Intro to mead

[BlendieOfIndie]

I have some very basic questions about mead in general

1) What does mead taste like? Which beverages are most similar to mead?

2) Are there any good commercial meads that I can buy? Would a local liquor store carry mead?

3) For making your own mead, how likely is it that I could produce a decent batch on the first try (w/ beer I have expectations of producing a mediocre beer on the 1st batch - although I'm shooting for "decent").

Any other comments that would answer "intro to mead" type questions would be appreciated.

 

[shunoshi]

Describing what mead tastes like is very difficult....like fermented honey? It's like wine, but it has its own distinct flavor. As for a commercial mead, your liquor store may carry something, but most commercial meads aren't that great. I have a new personal favorite, White Winter Winery, that I tried a few varieties of several weeks ago at a beer festival. All of their meads were really good; my favorites were the blueberry melomel and their dry mead. They ship to CA as well.

Find a well tested plain show mead recipe and I'm sure it will turn out fine. If you do 1-gallon batches you'll relieve yourself of some of the cost risk while being able to try out different recipes (instead of making a 5 gallon batch of something you don't like). And if all else fails you can always look up a recipe for Joe's Ancient Orange mead. It's slightly unorthodox, but I hear it's really good (it's what I'm making for my first batch).

 

[talleymonster]

The only commercial mead I've ever had is Chaucers. It was ok, but I've heard that there is much better mead out there. I saw another brand the other day at the liquor store, but it was like 30$ so I passed on it.

I'm actually getting ready to brew a few gallons.

 

[user 574]

I'm sure you can find some at a store that has a large selection of craft beers. Give them a jingle and go nab a bottle. I bought a bottle last year since I never had any either and decided to give it a go as well. I made a prickly pear mead a couple months ago (not ready yet).

Like shunoshi said, it's kind of hard to explain.

 

[BlendieOfIndie]

Thanks for the help.

I have a few more questions now:

1) Does mead have a complex scent like wine?

2) Does the type of honey have as big an impact as choosing a grape for wine (ex merlot vs cabernet)?

This stuff is very interesting to me because there is a very small commercial market.

 

[user 574]

considering I've officially had 1 commerical bottle and samples of mine while in the fermenter I'm not your source of info. I have read that types of honey does have affect on the product.

I figured I'd share this site: www.gotmead.com for you though. I prowled this site before I got my 1st batch going to learn a bit.

 

[mrfocus]

Another good website is: http://www.meadworks.ca/

As for the questions, I can't say.

 

[shunoshi]

considering I've officially had 1 commerical bottle and samples of mine while in the fermenter I'm not your source of info. I have read that types of honey does have affect on the product.

I figured I'd share this site: www.gotmead.com for you though. I prowled this site before I got my 1st batch going to learn a bit.

I'm in the exact same boat and was going to recommend the same site. They have lots of friendly folks that are as fanatical about mead as everyone here is about beer. I only found it appropriate to mention this place to them when I mentioned my beer brewing roots, since HBT rocks! :rockin:

 

[Nan]

The time I made mead, was with low grade honey, really dark in colour, it even had bee wings in it, but it all filtered out ok. and made a super drink. A very rich viscose wine. Later I changed the recipe a little and added some mashed ginger root to the brew, that was very nice on a cold snowy day.

 

[Drew966]

I had the Redstone mead (I think it was their traditional mead). It tasted a lot like a white wine.

 

[Jeepsn beer]

reading this thread made me crack open a bottle. Mead is (imho) wine like without the acidity or tannin. Smells fantastic! And packs a whollup. The only reason I can think of that mead is not consumed more is that it takes forever, and is expensive to make. As far as the honey is concerned, I personally have never tasted a honey that was bad. Now that i have made mead, I make darn sure I have one brewing at all times so I don't run out and have plenty to share with friends. Make one you won't regret it.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I bought my honey at costco. They had six pounds for 8 or 9 dollars. Seemed to have turned out pretty good on my first batch. I would like to buy some raw honey and try that. Next time I go up to Prescott I might pick some up.

 

[drobbins]

as long as people are tossing other sites around I'll mention this one

http://www.beesource.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=256

it's the meadmaking part of a beekeeping forum
keep in mind the folks there are beekeepers, like me
I'm working on my first batch which I made at a brewin of the local brew club on national mead day, there were lot's of samples around, all were tasty

Dave

 

[MikeRLynch]

If someone comes up to me and expresses an interest in brewing for the first time, I tell them to mix up a relatively low gravity 1 gal batch of traditional mead. It illustrates the whole fermentation process a lot more clearly than beer brewing. It's the simplest thing to make, all it takes is patience, (which, after learning about fermentation, is the next biggest lesson)

mike

 

[mischief]

It is possible to turn out a decent mead on the first try. My first batch has been deemed "acceptable" to "good" by people who like mead and disgustingly sweet by people who don't like mead.

Which is the problem with mead, it is a sweat drink and tastes like honey, so if that is a flavor you like, it will be good. If you don't like sweet drinks, don't drink mead. You won't like it.

Good luck.

 

[talleymonster]

I got this recipe from Yooper. It doesn't really follow all the rules, for example it calls for bread yeast instead of wine/champagne yeast. But she says it's good, and it's an easy first recipe. And it's only a 1 gallon batch, that way you can test it out and make sure you like it before you go spend a bunch of money on honey for a 5 gallon batch!

Here it is: (It's long!)

Ancient Orange Mead

1 gallon batch


3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon

Process:

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy

Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.

I've got 1 gallon churning away right now.

 

[shunoshi]

I got this recipe from Yooper. It doesn't really follow all the rules, for example it calls for bread yeast instead of wine/champagne yeast. But she says it's good, and it's an easy first recipe. And it's only a 1 gallon batch, that way you can test it out and make sure you like it before you go spend a bunch of money on honey for a 5 gallon batch!







I've got 1 gallon churning away right now.

DING! That's the Joe's Ancient Orange I was talking about! I have a gallon resting in a kitchen cupboard as I type this. I can't wait to try it...my first mead :rockin:

As a side note, I guess this mead likes slightly warmer temps (warmer than beer). Between 70 and 80 degrees is preferable.

 

[MikeRLynch]

It is possible to turn out a decent mead on the first try. My first batch has been deemed "acceptable" to "good" by people who like mead and disgustingly sweet by people who don't like mead.

Which is the problem with mead, it is a sweat drink and tastes like honey, so if that is a flavor you like, it will be good. If you don't like sweet drinks, don't drink mead. You won't like it.

Good luck.

Not at all true, sorry to say. My first batch of mead was thin and lacked body, but overly sweet it was not. In fact it was quite dry, like a white wine as Jeepsn said, without the acidity or tannin. It is common for wine yeast to take a mead all the way to extream dryness quickly. This is where the whole idea of using mead as a first timers tool come into play, it can teach about fermentability (word?). Honey is almost 100% fermentable, so the yeast will eat up almost as much honey as you put in. In order to get a sweet mead there are two options: Overload the initial amount of honey so the yeast get tired and stop converting it to alcohol (residual sugar) or ferment out your mead to dryness (no residual sugar) and backsweeten with either more honey at bottling time, or in a secondary. (warnings of stabilizing mead first to follow, im sure).

So don't be put off if you don't like a sweet mead, the variety of even a basic traditional mead runs the gammut from cough syrup sweet to need-a-glass-of-water dry. It's all to your taste

mike

 

[Jeepsn beer]

^^^^ well said.

 

[mgayer]

I would agree! Mead is my favorite drink, could be those Norse roots!! Mead is as complex and varies as much as the wines. I don't know of anything that hasn't been tried with honey fermentation. What you will find is that two thing have a big impact on mead taste. The first of course is the honey. It will give the underlying tones and flavor. The second is the yeast. Each yeast imparts character and flavor, some much better than others. Esters are formed that can give the same characteristics as wines, from bone dry to tropical fruity.

Make a gallon and see how you like it. Add fruit or spices or go with the Apple juice as a cyser is great anytime.

 

[Shakz]

This place has rave reviews....order a bottle from them. The brewmaster/owner did a podcast interview with a beer brewing website. They posted it on gotmead.com but I cant remember the website the interview is on.

http://www.rabbitsfootmeadery.com/

 

[MikeRLynch]

He did an interview on the Brewing Network. If you use iTunes, look up the Sunday Session and find the Mead Show. The owners of GotMead.com and Honeywine.com also make appearances. It was a good show, it introduced everything from the most basic to the really interesting mead types.

mike

 

[justin7]

That calls for 15lbs of honey, anyone know what that is in volume?

 

[Docapi]

It would be about 5 quarts. Honey is usually sold by the pound, though.