First Batch of Mead

I made first batch of mead last night after reading all I can about different types of Mead and watching a whole bunch of you tube videos. while stumbling through videos I found one on burnt mead. After watching his video twice and wondering why he hasn't up dated his comment about how it tastes i was still intrigued with the process and made my mine up that i wanted to try it. I bought 15lbs. of honey from the grocery store. So last night i broke out the propane tank and burner. I posted up on the front porch while the snow was falling and started my new adventure in MEAD.

I started cooking in a large copper pot which i thought it would hold the boiling honey. I was wrong I didn't take into consideration how much the honey would expand. So after scrambling to turn off the heat to stop the honey from going all over the front porch I went and grabbed my large stock pot and transferred the hot honey to the pot and started boiling again. the honey grew about 3 times it original height. The smells were awesome. they ranged from a super sweet honey to a strong nutty roasted smell.

I boiled the honey for about 2 hours. burnt myself 5 times from the bubbling goo. then proceeded to add water very very slowly it the tar that was once honey.
A few key point. all ways use a bigger pot than you think. make sure you have a real long handle spoon. and when adding water it would be better if the water was close to boiling and not out side air temp which was around 36 Fahrenheit last night.
I added 1 gallon to water to the pot and slowly warmed it back to almost boil to get the honey that was now the consistency of hard candy if let cool. (still have some on my shoes) then added another gallon to get all the sugar dissolved.
After bringing the honey water inside and cleaning up a bit while it cooled. I poured it into a plastic bucket and added roughly 3 gallons of cold water to bring the level to 5 gallons. and a temp of 80 F and a gravity of 1.097.

I used a packet of rehydeated Cote des Blancs and mixed the Mead for 5 minutes before adding the yeast.

this morning I started to get some activity in the airlock. I am hoping it will start to pick more activity this afternoon.

I took pictures of the boil and will be adding them this afternoon.

Here are some pictures:

Love the pics and congrats. One thing though, you should read the sticky about stepped nutrient additions, they can be very critical and I have found that without them a stuck fermentation can be hard to avoid.

Here is a direct link- http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/FAQ/SNAddition.pdf

From what I've read, you shouldn't boil the honey for 2 hours. That is super overkill and destroys the flavor and aromas from the honey.

He is making "Burnt Mead" though ... that sort of requires a long cook.
From what I understand .. changing the flavor of the honey is what this recipe is all about.

thanks for that thought bubbachuck i will be reading you link. I did add yeast nutrient and energizer to it when i pitched the yeast.

here are a few more pics. These are from the end of the boil and what it look liked in the fermenter.

This is after i added 2 gallons for water and is being warmed back up to dissolve the sugar.

this is what it looked like just before being topped off in the fermenter. it is jet black. and tastes great.

The first thing I thought of when I saw that honey cooking was "peanut brittle! Yum!"

I think I might have to give this a try next.

Dave

It is more like honey brittle. which i got to try when i was removing it from my hand as it was burning me.
Has any one added oak chips to their mead or put it in a oak keg?

johnnyo1977 said:

It is more like honey brittle. which i got to try when i was removing it from my hand as it was burning me.
Has any one added oak chips to their mead or put it in a oak keg?

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Yes, I've done/do both with about half my meads. I have two Hungarian oak barrels - a five gallon and a seven gallon.

Hi summersolstice that is a nice oak barrel you got there. What do you prefer mead with or with out oak? do you have to age the mead longer once it comes out of the oak barrel?

I checked my mead this evening and I am a little concerned about the yeast that i used. The airlock is showing about 8 bubbles a minute. Is this something to be concerned about? I have moved the bucket to the basement by the heater where it is a little warmer.
I pitched a round of nutrients tonight. when should i see more activity in the airlock?

Airlocks are never good indicators of the health of fermentation. Small leaks around the seal can make them appear to be totally stationary, yet the must may still be releasing tons of CO2. Instead of relying on bubble count, check the SG of your must periodically.

The style of mead determines whether there's oak or not. I like my cysers oaked, as well as certain other meads. There's no hard and fast rule though. And no, you don't need to treat oaked mead any differently unless you over-oak and then you'll just have to age it out.

I checked the gravity last night. it was at 1.100 which means i did not read the hydrometer corectly the night i made it. must have been half asleep. or some one added more honey when i was not looking.
So if you were doing a burnt mead would you consider using oak to add a different flavor and a little more Character, or would you think that it might be too much .
I think I will have to make a two gallon size and try half with oak chips and the other with out.

I know it's been only a weekish, but I am curious how this is coming along and if you decided to use oak or not.

I have made many meads and I have always read to never boil your honey but this case, I think, is the exception to the rule.

checked my burnt mead today. bubbling strong and smells great. took a gravity reading it is at 1.086. It has been in the primary for 9 days now. I am going to let it go until Friday and will then rack to a glass carboy. I will take pictures when i transfer so i can post the color for you guys.

Racked my Burnt Mead last night. Here are some pictures to look at.

Pretty!

That is some dark beverage. I'll bet it will taste MARVELOUS.

johnnyo1977 said:

I think I will have to make a two gallon size and try half with oak chips and the other with out.

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Sounds like a great idea to me. Regards, GF.

ok I took a hydrometer reading today 12/31/09 it was 1.060