Mead - the homebrew thread

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Beerontwowheels said:
Found a 10g whiskey barrel today on the interwebz. Wasn't cheap, but at least the search is over (still some left @ midwestbarrelco.com, in case anyone is interested). Purchased this morning and already have tracking info.

Will pull a sample of the mead tonight (for science) and figure out what the hell I am doing with regards to fining/clarification. Any suggestions? Bentonite, SuperKleer, etc.? Haven't used finings before, hoping I don't have to. I guess I could coldcrash it...
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Personally i don't use any finings, just time and coldcrashing provide enough clarity. But if I were to put this in a barrel I wouldn't worry about clarifying it until after you dump it from the barrel.
 
mjohnson17 said:
Personally i don't use any finings, just time and coldcrashing provide enough clarity. But if I were to put this in a barrel I wouldn't worry about clarifying it until after you dump it from the barrel.
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Makes sense. I don't really want to use any finings, so maybe a few weeks in the barrel and then rack to a keg for cold crashing, transfer to new keg for bottling. That'll do.
 
Bottled my first batch of mead yesterday. After the first fermentation I racked it into 2 different varieties: one dry mead and one with vanilla and raspberries. The dry mead is oxidized because I had too much headspace in my carboy (I tried adding marbles, but there were too few marbles). The vanilla/raspberry one came out pretty good, though I can't taste any vanilla in it :)
 
elkhunter36 said:
And today is pyment day. We ended up with 24 quarts of concord grape juice this year so making 2 batches, one with our usual Wisconsin white clover honey and one with orange blossom honey. Will be fun to try them side by side.


Click to expand...


Bottled the pyment over the weekend. Both finished at 13.39%

 
I've got a few questions about adding sulfite and sorbate. I made my first batch of mead without adding any of those, based on the Schramm book recipe. Now I'm looking to make a second batch and I'm looking for a new recipe. I noticed that most of these recipes add sulfite and sorbate to the mead, with the goal to stabilize everything and avoid bottle bombs.
Now I am wondering a few things:

1) Is my first mead dangerous? Do I have a chance on exploding bottles? (I had a SG of 1.112 and had a FG of 1.002 going into secondary and three months later I bottles it with a FG of 1.002, so it was stable for two months in secondary even though I added raspberries in secondary).
2) How is it that Schramm doesn't use any sulfite in his meads, yet doesn't have any exploding bottles? What does he do to avoid it? I understand that, once the FG is stable normally the fermentation has stopped and the chance of exploding bottles is small, however there's always a small chance the fermentation will start again when there's lots of residual sugars.
 
Ednolb said:
I've got a few questions about adding sulfite and sorbate. I made my first batch of mead without adding any of those, based on the Schramm book recipe. Now I'm looking to make a second batch and I'm looking for a new recipe. I noticed that most of these recipes add sulfite and sorbate to the mead, with the goal to stabilize everything and avoid bottle bombs.
Now I am wondering a few things:

1) Is my first mead dangerous? Do I have a chance on exploding bottles? (I had a SG of 1.112 and had a FG of 1.002 going into secondary and three months later I bottles it with a FG of 1.002, so it was stable for two months in secondary even though I added raspberries in secondary).
2) How is it that Schramm doesn't use any sulfite in his meads, yet doesn't have any exploding bottles? What does he do to avoid it? I understand that, once the FG is stable normally the fermentation has stopped and the chance of exploding bottles is small, however there's always a small chance the fermentation will start again when there's lots of residual sugars.
Click to expand...
I never use sorbate or sulfite either. I’m perscibe to The Book of Ken. And I’ve only ever had 2 meads carbonate in the Bottle. One was my fault because I added fresh lime juice at bottling (don’t introduce new sugars). The second was a cranberry mead that I was too impatient with and bottled a little too earlier. TBH that was a good mistake because I like the sparkling cranberry better than still.

As far as will you have bottle bombs on hand, sounds like you should be safe. If your FG was 1.002 AND you moved it to secondary for another 2 months with no movement it sounds stable. However I am a little surprised that you added additional sugars in the form of raspberries in secondary and it still stayed at that. Did you notice any activity in the airlock after adding fruit? It’s possible you transferred at 1.002, added fruit to bump it up something higher, then it refermented down to 1.002 again. That would be a coincidence.

Whatever the case you’re probably fine. You might get some bubbly bottles, just keep an eye on them as open one every so often to track progress. If they’re still still after a month in the bottle then you’re safe.
 
Did a lot of mead this weekend.

First up is a wild blueberry mead I made that ended up being a bit too tart. So to smooth it out I added maple syrup.


Then I transferred a massive mixed berry melomel.
3bOaQpc.jpg


This was the settling after 24 hours.
AqbhNFs.jpg


Then hit a cherry melomel with some vanilla.
lvRWaZY.jpg

vbYhNjI.jpg
 
mjohnson17 said:
However I am a little surprised that you added additional sugars in the form of raspberries in secondary and it still stayed at that. Did you notice any activity in the airlock after adding fruit? It’s possible you transferred at 1.002, added fruit to bump it up something higher, then it refermented down to 1.002 again. That would be a coincidence.
Click to expand...

I did saw airlock activity for two weeks while in secondary, but it was slow. Maybe a bubble/2-3 minutes.
I must say I was surprised too when I saw that my FG was the same as before. Makes me wonder if I misread my hydrometer...

Thanks for the advice!
 
Ednolb said:
I've got a few questions about adding sulfite and sorbate. I made my first batch of mead without adding any of those, based on the Schramm book recipe. Now I'm looking to make a second batch and I'm looking for a new recipe. I noticed that most of these recipes add sulfite and sorbate to the mead, with the goal to stabilize everything and avoid bottle bombs.
Now I am wondering a few things:

1) Is my first mead dangerous? Do I have a chance on exploding bottles? (I had a SG of 1.112 and had a FG of 1.002 going into secondary and three months later I bottles it with a FG of 1.002, so it was stable for two months in secondary even though I added raspberries in secondary).
2) How is it that Schramm doesn't use any sulfite in his meads, yet doesn't have any exploding bottles? What does he do to avoid it? I understand that, once the FG is stable normally the fermentation has stopped and the chance of exploding bottles is small, however there's always a small chance the fermentation will start again when there's lots of residual sugars.
Click to expand...

Based on my reading of Ken's book, the Schramm method relies on reaching the alcohol tolerance of the yeast so there's no need for sorbates or sulfites to halt fermentation or kill yeast.

If your mead was stable for that long, like mjohnson17 said, you're probably safe.

What did you use for closures? If corks, it's likely the cork will push up over the mouth of the bottle before bombs would happen. If caps, check to see if any bottles have carb on a schedule of a few weeks at a time. If all looks good, the mead is likely stable for the long haul.
 
That’s what I got from the book too, but it isn’t a very accurate method, right? And that is something that would surprise me with Schramm’s being a professional meadery. The chance of things going wrong is too big that way...
 
Ednolb said:
That’s what I got from the book too, but it isn’t a very accurate method, right? And that is something that would surprise me with Schramm’s being a professional meadery. The chance of things going wrong is too big that way...
Click to expand...
This is my completely unsubstantiated thinking, but Schramms waits WAY longer than most meaderies to release their meads. As mentioned Ken goes all the way up to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. That coupled with letting a mead sit in secondary or terciary for an additional 3,4,6 months (w/ no airlock or hydrometer activity) to naturally clear provides a relatively safe, but no foolproof, method to ensure no carbonation. In my experience of making mead for almost 5 years I’ve found the same thing. Leave a mead long enough and you’re safe. I’ve left a mead in terciary for over a year.
 
I made my first mead and didn't add sulfite or sorbate. I also didn't wait long enough to bottle. Incidentally I had bottled it in flip tops. I just burped the bottles and drank a gallon of mediocre mead much quicker than I had planned. This doesn't help at all but is my experience.
 
Ednolb said:
That’s what I got from the book too, but it isn’t a very accurate method, right? And that is something that would surprise me with Schramm’s being a professional meadery. The chance of things going wrong is too big that way...
Click to expand...

mjohnson17 said:
This is my completely unsubstantiated thinking, but Schramms waits WAY longer than most meaderies to release their meads. As mentioned Ken goes all the way up to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. That coupled with letting a mead sit in secondary or terciary for an additional 3,4,6 months (w/ no airlock or hydrometer activity) to naturally clear provides a relatively safe, but no foolproof, method to ensure no carbonation. In my experience of making mead for almost 5 years I’ve found the same thing. Leave a mead long enough and you’re safe. I’ve left a mead in terciary for over a year.
Click to expand...

If memory serves, there have been a few instances of slightly carbed Schramm's bottles which had been replaced by the meadery if brought to their attention. Personally, I think having a slightly carbed bottle wouldn't be a bad thing, provided it wasn't going to explode at some point.
 
Mead bottling / making day.

Bottled the experimental cranberry.
It went from this:
0eBeDmcl.jpg



To this:

IjflbUH.jpg



It's good but super dry. It will be fun to get some feedback on this one. I think it needs more cranberry.




Also when we picked fruit in August we had some extra so we froze them until we had some free time and fermenter space.

Blackberry:

aIJpq0f.jpg



And Red Currant:

tlVZCaC.jpg




ZWyHuvb.jpg
 
Hey, I went to bottle my melomel today and it is still not super clear. I have floating particles of blackberries and raspberries. Is there any reason to not use a sterile strainer like a coffee filter to filter out the floating bits at the top of the melomel?
 
Should have racked again....stuff floating at the top makes me think it could be fermenting yet? Ive personally never had floaters when bottling...always sediment on the bottom, and not much of that at bottling. ( I’ve racked 4x before I was happy with clarity) who knows though?
 
Jb123 said:
Should have racked again....stuff floating at the top makes me think it could be fermenting yet? Ive personally never had floaters when bottling...always sediment on the bottom, and not much of that at bottling. ( I’ve racked 4x before I was happy with clarity) who knows though?
Click to expand...

Yeah I think I should rack again. The couple bottles I did do I can see already some of the pieces that are floating starting to move down and sediment is moving down. Fermentation has completely stopped. I has been sitting on fruits since October. I really should follow directions with racking several times.
 
souredstouts said:
Yeah I think I should rack again. The couple bottles I did do I can see already some of the pieces that are floating starting to move down and sediment is moving down. Fermentation has completely stopped. I has been sitting on fruits since October. I really should follow directions with racking several times.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it helps. It’s a pain in the ass imo but always pays off. Especially with such a large investment that is mead making. Better to take the time.
 
Jb123 said:
Yeah, it helps. It’s a pain in the ass imo but always pays off. Especially with such a large investment that is mead making. Better to take the time.
Click to expand...

I did a few different types and found that the whole pitted cherries wont need as much filtering as the raspberry/blackberry blend will. Should have seen that one coming.
 
Ended up making a big ol orange blossom mead tonight. The goal is to make sure it finishes sweet so I can blend with a stone fruit mead that's a little too dry. OG was 1.14 with a pH of 3.59 and I used 20g of 71B. I'm going to ferment at 62ish, and raise it over the next couple weeks to 68ish. I'll probably oak whatever I don't end up using to blend, or mixing it with something else.
 
I've got another batch of mango short mead fermenting away. Looking forward to doing some other short mead variants soon (I think Galaxy dry hopped is next), but I wanted an NHC entry and decided to stick with what I already know to work. Will also be making up a big batch of meadowfoam traditional mead this coming weekend. Plan will be to secondary the whole thing (5 gallons) on some oak, and then bottle some of it straight and rack the other half on coca nibs and coffee beans.
 
axeman9182 said:
I've got another batch of mango short mead fermenting away. Looking forward to doing some other short mead variants soon (I think Galaxy dry hopped is next), but I wanted an NHC entry and decided to stick with what I already know to work. Will also be making up a big batch of meadowfoam traditional mead this coming weekend. Plan will be to secondary the whole thing (5 gallons) on some oak, and then bottle some of it straight and rack the other half on coca nibs and coffee beans.
Click to expand...
Ever used cocoa nibs with mead? Less is def more!
 
Thread is lacking pictures.

Bottling a few small experimental batches
IMG_45401_zpsvupqn932.jpg


Strawberry PB&J mead.

IMG_45311_zpsaogtsoh2.jpg


Taste is nice. Lost a bit of the peanut flavor over the last few weeks, but it's definitely still there. I'm more sad that I lost any red color from the strawberries. I de-seeded the strawberries, which left more of the whiter center than the red outer skin. That coupled with adding the strawberries to primary seemed to have lost that red color I was going for. But the flavors are still there.

Thunder In Paradise: A Orange Blossom w/ Pineapple & Orange
IMG_45391_zpsfcfaxifs.jpg


Triple Cherry - A mix of sweet and tart cherries with vanilla.
IMG_45751_zpsehl20xot.jpg


Nice clarity for completely natural fining/filtering, i.e. no use of finings or filtering.
IMG_46061_zpsuv0455ec.jpg
 
How much vanilla do y'all use? I got a dry traditional I want to add a subtle vanilla character to. I got a couple of beans of Madagascar and Mexican vanilla but haven't decided how much to use yet
 
doobiegoobie said:
How much vanilla do y'all use? I got a dry traditional I want to add a subtle vanilla character to. I got a couple of beans of Madagascar and Mexican vanilla but haven't decided how much to use yet
Click to expand...
I like to use just over half a bean per gallon, but that definitely gives a strong vanilla flavor. For a subtle flavor I might use 1/4 of a bean per gallon.

Also I mostly use vanilla in melomels so it's got other strong flavors to compete with

Edit: after reading mjohnson17's post below, I thought it would be helpful to add that I usually give the vanilla about 1-2 months in secondary. Highly highly recommend getting a wine thief and tasting as it goes though
 
Last edited:
doobiegoobie said:
How much vanilla do y'all use? I got a dry traditional I want to add a subtle vanilla character to. I got a couple of beans of Madagascar and Mexican vanilla but haven't decided how much to use yet
Click to expand...
Depends. vanilla flavor will depend on not just the amount of beans, but things like the quality of beans, size, and duration of contact with the mead.

However to offer something actually useful, if you're looking for subtle vanilla I'd shoot for 1 beans per gallon for 2 weeks. Taste and if you want more leave in longer and/or add beans.
 
Is it just me or is Meadowfoam a particularly PITA honey to work with. Even with a much longer hot water bath than I normally give, the honey stayed fairly chunky and mixing it up was an absolute *****.
 
axeman9182 said:
Is it just me or is Meadowfoam a particularly PITA honey to work with. Even with a much longer hot water bath than I normally give, the honey stayed fairly chunky and mixing it up was an absolute *****.
Click to expand...
I had trouble with my meadowmaple, but haven't worked with pure meadowfoam yet.

What yeast are you going with? I'm not thrilled with my results using a combo of 71B and D47. I feel like I want a less expressive yeast strain. I don't want fruity esters covering up the honey character.
 
Beerontwowheels said:
I had trouble with my meadowmaple, but haven't worked with pure meadowfoam yet.

What yeast are you going with? I'm not thrilled with my results using a combo of 71B and D47. I feel like I want a less expressive yeast strain. I don't want fruity esters covering up the honey character.
Click to expand...

I've only used 71B and it hasn't done me wrong yet, so stuck with that.
 
axeman9182 said:
Is it just me or is Meadowfoam a particularly PITA honey to work with. Even with a much longer hot water bath than I normally give, the honey stayed fairly chunky and mixing it up was an absolute *****.
Click to expand...
It's definitely not just you. On top of what I bought for brewing, I bought an extra 1 lbs container just to have on toast and stuff. Ended up throwing away the bottom portion of the bottle because it wouldn't liquefy no matter how long I left it in hot water
 
going to try a carrot cake mead today. I searched this thread for "carrot" and didn't see any results. Going for 1 gallon.

thoughts?

3 pounds honey, going to add to slow cooker and burn it a bit
1.3 pounds frozen carrot
40 oz fresh carrot juice (busted out the juicer I bought in 1992)
56 oz water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 clove
1/2 pound raisins
EC-1118 because thats what I have on me
I also just boiled 1/2 cups pecans - not sure if I'll add the pecans or a bit of the water. I don't want it to be too nutty

I have no clue what to expect, but I just ate carrot cake, so.........why not.
 

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