Costco Mead

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mattmcl

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I brewed up my first batch of mead last weekend. I based it on Charlie Papazian's red raspberry recipe, but used Costco ingredients and upped the quantity to use as much of them as possible.

22.4 lbs. clover honey (they come in 6 lb. jugs)
12 lbs. berries (frozen mix of red raspberries, blueberries and marionberries, in 4 lb. bags)
1 packet Montrachet yeast
yeast nutrient
Should yield 6 gallons.

Add honey and fruit to 1 gal. water. Heat to 140F and hold for 60 minutes. Fill each of two 6 gal. carboys with 1 gal cold water. Pour must into each carboy and top off to make two 3.5 gal. carboys. Rehydrate yeast and nutrient and pitch at 74F. Ferment for two weeks, then rack both carboys to one 6.5 gal carboy, leaving the fruit behind. Purge with CO2 and ferment at 74F until fermentation appears complete. Repeat racking procedure again and store at 74F until clear. Bottle.
 
Wow seems like a LOT of honey. What was your OG? one of my buddies runs a meadery and he always tells me to do about 3lbs of honey per gallon of water, for 6 that would only be 18 lbs of honey. I'm still new to meads, though and may be way off my rocker :)
 
Well, I'm actually making 7 gallons, and hoping to yield 6 once I rack off the fruit. The guidelines I read said 3-3.5 lbs./gallon, and this is about 3.7 for 6 gallons. Yeah, it's on the high end but it's supposed to be a sweet mead anyway. I have no idea what the OG was, I use a refractometer and all the berry bits would have skewed the reading so I didn't bother.
 
Just know that its likely to put a pretty heavy strain on the yeast, you may want to try and create a 1.030 honey starter for it over night to get the yeast kicking well... But, all those sugars w/ the fruit may get it healthy on its own and then the yeast can start working on those hard to eat honey sugars.
 
I made a strawberry mead last year and used 12 lbs of berries. It had a very weak flavor. My next batch will use 24 lbs. I suggest (for a 5-gallon batch) using 15 lbs of honey and 24 lbs of berries. Maybe use 12 lbs in the primary and the other 12 lbs in the secondary for more fruit flavor.

Let us know how it turns out! =)
 
I am very interested in this thread as I am getting ready for my first mead and I will be doing a Costco one as well. I hope it turns out well!
 
Yeah, it's really good! The honey and berries are very well balanced. The mead still tastes hot, but it's mellowing well. It's only been three months in the bottle.
 
It's done very well. Fruity but not bitter, the hotness has really disappeared. I only have four bottles left, I'd say that's a good sign. Go for it!
 
I'll have to give this a try. Do you remember, by chance, how much ingredients cost you overall?
 
Have made 3 batches of mead using Costco clover honey. All three were very good. berrys from the same seem to be an ok price as well. Cherry's are in season now and ready to go form my 4th batch using them. Anyone have an idea on how many lb's needed for a strong cherry taste??
Thanks
 
Check out Ken Schramm's book The Compleat Meadmaker. It has a table in it, and although I don't have it in front of me now, I believe it should say how much fruit to use depending on how strong of a flavor you want.
 
I've made a few meads with Costco honey that turned out well. Personally, I have nothing against the costco special, however I primarily use it when adding fruit or spices to my mead. I don't think I'd use it for a traditional mead, but I've never actually tried a traditional with it either(who knows, it could be fantastic).

So far my attempts with Costco honey have been limited to a metheglin, a Cherry mead, and a few batches of JAOM, all turned out very good.
 
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