First timer

Excuse me kind sirs,

Where can i get a mead brewing kit of worthy repute?

goodoldnord said:

Excuse me kind sirs,

Where can i get a mead brewing kit of worthy repute?

Click to expand...

You can't !

There are some kits out there, but you can probably get all the necessary stuff separately and cheaper.

Do a search for Joes Ancient Orange Mead/JAOM/JAO, as its pretty much the easiest recipe, most/all ingredients can be got from a local grocery store, you just need to locate an appropriately sized fermenter. The method/technique is usually with the recipe and you just follow it. The only thing I can think of, is that I don't believe its ready to drink when cleared, it needs at least 6 months ageing. Then its brilliant IMO.......

Don't waste your time with a "mead kit." Armed with a bucket fermenter (7 or 8 gal. with lid & airlock), a 5 or 6 gallon carbouy/better bottle (with bung & airlock) a hydrometer, thermometer, some yeast nutrient, honey, water, an appropriate strain of yeast & HBT, you'll be set to make some great mead.
If you can't find the above supplies locally, check out the vendor section here. Austin Homebrew & Midwest are reputable, I've purchased from both & never had any problems.
Regards, GF.

Here is a nice one. If you have no equipment at all you can get everything you need here:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_454_456_461&products_id=11361

If you just needed a "kit" with the ingredients only Austin Homebrew also has that kind of kits.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_454_456_143
The ingredient kits are really expensive so you might be better off just buying all the ingredients yourself.

goodoldnord said:

Excuse me kind sirs,

Where can i get a mead brewing kit of worthy repute?

Click to expand...

A few online places have kits but most of them have odd propietary ingredients in them that they don't really tell you what it is or why youre using them, and cheap bland honey.

as stated above, really to get yourself started all you need is Honey, Water, Yeast, Nutrient, Carboy, Hydrometer, Thermometer, Airlock, Sanitizer, and HBT to answer questions.

#1 How much do you want to make? that will determine how much of the ingredients and the size fermenter you need (nothing wrong with starting off witha 1 gallon wine bottle if that's what you have available)

For honey, 3-3.5 pounds per gallon is kind of the rule of thumb find something that tastes really good, be cautious of many supermarket brand ones, some are good, some are bland and boring (which means the mead likely will be too)

For yeast, I like lalvin strains personally, they are consistant and reliable and cheap at most homebrew stores or online at about $1 a pack.

Water, if your tap water tastes good and isn't chlorinated, you're good to go if it's crappy, cheap bottle spring water is a good bet.

Nutrients, you have the option of picking up a nutrient blend at the Homebrew store (ask for one with nitrogen components) or can get nutrient and energizer. or you can go the natural route and add the ever popular handful of chopped raisins.

Sanitizer, you can use a very diluted bleach solution or pick up some starsan (my favorite) online or at a homebrew store.

Sanitize everything youre using and even some extra stuff is always a good practice. And keeping detailed notes is invaluable.

Thermometer for making sure youre rehydration and pitching temps are in range.

Hydrometer, really the only way to tell what your potential alcohol will be and if your fermentation is going and when it is done.

Airlock, lets the CO2 out, keeps bad crap from floating in.

simple recipes, simple techniques (can discuss those further later) a straghtforward "traditional" mead is a great place to start to learn how to make mead.

All that being said there is the other route.....

You're going to have many people suggest the JAOM recipe. Which is fine, but it should be in a category of it's own, I suppose if youre looking for the simplest, closest thing to a set it and forget it kit, that would be JAOM. You can go to any grocery store, get the cheapest honey, bread yeast, oranges, raisins, some cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves, dump it in a bucket, shake it up, dump the yeast on top, and put it some where for a couple months and forget it. You will have a very sweet offset by bitter orange pith mead that has a very pretty color. It's a good way to make a mead if you are not interested in the art of mead making, just want something tasty to drink with minimal work.

You may also be able to find the equipment on craig's list cheaper.

For some reason those that start with beer give up on brewing. It uses most of the same equipment.

Ferment bucket or carboy
Autosiphon and tubing
Airlock and stopper
Big (like over 3 gal capacity, I'd go with 5) Stock pot
Some mesh bags for oaking and fruit
A teaspoon to tablespoon measuring
Some disposable plastic cups
Sanitizing pils from resturant supply or other sanitizing equipment.
A bit stir spoon
Hydrometer and sample jar
A wine thief or turkey baster

That's all the equpiment you need.

For the batch:
Honey, Water, Dry yeast packets from the brew store, Yeast energizer and nutrient. Any fruit or spices you want in the batch. Also, I would get some potasium Sorbate and/or metasuflate for stabilzation, Sparkloid for clearing, Pectic Enzyme if you plan on doing fruit. And oak chips/cubes. Lightly toasted is best for a first batch.

That's all that is truely needed.

Matrix

Thank you everyone for their input. I need a good starting equipment kit. You guys have given me everything i could possibly need except for the equipment itself lol! I do want to make fantasitc mead as I want to open up a tavern one day and serve mead and ale. Again thank you all so much.

goodoldnord said:

I want to open up a tavern one day and serve mead and ale. Again thank you all so much.

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Well then when you open the tavern let us know and we'll stop by for a drink on the house in payment!