So, what should I expect?

[Firestix]

Ok, to start with: I'm new to making mead. I have, however, been brewing cider for about a year. I'm also a beekeeper. Having said that:
I recently harvested some honey from the bee yard. I'm generally not interested in making mead because it is more profitable for me to sell the honey. But, after honey harvest I have a lot of honey coated beeswax to clean up. So I soaked all my beeswax in a clean bucket. The results were clean wax to be melted down for sale, and a gallon of honey/water mixture that measured 1.061 OG. So I figured I'd try to take a shot at fermenting it. I repitched some Nottingham (yeast that I had harvested and froze from a previous cider batch) with some nutrient and energizer. It has been fermenting steadily for about a week in a glass gallon growler. I don't plan on letting it fully ferment out, but instead rack it to a secondary and then bottling it to carbonate. I'll then pasteurize it.

So here's the question. What should I expect this to taste like? I'm kinda shooting for something between 5% - 7% (kinda how we like our ciders) with a little carbonation. Should I be hopeful ... or is this going to potentially be a disaster?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Drewed]

It should taste like like honey on velvet, if all goes well. Most likely it will taste somewhere between honey velvet and rocket fuel with a hint of honey.
You may have a hard time stopping the ferment. I'd let it go until dry and then backsweeten. IF you want to have some fun with it, feed it a little bit honey ever few days to week until the Notty gives up from being too drunk to work any more, then add more honey to taste and bottle. It wont carb up, but you will have one hell of a nice sweet mead.
Or try and catch it on the way down, but with with out a cold crash it wont clear. Not that cloudy mead is a bad thing.

 

[Firestix]

Yeah, I'm gonna give it about 2 more days ... rack it to a bottling vessel and bottle it for carbonation. It's ok id its 4 or 5 percent and cloudy. I just want it to taste good.

 

[Maylar]

You could let it ferment dry then backsweeten/prime with more of the same honey.

 

[Drewed]

Yeah, I'm gonna give it about 2 more days ... rack it to a bottling vessel and bottle it for carbonation. It's ok id its 4 or 5 percent and cloudy. I just want it to taste good.

Be careful. You don't know how much sugar is left and you could end up over carbonated, or worse- boom!

 

[Firestix]

Be careful. You don't know how much sugar is left and you could end up over carbonated, or worse- boom!

It's all good. I use a couple of plastic soda bottles to gauge carbonation... then I pasteurized.

 

[bernardsmith]

Pasteurization may be what cider makers do (if they come to cider making as brewers) but cider (and mead) taste magnitudes better if they are not subjected to brewing heat. That simply destroys the complex flavors and aromatics that are in the fruit (assuming that the cider maker is using cider apples and not apple juice sold in the supermarket) or the honey (assuming that the flowers the bees have been harvesting are flowers that the beeks have aimed their bees at to produce the honey they want. In other words, there is a cost to pasteurization that may or may not be felt depending on the quality of the fruit or in this case, the honey. But hey! yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance..

 

[Firestix]

Pasteurization may be what cider makers do (if they come to cider making as brewers) but cider (and mead) taste magnitudes better if they are not subjected to brewing heat. That simply destroys the complex flavors and aromatics that are in the fruit (assuming that the cider maker is using cider apples and not apple juice sold in the supermarket) or the honey (assuming that the flowers the bees have been harvesting are flowers that the beeks have aimed their bees at to produce the honey they want. In other words, there is a cost to pasteurization that may or may not be felt depending on the quality of the fruit or in this case, the honey. But hey! yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance..

I understand what you're saying, but my cider is from store juice. (Don't hate, I live in coastal NC and I'm not driving hours for apples) As for honey, we practice natural beekeeping and let the bees gather what's in season. It's actually very delicious. I dont have a keg set and not able to convince myself (or the Mrs) that i need to purchase the extra equipment. But thank you for the advice! I'm in the process of planting a small orchard with pears, and apples. Maybe I'll try fresh pressed juice when they start producing.

 

[Firestix]

Bottled my "mead" and pasteurized it. It's about 5.5% ABV and we love it. It's sweet and very satisfyinging since it came from the wild swarm that we caught. Cheers!

 

[bernardsmith]

Bottled my "mead" and pasteurized it. It's about 5.5% ABV and we love it. It's sweet and very satisfyinging since it came from the wild swarm that we caught. Cheers!

I am envious. That's all I can say. Mead (cyser) from your own honey. (sigh).