made my first gal of mead

not sure how it will taste and how much alcohol it will be in it. i was in a hurry and didn't take a reading, my bad. but i put in 1.375kg of honey, two apples slice and cleaned and enough water to fill the bottle to the gal line. gave that mother a good old shake, like it was a baby. then pitched in a pack of champagne yeast. it has been bubbling away for the last 3 to 4 days. i think i'll leave it in the gal bottle for about a month then rack it over to another bottle leave it in that one for about 6 months or so then to the bottle and leave it in them for about 9 months. then tasting it is....along time to get a drink, how did those monks do it.

Plumeja said:

not sure how it will taste and how much alcohol it will be in it. i was in a hurry and didn't take a reading, my bad. but i put in 1.375kg of honey, two apples slice and cleaned and enough water to fill the bottle to the gal line. gave that mother a good old shake, like it was a baby. then pitched in a pack of champagne yeast. it has been bubbling away for the last 3 to 4 days. i think i'll leave it in the gal bottle for about a month then rack it over to another bottle leave it in that one for about 6 months or so then to the bottle and leave it in them for about 9 months. then tasting it is....along time to get a drink, how did those monks do it.

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Did you use any nutrients ? Because apart from a little from the apple, there's no mention.

The champagne yeast, if managed correctly will take it dry - not necessarily a bad thing, though you may want to read up about back sweetening.

The most recent monk of note, was mainly into bee breeding, though up to the time of his death in the mid-90's, brother Adam (of Buckfast Abbey fame) used to use comb and capping washings, then apparently he made his mead in oak barrels, originally using "Maury" yeast (closest modern equivalent is Lalvin D21), and when he found he couldn't get his original chosen yeast, he changed to using the Montpellier strain, which is packed as Gervin Varietal "E" here, but also by Lalvin as K1V-1116 (which is a very good yeast for meads). There's not a great deal of info around about his actual technique, whether he used something for nutrient etc, but apparently he just used to age it for 7 or 8 years, so he may have actually been making like a "show" mead, rather than a "traditional" type.

For further reading/guidance, here's a good place too start.

i did put some nutrients and energizer into the mix as well. trying know how figure out how to get around a k-solfite in the cider i bought today. didn't know anything about it when i bought the cider. i was thinking about just throwing Nottingham ale into the cider with the nutrients and energizer to kick it up a touch.

Sulphite shouldnt cause you too much of a problem, sorbate would make it... difficult, but not impossible. Best bet is too get a starter going to get the yeast count up and to give the yeasties a running start, and see how it goes.