2 gallon simple mead

[Darthbrewder]

So first, a little history behind this. I recently bought 2 mr. Beer kits from a salvage store for dirt cheap. The kits were still good, as far the ingredients are concerned, they were still within exp dates. I combined both cans of hme into one brew keg because these were " classic American light" kits. Just wanted a little more of a beefy beer out of this. I used the yeast that comes along with it, both packets. Now I'm ready to bottle.

So I just recently got into mead making and I've done a lot of reading, but only just recently started my first mead. A simple one gallon mead. 3 lbs of honey, yeast nutrient, water, yeast. It is in secondary ATM.

I have another 3lbs of honey that I was planning on using for a short mead. But I was thinking about making a two gallon batch instead of a one gallon, by pooring my mead must into the yeast cake inside the mr. Beer keg. I'm not worried about it not fermenting because I have plenty of nutrient to add to the must.

My question or questions is; Has anyone tried this? Will my mead turn out flabby and watery? I know my abv will be low, guessing in the 5-6% range. I'm ok with that. Just wondering if my mead will taste like mead or if it will taste more like water.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

 

[bernardsmith]

I think the answer to your question, Darthbrewer, is... "it depends". It depends because if all you are using is honey, water, yeast and nutrients then all the flavor as well as the alcohol comes from the honey, so in the case of mead the lower the potential ABV the less flavor and perhaps the less mouthfeel there will be. What you might do to counter act the first problem (of flavor) is perhaps look for a varietal honey noted for its flavor -Tupelo, meadowfoam, are possibilities. Another possible approach is to add some more flavor elements - spices? herbs? extracts made from fruit skins? hops?
To tackle the problem of "mouthfeel" - a wine or mead that kinda slips down your throat like water rather than coating your mouth with flavor , you mighty consider stabilizing the mead and then adding some sweetener or simply adding some glycerin or fermenting with a yeast noted for its ability to improve or increase mouthfeel - I have not tried this yeast myself but I hear from other mead makers that DV 10 is just such a yeast...
Bottom line - just because you intend to make a hydromel (or "short" mead) there is no reason that the flavor must be bleh...
Good luck!

 

[Maylar]

And if you're asking if it's OK to ferment your mead on a beer yeast cake, I'm pretty sure I've seen "Don't do that" warnings here. Can't seem to find a thread to reference on that though...

 

[Darthbrewder]

Thank you for your input bernardsmith! I was thinking about adding some blueberries to the must.
I did fail to mention that I was planning in carbing this, don't know if that would make a difference in terms of flavor. I'm sure though it would help with the mouthfeel no doubt.

When I make the must I was thinking about using two types of nutrient. The basic yeast nutrient you can buy at your lhbs and some bee pollen. Not sure if that will be over kill or not. I'm wondering though if the bee pollen will lend enough to the flavor to make up for the lack of honey.
I'll keep this thread updated regardless.

 

[loveofrose]

Low ABV mead definitely has a light mouthfeel. Mead makers have taken all sorts of approaches (oak, glycerin, backsweetening, etc), but it still will be a bit light. Here is my way to address the issue: https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Fidnemed/

 

[Darthbrewder]

@loveofrose thanks for the info! I think I'll try your recipe next. Since I don't have a smack pack readily available, what do you think of using a standard muntons yeast? I don't mind ordering the 1388 by any means, the muntons is just what I have on hand. I guess I can order the herbal tea and the yeast at the same time and try it then if the muntons seems like a bad idea.

I actually just got finished making my version this morning.

3lbs clover honey
1.5 lbs frozen blueberries
3 T bee pollen
1 tsp Fermax yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp 3 acid blend

In a 2 gallon pot I added 2 quarts water. Lined the pot with my paint strainer bag and dropped the semi thawed blueberries in. Brought to a boil and crushed berries with potato smasher. Let boil for about 10 mins. Turned burner off and removed from heat. Meanwhile soaked jar of honey in hot tap water in sink. Removed berry bag from pot and placed colander on top and allowed the berries to drain. Once they were cool enough to touch I squeezed the crap out of them. Added the honey and nutrients to the pot and topped to 1 gallon mark. While cooling the must I bottled the beer that I had in the brewkeg. Then added room temp water to keg,on top of the yeast cake, to the 1 gallon mark. Once the must was cooled to about 77 f I added it to the fermenter.

Because of this method I wasn't able to get a gravity reading before the yeast was added, so I just pulled a gravity reading after everything was done. Ended up with 1.058 at around 72f.

We'll find out within a few hours or a day if the yeast is happy or not.

Any thoughts on what was done? Of course everything was sanitized with star san throughout the process.

 

[bernardsmith]

Just me , perhaps but I would have allowed the berries to sit in the must until you were racking to the secondary. The added flavors and tannin (I think) from the skins macerating in the must /wine would add more complexity (and perhaps greater mouthfeel) to the finished mead...
Cannot think why the yeast would not be perfectly happy...

 

[Darthbrewder]

Just a quick update on this for those who may be interested.

Started primary 10/29/16 sg 1.058
10/30/16 1/3 sugar break added 1 T bee pollen and degassed.
Degassed twice daily till 11/2/16, at that time sg was 1.000.
Left in primary till 11/10/16 without disturbing must.
At which time I cold crashed overnight and bottled in grolsch beer bottles. I used granulated honey/ cane sugar to carb. 1 tsp per bottle since it was such a small volume.

11/20/16 popped one open to taste. Clear, almost brilliant, medium carbonation, sharp blueberry aroma, some alcohol.
Taste is pleasant, drinkable but still needs time. Body is thin but not unpleasant. There is some sweetness there either implied or not, it is nice. Finishes with a slight honeycomb, just a wisp. Hoping this will mature more with age. As is, it is nice and I think it might make a fine toasting beverage, or an aperitif.

I think beenardsmith, that I probably should have left the whole blueberries in the fermenter. It would have lent more to the body. But otherwise I feel like it has been a successful experiment. I really can't be disappointed with the results thus far considering how young this hydromel is still.
Thanks mr. Bray for your wisdom and I hope for some feedback on this. I'm looking forward to my next mead, which will be my 3rd!

 

[AkTom]

Sounds good. Keep on making mead. I have several gallon batches going. Sure is fun.