My first Mead!

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Bluespark

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I just started a 5 gallon batch and a 1 gallon. Recipes are:

5 gallon batch of plain mead:
18lb local honey
1 pack ec1118,
Yeast nutrient half tsp per gallon
1 tsp yeast energizer
Filtered water to make 5 gallons.

Currently bubbling away ferociously and smelling delicious. Starting gravity of 1.110.

1 gallon batch:
3lb honey
Half pack ec1118
Yeast energizer
Yeast nutrient
Large bottle POM
Water to make 1 gallon.

Starting gravity 1.090.

I'm planning on stirring twice daily for the first 4 days to oxygenate, adding more nutrient and energizer on day 2, 4 and 6. I'll also have to feed more honey if I want it to finish slightly sweet, or maybe dry it out and add zyletol, not sure yet.
When I transfer to secondary the 'plain' mead will be divided into 1 3 gallon and 2 one gallons, the one gallons will be flavoured, one orange spice, one vanilla.
I didn't have much choice on the yeast, no where around here sells anything but ec1118, and this time of year shipping takes forever. I know it has mixed reviews for mead, but I though I would give it a try, and look into more yeasts for my next batch.

Anything stand out as terribly wrong? Any advice would be appreciated.

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Sounds good. Using 1118 plan on a 1+ year of aging. There are some on this forum that have traditional meads fermented with 1118 but when spoken of positively they have been aged some 2 years.

The flavor combos sound good and should help with the drinkability of the meads in the earlier ages but if you wait 1+ years you will still be much happier.

Sounds like you did your research so I am sure they will all turn out nice. Have fun!
 
Thanks for the reply:) I was planning on ageing at least a year. Hopefully they turn out great.
 
Update:

The plain mead has gone from 1.110 to 1.090 since Saturday. Still bubbling away merrily. When it gets a bit lower in gravity I will add more honey to hopefully end up slightly sweet and 18%.

Pomagranite has gone from 1.090 to 1.040. Still bubbling every two seconds. Sample tastes fabulous.
 
Update: Pom mead had more honey added, fermentation started slowing down significantly after another week. Racked, topped up with Pom, now in the storage room(about 60 degrees) to finish and age for a while. Gravity at racking : 1.020

To the large batch, I added more honey a week or so ago. It was really slowing down this week, (still fermenting, just slow)but still had a gravity of 1.060. I racked and flavoured. I thought I had 5 gallons, but it filled 2 one gallons, one three gallon and 2 half gallons, Must have been 6.5 gallons. Flavours are :
3 gallons traditional
1 gallon vanilla
1 gallon strawberry
1/2 gallon cinnamon stick
1/2 gallon hibiscus

Now the hardest part: waiting

image-835129201.jpg
 
Update: Pom mead had more honey added, fermentation started slowing down significantly after another week. Racked, topped up with Pom, now in the storage room(about 60 degrees) to finish and age for a while. Gravity at racking : 1.020

To the large batch, I added more honey a week or so ago. It was really slowing down this week, (still fermenting, just slow)but still had a gravity of 1.060. I racked and flavoured. I thought I had 5 gallons, but it filled 2 one gallons, one three gallon and 2 half gallons, Must have been 6.5 gallons. Flavours are :
3 gallons traditional
1 gallon vanilla
1 gallon strawberry
1/2 gallon cinnamon stick
1/2 gallon hibiscus

Now the hardest part: waiting

This look wonderful
 
Sounds good. Using 1118 plan on a 1+ year of aging. There are some on this forum that have traditional meads fermented with 1118 but when spoken of positively they have been aged some 2 years.

The flavor combos sound good and should help with the drinkability of the meads in the earlier ages but if you wait 1+ years you will still be much happier.

Sounds like you did your research so I am sure they will all turn out nice. Have fun!

I myself have only made one batch of mead... and it was with ec1118. It was FANTASTIC in about 2.5 months.
What I read indicated that when the ph drops too low it stresses the yeast, makes it taste harsh necessitating long aging times. I managed my ph, and fed it some yeast energizer.
Turned out great!
Regardless, as Arpolis said if it does taste harsh, just leave it alone for a good long while. Age fixes so many things...
 
I plan on aging at least a year.
Should I be getting really concerned with a gravity of 1.060 and fermentation slowing down? I was thinking of cooking some bread yeast and adding that. I would like the finishing gravity to be 1.010, or at the highest 1.020. I'm a bit worried I added too much honey....
 
Still hoping someone can answer my last question.

On another note, I convinced my self that clover honey wasn't aromatic enough for a traditional, so I added 2 cups of cocoa powder for a chocolate mead. Looks like 3 gallons of chocolate milk currently. We'll see how it goes....
 
Ec1118 is a champagne yeast is it not? I would not worry you have not even been a month yet and I have done a few starting at 1.110 and they have got there in the end. No harm in boiling some bread yeast though.
 
EC-1118 is indeed a champagne yeast that is capable of 18% ABV if managed correctly and that equates to a gravity drop of 133 points.

Personally I prefer to start with a lower gravity of something like 1.100 or thereabouts and then step feed enough to add up to a 133 drop......
 
I started with just over 18 pounds of honey, gravity of 1.110
A week later dropped to 1.060, added 2 lb honey
A couple weeks ago it hit 1.050, so I added an additional 2lb
Total of 24
 
Also step fed nutrients for the first 7 days. I will check it again today
 
Tested the strawberry version. It's dropped to 1.055, so still going(yay!)

It really is rocket fuel, this will be bottled when clear and forgotten till next winter/ spring.... High hopes for the eventual product.
 
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