I sampled my first mead a few years back and found out that I absolutely loved mead and really wanted some more. It was not so much that I ran out right away and brewed a batch or even researched what it would take, but I did talk to those who would listen about this awesome mead I had. Word got around to the brewer who made the mead. He was in the process of moving and said he was not moving his mead and gave me several gallons of it as a gift. I was really hooked then. I enjoyed having the mead but of course after awhile the supply began to diminish. I had told several friends that I would bring some of my mead to a camp out several months in the future but I drank it all well before then. I told my wife I wanted to try and make my own and see if I could get anywhere close to what I had in the original mead that was gifted to me. I was sure that I could not get it ready for the camp out but would have it for the future. My wife told me then that she actually had a recipe in a old cook book that claimed the mead would be ready for bottling in less than 6 weeks and good to drink in 2 months. I decided to go for it and follow the recipe. My brother who brews beer was easy to talk into helping me brew a batch of mead. We went to gather supplies and begin or mead making journey. First he wanted to get a 6.5 gallon glass carboy instead of the buckets he had been using for his beer. While we were there he insisted that instead of the active dry yeast called for in my wife's cookbook we pick up a wine yeast. We went with what was recommended and headed back to make the mead.
The recipe called for:
1 gallon of water
4 pounds of honey
1 lemon juiced and the lemon peel
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 or 2 cloves
and 1/8 teaspoon of dry yeast to add after placing in the bottle to ferment.
We sanitized everything of curse. We substituted the active dry yeast out and used the wine yeast and used spring water. we also were making a 5 gallon batch so everything got multiplied by 5. The recipe called for us to bring the ingredients to a low boil and boil for 30 minutes. It then had you cool it to less than 70 degrees and put it in a gallon container and add the yeast. We did not have a big enough kettle for cooking all of the ingredients at once so we cooked everything and just one gallon of the water. I basically juiced the lemons and threw all of it including the left over pulp into the pot. After the 30 minutes we placed the entire pot in and ice bath to cool it to less than 70 degrees. When it cooled we used a funnel and a strained off the bigger solids as we placed it in the carboy. We filled it the rest of the way with the desired amount of spring water and took an initial gravity. After adding the yeast the recipe said to stir it but since we had it in a carboy and not a bucket we just agitated the carboy. We put on the Airlock and moved it to his closet.
The recipe said that it would stop fermenting by 6 weeks and then you could bottle it and let it sit in the bottles about two weeks before drinking. I called and came by to visit my mead at his house over the next several weeks. I really started doing more research about the whole process of making mead.
I started getting worried about how we made our mead and the time table for having it ready. I did not previously know anything about racking it into the secondary. I started wondering if there were enough proteins for the yeast. At our original target bottling date it was still fermenting strong. we decided then that we would leave it in the primary as long as possible and bottle it the day before the camping trip depending on the fermentation. I think using the different yeast gave us more fermentation than what we would have gotten from the original recipe. A few days before the new bottling date the fermentation slowed down dramatically. On the bottling date we tested the gravity and calculated we had a 11% ABV mead. We tasted it and I was surprised at how good and smooth it was. I was still worried we had not given it enough time to stop fermenting before bottling. All of our bottles had the plastic flip top stoppers on them so I rested easier knowing I could burp them and reseal them quickly to clear any pressure build up. I took the mead camping and me and my friends absolutely loved it. I received so many compliments even though all I could think about was what I wanted to do different next time to get a higher ABV and let it age and ferment more. Problem is as good as the mead is to me I will shortly be in the same predicament of running low if I do not get to making my next batch. I would love to hear some ideas about things I can do for my next batch and of course critiques on my obvious mistakes. I am gathering my ingredients and will be making the next batch this weekend plus I am buying a few small carboys so I can start experimenting with different flavors and ideas. I think I have found something I can really enjoy the fruits of my hobby going forward.
Thanks for following along on my long read and I hope to gain some valuable information from the forums.
The recipe called for:
1 gallon of water
4 pounds of honey
1 lemon juiced and the lemon peel
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 or 2 cloves
and 1/8 teaspoon of dry yeast to add after placing in the bottle to ferment.
We sanitized everything of curse. We substituted the active dry yeast out and used the wine yeast and used spring water. we also were making a 5 gallon batch so everything got multiplied by 5. The recipe called for us to bring the ingredients to a low boil and boil for 30 minutes. It then had you cool it to less than 70 degrees and put it in a gallon container and add the yeast. We did not have a big enough kettle for cooking all of the ingredients at once so we cooked everything and just one gallon of the water. I basically juiced the lemons and threw all of it including the left over pulp into the pot. After the 30 minutes we placed the entire pot in and ice bath to cool it to less than 70 degrees. When it cooled we used a funnel and a strained off the bigger solids as we placed it in the carboy. We filled it the rest of the way with the desired amount of spring water and took an initial gravity. After adding the yeast the recipe said to stir it but since we had it in a carboy and not a bucket we just agitated the carboy. We put on the Airlock and moved it to his closet.
The recipe said that it would stop fermenting by 6 weeks and then you could bottle it and let it sit in the bottles about two weeks before drinking. I called and came by to visit my mead at his house over the next several weeks. I really started doing more research about the whole process of making mead.
I started getting worried about how we made our mead and the time table for having it ready. I did not previously know anything about racking it into the secondary. I started wondering if there were enough proteins for the yeast. At our original target bottling date it was still fermenting strong. we decided then that we would leave it in the primary as long as possible and bottle it the day before the camping trip depending on the fermentation. I think using the different yeast gave us more fermentation than what we would have gotten from the original recipe. A few days before the new bottling date the fermentation slowed down dramatically. On the bottling date we tested the gravity and calculated we had a 11% ABV mead. We tasted it and I was surprised at how good and smooth it was. I was still worried we had not given it enough time to stop fermenting before bottling. All of our bottles had the plastic flip top stoppers on them so I rested easier knowing I could burp them and reseal them quickly to clear any pressure build up. I took the mead camping and me and my friends absolutely loved it. I received so many compliments even though all I could think about was what I wanted to do different next time to get a higher ABV and let it age and ferment more. Problem is as good as the mead is to me I will shortly be in the same predicament of running low if I do not get to making my next batch. I would love to hear some ideas about things I can do for my next batch and of course critiques on my obvious mistakes. I am gathering my ingredients and will be making the next batch this weekend plus I am buying a few small carboys so I can start experimenting with different flavors and ideas. I think I have found something I can really enjoy the fruits of my hobby going forward.
Thanks for following along on my long read and I hope to gain some valuable information from the forums.
