another My First Mead...very basic recipe.

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MrJames

MrJames

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So I figured I would dive right in and try it. I have had commercial Mead (yuck) and home brewed (way delicious)!!

My recipe:
7.5 lbs clover honey
3g reverse osmosis water
Champagne Yeast

Fermenting in a 3g carboy for the last 3 months. Still percolating.

What next? Wait until my FG is .990?? My goal is that I want sweet versus dry mead.

The pics below were taken over a month ago. I was monitoring the honey level. When I look now, there isn't any honey at the bottom.



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Time is the most important ingredient.

All the honey was just sitting on the bottom? Did you mix the honey in at all? But it is all gone now? Interesting.

FWIW, I usually pour in some water, then my honey, shake like hell, and if it all won't dissolve I run warm water over the carboy to heat it up gently, just enough to get the honey mixed in.

Did you take an OG, by the way?
 
StoneArcher said:
All the honey was just sitting on the bottom? Did you mix the honey in at all? But it is all gone now? Interesting.

FWIW, I usually pour in some water, then my honey, shake like hell, and if it all won't dissolve I run warm water over the carboy to heat it up gently, just enough to get the honey mixed in.
Click to expand...

It really isn't important for ALL of the honey to be mixed with the water - the yeast will still get it, even if a lot of it sinks straight to the bottom.
 
But, if its not mixed in you cant measure it with a hydrometer and why make the yeast work harder at the honey water interface? WVMJ
 
Well, I racked it over today, about 4 months after I added the yeast. I tasted it and I love it!! Gonna let is run in the secondary for another couple months.

I have another bigger batch running right now. It's a 7g batch with roughly 24lbs of Sourwood Honey. This time I mixed it!!

Gonna have to get another batch going in another couple months.
 
hunter_la5 said:
It really isn't important for ALL of the honey to be mixed with the water - the yeast will still get it, even if a lot of it sinks straight to the bottom.
Click to expand...
If you want any kind of accuracy in what you're doing then yes its very important that its correctly mixed in.

If you're happy that you haven't overdone it with the fermentable sugars then fine, a layer at the bottom will eventually get munched by the yeast.

Mixing the honey in correctly helps reduce the need for early stage aeration some. Having air/O2 present helps with yeast colony development in the early stages......

So while you're not wrong, you're not right either, it just depends on how the maker wants to proceed.

Just my tuppence worth.......
 
MrJames said:
Well, I racked it over today, about 4 months after I added the yeast. I tasted it and I love it!! Gonna let is run in the secondary for another couple months.

I have another bigger batch running right now. It's a 7g batch with roughly 24lbs of Sourwood Honey. This time I mixed it!!

Gonna have to get another batch going in another couple months.
Click to expand...
Well done. Don't forget, costs aside, its easy to get carried away. There is a point where batch size becomes an issue, not with quantity per se, but with batch temperatures during the ferment. Especially if a yeast is used that needs to be kept cooler, like D47 (below 70F/21C).

After all, fermentation is an exothermic reaction. Just because we don't notice it when making in relatively small quantities, doesn't mean its not a problem. It is, or more correctly, it can be if we don't keep an eye on temperature once we start to scale up.

Its the same as the "where" thing. Properly set up, commercial places have to think of ventilation. Because low lying or sheltered places, can make enough CO2, to become an issue once there's more than a certain amount being fermented. Sure its generally less of an issue for home brewers but not if you've got a couple of 5 gallon meads and maybe a beer or two going in a cellar........
 
fatbloke said:
Well done. Don't forget, costs aside, its easy to get carried away. There is a point where batch size becomes an issue, not with quantity per se, but with batch temperatures during the ferment. Especially if a yeast is used that needs to be kept cooler, like D47 (below 70F/21C).

After all, fermentation is an exothermic reaction. Just because we don't notice it when making in relatively small quantities, doesn't mean its not a problem. It is, or more correctly, it can be if we don't keep an eye on temperature once we start to scale up.

Its the same as the "where" thing. Properly set up, commercial places have to think of ventilation. Because low lying or sheltered places, can make enough CO2, to become an issue once there's more than a certain amount being fermented. Sure its generally less of an issue for home brewers but not if you've got a couple of 5 gallon meads and maybe a beer or two going in a cellar........
Click to expand...

I have my fermenter running at 67 F right now, should I set my Mead in there?
 
I think I am going to bottle it very soon. I'm not too sure if I'm going to carbonate it or not. Any suggestions? Do you guys put them in wine bottles in Cork it or put it in beer bottles and put caps on?
 
Was going to bottle it today, but I measured the FG and it was 1.010. at least I got to try a delicious sample of it. I'm going to let it sit for another month and measure again.

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