2L Mead Trial.

[TomNotMeAtSix]

So ever since the game 'Skyrim' came out i've been obsessed with mead. This will be my first attempt ever to make a mead. I have a 2L Demijohn that I wish to use as a 'trial' for this mead idea.

My idea is to use;
1.7lbs of Raspberries.
2.0lbs of Asda Smart Price Honey (cheap and cherrful)
Juice of one lemon (fresh)
Juice of one orange (fresh) ((should I place any of the orange inside this fermentation?)
Top up with spring water (no tap water)
1x tsp yeast feed
1x tsp pectalose

Would this work? I have no idea what yeast to use on a mead, do I go for a all purpose red?

 

[fatbloke]

Possibly ? What kind of yeast ?

 

[TomNotMeAtSix]

That was my question at the end, its my first mead I'm not sure what kind of yeast to use.

With my cider I used a standard 'Youngs Cider Yeast', and with my wine I used a standard 'Youngs All Purpose Red Yeast'

 

[Arpolis]

The amount of raspberries is spot on. I usually prefer 3lb per gallon of fresh fruit so that equates to like 1.58lb per 2liter so 1.7 is good. I would dont think the lemon and orange juice is necessary. Honey is acidic by itself and adding more acids just stress the yeast out. If you really want that citrusy touch to the flavor then zest the lemon and orange and just add the zest. I am not familiar with that yeast you mentioned. I really like Lalvin brand yeasts. If you want a nice yeast that works to retain good color and works well with reds then lalvin RC212 is a good one. My go to for most meads is lalvin 71b-1112. It produces nice smooth meads that don't need to age really really long and the yeast is very forgiving with temps and nutrient requirements.

 

[TomNotMeAtSix]

Thanks, just placed the order for the yeast. The lemon juice was because I've always placed it in cider and my other wines, its become a bit of a habit! The orange was important to me as I like the idea of raspberry and orange together, sounds like a sweet smooth flavor!

 

[fatbloke]

Well the youngs yeasts are fine, if a bit generic (no data/info as to which type/strain), something from Gervin would be a marked improvement, my local HBS doesn't keep them so I don't know which is which but there's some info about them and as others have seemingly alluded too, the Lalvin stuff has the best write ups and data of all the dry yeasts.....

So if it is 71B you've ordered, likely a good choice.

In the mean time have a dig around, both here and at Gotmead forums, for the ideas etc on how you want to proceed.

One thing I will say, is not to get disheartened if its not perfect once its finished its ferment. Meads can taste weird when young and I'm thinking you'll likely need to back sweeten this and possibly put some more fruit in once its finished, because raspberry without sweetness is a dominant, quite acidic taste so a bit of sweetness and more fruity taste go a long way.

You'll be pushed to end up with more than about a litre and a half at the end and you might want to get another of those DJ's (2ltr ? Cider i presume) so you've something to rack into later on.....

 

[TomNotMeAtSix]

My plan was to rack it into a sterile pan (with a lid) then clean original DJ and rack back into that, used this method before and noting went to badly wrong.

1.5L at the end sounds spot on, two wine bottles full. It's only a trial, if it works well I'll make the full 5L maybe 25L.

Thanks for the advice I'll jump on the got mead forum later. How would one back sweeten? Is it to place Splenda in the bottle with it orrr?

 

[Lungus]

After fermentation is complete rack onto sulphites and sorbate, wait a few days for it to do it's thing and still the yeast. Now is the time add honey, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate if you want to really crank up the fruitiness to bring it to the level of sweetness you desire. If you don't want to use sorbate you could use splenda or other non sugar sweeteners but I've always hated them in soft drinks so I'm not going to spoil my mead with them.