First Mead

So, I started making my very first mead about a week ago now. It's a simple raspberry mead. Since it was my very first one I decided to make just a gallon to be a tester.

Mead Info:

Honey: 3lbs Orange Blossom honey (I bought this locally from one of the bee keepers)
Fruit/Berries: 10 oz Hand picked raspberries (I picked these from a friends greenhouse last year)
Yeast:One packet Lavin D47 yeast
Water: I just used distilled water from Kroger


I read some where that people like to add the raspberries after fermentation has kicked off or until they racked into a secondary. But I decided to add them from the get go since I didn't used any yeast nutrient additives.

Everything went well mixing it the honey was a little bit annoying since it was raw. I pitched the yeast according to the directions on the label. Filled my air lock and capped it off.

Unfortunately I didn't measure my gravity when I first mixed it. But for the sake of record keeping I an hydrometer on the way before this batch will be done fermenting.

Fermentation didn't kick off until 24 hours after pitching the yeast. Since then I've been aerating the mead 3 times a day and logging the times. Normally around 7 am, 2-3 pm, and 10pm.. After work, when I wake up and before work.

I plan to aerate it till about 4/27/2015 since that will be roughly a 1/3 into a 30 day span.

After the raspberries loose all their color I will be racking to a secondary and allow fermentation to complete it's coarse for the complete 30 days. Then if my a good abv is reached I will follow up with cold crashing it in my mini-fridge.




Let me know what you think! I am open to any suggestions/criticism

My only concern would be the distilled water, and perhaps no yeast nutrient....it has no minerals, which may affect your results/flavor. You might've been better served buying bottled spring water, but, what's done is done. Looks to be fermenting - yeast nutrient is pretty much essential, so it's probably a good idea you added the berries up front, as honey doesn't really provide much nutrient on it's own, just fermentable sugar. 3 lbs per gallon makes for a mead strength that will likely require some aging before tasting really good. Best advice at this point is rack it to secondary when fermentation is seemingly complete, and let it sit....and sit some more, perhaps racking again if you get more sediment in the secondary....and by all means learn how to use a hydrometer - it's a meadmaker's best friend. You're likely looking at a 14%-ish abv mead, so....it's gonna need to mellow. Cheers!!!

I am thinking closer to 15% ABV - if that is a one gallon carboy and there was 3 lbs of honey I would expect the starting gravity (absent the berries ) to be around 1.120. The berries will add some more sugar but the volume of liquid will be a little less than 1 gallon so a strong 15% - possibly 16% , in my opinion.. and I agree with fuelish... this will need some patience....

Thanks for the input the abv is the ballpark range I was guessing it would be at. Yeah I should've completely used a hydrometer. I have several in the house because I maintain about 8 saltwater fish tanks. Just didn't want to use them on my mead LOL so. After I started it I ordered one online.

Yeah I made the mistake of using distilled water. I noticed that when I signed up for the forum. It was a kick in the chest lol.

Welcome to the addicting hobby of mead making. It is a game of paitience but the reward is good so best of luck with your first and hope you catch the fever.

If it has only been 7 days and if the raw honey/raspberries were missing any essential nutrients then it may not be a bad idea to add some now. If you have no time/availability to get yeast nutrients then a good substitute that will add negligible taste but prevent off flavors from starved yeast would be 25 chopped raisins and 1tbs of bread yeast boiled or microwaved in 1/4 cup of water for 5-10 min to kill them off. Add that to the mead and that can help.

Also you may want to look at trying to keep temps low for this brew if you have an option. D47 works best in temps 60*F - 65*F. The lower the better. D47 produces Fusel alcohols when overly stressed due to lack of nutrients or too high of temps. Too many fusels and this will have a hot like vodka taste without the added ABV. I know that from personal experience.

Again best of luck.

Arpolis said:

Welcome to the addicting hobby of mead making. It is a game of paitience but the reward is good so best of luck with your first and hope you catch the fever.

If it has only been 7 days and if the raw honey/raspberries were missing any essential nutrients then it may not be a bad idea to add some now. If you have no time/availability to get yeast nutrients then a good substitute that will add negligible taste but prevent off flavors from starved yeast would be 25 chopped raisins and 1tbs of bread yeast boiled or microwaved in 1/4 cup of water for 5-10 min to kill them off. Add that to the mead and that can help.

Also you may want to look at trying to keep temps low for this brew if you have an option. D47 works best in temps 60*F - 65*F. The lower the better. D47 produces Fusel alcohols when overly stressed due to lack of nutrients or too high of temps. Too many fusels and this will have a hot like vodka taste without the added ABV. I know that from personal experience.

Again best of luck.

Click to expand...

It seems to be going good still. The airlock is still bubbling and there is a lot of co2 in it. There is a brewing supply store on the south side of town so if I have time today I might run down there they have ferm k and DAP available. I was mulling over adding a small amount of that now. Since I have seen a mirror decrease in fermentation

My house sits around 60-65 year round so its perfect in that aspect. Everything else I messed up pretty hard.. Lol.

Lol not so bad really. Mead can be very forgiving. If it tastes like crap, wait another 3 months and try again. Mead seems to change more with time than wines or beers do. Something near undrinkable can be your favorite drink 2-3 years down the line. In my early days I did a ginger mead with cheap Sams club honey, no real nutrients if I remember right and once it was clear it was a hot mess. So hard to drink. A few years later and it is one of my favorite meads I have made. I am hoarding my last few bottles of it. I have no idea when it will be appropriate to finish those bottles off.

We shall see.. I smells amazing. I know that much. I will be racking it to a secondary and adding even more raspberries and topping it off with some spring water.

Plus I was thinking about when it is said and done adding some cinnamon or vanilla extract too add more variety of flavor.

It's coming along nicely I racked to the secondary today upgrading to a new bottle.



Topped it off with some spring water



Also gave me a chance to measure my SG it's sitting around 1.045. Like I said before i never got the chance to measure my OG. But since used 3 pounds of honey it should be getting close to the finial gravity.

Pretty thrilled!

Looks like the fermentation is still healthy and thick with yeast. It should still have a little way to go. The gravity should hit well below 1.020. It also looks like it has a lot of clearing to do. This picture does not do it justice but it is a pic of a raspberry hibiscus mead I did a couple years back. It should show about the color and clarity level this mead should get:

That has a beautiful color too it! Yeah the yeast is working away. I am going to try to get my hands on some super kleer before it's done so I can add that in to assist in the clearing process. We will see!

Personally I like to stay away from finnings because even though they help you clear quickly. You often loos some color with it. Time can clear everything. In stubborn meads I just throw the gallon jug in to fridge and usually after 2-3 days max it is all clear.

I checked on my mead after my 13 mile backpacking overnighter and it has really darkened up quite a bit!

Fermentation has slowed down and SG sits around 1.010 plan on getting it into a tridary tomorrow and allowing it to sit for a bit longer

Figured this is as good as place as any to do a question on mead.

I'm doing two inaugural batches. One is Called Wolf Moon and the other is a regular Strawberry. I'm a week into primary fermentation and I noticed a drastic slowdown of bubbles. This in my mind would seem to indicate a problem. I thought about it and I read a few places/saw a few youtube videos where the mead maker would throw in more nutrients and/or degass/shake the heck out of the mead for a week or two during primary. Do I need to shake it up/add more nutrients or would you guys suggest racking it before the 30 day mark which is when I'm planning to rack. I can include pics if you like.

joshfoots said:

Figured this is as good as place as any to do a question on mead.

I'm doing two inaugural batches. One is Called Wolf Moon and the other is a regular Strawberry. I'm a week into primary fermentation and I noticed a drastic slowdown of bubbles. This in my mind would seem to indicate a problem. I thought about it and I read a few places/saw a few youtube videos where the mead maker would throw in more nutrients and/or degass/shake the heck out of the mead for a week or two during primary. Do I need to shake it up/add more nutrients or would you guys suggest racking it before the 30 day mark which is when I'm planning to rack. I can include pics if you like.

Click to expand...

What is the gravity? It maybe finished. Full recipes would be helpful as well.



Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

loveofrose said:

What is the gravity? It maybe finished. Full recipes would be helpful as well.



Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I have no Hydrometer as of yet. I just got into homebrewing and I'm slowly building up my brew supplies. It was literally the next thing on my list to purchase, but I figured I had at least 2-3 weeks before needing it since I didn't mind not know the the Starting OG.

Specific Recipe for Wolf Moon:
Made with blackberries and Spices

1 package of Lalvin D47
Yeast nutrient
4 pounds of clover honey
1 gallon of spring water
8 ounces of Black berries - Frozen
6 whole clove (The recipe only called for 1 but I upped it because the cloves I obtained. I didn't feel comfortable with just 1 so I added two sets of 3)
inch and a quarter ( 1 ¼ ) long section of a vanilla bean. Split length-wise.

Strawberry Mead:
1 Package of Lalvin D47
Yeast Nutrient
4 LBS of wildflower honey
1 gallon of spring watter
1 LBS of Strawberries

Both Started on 5/3

Another note, they both look beautiful. The color is perfect for each. I'm just not sure they're ready to be racked. But this is my first go and things don't always go to plan. Theres only so much I can learn from a book which is why I'm reaching out to guys with experience.

That's a lot of clove. Those are really powerful. Good luck.

Without a hydrometer reading, you will have to taste it a tell us how sweet it is. If it's cloying, then it is not done and perhaps stalled. If it's dry, it's done fermenting.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html