General questions from a first time mead maker.

[nicetomeadyou]

Hello, lovely to mead everyone.
I am a new mead brewer and very very exited.
I mixed up my first 30l batch of mead and im going to do another 60l in about 6 months.
1. If i started with a specific gravity of 1.15/1.16 and im using 18% mead yeast, do you think the end result will be dry or semi sweet or sweet? also if i understand correctly a stronger alcohol percentage would mean i should age it more, what would you recommend with a 18%?

2. Also the local brewing supply store doesnt have any potassium sorbate, is there any other stores that will stock this or an alternative product? i have a capden product already.

3.I plan on breaking my 30l down into 6x 5L bottles and aging with different flavorings.
At the moment the only flavorings im sure i want to use to flavor after brewing finishes are cherrys, and im going to attempt to make mulling spices also. i would like to do a plain mead sweet and leave one at whatever sweetness the natural mead ends at. that leaves 2x 5l without flavorings, what can you recommend to a first time brewer.

And last but not least thank you so much to anyone who contributes to this forum, I basically built my whole set up around advice from people on this forum.
I am from Busselton western australia, and i am very exited to post results ect

 

[CKuhns]

Wwlccome, and looking forward to how your mead turns our.

1.150 is pretty hard to get a good tasting mead for your first time out even with a yeast rated to 18% your looking at so ewhere near 19.5%

Concider looking at TOSNA 3.0 to help out. Also consider adding a bit more water to something near 1.120.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hiya, nicetomeadyou and welcome. From your question it sounds like you have not made a lot of wine before either. Wine (and mead making) is really all about balance and the balance you want to find is between the richness of flavor, and alcohol and tannin and acidity, sweetness and mouthfeel (viscosity). A wine (or mead) that is at 18% alcohol by volume is going to be inherently out of balance if only because the strength of flavor of most fruit we grow (and certainly the fruit we buy) cannot hold its own against so much alcohol in any simple way. Most seasoned wine makers aim for about 12% ABV, and not 18%.
What you may want to do is see if your local library has any wine making (or mead making) books and use their suggested recipes (most, though not all, Youtube recipes are like self published books - they are basically garbage that trade publishers wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole). What I would do is focus on mastering a traditional mead first - just honey, water, yeast and nutrients. When you can make a really delicious trad mead - it's naked, and so faults have no place to hide behind - then you might attempt to make melomels and high octane meads... and personally, I would begin with one gallon batches. Much easier to swallow a failed gallon (4 liters) than a failed 30 or 60 liter batch -