Started a basic mead

I'm not having much luck with cheap beer kits at my local superstore. I plan to buy a few real kits from my local homebrew store.

In the meantime a friend recommended mead. I looked up a few recipes on the internet and gave it a shot today.

2.4 Pounds of #1 Canadian honey(2x500g unpasturized jars)
1/4 Orange sliced twice
Wine Yeast

I'm making a single gallon batch in a small glass container that actually fit a glass carboy fermentation lock. Hopefully this test batch turns out pretty good. I bought a yeast nutrient but noticed that it was an acid. I figured the orange would provide enough acid. It smelled really good while it was cooking and the orange slices tasted really good. Hopefully it turns out just as good.

The wine yeast I used can actually survive up to 18% alcohol. If this recipe works out I could make some pretty potent mead down the road. I plan on pulling this mead out of fermentation a little early and cold crashing it to keep it sweet. My main goal is to figure out what mead tastes like.

If it does end out working good I will be making a few kegs and taking them to Craven this summer(big outdoor country music festival type thing).

Mead generally takes a minimum of 3 months, and a preferred 9-12 months to make. What you made sounds like you found a recipe for JAOM. However, using a champagne or strong wine yeast, you will have a dry mead unless you do cold crash as you plan.

Best of luck with the brew, hope it gets you hooked. Do you have a hydrometer or how do you plan on deciding when to start cold crashing it?

I hope you like honey... If you're planning on forcing the fermentation to stop at a certain time, you may end up with a SUPER sweet drink. It's awesome doing it in a 1 gallon container though. You can take hydro readings and sample the mead to see when it fits your liking.

You may also want to consider backsweetening like wines after the mead has fully fermented out.

I'm not too sure what I'm doing yet with this one. I do have several wine thiefs and a hydrometer.

Trenchant said:

I'm not too sure what I'm doing yet with this one...

Click to expand...

A few thoughts for you to consider:

• 2.4Lbs of honey & water to make a 1 gallon batch only creates a must OG near 1.089, fermented to dryness yeilds ~11.8% ABV
• It is not helpful to the fermentation process to add acid
• The Mead FAQs may provide some insight regarding the process

hightest said:

A few thoughts for you to consider:

• 2.4Lbs of honey & water to make a 1 gallon batch only creates a must OG near 1.089, fermented to dryness yeilds ~11.8% ABV
• It is not helpful to the fermentation process to add acid
• The Mead FAQs may provide some insight regarding the process

Click to expand...

Thats good to know! I'm going to go read those FAQ's right now as well. They might even answer my next question.

What temperature should I be fermenting at? My mom used to make wine and said that she always kept her wine warmer then I have been. It's in the basement during a canadian winter so about 18 degress C. I moved it upstairs into a bedroom @ 21. Fermentation was PAINFULLY slow.

hightest said:

A few thoughts for you to consider:

• 2.4Lbs of honey & water to make a 1 gallon batch only creates a must OG near 1.089, fermented to dryness yeilds ~11.8% ABV
• It is not helpful to the fermentation process to add acid
• The Mead FAQs may provide some insight regarding the process

Click to expand...

11.8% sounds good to me. is that not the average for mead?