Had to sneak a sample...

And boy am I looking forward to this one. I made the Joe's Grape Mead Pyment from here http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=120&Itemid=6 on a 7/26 and had to sneak a sample, I could help myself. Even this early on I'm excited. The nose seemed pleasant but man could I taste some alcohol! At only 11 days old I was pleasantly surprised and cant wait for this recipe to finish. Just thought I'd share my giddiness with everyone and check to see if anyone else on this board has made this recipe, and if so what their thoughts were on the finished product and what they would (or did) do differently.

David

I'm interested in this recipe
I'm a total rookie brewer but I keep bees so I have honey
I just made my first mead last weekend with the local homebrew club and was kinda dismayed when they said let it age for a year
instant gratification and all that
I think I'm gonna make another batch, this looks good
explain to me the part about adding honey/grapejuice and campden tabs at the end
the honey/juice is to make it sparkle correct?
why the campden? isn't it a little late to kill wild yeast?
wouldn't it kill the good yeast?
like I said, I'm a rookie, so be gentle

Dave

[edit] I'm talking about this line

>Rack to clean carboy over mixture of 6-oz honey, 6-oz Welch's grape juice, 1/2t of Sorbate and 1/2 crushed campden tablet.

sounds like he racked it to a carboy after 14/21 day and then did these things

Don't worry I'm a rookie brewer and even more so at mead (my first one ). My understanding is that the chemical additions are to stabilize the mead so that when racked over to the carboy (which contains the juice/honey mixture) no fermentation will occur, resulting in a sweeter non carbonated mead. This stuff is moving along quickly considering it hasn't been even two weeks. I say go for it, its not too expensive to try and it seems like the product is going to be tasty.

I may skip the last step as I'd just as soon skip the sulfites and don't particularly want to sweeten it up
will let you know how it comes out
this is WAY fun

Dave

read some of the other threads on mead making on this forum, then read more at Gotmead.com. Mead is not quick, it is a slow fermenter, that will take at least 6 months to be palatable. If you like what you are tasting in the samples, imagine what it will be like later. There is a ton of info on the net about making mead. Read some, taste someone elses (even commercial), then decide what you want to do.

I understand it takes time
at the club thing last weekend I got to taste lots of different meads
I made a straight mead and now I'd kinda like to make another batch of something different
thought it sounded good to try something that reportedly was a little quicker

Dave

i have made joes ancient orange and the grape mead as well as a blueberry.
they are all aging now as i was not impressed with first tastings.
i found the orange to taste like rind and the blueberry was yeasty - both problems i am told will age out - so i did not even try the grape - just going to let them age till next spring

Dave, With out the additions at the end it is a dry one. It should end at 996! It has almost a Cabernet dry flavor with a bit of a honey nose. By changing the honey type you can also get different flavors.

This sounds good. I've done Joe's ancient orange and LOVED it! This sounds like a nice recipe. I like my meads sweeter so I'll try this with less honey and you know what works well for sweet meads is bread yeast. I know I said it but if you want a sweet mead bread yeast works great!

Definitely going to try this with some slight variations.

Call me stupid, but what exactly is the definition of "mead". Sounds to me like you are making some kind of wine here....

bigkevj said:

Call me stupid, but what exactly is the definition of "mead". Sounds to me like you are making some kind of wine here....

Click to expand...

Mead is a fermented drink using honey as the primary fermenting sugar. Mead is a honey wine but a lot of the traditional wine big wigs don't consider mead a wine. Mead is on the upward climb on popularity but still a bit hard to find a wide variety at the stores.

The concepts are the same as making wine. The variations however are almost unlimited. I firmly believe there are as many if not more variations than classic wines have. I say this because you could add honey to every wine out there and there are over 40 varieties of honey and then the blends of each. You can use the same yeast as wines but I would reccomend Lalvin D47 for traditionals and Lalvin 71B for fruit meads (Melomels). But if you look through the forums, there are all kinds of yeast being used. Read up on the yeast available as each imparts something to the mead as it does with wine.

well I took a nice big sample to check the "gravity" today and...... It says I'm done! :cross: Tasted darn good too. I'm going to check tomorrow to make sure my hydro's alright. I'm a little concerned about it being off because the mead itself was tasty and didn't seem to need any sweetening. It came up at a fairly dry reading though so I was thrown off a bit. Darn I guess I have to take some more out tomorrow to check Not bad for about 17 days!

Ok so I split the four gallon batch in to two 2-gallon buckets. I was dumb and didn't multiple the campden and sorbate but am not too worried. One batch I racked onto 4oz honey mixed with 6oz juice per gallon. The other I simply mixed the chemicals with my stir/hotplate with 8oz juice, no honey. I hope the juice doesn't sweeten it too much as I actually like the flavor as it is, I thought for the other half of the batch to follow to recipe (kinda) to see what I get. I'll let you guys know what results when it comes time to crack a few with my favorite beauty.

ok quick update guys, I've only got a few days till the per recipe bottling date. The half of the batch with added honey and juice..... ughh gross. So sweet. Some may like it, for me at was like movie supertroopers when they drink the maple syrup. I think my older sister is going to like this stuff when she comes in from California. It is a dessert wine to say the least. The other batch that I just added the juice to, is pretty palatable. I'd say not too shabby at all. If I made more of this I'd personally skip on the extra honey, unless you use it sparingly or are into dessert wines.