Looking into brewing mead

Hey All,

I have been educating my brewing palate for a while now and have been looking into brewing for some time. I have been browsing the forum and I am very excited with the possibilities of mead.

I tend to drink fine beer and do appreciate it in and of itself but it is lacking something. I have an appreciation of wine as well, though I tend to find it to dry for my taste. I do absolutely love, however, a low alcohol sweet as candy Auslese.

I have an idealic notion of what I want to brew: a low alchohol (between 6-9%), sparkling mead, crisp, with a hint of vanilla, almost like candy that you can drink all day. Or a Braggot encorporating what I have described above with a pale ale base.

Is what I have described possible, assuming I have enough time, enough patience, and dedication to technical excellence?

I have never tasted a mead, local liquor stores don't carry it and what I have seen online is nothing like what I want to make.

My nearest brewery supplier is over an hour and a half away. With gas prices what they are and shipping so high for carboys I plan on committing to brewing as a hobby and shelling out $300 to get a setup that will adapt as my interest grows.

Any tips for what equipment to get? right now I plan on getting what most online suppliers consider an advanced setup for bottling plus a few one gallon carboys for experimenting.

Any recipes I should look at?

Sorry for the long post.

HalonChilled said:

Hey All,

My nearest brewery supplier is over an hour and a half away. With gas prices what they are and shipping so high for carboys I plan on committing to brewing as a hobby and shelling out $300 to get a setup that will adapt as my interest grows.

Click to expand...

I started out with a Brewing kit from LHBS...also about 1 1/2 hours away. It came with 2 "Ale Pails" with spigots, a bottle clapper, a bottling want and some other stuff..it was just under $100 9 years ago. First Brews were Kits, definitely a good idea for the first one. Make sure and get the joy of home brewing...maybe online, then read at it for a week or so before going to the brew store.
I went 4 batches of beer before I got a glass carboy. Go ahead and get one or 2. They are affordable at the store...if you don't have to pay shipping.
I have a lot of mean in 1 gallon glass wine jugs. I don't have any that are aged out and drinkable, but I love the idea so much! I hope I love the mead too.
I also like the 3 gallon glass for mead, it keeps the cost a little more under control.
My last advice: PLEASE don't think you are going to clone Bud Light or Coors Light on your first batch. I made that mistake and was really unhappy...fortunately, I had already started on batch #2 before I knew #1 wasn't what I had thought. Welcome.

If you get there on time...you could come on board with the "Leap Year Mead"
No instant gratification here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54281&page=5