New Mead Maker!

[passionatereds]

Hi everyone!

I learned how to make mead recently while working at a meadery in my city. I also have found that the mead subreddit is great for information on their wiki. I've home brewed a few small batches (1 gallon). I was surprised at how well they came out. My first ever batch got wasted when I didn't realize that my siphon tube had slipped out of the carboy while racking. I was able to salvage about a 1/2 gallon, which I angrily drank without doing any other fining to it. It was such a bummer, but I learned a lesson. The ants were very happy with my offering!

My friend has bees, so we have a bartering deal going on where he gives me honey and I give him 1/3 of the final product. I've made a few batches with his honey and they came out great, considering they're wildflower honey and naturally have a little funk to it. The best one yet was one where I used mostly tart cherry juice and lime in primary fermentation.

I am now working on my 4th batch (with orange blossom honey), which will be a lower ABV at around 7%. I upgraded to using a FermZilla (1 gallon carboys are so small and when stirring, it's easy to overflow) and I'm making my first ever 5-gallon batch. I still haven't decided on the flavor, but I'm sure looking through recipes on here will guide me. 5 gallons is a lot of product for me and my boyfriend to drink, so I want to find something we can both enjoy. I eventually want to get into kegging and carbonating my brews, but I need to get a few more brews under my belt before investing in the equipment that I need. I'd love some advice on bottle carbonating, I'm a little scared of bottle bombs.

I'm looking forward to reading and learning more from everyone here. Cheers!

 

[ncbrewer]

Welcome to HBT.

 

[wildtower]

I also want to try mead making after I get the hang of brewing beer. It's nice you have a honey supply, orange blossom honey sounds amazing.

Bottle bombs are real! I had a cheap grolsch bottle explode on me immediately!

 

[passionatereds]

I also want to try mead making after I get the hang of brewing beer. It's nice you have a honey supply, orange blossom honey sounds amazing.

Bottle bombs are real! I had a cheap grolsch bottle explode on me immediately!

I don't know much about making beer, but all I can tell you is that making mead seems less intense and is more of a waiting game, than anything.

I just order my honey online! There are many small websites and if you must, you can always order from Amazon.

 

[wildtower]

I love the taste of honey and I'm looking forward to making and drinking my own mead, maybe this autumn. Ideally I'd like to buy honey from a local farmer I'll have to look around.

I didn't realize you could make bubbly mead, I've only ever had it still.

 

[T Murph]

Welcome to the community. Lots of info here for meads of all styles. I too am a big fan of meads. Regarding your concern over bottle bombs, that is a real concern. I commonly make 5 gal batches. I have two on tap now, a Raspberry and a Blackberry Melomel. Orange blossom is by far my honey of choice. And a sparkling Manderin Orange Melomel is my favorite mead. I only keg my brews whether its mead or beer. It's much less work, less space to store and less items to clean etc. Have fun, explore your options and respect the mead.

 

[passionatereds]

Welcome to the community. Lots of info here for meads of all styles. I too am a big fan of meads. Regarding your concern over bottle bombs, that is a real concern. I commonly make 5 gal batches. I have two on tap now, a Raspberry and a Blackberry Melomel. Orange blossom is by far my honey of choice. And a sparkling Manderin Orange Melomel is my favorite mead. I only keg my brews whether its mead or beer. It's much less work, less space to store and less items to clean etc. Have fun, explore your options and respect the mead.

Mandarin Orange Melomel sounds really good! I definitely want to get into kegging. I don't have a kegerator or other equipment, yet, but that is the goal. I would love to have meads on tap. I don't know if it would be good or dangerous, ha!

 

[T Murph]

@passionatereds yeah it does pose a hazard as on tap its too easy to have too many. But I really like going over to the kegerator and drawing a glass at the end of the day. And noon, afternoon, early evening, late at night, hence the warning to respect the mead. It can leave you with a terrible headache and hang over. But yeah you gotta try a Mandarin Orange Melomel, the best one ever as far as I'm concerned. As you progress consider Torpedo kegs. You can get them in 1.6, 2.6, and 5 gal and up. A little pricy but I think they are the best kegs available to homebrewers. And the smaller ones fit nicely in the fridge plus they are great for taking your brews to events etc.