Just introduced to mead, and already going overboard

From the first time I was introduced to mead by a friend of mine, I have been bugging him for more, and more, and more.

finally he tells me how easy it is to make some.

So I do some reading on the process, reading recipes, and reading threads wherever I can find them.

Come time to make my first batch, I had a 1 gallon glass wine bottle, an air lock, 4 lbs of 100% raw honey (unfiltered, unblinded, undulated, uncooked), some bottled water, a package of Fleischmans active dry yeast, a small kids box of raisins, and 4 large black plums.

I combined all ingredients (except the yeast), and while the yeast was rehydrating, I was shaking the hell out of the must.

I am aiming for a semi-sweet black plum mead (would this qualify as a melomel?) I did not take a OG reading because I did not have my hydrometer yet. I pitched the yeast on 10-23-11 and let it go to work in my closet. About two weeks later fermenting had all but stopped. About another week and a half later (on 11-18--11), I racked it off the lees.

I siphoned the last 600ml or so into a wine bottle so I could separate most of the sediment. Also so I could do a gravity test and a taste test.

The gravity test was 1.011 and the taste was a little hot. So I look forward to seeing it mellow out.

By the way,

I say I am going overboard because I also have a 3 gallon carboy with fermenting JOAM, and another 1 gallon wine jug with fermenting spiced apple cyser.

It's a good thing you clarified "overboard"... Don't worry about being overboard until you've just bottled two 6 gallon batches, have another 5 gallons bulk aging, and another 6 gallons each of cyser and spiced cider finishing fermenting...granted, the fall tends to be my busy season for mead (because of the apple cider pressing...), but I may still be on the light side of production compared to some of the folks around here!!!

Congrats, and welcome to the fun!!!

ummm... do you consider this "overboard"?





I am surprised by the color of your mead. I'd have thought the plums would turn the mead dark. BTW, yes that is a melomel. It sounds wonderful. Let us know how it ages out.

Rebecca

I first heard of mead on this forum after starting my first wine (6 gallons pinot noir, 6 gallons valpolicella) in mid October.
Within two Weeks I started a orange blossom / blueberry show mead 3 gallons, a clover chocolate cinnamon mead 3 gallons, 6.25 gallons of Costco clover show mead, and 6.25 gallons of a modified edwort's apfelwein (brown sugar). Then on Sunday I saw a 3 qt glass jug of organic apple juice at the grocery store, tossed in brown sugar and a cinnamon stick..

Over 31 gallons started in just over a month....

Well Fix, I do hope you end up loving the craft like we do. You will have finally "made it" when you research the homebrew laws of your state then calculate how many batches you have to make per year to meet the limit.... then realize you have to stop brewing. :cross:

Stop brewing? Or convince your friends to fund you brewing at their house?

:rockin:

Gotta build a pipeline at some point! I love having dozens upon dozens of bottles of 1-2 yr+ old mead and wine lying around the house.

Gamrchick said:

I am surprised by the color of your mead. I'd have thought the plums would turn the mead dark.

Click to expand...

Plums are really only dark on the outside, like grapes, and since he only used 4 plums, I don't think the skins would turn the mead quite as dark as grapes turn wine. That is, the skin:must ratio is a lot smaller than for grape wine.

I try to have 6-7 carboys in the 5-6 gal range continiously rotating. Honey amonts is a problem. But yes I looked up the home brew limit in Colorado.

I found 250 gal a year/ family. If I brewed 5 gal batches that's 50 batches, I would need to bottle 1 batch every week or so to do this. And start one every week or so.

Do not have the stamina or time for that much. Now if I had 10 gal barrels then this would be more like 25 batches a year, every other week. More like it.

So yeah, I'm good for now.

I have currently: chocolate Mead, Chocolate Mint, Blueberry Lemon, 3 Honey batches that going to oak at different toast levels and a pumpkin hazelnut in the primary. Planing on starting a Strawberry/w orange blossom honey, Mango mead/w orange blossom honey, Blueberry Basil, an a Jasmin Bamboo mead. Then I suppose it will be fall again.

Matrix