Mead n00b
- Thread starter JustKay
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Mead is honey wine, so basically honey is the main fermentable. www.gotmead.com is a good spot to look at for reciepes.
A basic one is about 2.5 lb of honey mixed with enough water to make 1 gallon of liquid, a few raisons and some yeast. Give it several month to ferment and age
A basic one is about 2.5 lb of honey mixed with enough water to make 1 gallon of liquid, a few raisons and some yeast. Give it several month to ferment and age
TheBrewingMedic
Well-Known Member
The most simplistic answer is it's a wine using honey as the fermentable sugars instead of grapes or other fruit.
You can make a gallon of show type mead by putting 3 pounds of honey in a gallon jug, fill with water, shake the crap out of it to mix and aerate then add a pack of dry wine yeast, shake to mix, attach some sort of air lock and wait...it could be good, it will take a long time and could stress the yeast but you'll end up with mead.
Check out the stickys here, look at other first time threads or go to gotmead.com and look for the newb guide to see how some real simple things like hydrating the yeast and adding some nutrients changes it from just making mead to making decent, even good mead, also search JAOM, the grocery store ingredient mead, damn near fool proof
You can make a gallon of show type mead by putting 3 pounds of honey in a gallon jug, fill with water, shake the crap out of it to mix and aerate then add a pack of dry wine yeast, shake to mix, attach some sort of air lock and wait...it could be good, it will take a long time and could stress the yeast but you'll end up with mead.
Check out the stickys here, look at other first time threads or go to gotmead.com and look for the newb guide to see how some real simple things like hydrating the yeast and adding some nutrients changes it from just making mead to making decent, even good mead, also search JAOM, the grocery store ingredient mead, damn near fool proof
regulatedhobbyist
Well-Known Member
+1
Ounce you get into doing it, You'll be so excited to sample what all your imagination can create. I have thought of so many different types of mead in the last six months that I don't even know where to begin. While I have had some difficulties, these guys and gals on here are really awesome.
ExoticMeadMaker
Well-Known Member
yes and no..... is it possible yes, is it recommended no...as a general rule, your primary fermentor should be 2x the batch size to prevent must from bubbling up into your airlock/blow off tube. growler as a secondary and for bulk aging would be ok though
ExoticMeadMaker said:
Gotcha, thanks. I've been pondering trying the mead and wine making too. However this is all new to me, I've only done one batch of beer. I may have to try a batch of mead sometime though.
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
That's right and wrong at the same time......
The justification for using a larger container i.e. 1 gallon batch in a 2 gallon bucket, is to do with having a greater surface area, so if you do use ingredients where it's possible that you'll get either a lot of foaming, or a possible eruption when stirring/aerating, then you are entirely correct.
But, at the same time, a lot of us will still use a 1 gallon glass jug with no problems/ill effects etc. You just have to be more conscientious with your method, and of course, if you make exactly a gallon at start, after racking for best result, you have to work out how you're gonna top up to remove any airspace caused by racking losses.
Lots of people will make a batch of JAO in a glass jug, but only filling it about 3/4's of the way up once the fruit, honey and spices etc are in it, then after maybe a week, once the ferment has settled down, fill it up to just below the bung (inch or so) and let it finish.
It's much more aesthetically pleasing to see a nice glass jug bubbling away in the kitchen, than the more practical bucket........
And here's a link to the gotmead JAO thread. Oskaar posted the recipe on the second post, first page - and while it's a mammoth thread to read, it does answer most of the questions that a new mead maker might have about it......
TheBrewingMedic
Well-Known Member
Interesting, I hadn't heard this one before. for traditionals I've never left a ton of headspace and never had a plugged airlock. Rumbling, bubbling, almost looked like water boiling ones but never gunked up ones.
For melomels I leave a few extra inches as we know that as soon as fruit is added to a primary it becomes a rolling gurgling monster during initial phases of fermentation, good time to use a blow off tube over an airlock.
stormthecastle.com has a good section on making mead and some decent tutorial video's
