Zymurgrafi
Well-Known Member
I have not had the best luck with mead. I do not want to rehash my past attempts and try and diagnose in this thread. I just want a clean start over. So, I will post my plan and I ask for all you experienced mead makers to give your input. I promise I will take your advice!
Unless of course I get 20 different conflicting views! :fro:
Then I will try and find the middle ground. I just want this to turn out well as it will also be my first 5 gallon batch. My previous experiments have all been 1 gallon. So this will be a lot pricier if it is bad.
Okay, I would like to brew fairly simple mead (metheglin actually) using heather and honey. Here are the proposed ingredients:
12 lbs. of local clover honey. I can get that for about $44 at my local food co-op. I realize it is not the best price but it is the best I can do locally. I figure paying for shipping will put me in that range anyway. Plus I try and buy local.
Homegrown dried heather. I would use fresh but it is winter now so... I have a mix of 3 varieties but it is mainly Barnet Anley as that was the most productive plant. The others are spring torch and, um, can't recall at the moment. I have not decided on the amount yet. My notes from my first attempt are a little sketchy and I am not sure they are correct. It would seem I used 4 oz. in a one gallon batch but I do not think that is actual. I may base it on my heather ale recipe to decide the amount. In that I use 120 g (or about 4 oz.) for the whole 5 gallon batch. Of course that is a 1.049 OG beer. This would be quite a bit higher gravity wise.
Local fresh spring water. Yes, I am including that as an ingredient. I suspect some of my issues with my past attempts had to do with the water I used. My town water is chlorinated and despite the fact I use an under the sink filter system I suspect some still gets through. I change my filters but I suspect that is not enough. Yes, I have verified that they do not use chloromines. Lately they have been dosing it even stronger as it smells like a wickedly over chlorinated swimming pool coming out of the regular tap!
Anyway, I found a natural spring nearby where I can get water free. It is on the side of a road over in NH. I have been using it for all my brewing the last few months and have noticed a definite improvement in my beer so I am hopeful it will help my mead.
Yeast. Not sure yet but I would like to use what I can get at my LHBS. That means I am limited to Red star montrachet, or Pasteur champagne, and occasionally the one in the blue packet (can't remember its name). Or a dry ale yeast like SafAle (they have most of that brand). If it is deemed ABSOLUTELY imperative by you folks that I get another yeast I will try.
As for nutrients and additions, again I am pretty inexperienced. I use what I can get at my LHBS. I have used Fermax Yeast nutrient from my LHBS following the directions (1 tsp per gallon I believe?) and to seems to work well enough. That is pretty much all they stock for yeast nutrient... I think. I have not had problems using just that getting attenuation. No stuck ferments thus far, just some off flavor issues. Again, if it is deemed imperative by consensus to get some other nutrients I will order them if I must.
I will leave it at just my ingredients for now as this is getting a bit long winded. I will post my proposed procedure in a little while. Let's just make sure I have all the ingredients square first. Anything I am missing, should change adjust?
Unless of course I get 20 different conflicting views! :fro:
Then I will try and find the middle ground. I just want this to turn out well as it will also be my first 5 gallon batch. My previous experiments have all been 1 gallon. So this will be a lot pricier if it is bad.
Okay, I would like to brew fairly simple mead (metheglin actually) using heather and honey. Here are the proposed ingredients:
12 lbs. of local clover honey. I can get that for about $44 at my local food co-op. I realize it is not the best price but it is the best I can do locally. I figure paying for shipping will put me in that range anyway. Plus I try and buy local.
Homegrown dried heather. I would use fresh but it is winter now so... I have a mix of 3 varieties but it is mainly Barnet Anley as that was the most productive plant. The others are spring torch and, um, can't recall at the moment. I have not decided on the amount yet. My notes from my first attempt are a little sketchy and I am not sure they are correct. It would seem I used 4 oz. in a one gallon batch but I do not think that is actual. I may base it on my heather ale recipe to decide the amount. In that I use 120 g (or about 4 oz.) for the whole 5 gallon batch. Of course that is a 1.049 OG beer. This would be quite a bit higher gravity wise.
Local fresh spring water. Yes, I am including that as an ingredient. I suspect some of my issues with my past attempts had to do with the water I used. My town water is chlorinated and despite the fact I use an under the sink filter system I suspect some still gets through. I change my filters but I suspect that is not enough. Yes, I have verified that they do not use chloromines. Lately they have been dosing it even stronger as it smells like a wickedly over chlorinated swimming pool coming out of the regular tap!
Anyway, I found a natural spring nearby where I can get water free. It is on the side of a road over in NH. I have been using it for all my brewing the last few months and have noticed a definite improvement in my beer so I am hopeful it will help my mead.
Yeast. Not sure yet but I would like to use what I can get at my LHBS. That means I am limited to Red star montrachet, or Pasteur champagne, and occasionally the one in the blue packet (can't remember its name). Or a dry ale yeast like SafAle (they have most of that brand). If it is deemed ABSOLUTELY imperative by you folks that I get another yeast I will try.
As for nutrients and additions, again I am pretty inexperienced. I use what I can get at my LHBS. I have used Fermax Yeast nutrient from my LHBS following the directions (1 tsp per gallon I believe?) and to seems to work well enough. That is pretty much all they stock for yeast nutrient... I think. I have not had problems using just that getting attenuation. No stuck ferments thus far, just some off flavor issues. Again, if it is deemed imperative by consensus to get some other nutrients I will order them if I must.
I will leave it at just my ingredients for now as this is getting a bit long winded. I will post my proposed procedure in a little while. Let's just make sure I have all the ingredients square first. Anything I am missing, should change adjust?