Poor man's table Mead

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Deadrasputin

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Here is a recipe I am going to try. A poor man's table Mead. Just like table wine, the point is to make a low cost Mead for daily consumption. I also want to make it with only ingredients found at grocery stores.

Poor man's table Mead (5 gallons)

10 to 12 pounds of honey, whatever flavor is available
4 Gallons Spring water or drinking water.
1 cup of Grape nuts wort. This serves as a yeast nutrient
2 packages of fleischmann's dry yeast.

My hope is that this will create a drinkable dry mead to compliment dinner. The cost is about $58 dollars a batch. That means this should cost about $2.42 a bottle, if I can get 25 (750ml) bottles out of a batch.
 
Your already at 58, why not go a couple more for decent yeast. If you were doing a $10 batch of something, sure give the bread yeast a try, but IMHO you are investing too much to not spend a few more bucks and give the rest of your grocery store ingredients a shot at making something decent
 
This sounds like an interesting idea. It would be nice to walk into the local market and grab everything I need to maze a mead in just one stop.
 
Grape nut Wort,

Take one cup of grape nuts to one cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and wait five minutes. Strain and add just the liquid to your Mead must.

Instead of Fleischmann’s dry yeast, you could also make your own yeast.

Homemade wine yeast,

Take 2 cups of grapes and crush them in a small bowl.
Cover with orange juice (about one cup).
Add one teaspoon of white sugar.
Stir.
Cover the small bowl with a kitchen towel and store in a warm place between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days.
When it reaches the bubbling stage and has about an inch of foam on top, strain the solids out and pitch the yeast into a 5 gallon batch of Mead.

You might try experimenting with this yeast by substituting the grapes for other fruits or berries. That may change the taste characteristics of the homemade yeast. I do not think there would be enough juice in this one cup of yeast to influence the overall taste of the Mead since we are talking about 1 cup to 5 gallons ration.

Alternative recipe.

Poor man's table Mead (5 gallons)


10 to 12 pounds of honey, whatever flavor is available
4 Gallons Spring water or drinking water.
1 cup of Grape nuts wort. This serves as a yeast nutrient
1 cup of homemade wine yeast.
 
Grape nut Wort,

Take one cup of grape nuts to one cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and wait five minutes. Strain and add just the liquid to your Mead must.

Instead of Fleischmann’s dry yeast, you could also make your own yeast.

Homemade wine yeast,

Take 2 cups of grapes and crush them in a small bowl.
Cover with orange juice (about one cup).
Add one teaspoon of white sugar.
Stir.
Cover the small bowl with a kitchen towel and store in a warm place between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days.
When it reaches the bubbling stage and has about an inch of foam on top, strain the solids out and pitch the yeast into a 5 gallon batch of Mead.

You might try experimenting with this yeast by substituting the grapes for other fruits or berries. That may change the taste characteristics of the homemade yeast. I do not think there would be enough juice in this one cup of yeast to influence the overall taste of the Mead since we are talking about 1 cup to 5 gallons ration.

Alternative recipe.

Poor man's table Mead (5 gallons)


10 to 12 pounds of honey, whatever flavor is available
4 Gallons Spring water or drinking water.
1 cup of Grape nuts wort. This serves as a yeast nutrient
1 cup of homemade wine yeast.

Hmmm, sounds like ur getting wild yeast off of the grapes. Interesting, I think i might have to try it
 
Deadrasputin said:
Grape nut Wort,

Take one cup of grape nuts to one cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and wait five minutes. Strain and add just the liquid to your Mead must.

Instead of Fleischmann’s dry yeast, you could also make your own yeast.

Homemade wine yeast,

Take 2 cups of grapes and crush them in a small bowl.
Cover with orange juice (about one cup).
Add one teaspoon of white sugar.
Stir.
Cover the small bowl with a kitchen towel and store in a warm place between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days.
When it reaches the bubbling stage and has about an inch of foam on top, strain the solids out and pitch the yeast into a 5 gallon batch of Mead.

You might try experimenting with this yeast by substituting the grapes for other fruits or berries. That may change the taste characteristics of the homemade yeast. I do not think there would be enough juice in this one cup of yeast to influence the overall taste of the Mead since we are talking about 1 cup to 5 gallons ration.

Alternative recipe.

Poor man's table Mead (5 gallons)

10 to 12 pounds of honey, whatever flavor is available
4 Gallons Spring water or drinking water.
1 cup of Grape nuts wort. This serves as a yeast nutrient
1 cup of homemade wine yeast.

I like the homemade yeast idea. Where'd you find it?
 
The home made yeast idea is a hard one to control. I did something similar a while back. The yeast itself fermented very well preserving a lot of fruity aroma from the wine must it fermented but I later found quickly after fermentation that there was other spoilage organisms that caught a ride with the yeast and the stuff went sour soon after fermentation died out. Hitting it with Camden and sorbate soon may have saved it but I am not sure. I would have done this differently so I am curious as to how this will turn out with the grape nut wort and all. Please keep us up to date with tasting notes as it goes along.
 
Really want to see how the mead turn out with the homemade yeast. Since getting wine yeast here is hard and little pricy.

Can I change the grape nut for a handful of raisins as nutrients for my yeast? (Or boil it like the grape nut )
 
I have read that the white powder that develops naturally on many fruits contains wild yeasts, and that's what was used in ancient times. The ones I've seen mentioned most were grapes and juniper berries, but I'm sure others like blueberries and blackberries might work too. That's the first I've actually seen a recipe on how to utilize it, though.
 
I am going to kick this brew off tomorrow. Instead of 5 gallons though, I am going to scale it down to 1 gallon as a test run.

Poor man’s Mead
3 pounds of clover honey
1 Gallons Spring water
½ cup of Grape nuts wort. This serves as a yeast nutrient
1 cup of homemade wine yeast.

For this test I will use the Grape wild yeast recipe.
Step one will be to capture the grape yeast on Friday and let this develop as mentioned before. As Arpolis posted, wild yeast can be hard to control. In order to give this project the best chance of success I will try to kill off most of the Hitchhiker bacteria in the following manner.

I am going to add half a cup of the homemade wine yeast to two cups of grape juice in a mason jar. Seal the lid and refrigerate for 48 hours. This will kill the hitchhikers

I will then remove the Mason jar and let the solution ferment once again. I hope this will make the wild yeast dominant in the second fermentation. Hopefully this will allow our captured wild yeast to kill off any secondary bacteria or yeast that may try to take hold during the second fermentation.

Next I plan on pitching this yeast into the Poor man’s Mead. If all goes to plan I will post the starting gravity reading to this post on 5/24/2013.

What could go wrong?

The wild yeast strain can turn out to be very weak and not tolerable of higher alcohol levels. This may result in very sweet mead with an alcohol by volume of about 4%. If this happens the project is bust. Either I will have to pitch new wild yeast or switch back to a professionally cultured yeast strain.

The wild yeast strain may add undesirable flavors or odors. If that is the case then I plan on adding a few whole cloves to the Must in the secondary to mask this issue.

Maybe, just maybe all will go well.

Anybody see any flaws with this plan before I kick the experiment off?
 
First part of this project is done. I was able to capture some yeast frome the grape smash on Friday. By Sunday the grape and sugar mixture was fermenting nicely. A one inch white foam developed on top of it all.

I poured 2 cups of grape juice into a old drinking plastic bottle with a half cup of my fermenting grape/sugar yeast mixture. Put it in the refrigerator and will take it out Wednesday for the second fermentation.
 
Sounds good. Lactobacillus will live in the fridge so as long as you did not pick that up you should be fine. You know you have lactobacillus bacteria if your starter must developed a thin clearish/whiteish film on the top that breaks apart when you shake the must gently. To get rid of that you hit it with sulfites like Camden tablets. But some wild yeasts can't survive that. Just keep an eye out and hope you don't get it.
 
sounds really interesting. i would say that the first recipe with the grapes and the orange juice, that the orange juice is too prone to catch some unpleasant organisem. once i read that orange juice is hard to ferement, because of that. guess in the future i will also try to utilize some wild yeast.
but actually i have a question. i guess if i use grapes from the store anf i would wash then, i would wash of the yeast. so i do need grapes from vines dont i ? or any other fuit
 
Deadrasputin said:
I am going to add half a cup of the homemade wine yeast to two cups of grape juice in a mason jar. Seal the lid and refrigerate for 48 hours. This will kill the hitchhikers
....

What could go wrong?.

Anybody see any flaws with this plan before I kick the experiment off?

Yes! Refrigeration DOES NOT kill bacteria. You will still have your hitchhikers.
 
Fermentation has started.

I pitched the wild yeast into the must on Saturday the 25th. Fermentation started Sunday afternoon. So far it is too early to tell how it is going.

I read someplace that Hydrogen Peroxide can kill bacteria but not Yeast. Since that is something that can be purchased at most grocery and produce stores, I wonder if mixing a small amount in the wild yeast starter might be a better alternative to refrigeration. There is Hydrogen Peroxide already present in Honey so consumption of it in small quantities should not be a problem. Say 1 tablespoon to 2 cups wild yeast starter 20 minutes or so before pitching into the must. Perhaps something to try in the future.
 
I have not heard of hydrogen peroxide used to sterilize musts/starters before but have heard if using it to remove H2S which causes rotten egg smell. That waste 1 tsp per gallon if I remember right. If you are really wanting to sterilize a yeast starter then I suggest sticking to potassium metabisulfate (Camden tablet) possibly an 1/8 tsp per two cups. If wild yeast dies then you probably wanted a stronger strain anyways.
 
If you are really wanting to sterilize a yeast starter then I suggest sticking to potassium metabisulfate (Camden tablet) possibly an 1/8 tsp per two cups. If wild yeast dies then you probably wanted a stronger strain anyways.[/QUOTE said:
No Camben tablet's at Safeway.........:(
 
Oh that's right we were talking all grocery store stuff for this. Hmmmmmmm. There are ways to get your hands on potassium metabisulfate from Safeway but I am starting to over complicate this. Others have done the wild yeast thing successfully so I am sure your process here is going great. Keep us informed.
 
Deadrasputin said:
What could go wrong?

The wild yeast strain can turn out to be very weak and not tolerable of higher alcohol levels. This may result in very sweet mead with an alcohol by volume of about 4%. If this happens the project is bust. Either I will have to pitch new wild yeast or switch back to a professionally cultured yeast strain.

Why is a sweet mead with a low abv considered a bust? Is that just your preference, or is there something intrinsically wrong with a low abv, like you won't be able to bottle it or it will spoil?
 
Deadrasputin said:
Grape nut Wort,

Take one cup of grape nuts to one cup of water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and wait five minutes. Strain and add just the liquid to your Mead must.

Instead of Fleischmann’s dry yeast, you could also make your own yeast.

Homemade wine yeast,

Take 2 cups of grapes and crush them in a small bowl.
Cover with orange juice (about one cup).
Add one teaspoon of white sugar.
Stir.
Cover the small bowl with a kitchen towel and store in a warm place between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit for a few days.
When it reaches the bubbling stage and has about an inch of foam on top, strain the solids out and pitch the yeast into a 5 gallon batch of Mead.

You might try experimenting with this yeast by substituting the grapes for other fruits or berries. That may change the taste characteristics of the homemade yeast. I do not think there would be enough juice in this one cup of yeast to influence the overall taste of the Mead since we are talking about 1 cup to 5 gallons ration.

I'd love to try this out since I've got an apiary and grapevines growing in the backyard, but do you know if this can be done with lemon juice instead of orange? I'd think it would be more flavor neutral, which matters to me because I make small batches (currently making a half gallon batch of my own poor mans mead)
 
do you know if this can be done with lemon juice instead of orange?

Substitution of orange juice with lemon juice would work. What we are after here is an acidity level that is unfriendly to some weaker strands of bacteria and wild yeast

Why is a sweet mead with a low abv considered a bust?

Becuase it will be a VERY sweet mead. This is a result of incomplete fermentation where large quanitites of sugar remain in the must. You will either have to re-pitch yeast or dilute the must with water. The better option of course would be to save the must by re-pitching with bread yeast.
 
Deadrasputin said:
Why is a sweet mead with a low abv considered a bust?

Becuase it will be a VERY sweet mead. This is a result of incomplete fermentation where large quanitites of sugar remain in the must. You will either have to re-pitch yeast or dilute the must with water. The better option of course would be to save the must by re-pitching with bread yeast.

Yes, I understand that an incomplete fermentation will result in a sweeter mead, that goes without saying.

I still don't get why that's a bad thing. If you want a very sweet mead, and you're not in the mood to get tipsy, then I think a sweet, low abv mead is just the right thing.

Unless there's something else to it that I'm missing I don't see the problem, so is it just a matter of preference then?
 
Have you gotten to make a mead yet, Valerian? 3lbs of honey into one gallon of water is syrupy thick. If it has only gotten to ferment to 4%, it'd be like tomato soup. Yuck! That's not a preference thing, that's just drinking honey.
 
Have you gotten to make a mead yet, Valerian? 3lbs of honey into one gallon of water is syrupy thick. If it has only gotten to ferment to 4%, it'd be like tomato soup. Yuck! That's not a preference thing, that's just drinking honey.

In the original recipe it states 10 to 12 pounds of honey plus 4 gallons of water. that would equal out to approximately 5 gallons of must. which is going to be in the neighborhood of 2 to 2.5 pounds per gallon. if fermented to 4 percent it will probably be a sweet , maybe desert style mead
 
Bottling Day!

Finally moved the Poor Man's Table Mead from the secondary to the bottle today.

Smells like Mead.......

Looks like Mead.......

Tastes............Well.......Almost like Mead. Or perhaps it tastes exactly like Mead and we have been brewing Wine like Meads for years.

I say that since our understanding of Yeast is only a modern idea. Ancient man had no idea why the Mead fermented. Wild yeast was probably how they always brewed. That is one reason why brewing in certian areas was better then others, due in part to what type of wild yeast was airborne in that region.

Alcohol content is at 8%. Taste is acceptable, only has a hint of metalic at the end.

I put some in bottles exactly as is to see about aging.

Some I back flavored with some strawberries from my garden to mask the metalic aftertaste.

All in all I would clasify this a success.
 
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