Mead beginner, 1 gallon recipe tips

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Hello,
I am very new to the whole home brew process. I have been researching mead for about 3 weeks now and still find a lot I still need to learn. I am about to start my first batch and wanted to get some advice.
First I am probably breaking a cardinal sin and I am using a 1 gallon water jug. Since I am new to this I wanted to make sure it's something I would enjoy before buying a glass carboy.
My recipe is pretty basic:
2 lbs Honey
3 blood oranges if I can't get them 2 passion fruits
20 raisins
Half a pack of yeast (dont know the specific kind yet)
And probably the ballon bubler technique

I am looking for something sweet with a hint of citrus flavor but want to keep the honey as the main star. I read in one forum that the raisins help fuel the yeast so that the mead doesn't become to dry.

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. I am very looking forward into making this a hobby.

 

[Ryue]

I believe a lot of people use plastic jugs, but you can get cheap glass sets ups. Here is the link to the amazon carboys/airlocks I got when I started.
1 Gallon glass Jug https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064O8Z76/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Twin Bubble Airlock and Carboy Bung (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A6TRKO4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Less than $20 an you have a decent set up.
As for the recipie, depending on how dry/sweet you want it you may want more honey. As far as I know, pretty much any yeast will eat right through 2 or 3 pounds of honey leaving it bone dry. If you want it sweet, 4 - 6 pounds good, any more than 6 and your yeast probably wont get started. Some people say 6 pounds is far too much, but I use just shy of that in one of my best recipies.
In my first few attempts I didn't use any nutrients and it turned out fine, but I would recommend using them for a healthier fermentation and to make sure it gets going in the first place. Lots of disagreement as to whether raisis give enough nutrients or not.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi R.M. Mead Productions - and welcome. Three weeks of research is about 1/5 of a college course (assuming 10 hours of study a week)... so hardly surprising that you might still have a little more to learn.

Ryue, There is about as much disagreement over whether raisins provide enough nutrients as there is over whether the sun orbits the earth or the earth , the sun.* You would need to use pounds of those oxidized grapes per gallon to get enough nutrients. You can use lab manufactured nutrients or if you prefer you can use dead yeast cells (boil about 1 tablespoon of bread yeast in water).

What will make your mead sweet? Two pounds of honey will raise the gravity of water by about 70 points (1.070) and there is no yeast that won't be able to ferment that bone dry to give you an alcohol level of about 9%. You could back sweeten this but to do that you need to stabilize the mead first otherwise the yeast is not going to treat the added sugars as off limits.

Adding fruit in the primary is OK but oranges can be quite acidic. Honey does not have any chemical buffers that control the pH and so the pH can swing wildly - it can swing enough to make the solution so acidic that the yeast cannot ferment anything. I would leave any addition of oranges until after the active fermentation has ended. But do you want to add the orange itself or the peel? Adding peel will bring out a different flavor but that might be a better approach.

You say you are looking for a citrusy flavor... OK so what about using a varietal honey rather than some big box store bottle of generic honey (that may have been diluted with corn syrup). You might consider orange blossom honey (most supermarkets will carry this).

Last point. You want to use a half pack of yeast. Sure. You can, but why would you want to? In the first place you will be introducing bacteria into the opened pack and yeast is packed with nutrients (not enough for the fermentation) and those nutrients are just what the bacteria are looking for. In the second place it is virtually impossible for a home wine maker to over pitch yeast. it is incredibly easy to under-pitch - and it is under- pitching which helps cause many of the problems that novice wine makers create for themselves. Yeast is inexpensive but critical.. and honey is expensive. You want to riskyour mead for the sake of a few cents? Your call, of course.. but there are many mead makers - both commercial and hobbyists who pitch 1 pack per gallon. (yeasty smells and tastes are caused by UNDER-pitching, not over pitching. It's ironic, I know).

* Wouldn't you know it. 1 in 4 Americans believe that the sun orbits the earth... https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...ink-the-sun-goes-around-the-earth-survey-says

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Ryue, thankyou for your response and the links. I will be ordering a couple of those carboys in the near future. I am switching to 4 lbs of honey and checking with a local brewery for some yeast and neutrients.

Bernardsmith, my study time isn't on par for a college course, just some free time.here and there. Maybe 5 to 6 hours a week. Looking through this forum I am seeing terms that none of the other sites I have meandered through have used.

I am going to bulk up the honey to 4 lbs and switch to a different fruit. Any suggestions on a fruit that would play on the ph safe side to be added in the primary? I will check to see if my local Kroger has orange blossom honey. If so I will use that in place with out using fruit.

And with the half pack of yeast, I had just read that using a full pack on 2 lbs of honey makes it dry and that was all I was trying to avoid. I will use a full pack.

Again thankyou both so much for your help, I will be starting my brew in 6 days. The excitement is building.

 

[bernardsmith]

And with the half pack of yeast, I had just read that using a full pack on 2 lbs of honey makes it dry and that was all I was trying to avoid. I will use a full pack.

Here's the thing - It's not the number of yeast cells that determines whether a mead or wine will finish sweet , it's the tolerance for alcohol that the yeast has at the back end - and at the front end it's the concentration of sugar in the must that determines whether the yeast can in fact transport sugars through their cell walls. Too much sugar: water means that they cannot ferment period (which is why honey cannot ferment until you mix it with water) and too high an alcohol by volume liquid (ABV) also prevents the yeast from fermenting. A poor metaphor but imagine the cells become blind drunk and fall down in a stupor.
Four pounds of honey in a gallon is a staring gravity of about 1.140. That is a mite high - like asking someone to swim in syrup. It's not impossibly high but your protocol needs to be near perfect to pull that off well. If I were you I would step feed the yeast - Perhaps begin with 3 lbs of honey and when they have almost fermented that dry add another 1/2 lb and when that has all but gone add the last 1/2 lb. Four pounds is a potential ABV of about 18% (or more) and most yeast are not spec'ed for such a high ABV.

Sidebar: most self published accounts are garbage and that means that 95% of the material you find on the interweb is junk. Your best place to read up on mead making is in your public library or bookstore. Trade published books are typically vetted by experts, fact checkers and editors that remove the nonsense before the books are printed. You could do a lot worse than getting hold of Schramm's book on mead making and/or Piatz' book. Both are recognized world class mead makers.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

bernardsmith, again Thank you for your response. I appreciate the time you take to really explain this in detail. I will check out those books you specified. I did see on some sites that there are more mead specific yeast. Which I assume have a higher tolerance for the amount of sugar and ABV.
In regards to adding the 1/2 lb extra honey in when the fermentation slows down, should the batch be moved to a secondary bottle to ferment or stay in the original bottle?

 

[bernardsmith]

To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as a mead yeast. Yeasts sold as mead yeasts are standard wine yeasts. It's a marketing ploy.
You can certainly cultivate your own yeast from wild honey but there is no guarantee that that mead will result in the kinds of flavors you are looking for.

Regarding the step feeding of yeast: I would keep the mead in the fermenting bucket and only rack once the active fermentation has ended. This because you want to stir the mead several times a day during this period to remove CO2. CO2 being a stress for the yeast because a) it creates pressure on the cells when the mead is saturated with this gas AND b) the gas itself forms carbonic acid which adds to the acidity of the mead and that adds additional stress to the yeast. Seasoned mead makers typically degas during the first week or ten days of fermentation and that is far easier to do when you are stirring a bucket that has been loosely covered with a towel rather than in a narrow mouthed carboy sealed with bung and airlock.

 

[growlrr]

Seasoned mead makers typically degas during the first week or ten days of fermentation and that is far easier to do when you are stirring a bucket that has been loosely covered with a towel rather than in a narrow mouthed carboy sealed with bung and airlock.[/QUOTE]

Fewer Mead geysers too using a bucket! (Unless you really like painting ceilings)

 

[Drewed]

Lets make this really easy. For your first batch of mead go to https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/brays-one-month-mead/ and follow the directions for fermaid "O"
You will spend a little more at first, but you will make a much tastier mead. If you HAVE to add fruit to it, add some sour cherries. A pound in the primary and a pound in the secondary. You can use frozen. But I would make a "plain" version first. Also buy some better than the cheapest crap honey you can find. I spend around 10$ a pound. I also prefer clover and orange blossom and wild flower taste too 'flowery' to me.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Drewed thankyou for the link, it does have solid instructions but the gravity play is more I depth than what I am going for in this sample batch. I have much to learn in the way of nutrients and keeping track of the gravity, and I hope one day I will get to that point.
I have decided to leave all fruit out for this first batch, I have never had mead before so why have something different than the original. I am looking into better honey but was hoping to avoid the $10 a pound expense. I can't wait to get started. Reviewing different degasing times and techniques today.

 

[Ryue]

My very first batch I used some raw clover honey from Walmart for like $12 for 5lbs. Yeah ita not the best quality, but it was nice to test the waters without investing a lot of cash. But once you know what you are doing you definitely need some good honey.
As for learning gravity, I measured my gravity every 5 days until fermentation slowed, then once a week until it stops, keeping constant notes.
Once you have made a batch and got the feel for it, making mead isnt complicated. A few basic protocols and experimenting with ingredient and yeast combos is all there really is to it.. IMHO. I'm sure someone will disagree with me though.. lol

 

[bernardsmith]

IMO, the secret of making a good mead is learning to make a mead that is made from only honey, water, yeast and nutrients. That's what mead makers call a traditional mead and the thing about a trad mead is that there is nothing to hide behind - no fruit flavors to mask off-flavors or fusels. When you have mastered a trad mead then the world is your oyster. Until then you are a home cook that is totally - I mean totally - dependent on a recipe book and you have no idea of the reasons behind what the recipes calls for and no idea what the dish you are making could taste like...
That said, not sure that you need to spend a mortgage on the most expensive honeys you can get. I would look for honey sold at local farmers markets. Speak to the seller and see what the dominant flowers are likely to be. They may have to call their honey "wildflower" but the dominant source may be basswood or sunflower or raspberry or ??? Sure a honey such as meadowfoam or tupelo can take center stage and hold your attention like a real movie star, but if you have not mastered a trad mead then you are paying for Meryl Streep to perform in a half-assed production where the dialog is junk and the lighting is worse and the story is all over the place.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

You guys have been awesome with advice. I ran into a hiccup, stopped by the store to pickup my honey and they were sold out of the 5lbs that I was looking at. So I ordered some through Amazon with my bungs and bubblers and picked up some lalvin D47 yeast. The honey is Lake Shore bulk honey, in the comments people have stated it makes decent mead. So that was nice to read. I am going to split it and do 2 and 1/2 lbs in 2 1 gallon batches. I also got a 1/2 lb of honey off a guy I use to work with he has his own hives. I am going to make a micro batch with it in like 1 liter or something. The local brewery here doesn't sell homebrew supplies but a couple days after I placed my order I found a party store sells home brew supplies so that will help out a bit. All 3 batches will be traditional minus 25 or so raisins in one to see of it makes a difference for me.
Once I get the process started I will keep you updated.

I do have a question about degasing. When you degas in primary or secondary is it possible to just kind of gently swish it around without opening it, maybe like a swirl. I didn't know if it would create to much pressure while the bung and bubbler was still connected.

 

[Ryue]

I do have a question about degasing. When you degas in primary or secondary is it possible to just kind of gently swish it around without opening it, maybe like a swirl. I didn't know if it would create to much pressure while the bung and bubbler was still connected.

I know a lot of people use the method of swirling a one gallon carboy, and Ibhave recently too with no problem, but built up pressure is a real threat.
Granted, in one of my recipies I had a SG of 1.158 and used Fermaid-K (nutrient plus DAP), but the first time I degassed it I put the airlock back on immediately and walked out of the room.. this was my result... [emoji27]

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

That sucks man, hopefully you didn't loose to much if your brew. Glad to know I can use the swirl method just have to remember to give it time to release gas before putting the bung and bubbler back on. Totally misread my arrival dates for my stuff, it will all be here tomorrow. Super stoked.
I was thinking in 1 gallon maybe do 2 vanilla beans in the secondary just for an aromatic or would 1 be enough?
I really like that deep red color what if any fruit did you use?

 

[Ryue]

I haven't used vanilla beans, so I can't help there unfortunately.
I used organic dried Elderberry. Frontier sells them by the pound on Amazon for not too much. They can be kind of bitter by themselves though, so I prefer them in a sweet mead, unless you have other flavors to go with it (I also add cinnamon, cloves, lemon and ginger with red clover honey)

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Wow that seems really complex. I hope all those notes come through. It also sounds like it would kind of taste like a pie to me. I have never had an elderberry or red clover honey. Excited to hear how it turns out.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

I have officially begun. My bungs were a bit large for my gallon jugs so gonna have to look for either smaller ones or better gallon jugs. And using the hole in balloon method on the bottle. Going to start 2 more gallons in a week. Well order the stuff that is.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

I had a very thick layer of what I believe to be krausen form shortly after adding my activated yeast. I unfortunately didn't leave enough space in the top of my jug. It did over fill a bit, so cleaned that mess up and dumped out about a half cup of the precious liquid. I got up in the middle of the night about 4 hours later and they had started to bubble maybe every 20 secs. Went back to bed and 3 hours later the one that over filled had produced more krausen that had pushed up into my bubbler. So cleaned the bubbler and took out maybe a quarter cup of liquid. My other gallon is having no problems. What type of bad repercussions could I be looking for in this batch that keeps producing krausen? If any, I may be jumping the gun, because this is the first night.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Well 3 days in and I think everything is going to plan. I degased last night about 10 mins in each one. They all have lightened in color and have a very strong wine smell to them. They are bubbling at a rate around 24 a minute. Which they resumed about 3 minutes after degassing. I plan on degassing again today then due to my work schedule will have to be every other day. I was thinking of keep that consistent for the first 2 weeks.