the mead like other yeasts can. I bottle most of mine as sparkling mead, and thats the only other yeast involved ( 1/4 package 1118 added , rehydrated , to bottling bucket).

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Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I'm not sure I understand this. I understand using Nottingham to get a sweeter mead. It has a low alcohol tolerance and will finish sweeter. The Nottingham leaves you with more residual sugar than you'd get with a wine yeast. Why add 1118 in the bottling bucket? That stuff eats anything! Unless you pasteurize it, what keeps it from eating all that residual sugar and creating bottle bombs?

I rack mine about 5 times to get it crystal clear. That takes about 10 weeks minimum. By then, ain't much viable yeast left. Thats why I add just a little bit of rehydrated yeast ( generally about 1 cup of water w/ the yeast. Give it about 10-15 minutes to slurry up.)