First brew tips?

[SirBlacksmith]

I've been researching for a few days now and plan on gathering everything I need for my first brew. I still have a few questions though.

I'm planning on making a strawberry mead, I'm trying to keep it cheep so I'll be doing it in a few gallon water jugs and using balloons to let the C02 escape. I'm planning on using processed clove honey but that could change, it's just cheep on Amazon.

I have a few specific questions but would appreciate any tips you guys could give me.

how does using proccesed honey effect the mead compared to unprocessed

I've read in the BOMM guide that honey lacks nutrition for the yeast which stresses it, causing it to give the mead the rocket fuel taste, to combat that he uses added in nutrients, however I'm trying to keep costs cheep and those are fairly expensive So are there any alternatives or ways to get around that? Or perhaps I'm just looking at the wrong place(Amazon)

What kind of yeast do you recommend? I want it to be fairly sweet, from what I've read I'm planning on using d47

Thanks for any help you can give, I'm excited to join the homebrew community

 

[NeverDie]

If you want cheap (but not strawberry), try JAOM as your first mead. It uses raisins for nutrients and Fleishman's baker's yeast from your grocery store. It's a very well tested recipe and is often recommended for beginners.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

"how does using processed honey effect the mead compared to unprocessed". Searching online and I find "
Processing sometimes includes heating to make the honey pass through filters easier. This heating can degrade the delicate flavors of some honeys. Some meadmakers believe even filtering alone is bad."

Also, what exactly is meant by "processed"? Don't assume anything.

 

[NeverDie]

The so-called "raw" honey seems to have a stronger flavor than processed honey, but that's just my experience from a not terribly large sample size.

 

[Blacksmith1]

First, love the name.
Second, my step son has been making meads since last september using water yeast and honey and getting remarkably good results. His best yet is an acerglyn (honey and maple syrup). My advice is just do it. Don't over think the first one. He did a simple melomel, and several spiced meads (I'm sure there's a name for this also) which turned out well, and the only "recipe" he has is honey, water, yeast. And at that he uses bread yeast.

 

[DevilDogmeadguy]

I've been researching for a few days now and plan on gathering everything I need for my first brew. I still have a few questions though.

I'm planning on making a strawberry mead, I'm trying to keep it cheep so I'll be doing it in a few gallon water jugs and using balloons to let the C02 escape. I'm planning on using processed clove honey but that could change, it's just cheep on Amazon.

I have a few specific questions but would appreciate any tips you guys could give me.

how does using proccesed honey effect the mead compared to unprocessed

I've read in the BOMM guide that honey lacks nutrition for the yeast which stresses it, causing it to give the mead the rocket fuel taste, to combat that he uses added in nutrients, however I'm trying to keep costs cheep and those are fairly expensive So are there any alternatives or ways to get around that? Or perhaps I'm just looking at the wrong place(Amazon)

What kind of yeast do you recommend? I want it to be fairly sweet, from what I've read I'm planning on using d47

Thanks for any help you can give, I'm excited to join the homebrew community

Well... I'm not sure about using balloons brother, you can get a simple airlock and rubber stopper for like $3 and you won't have to worry about your jug exploding all over the place. Processed honey is honey that has been filtered and heated (pasteurized) above 115 degrees F. This removes particles (pollen and honey comb) as well as kills natural good enzymes in your honey. (processed honey removes all good stuff that would be healthy and good for you and also generally is not real honey, mostly its chemical sugar syrup or corn syrup made in a factory somewhere and colored to look like honey) unfortunately cheap store bought honey also makes for crappy Mead. Lastly, you can use raisins as a yeast nutrient OR you can literally buy like a pound of yeast nutrient and energizer also for like $10 smaller containers of nutrient and energizer cost also only a few dollars. If you have questions just reply to my post is be happy to help.

 

[SKBugs]

Strawberries don’t give much flavor. At all. I would start with some frozen mixed berries if you really want to try it. I started with a straight up mead - honey, yeast, water and nutrients. And I’m glad I did. It has taken a while but it tastes nice now and is good to know what the original tastes like, and how you want to make it. But whatever rips your nightie off as my Grandma use to say