Hello, I’m new to mead making and want some advice on my first attempt

[roxhan]

So I’m making my first batch, and I’m following the instructions I have for the yeast of 30-35 degrees Celsius. I’ve noticed the honey has pretty much sunk to the bottom of the solution though. I’ve tried reddit and been told this means the fermentation will be quite hard to get going properly. Is there a problem with this and if so, is this going to be a lost batch?

edit: I have had a few air bubbles this morning so I think it’s getting going

 

[Andretti87]

Did you shake the heck out of it? I’ve never had honey sink like before. I usually fill it with a few litres of water then add the honey and give it a good shake for a few minutes then Continue with the rest of the water

 

[roxhan]

Did you shake the heck out of it? I’ve never had honey sink like before. I usually fill it with a few litres of water then add the honey and give it a good shake for a few minutes then Continue with the rest of the water

shaking isn’t something I’ve heard used before. Could I do that now?

 

[Maylar]

stir the crap out of it. use a paint stirrer on a drill if you have one. or shake it like it owes you money.

 

[roxhan]

So I gave it the shake and now it’s bubbling well on the honey and overflowing on the berry and treacle one. I have approximately 15 hours till I can get a new airlock from the store.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

You can clean and reuse the airlock. Your problem is that you didn't have enough headspace above the liquid for the bubbles to break before they reached the airlock. It's the berries, they made the foam more stable.

 

[roxhan]

You can clean and reuse the airlock. Your problem is that you didn't have enough headspace above the liquid for the bubbles to break before they reached the airlock. It's the berries, they made the foam more stable.

Then that will be something I have to watch out for. Is the bubbling going to become less as the time goes by?

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

Absolutely. It rises for a while as the yeast reproduce, then starts dropping off as the yeast are inhibited by the alcohol they're producing, and are running out of sugar to ferment.

Also, depending on what is stabilizing the bubbles, the bubbles themselves can end up purging the liquid of whatever is stabilizing them, so that after a while the bubbles break freely instead of staying intact.

Anyway, it should stop being a problem after a few days to a week, I would expect.

 

[roxhan]

Absolutely. It rises for a while as the yeast reproduce, then starts dropping off as the yeast are inhibited by the alcohol they're producing, and are running out of sugar to ferment.

Also, depending on what is stabilizing the bubbles, the bubbles themselves can end up purging the liquid of whatever is stabilizing them, so that after a while the bubbles break freely instead of staying intact.

Anyway, it should stop being a problem after a few days to a week, I would expect.

So I don’t have to worry about anything really? Just keep the airlock clean and replace it every now and then?

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

The problem is self-limiting, anyway.

 

[Dean Wyatt]

I am new to this and a little lost. We are just getting ready to brew our 4th batch of mead and we want to use concentrated Blackberry juice from our own blackberries. We have 7 quarts of juice from 23 pounds of blackberries and we were wondering if anyone has ever used just juice with the honey or so you top up with water or just use enough juice to give you a gravity that you can work with and then top with water? Look forward to some input.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Concentrating your juice a bit or adding some concentrate into regular strength juice to up flavor is to your taste. But with berries, it’s easy to have too much and be very acidic to drink, needing lots of sweetness at the end. Using just juice and honey is fine in most cases, but some water is usually added to offset acid content. I would personally try it with just juice (natural strength or slightly watered down) and honey, then maybe add a bit of concentrate at the end of primary or into secondary if the flavor isn’t what you want.

 

[Dean Wyatt]

Thanks for that. We are set for Friday to go with the new batch and everything is ready. We are bottling our 3 small batch(1 Gal) meads that we started 1 year ago. The changes over the year have been amazing and we may have to back sweeten one of the batches. And then on to year 2 with the juice in one and raisins and oranges and lemons in the other. I will let you know what happens.

 

[dwhetz]

I just made ny first Mead today. It uses orange clover honey and mango puree. It really went smooth, but the directions didn't say to shake....now I am worried! we shall see!

 

[Blacksmith1]

Stir it. Same result. The idea is to mix the honey into the water.

 

[dwhetz]

Thank you!!