First mead attempt

[moscoeb]

Was contemplating trying to make a few 1 gal batches of mead soon. Tell me what y'all think or have experienced yourself and recommend.

1 gal of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead as recipe states

1 gal of JAO but use dried pomegranate instead of raisins. Would there be a discernible difference, or not worth the effort?
Any other easily obtainable items worth adding?

And 1 gal of a blackberry mead. See if my recipe is a good idea and help me decide the yeast to use. I would like it to be a medium dry mead.

3 lbs clover honey
2lbs blackberries
Blackberries
Small handful of raisins(or pomegranates again?)
Top to 1gal
Any other additions?
Should I use the bread yeast as in JAO or get actual mead yeast?

I was going to use beer growlers, so they aren't clear, any detriment? Just have to wait and use hydrometer to know that fermentation is done for sure I assume.

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

I can't really say about the pomegranate seeds over the raisins, do they have the same nutrients? thats the only real purpose of the raisins in the recipe, food for the yeast.

You won't really get any pomegranate taste using a handful in the primary if that's the reason you wanted to substitute them for the raisins. If thats your goal then add a bunch of handfuls of them into the secondary with the berries for your blackberry mead (aka melomel), fruit can go into primary, it'll help with a vigorous ferment and start the color off nicely but you don't get a lot of the flavor of the berries. What seems to be becoming the...I don't know if it would be called the standard practice yet but definitely the trend is either splitting your berries up, 25/75 or 50/50 between primary and secondary or just putting all of them in secondary to maximize their flavor in your end product.

In the blackberry mead I'd probably pick up some nutrients and wine yeast at your lhbs if you can. they are both inexpensive and for yeast, If you want it semi sweet, I've had good luck with Lavlin D47, just make sure where ever you place your fermenter it stays below 70*F makes D47 happy happy and keeps it from making the harsh fusel alcohols. If it's dryer you are looking for Red Star Red Pasteur works real nice with berries and cherries, or you can check out one of the many yeasts in the link below, see what catches your eye. IMO I also like to rehydrate the yeast, some like dry pitching, some like starters, I use a method somewhere inbetween, it helps the lag time so a day later youre not looking at your mead wondering when it's going to start doing something and start getting nervous.

http://www.winemakermag.com/guide/yeast

Degass/Aerate (there is much debate if it is one or the other or both) by swirling, gently shaking or mixing for the first few days. Maybe search the stickys for step nutrient suggestions and watch your hydrometer readings, when they are stable for 3 testings in a row at least a day or so between each, rack to secondary and you will be on your way to a decent melomel.

As for the JAOM, the ingredient list and instructions are pretty much designed foolproof, it's a decent easy "throw together" but it really only works well if you follow it to the letter lol, mix it all up, toss the bread yeast, airlock it and set it someplace for a couple months and don't touch it. The only variance that most will mention is instead of pouring a glass and drinking it in 2 months (which you can but...) is rack it into a secondary and let it age/clear some more for better flavor mellowing, it just is even more enjoyable that way.

The growlers are fine to use, long as you can seal them with an airlock or blow off tube so you can let the CO2 out and keep O2 from getting in, not being clear is actually a benefit not a detriment

 

[moscoeb]

Great advice, I will give the jaom a try today and swing by the lhbs soon for some better yeast.

Maybe for the blackberry do 2lbs black berry in primary and 1lb in secondary? For good flavor/color balance?
I am anxious to start this and give it a try!

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

personally I would go 1lb in primary and 2lb in secondary, it doesnt take a lot to get the color aspect going so less in primary is fine, then more in secondary to give the flavor more strength. I've actually moved to making all of my additons of fruits and spices in my secondary. everything starts out as a traditional in primary then while its going I see what mood strikes. I just racked a 3 gallon batch of orange blossom mead into secondary and had a bunch of fresh pineapple and mangos that were getting near the verge of being over ripe so I made the last minute decision to add those and a couple split vanilla beans to the secondary. I think I am going to rack onto a pile of fresh coconut in the tertiary after about a month and go for a tropical pina colada type end product.

 

[moscoeb]

Pineapple mango?! That sounds awesome!!!

I'll do the larger in secondary then. I really appreciate your advice. I have a bunch if blackberries frozen downstairs and need to make room before the new ones come in!

Do you have any honeysuckle recipes or ideas?
I've seen some ideas from people, but they never posted back on how it turned out!

 

[moscoeb]

Well, got the JOAM and a blackberry mead going.
I ended up with a pound of blackberries and threw in some craisins I had with about 3lbs of honey. I used lavlin ec1118 yeast for the blackberry mead. Now I just have to wait and see how it does!