My first batches of meads are done!

[Tropical Mead]

Today I finished my Vikings Blood mead, Traditional and Cyser

• Vikings blood was 3 pounds of Members mark honey and 2lbs of sweet cherries and k1v-116 yeast. (1 Gallon )
  
  
• Traditional: 2.5lbs of local wildflower honey and D47 yeast ( 1 Gallon )
  
  
• Cyser 1- 1.5lbs of honey, Mott's apple juice, and k1v-116 yeast (Half a Gallon batch)
  
  
• Cyser 1 - 1.5lbs of honey Mott's apple juice, and k1v-116 yeast *This batch was step fed with dead baker's yeast (Half a Gallon batch)

I have never tried mead before I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of the Vikings blood mead and the Cyser that had no yeast nutrients added to it. The Vikings blood was the only one that fermented dry while the Cysers seemed to stall. One of them fermented more than the other. I am giving them some time to see if the gravity drops lower. The traditional I racked and bottled to smaller containers and back-sweetened in hopes of making it more palatable to me. Hoping to start a new 1 gallon batch soon. Would love some recommendations on recipes to try out. Would love some input from more seasoned mead makers as to how I could improve my recipes or any ideas would be welcome. I am trying to gift the meads I make around Christmas so any feedback is appreciated.

 

[Dan O]

Today I finished my Vikings Blood mead, Traditional and Cyser

• Vikings blood was 3 pounds of Members mark honey and 2lbs of sweet cherries and k1v-116 yeast. (1 Gallon )
  
  
• Traditional: 2.5lbs of local wildflower honey and D47 yeast ( 1 Gallon )
  
  
• Cyser 1- 1.5lbs of honey, Mott's apple juice, and k1v-116 yeast (Half a Gallon batch)
  
  
• Cyser 1 - 1.5lbs of honey Mott's apple juice, and k1v-116 yeast *This batch was step fed with dead baker's yeast (Half a Gallon batch)

I have never tried mead before I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of the Vikings blood mead and the Cyser that had no yeast nutrients added to it. The Vikings blood was the only one that fermented dry while the Cysers seemed to stall. One of them fermented more than the other. I am giving them some time to see if the gravity drops lower. The traditional I racked and bottled to smaller containers and back-sweetened in hopes of making it more palatable to me. Hoping to start a new 1 gallon batch soon. Would love some recommendations on recipes to try out. Would love some input from more seasoned mead makers as to how I could improve my recipes or any ideas would be welcome. I am trying to gift the meads I make around Christmas so any feedback is appreciated.

Glad to see another person enjoying the hobby.....but, I hope you stabilize that traditional with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfate before you bottle it. Bottle bombs are a real thing & no joke, they can seriously injure any people or family pets that happen to be around them when they go off, not to mention the mess they can create, (glass & sticky mead....you know what they say.....there's no mess like a mead mess).
That said, if you're looking for meads to gift @ Christmas, try looking @ the BOMM thread. BOMM = Bray's One Month Mead. He has several recipes I make regularly that my friends & family thoroughly enjoy, his Christmas Spice BOMM being one of the many. It takes some ingredients that you need to order, but, the end result is a mead that's just simply delicious .
Here's a link to that one & he has a whole slew of others on his site as well.
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/christmas-spice-bomm/
Enjoy the ride. I know from experience. This is a rabbit hole I will likely never come out of.
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading

 

[Tropical Mead]

Glad to see another person enjoying the hobby.....but, I hope you stabilize that traditional with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfate before you bottle it. Bottle bombs are a real thing & no joke, they can seriously injure any people or family pets that happen to be around them when they go off, not to mentionthe mess they can create, (glass & sticky mead....you know what they say.....there's no mess like a mead mess).
That said, if you're looking for meads to gift @ Christmas, try looking @ the BOMM thread. BOMM = Bray's One Month Mead. He has several recipes I make regularly that my friends & family thoroughly enjoy, his Christmas Spice BOMM being one of the many. It takes some ingredients that you need to order, but, the end result is a mead that's just simply delicious .
Here's a link to that one & he has a whole slew of others on his site as well.
https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/christmas-spice-bomm/
Enjoy the ride. I know from experience. This is a rabbit hole I will likely never come out of.
I hope this helps you.
Happy meading

I am letting them cold crash since some of the lees got transferred while racking them. I use a manual siphon, not an automatic one. I am planning to buy an auto but in the meantime. It's sitting in the fridge being chilled and then I will pasteurize it. The Vikings blood I also racked to another container and I think I got some lees so I am cold crashing it as well even though I didn't back sweeten it. It fermented past dry so I don't think I should have an issue with it. With the cysers I was hoping to get them to the 14-15% abv as I had planned but if they stay at 6-8% I wouldn't beat myself up too much. I also love the amount of mead you have fermenting. I don't plan to try to escape this rabbit hole of fermenting food and drinks.