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Bray Denard PhD

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Mead is a fermented beverage made purely from honey. It is not beer or wine. As a result, mead making follows a completely different set of rules from wine or beer making.
The purpose of this article is to teach you how to make delicious mead using current techniques. In the past, mead has been characterized as taking a year or more to ferment. After the year was up, the resulting mead tasted something like kerosene due to fusel alcohols. Several years of aging later, you might be able to drink it!
hbt-mead-1-1507.jpg

Image courtesy of Walshy87
No more. With the current understanding of fermentation requirements, there is no reason why fermentation shouldn't be complete in 7-14 days. Fast, clean, healthy fermentations are the key to mead that is drinkable quickly. How quick to drinkable largely depends on the yeast you use. Wine yeast-based meads tend to be on the order of 6+ months while ale yeast can be quite tasty in a few months. Some extreme cases like my Bray's One Month Mead are drinkable in a month!
First, I'll give an explanation of mead ingredients. Second, I'll run through an example recipe that uses current techniques as well as how these techniques work toward making your mead better, faster. Next, I'll cover current and past practices that we now know are detrimental. I'll close with a Tips and Tricks section that answers a lot of the questions I see asked repeatedly in the forums.

Ingredients
1. Honey

Quality in, quality out. The common mantra is to find local honey and use it. Try a nearby farmers market for local bee keepers. Local honey is great, but your area may not have some of the very nice varietal honeys that mead makers seek. For many varietal honeys, you will need to use online resources to locate hard to find honey varietals and good pricing.
What kind of honey to use? Many varietal honeys make excellent mead. The following varieties vary from common to obscure: clover, wildflower, sourwood, tupelo, meadowfoam, and many more. A good crowd pleasing honey for traditional mead is orange blossom honey. Clover honey is great for spiced meads because its mild character allows the spices to come through. Finding these types of honey at good prices per pound largely means either finding a local beekeeper or searching the internet for beekeeper sites. Once you decide to make mead, buy honey in bulk!
hbt-mead-2-1508.jpg

Dragon Horn Mead Photo Courtesy of Sollozzo

There are a few things to understand about honey as an ingredient. Honey is extremely nutrient deficient. Mead made only with honey, water, and yeast will ferment, but often stalls before fermentation is complete and will produce copious amounts of fusel alcohols. Nutrient deficiency is one of the more common stresses for yeast that lead to stalled ferments and fusel production. Let's avoid this by adding...

2. Nutrients

As stated above, nutrients are critical to yeast health. Keep your yeast happy to prevent fusel production and stalled ferments. To keep your yeast happy, you must add nutrients at appropriate times in the ferment. This necessitates a staggered addition of nutrient at points when the yeast requires them. Nutrients are generally added upfront, at 2/3 and 1/3 your starting gravity (SG).
The first nutrient to add is Fermaid K. Fermaid K has diammonium phosphate (DAP), minerals, vitamins and trace nutrients. Alone, Fermaid K does not have enough DAP to fully supplement the nitrogen deficient honey. You must add additional DAP in pure form to reach the free nitrogen levels your yeast require.
The last addition is potassium carbonate (K2CO3). K2CO3 buffers the fermentation and prevent stalling due to low pH (less than 3). As a bonus, potassium is a deficient mineral in honey that K2CO3 supplies. Potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) is interchangeable for this purpose.
3. Spring Water
NOT distilled water. Spring water has trace minerals that yeast need. Distilled water is essentially free of all mineral content. While nutrient can replace some minerals, they likely will not provide everything needed. Spring water helps supplement further.
4. Yeast
Yeast is the single biggest choice you have as a mazer. Different yeast impart very strong to very minimal character through ester profiles. You must decide what yeast you like best. Here are some suggestions based on end product:
  • Neutral wine-like character

    -EC-1118, DV10, Wyeast Dry Mead
  • Estery wine-like character

    -KIV-1116, 71B-1122
  • Beer-like character

    US-05, S-33, Nottingham
  • Bray's One Month Mead (BOMM) (Fast!)

    Wyeast 1388
I see a lot of confusion on the forums about yeast for sweet and dry mead. Yeast do not determine dry or sweet mead. The amount of honey added combined with the alcohol tolerance of your yeast determines how a dry or sweet mead finishes. For instance, mead with a SG of 1.100 would make a 13.1% ABV mead if the yeast drops the gravity to 1.000. If your yeast has an ABV tolerance of 12%, then the mead would stop at ~1.010. Keep in mind that published yeast ABV tolerance is more of a ballpark number than an absolute value. Depending on good/bad conditions, yeast may blow past published tolerance or stop before it's hit. I see the latter a lot because I keep my yeast happy!
hbt-mead-3-1509.jpg

Image courtesy of bodhi86
Ingredients are now covered. Now to put them to good use:
Basic Traditional Mead - 1 gallon
Day 0 - Must Creation
Note: You must sanitize everything that comes into contact with your mead ingredients!
Start with 2-3.5 lbs of honey, Fermaid K, DAP, K2CO3 (or KHCO3), and a gallon jug of spring water. I'm lazy, so I just ferment directly in the jug. It also means one less thing I have sanitize! Here is my process:
1. Remove 1/2 cup of water to compensate for the yeast you will add later. This water can be used for rehydration if you are using dry yeast.
2. Draw a line at the current water level.
3. Remove the volume of water your honey will displace. For reference, honey weighs 0.75 pounds per cup. Example: If you are adding 3 pounds of honey, then remove 4 cups of water.
4. Add honey back to the line you drew in step 2. You can also add by weight if you have a scale handy.
5. Add 1/4 tsp of K2CO3 or KHCO3. This is a one time, upfront addition to keep the pH buffered and provide K+.
6. Add 1/4 tsp DAP and 1/2 tsp Fermaid K. This same amount of nutrient will be added two additional times. When? It depends on your SG. Let's say your SG is 1.099. You would add at the very beginning (1.099), at 2/3 sugar break (1.066), and 1/3 sugar break (1.033). Just divide your SG into thirds.
7. Now you cap and shake to both mix the honey into solution and get some oxygen into the must. This will take a while. Be sure no honey settles out when you stop. If all the honey isn't dissolved, you will get an erroneously low gravity reading.
8. Add prepared yeast. If it is a Wyeast smack pack, smack the nutrient sack and let the pack expand for 2 hours. If it is dry yeast, rehydrate the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water for 15 minutes (Use the 1/2 cup of water you took out at step 1). It is better to rehydrate with GoFerm if you have it. I simply mix in 1/2 tsp of GoFerm into the 1/2 cup of water before sprinkling the yeast on top.
9. Take a gravity reading. I simply drop a sanitized hydrometer directly in the jug!
10. Add an airlock or a pin-pricked balloon. No water is necessary for the first week unless you are concerned about flies.
Day 1-14 Fermentation Management
There are few things you need to do for the first week or so:
1. Gently swirl without the airlock once a day for the first week or so. What does this do? First, it stirs the yeast off the bottom to keep them from getting lazy (read "make more alcohol"). Second, it adds some oxygen into the must which is good for the yeast early in fermentation. Third, it removes some CO2 gas from solution that both drops the pH and prevents the yeast from flocculating.
2. Don't forget to add the staggered nutrients from step 6! More importantly, be sure to swirl first, then add the nutrients SLOWLY while the jug is in the sink. Ever seen a science fair volcano blow up? Same thing will happen if you aren't careful adding the nutrients. By the way, this explosion is called a Mead Explosion Accident (MEA). It is a mazer's rite of passage.
3. Add sanitized water or vodka to the airlock after the mead drops below 1/3 of your SG. After this point, it is not necessary to swirl after this point.
After Day 14 - Post-Fermentation
The goal is to get the mead to a gravity of 1.000 as fast as possible. At this point, you have many options. You can leave it as it is, or you can use one or more of the following methods to customize the mead to your preference:
1. Backsweetening - Most people like some sweetness to the mead. Something about a dry beverage with a honey smell messes with the mind. Two methods: The first is to stabilize with potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate, then backsweeten with honey. Warning! If you have an allergy to sulphites, this is not a viable option. The second method is called step feeding. This method requires you to add honey to your desired sweetness and allow the yeast to ferment further. This process is repeated until the yeast give up due to high alcohol.
2. Oak - Mead and oak are extremely complimentary. You can use American, Hungarian, or French in any number of toasts. I do suggest cubes over chips. Chips impart flavor too fast and easily over oak the mead. Additionally, the flavor profile is very one dimensional compared to oak cubes.
3. Spices - If you add spices, your mead is considered a metheglin. Go easy on how much you add. You can always add more, but you cannot take it away!
4. Fruit - if you add fruit to mead, it is called a melomel. Generally, 2-4 pounds of frozen fruit per gallon is a good range. Adding fruit to primary tends to give a more wine-like effect. Adding to secondary tends to capture the fruit essence better. If you want a fruit bomb effect, add some fruit to both primary and secondary!
hbt-mead-4-1511.jpg

Bad Practices: Old and New
Very high starting gravities (greater than 1.12) - Until you understand how mead making works, don't attempt extremely high gravities. I know it's every brewers ambition to push the ABV limit at some point, but this can lead to a lot of problems unless done properly. It can be done, but you need a special plan that requires a whole different article. If I get enough requests, perhaps I'll write one!
Acid Blend - Adding acid blend upfront is an old practice that is detrimental to yeast health often leading to stalled fermentations. Upfront acid blend addition has a propensity to drop the pH to stalling range. Add acid blend post-fermentation to taste if you want it in your mead.
Extreme Temperature Fermentation - Try to stay in the middle of your yeasts published temperature range. High temperature leads to fusel production and low temperature leads to sluggish or stalled fermentations.
Not Racking the Mead - Racking is the transfer of your mead off the gross lees (yeast cake at the bottom) after primary fermentation. The gross lees are prone to giving off flavors to mead if left in contact with the mead too long. Some yeasts are worse than others at producing these off flavors. Rack to be safe!
Pitching Rate - Yeast are your alcohol producing soldiers. If you don't add enough soldiers, you get stressed out, fusel producing, stalled ferments. Here are my simple rules of yeast pitching:
hbt-mead-graph-1510.jpg

These suggestions assume starting gravities of less than 1.12. Dry yeast packs contain much more yeast than liquid yeast packs. Since liquid yeast is also more expensive than dry, making a starter is necessary for large batches of mead.
Tips and Tricks
  • Document everything! Notebooks, phone apps, and posting brewlogs on a site are all viable options. Nothing is worse than making phenomenal mead that you can never reproduce!
  • It is not uncommon to find mead has blown through the airlock. It's nothing to worry about. Just place the jug in a secondary container to prevent a mess and clean it out as needed.
  • Drop a sanitized hydrometer in for gravity readings. I often leave it in the jug!
  • Never bottle mead that hasn't given a stable gravity reading for at least 2 weeks! Anything at 1.000 or below is safe, but step-fed sweet meads can be a problem if the gravity is not stable. Glass grenades are not fun!
  • Oxidation is a non-issue with traditional honey-only mead. You would have to try to oxidize mead. Still maintain good practices, but don't sweat it if an airlock pops off overnight. Oxidation is an issue with fruit-containing mead however!
  • Your mead will likely be cloudy long after fermentation is complete. You can either wait for the mead to clear naturally or you can use my fast clearing method. Add SuperKleer according to the package directions, then cold crash in your refrigerator. This is the fastest clearing method I've found so far. Cold crashing alone is often sufficient, but not quite as fast.
hbt-mead-4-1511.jpg
 
Really good article, Bray. I hope it encourages folk who have never tried to make a mead to give it a go. You refer to sanitization and I think many brewers tend to use Star San and One Step - and (gulp!)bleach. Your paper does not offer any thoughts on what mazers might use. Your thoughts on K-meta? And your thoughts on racking onto (weaker concentrations of) K-meta.
 
Great article! I will be trying this in the near future and I would love to see your thoughts on high alcohol meads!
 
Thanks to all of you for the comments!
@bernardsmith
Any of the standard cleaners are fine for sanitation. I tend to use OneStep and PBW because I find them easier. I also don't care for iodine based cleaner due to staining.
If sulphites are not a problem for you, 50 ppm K-meta certainly won't hurt anything. It's probably only needed for meads that are extremely long term. I never use sulphites (don't treat me well) and have never experienced any oxidation issues. Good practices of topping off and bottling with minimal airspace seems to keep oxidation at bay just fine in mead (unless fruit is involved).
 
You mentioned a starter. I assume you wouldn't use DME from this though. How would you do this?
 
Thanks for the info. How can I bookmark this article for future use? I'm setting up a hive this spring and hope to produce enough honey for a batch of mead.
 
@Travestian
2 Liter Starter for Mead
Sanitize 2 liter flask with cross shaped stir bar.
Add 1 tsp GoFerm.
Add 1/2 cup honey (6 oz by weight).
Add water to 1.8 liters.
Pitch smacked pack of yeast or rehydrated yeast (Final 2 liters).
Allow to stir on stir plate for 3 days.
The above works for 5 gallon batches. For larger batches, step up the starter linearly.
 
Great post. You've really condensed the art of mead making into a simplistic article.
 
Well done Bray! This is a must (no pun intended) read for anyone who is interested in making mead. I will direct everyone wanting to start making mead to read this article first and ask questions after. Thank you.
 
Great article, I will follow this nutrient recommendation next time, it is hard to wait months for a mead to be great.
 
@male
Extremely high gravity Polish meads also require 4-10 years of aging.
That's a bit beyond the scope of people just starting out!
 
Thanks for the article. Just made my first batch of mead as per your instruction. Very quick and easy. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Thanks for posting this. It was exactly what I needed. +1 on the production of a High ABV Mead article!
 
My brother and I started our first mead. He makes wine and I brew beer so we found something we both enjoy to make. This article was very helpful when used in conjunction with a good mead book that may be outdated in so areas. Thank you for this article and helping us get the courage to finally do our first mead.
 
I have a friend that produces his own honey and he's been hounding me for a while to help him brew a batch of mead. This article couldn't have come sooner. Thanks!
 
Thanks for the article. Can super ferment be used in place of fermaid k? I don't see much comparing them online. My LHBS doesn't have fermaid k, but they have super ferment. http://www.southhillsbrewing.com/wine/wine-additives/wine-additives-other/super-ferment-superferment-2-oz
here is the description:
A complete yeast nutrient and energizer in one! Our proprietary blend is more than just diammonium phosphate---it includes ammonium ion and phosphate ion, plus yeast hulls (for lipids), sulfate ion, B-complex vitamins, and growth factors (biotin and pantothenic acid), as well as trace amounts of calcium, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.
 
@DanU
Sounds like your nutrient is very close to Fermaid K.
You would still need to supplement DAP.
 
The wife brought home a 13 pound bucket of honey she got from a co-worker. This article is a huge help. I'll be starting some mead soon. I would also like to see an article on high gravity (alcohol) meads. I know a few people with hives I might be able to get more honey from.
 
Would love to see another installment, Bray. Very well written.
 
So I take it that if I didn't use the right ingredients at the start I'm stuck with waiting several months? After brewing my first 3 beers, I got brave and decided to do a mead. Picked up the last two 5# bottles of Sue Bee clover honey at the store, found a basic recipe on NB site and put it together. Used KIV-1116, and Fermaid K (5g at 24 hr increments for 4 times). But no DAP or K. 5 gal batch. Primary bucket 2 wks, semi cold crashed in cold garage for 4 days, and racked to secondary carboy.(didn't really have a lot of residue) Didn't take OG readings as we thought we would drink whatever it came out to be, so no real chance at 1/3,2/3 adjustments. Local mazer thought we would have a real long wait on this one. Any suggestions?
 
@modelafish
You added quite a lot of Fermaid K, so I think you are fine on that front. KIV-1116 will be the reason for your long aging time. It is a wine yeast and will require more aging. My suggestion is to let it age. After a year or two, it will be good. While you are waiting, you can make a quick mead like the BOMM.
 
Let it age mostly in secondary, or in the bottle? I had planned on using wine bottles.
 
Bray, in the Post Fermentation section of your write-up you mention stabilization with potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate. How much of each is recommended for a 1 gallon BOMM batch?
 
Awesome article. I am currently step feeding your sorrel mead and it is dropping quickly....looks and smells fantastic.
I'm also submitting my formal request for the high gravity mead article.
 
When I made my mead Saturday, I had just plowed headfirst into what I was doing having read a couple of articles, umm, partially. Not a great plan, but hell, that's the way it happened. I put my spice bag in at the very beginning, from when I started heating the must up to the point where I put it into the primary fermentor and transferred it into the fermentor with it. How is this going to effect the mead? It's only a one gallon batch so I could start getting back into the hobby.
 
Thinking about racking onto some berries. I just had a really super fast primary that went from 1.12 to 1.02. How long can I leave it on the berries?
 
I make cyser (use cider instead of water). You say at one point that oxidizing isn't good for fruit meads... is swirling the must around with the lock off during primary fermentation still a good idea with cyser?
 
I have found that you can swirl, shake, even vigorously stir for the first three or four days, at least. By the time your SG dross to 1.030 or so, I stop the aerating. In addition to stepping the nutrients, I also sometimes step my total honey load over two or three days. My meads have been really drinkable, really fast. I'd say within three months, sometimes sooner.
 
So when do you secondary? And how long in the secondary until bottling. This is very exciting and thanks for the article.
 
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