newbie to mead
- Thread starter jkrug
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
If you look over at the Gotmead forums, their excellent "NewBee" guide is linked in the left hand side dialogue/links box (yellow background colour) is a very helpful read to the new mead maker.
Welcome to the forums......
Thanks for the quick response. Yes the site is great. I have one more question, the recipe calls for bread yeast. Do you think i could use one of the red star yeast instead?
1 gallon batch
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller, rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional - a pinch of nutmeg and allspice (very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon
1 gallon batch
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller, rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional - a pinch of nutmeg and allspice (very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
Plus one on that.
The dryness will indeed focus the flavour on the bitterness from the orange pith.....
The bread yeast will get to about 12% ABV as it is.
The recipe makes for a sweet, reasonably well balanced nice drinkable brew.
I know it says its drinkable once the fruit has dropped but I much prefer mine after its had about 6 months ageing....S' up to you....
Thanks for all the input. One more question. I was wanting to make 2 Batches but only have 6lbs of honey. Would cutting it down to 3lbs per batch have a big negative effect on alcohol content or anything else? Thanks again for all the input.
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
Probably not.
I routinely make it to the numbers......just the wrong numbers i.e. 1 gallon or should I say 1 imperial gallon a.k.a. 4.55 litres rather than 1 US gallon/3.78 litres but still with 3.5 lb of honey. So it wouldn't be so sweet, but sweet enough.
CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
I'm certainly not the pro that bloke is, but I will tell you that after 30+ gallons... its a good recipe the way it is, it is difficult to mess up too badly, and it is far too drinkable for your own good.
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
Wotcha Creamy, not seen you posting around the bazaars recently....
Anyway, I'm no Pro! Just a bloke who's fascinated by the making of mead (especially traditionals).
I make far too much and don't drink enough of it. I'm bone bleedin' idle when it comes to bottling, hence I get to bulk age quite successfully
But I made about 5 gallons of JAO before I realised my screw up, making it to imperial gallon quantities, rather than US gallon ones. Hence finding out that it still seemed to taste fine when a little less sweet.
Dry (yes I have made a couple with wine yeast, but they've always needed back sweetening to mask the bitterness) is .......... bleargh! It's not a good dry recipe, though if it was made with just the zest and segmented flesh it might be fine - I've been too damn lazy to find out !
So it's just easy to try and help others not to make the same mistakes that I have (a lemon based variant wasn't too bad either, but damn! a lime variant was disgusting).....
Whoops guess i filled the carboy to full. One of them the airlock & bung blew off. The other one is leaking all over. Boy i am anxious to find out what this is gonna taste like. I have to wait at least 2 mos before a Taste test. Then another few months after that before i can drink a bottle.
CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
Wotcha Creamy, not seen you posting around the bazaars recently....
Anyway, I'm no Pro! Just a bloke who's fascinated by the making of mead (especially traditionals).
I make far too much and don't drink enough of it. I'm bone bleedin' idle when it comes to bottling, hence I get to bulk age quite successfully
But I made about 5 gallons of JAO before I realised my screw up, making it to imperial gallon quantities, rather than US gallon ones. Hence finding out that it still seemed to taste fine when a little less sweet.
Dry (yes I have made a couple with wine yeast, but they've always needed back sweetening to mask the bitterness) is .......... bleargh! It's not a good dry recipe, though if it was made with just the zest and segmented flesh it might be fine - I've been too damn lazy to find out !
So it's just easy to try and help others not to make the same mistakes that I have (a lemon based variant wasn't too bad either, but damn! a lime variant was disgusting).....
I've been running my mouth too much in the general rooms and not enough in the actual brew rooms
. Happy New Year btw. The one thing I would say I have a somewhat different take on JAOM is I know you dislike the product when made with other non-citrus fruits. I have had what I call success with everything from mixed berries to pears and pineapple (I even did one with celery seed that I thought was really interesting and nice).
I honestly think you have a more refined pallet and have tasted better mead than I have... 90% of the mead I have consumed has been my own!
My okra experiment was a hilarious failure... however.
CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
For that very reason I usually either use a blow off tube or just a balloon for the first couple days.
Wotcha Creamy, not seen you posting around the bazaars recently....
Anyway, I'm no Pro! Just a bloke who's fascinated by the making of mead (especially traditionals).
I make far too much and don't drink enough of it. I'm bone bleedin' idle when it comes to bottling, hence I get to bulk age quite successfully
But I made about 5 gallons of JAO before I realised my screw up, making it to imperial gallon quantities, rather than US gallon ones. Hence finding out that it still seemed to taste fine when a little less sweet.
Dry (yes I have made a couple with wine yeast, but they've always needed back sweetening to mask the bitterness) is .......... bleargh! It's not a good dry recipe, though if it was made with just the zest and segmented flesh it might be fine - I've been too damn lazy to find out !
So it's just easy to try and help others not to make the same mistakes that I have (a lemon based variant wasn't too bad either, but damn! a lime variant was disgusting).....
Being in Canada the Imperial vs. US gallon thing always throws me for a curve. All my wine making additives are speced for Imp gallons, my buckets are imp gallons, but my carboys and paint cans are US...go figure.
Why can't we go metric?
CreamyGoodness
Well-Known Member
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