1st timer

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

Because there aren't enough of these threads..

So I've brewed beer for the last 5 years or so and have a great understanding of the process. Been a big fan of my father-in-laws meads but the other day I drank some of his cherry mead that he'd forgotten he had racking that was sitting in a closet from 7 years ago. It absolutely blew my mind. The cherry had faded (which I'm fine with as I'm not huge on cherries) but the sweetness and minimal tartness mixing with the honey immediately had me switching gears and wanting to jump into the mead game.

Tomorrow he's taking me out to buy some local honey from someone he knows. 15 gallons (lbs / not gallons) for $60 (not sure what the going rate is). Anyways. I plan on using the info in the link I've seen floating around (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html) for my first batch. My main questions are:

1.) Is it best to start off with a 1 gallon batch? I'm used to 5 gallon batches. Is the mead from that link worthy of 5 gallons?

2.) If I instead went with 1 gallon; how reliable is fermenting in a milk jug? Will the mead oxidize the way beer does if it stays in a plastic primary bucket?

I've been drinking a lot of New Day (local meadery in Indianapolis) and absolutely love their Breakfast Magpie (coffee and blackberries) and their Live Currant. I'd love to experiment with different fruits but want to nail down a good base mead. Any help and guidance is much appreciated.

 

[MedievalWays]

GoldenShowerGladiator,

I am happy to hear that you are wanting to join the mead-making community and wish you warm welcome.

First of all I would clarify a point, I assume you meant 15 pounds of honey for $60?
For local honey shops that is actually quite good. I use $4/1lb as my baseline for pricing on honeys as that is roughly the cost of the cheap Clover Honey available at a Walmart if purchasing in 1 pound increments.

You save when:
You buy common honey varieties, i.e. Clover, Orange Blossom, Wildflower.
You buy bulk.

You spend when:
You buy local (usually).
You buy small quantities.
You buy less common varieties, i.e. Tupelo, Holly, Fireweed.

As a whole, meads taste better and better the more they age. Rarely will you find a mead that starts to "go bad" or get worse with age.

Being less knowledgeable when I first started I did the following two things:
First I made a batch of Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (referred to as JOAM around here). You can find this recipe in the mead recipe database on this site. This is a 1 gallon batch.
Second I got a starter mead kit from "Home Brew Heaven" website. A flavor kit called "Nectar of the Gods". This is a 5 gallon batch.

Both of the batches turned out quite amazing. I did some minor tweaking to the JOAM recipe, but followed the NotG to the T.

To actually answer your questions, I have not made the recipe in the one you linked, though looking at it I would assume it to be worthy of a 5 gallon batch provided you scale the recipe correctly.

As for using a plastic milk jug as your fermentor/secondary, I could not tell you if it provides oxidizing issues. Though I can tell you that I did my JOAM in a milk jug and it turned out just fine. I am starting 3 more 1 gallon batches tomorrow and am using 1 gallon spring water jugs for the full process. That being said, I would recommend (if you get serious about mead after your first or second batch) to invest in some smaller 1 and/or 3 gallon carboys for the sake of small batch testing for flavors. No one wants to make 5 gallons and have it come out poorly.

MW

 

[GoldenShowerGladiator]

*15 lbs / not 15 gallons. That would've been a steal

I'm taking your advice and buying a couple 1 gallon carboys today after I pick up the honey. Thanks for the advice, sir.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi. IMO, 3 lbs of honey in a gallon carboy will produce a fine mead so if you are buying 15 lbs then you are OK for about 5 gallons (I say "about" 5 because you may want to back sweeten after you have fermented dry or you may want (not sure that I think it a great idea ) to have a high ABV so you will go for > than 3 lbs per gallon...
Obviously, depending on the ABV and so how much you sip or drink the mead, five gallons may or may not be a reasonable volume. I tend to make some wines and meads in one gallon batches (you need about 10 lbs of strawberries to produce 1 gallon of juice) and some in 3 and some in 5 gallon batches.. Personally, I think making an experimental one gallon batch makes a great deal of sense and then increasing the volume to 3 or 5 or more when you know exactly how to produce what you are looking for (you may really find the variety of honey you get is not one that you like for your mead; you may find that your wine making technique is such that you produce fusels that need much time to age out or you may find that you are not able to cope with the nutrient needs of the honey or its inability to buffer acidic shifts in the fermentation which can result in the fermentation stalling....Personally, I would start small... but to each their own