Mead newbie questions

newbee17 said:

This could be a stupid question bt what is 5 quarts??

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For real?? I suppose you could use a conversion program to see that 1 quart = .946L... Or just go with ~4.75L total volume..

Yeh ill talk to him during the week and ask him what the best price he can give me as his prices are already fairly good 1kg 4.50euro or 1.5kg 6.00euro for wildflower honey.

Either way I tink ill have to get sum and start a few batches like you said to learn as much as I can as quick as possible without rushing it 2 much so that the quality doesn't suffer as that's the main thing.

Thanks for your help

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Making more batches with the different yeasts, as well as getting the honey to water ratio figured out to hit your desired OG helps. It can get a bit tricky to get the mix right, unless you use one of the calculators to get you close... I would target an OG that would allow the yeast to ferment to dry, then add more honey as you want. You could also go the stabilization route, if you wanted to. Just means more work to do with more processes to get to [basically] the same end result. Letting a higher ABV mead age will typically get rid of the 'hot' characteristics/flavors if present... It only took about a month (maybe 1-1/2 months) for my blackberry melomel to go from HOT to nice... I'm still bulk aging it though... I'm planning on checking on it again to see how the flavors are... IF it's about ready for bottles, then I'll bottle it up. Then it's just a matter of deciding when it's ready for drinking... I'm more inclined, though, to let it go in bulk until it's damned close to ready for bottles/drinking before putting it into bottles...

newbee17 said:

Just made my first mead today

6# honey
2gal water(9ltrs)
Lalvin k1-v1116
SG-1.080

I was hoping for a sg of 1.115 but i tink i added to much water
as its my first time ill take note of it and learn for next time

Would i be right in assuming this is gonna be really dry??
Will some sweetness come back with age or will it go to dry for that??
As mead isnt availible here in shops dnt really no what to expect just like the sound of it

Critasism welcome

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I didn't add any extra honey to this mead as I prob should have I decided to leave it go dry then leave it to age for as long as I can resist maybe 9months to a year hopfully.
Racked into secondary 2day
Gravity reading was 1000
I tink I could run my car off this stuff but hopfully it will improve with time