my first mead recipe

Well it's pretty simple.

3#s honey
1gal water
1c of raisins
7g red star active dry yeast


Any thoughts. Just stared last weak

You might want a little bit of yeast nutrient to add to that recipe

Also, if you can swing it, I would suggest reading this book if you want to get into mead. Great, great book!

Well I am using the raisins as the nutrients. Can't afford actual yeast nutrients right now

Update. Well I just took an EARLY taste.... smells awesome and tastes real good already. Just over a week in. Can't wait

That sounds like a pretty decent recipe. It looks like a slightly weaker version of my simple mead recipe (mine used 3.5 lbs for 1 gallon, and substitute the raisins for yeast nutrient).
Mine finished at 14.5% ABV, so I would suspect around 12-13% ABV with your recipe. I'd suggest to toss in another handful of raisins now, since it's been a week fermenting, just to keep the nutrient amount up.
You may have to give it a while to age though, like at least 1 year. Mine is 7 months old now, but the last time I tasted it was around the 5 month mark. It was much better than the 3 month mark, but still showed signs of being young.

They for the advice. Threw in a 1/4 cup more and fermentation refired like a bat outta hell

OK, so I racked into secondary two days ago and fermentation kicked back up, though nowhere near as vigorous as primary. Is that normal?

It can be. You didn't give any gravity readings which are most amateurs mistakes so its hard to tell. But usually if the abv is not at the yeasts threshold then yes once you rack and aerate ( better to not on a racking) then the yeast can kick back up reaching for its abv threshold.

Sounds like a good recipe

Go for the 5 gallons next time. That's what I did and was glad because it's so good you will want more

This should be moved to the Mead Forum. The recipe database is reserved for "Tried and True" recipes.