Mead - the homebrew thread

[ShawDeuce221]

lot of juice in those berries

Do you plan on pressing them or you're hoping the juice just comes out?

 

[bigk84]

Do you plan on pressing them or you're hoping the juice just comes out?

I'm punching them down while de-gassing, juice is definitely out of them already.

 

[wiltznucs]

Absurd amount:

25 lbs red raspberries
32 oz red raspberry concentrate
18 lbs orange blossom honey, 2 gallons spring water

Raspberry for days

Raspberry is awesome, my only gripe is the racking losses. Even with the immersion blender it seems you lose 20-30% of the initial volume at the first racking.

 

[bigk84]

Raspberry is awesome, my only gripe is the racking losses. Even with the immersion blender it seems you lose 20-30% of the initial volume at the first racking.

We'll see, I don't think it's going to be that much honestly.

 

[quirkzoo1]

Just opened the last nip bottle of my cranberry mead. Dry mead, Clover Honey, bottled on 7/22/12.

Holy damn, I have heard that mead gets better with age, but this went from cheap white wine to a really nice balanced bottle of mead. I just wish I had saved more.

 

[Jb123]

Raspberry is awesome, my only gripe is the racking losses. Even with the immersion blender it seems you lose 20-30% of the initial volume at the first racking.

I agree, almost with any fruit I've used, the first time you rack it you lose a noticeable amount? Honestly I don't see how you wouldn't but if there is a way someone let me know

 

[Jb123]

Anyone used white labs sweet mead yeast before? I've always used 71b or d47 and clearly it ferments try and have to back sweeten. Would be nice not to do that, heh. Does this yeast really ferment "sweet" if so what's the final abv?

 

[bigk84]

Anyone used white labs sweet mead yeast before? I've always used 71b or d47 and clearly it ferments try and have to back sweeten. Would be nice not to do that, heh. Does this yeast really ferment "sweet" if so what's the final abv?

I have not tried that yeast yet, but I have considered it. My go to yeast are also 71b and D47, I usually blend them, best of both.

I've been starting my meads with a lot higher OG lately just to avoid back sweetening. Made a raspberry mead with my buddy and it finished around 1010. We ended up opening a bottle of Schramm's Raspberry to see what their FG was, stuck a hydrometer right in the bottle. We added honey and raspberry concentrate to our batch to bring the FG up to 1.040, it tastes much better and balanced between fruit and sweet. Not quite to Schramm's level, but close.

The batch that I just did (posted somewhere above), I added more honey and more fruit so it wouldn't finish as dry, it stopped at 1.024, I need to add more sugar next time to get an even higher OG so it finishes higher. I am cold crashing right now, will rack and then add a little bit of honey to backsweeten, I'm planning on putting the batch on a bunch of raspberries in secondary to get more raspberry in your face flavor. I'll see how it tastes before I do such a thing.

 

[Jb123]

I have not tried that yeast yet, but I have considered it. My go to yeast are also 71b and D47, I usually blend them, best of both.

I've been starting my meads with a lot higher OG lately just to avoid back sweetening. Made a raspberry mead with my buddy and it finished around 1010. We ended up opening a bottle of Schramm's Raspberry to see what their FG was, stuck a hydrometer right in the bottle. We added honey and raspberry concentrate to our batch to bring the FG up to 1.040, it tastes much better and balanced between fruit and sweet. Not quite to Schramm's level, but close.

The batch that I just did (posted somewhere above), I added more honey and more fruit so it wouldn't finish as dry, it stopped at 1.024, I need to add more sugar next time to get an even higher OG so it finishes higher. I am cold crashing right now, will rack and then add a little bit of honey to backsweeten, I'm planning on putting the batch on a bunch of raspberries in secondary to get more raspberry in your face flavor. I'll see how it tastes before I do such a thing.

Need in my mouth.

 

[bigk84]

Need in my mouth.

I'll give you something to put in your mouth. It might be illegal in Michigan now though.

 

[Jb123]

I'll give you something to put in your mouth. It might be illegal in Michigan now though.

I read that, wtf hahaha!!!!

 

[jivex5k1]

Found some cheap raw orange blossom honey, it's time to give mead making a try. I'm going to use my existing brett culture to ferment it, just need to find a simple recipe.

 

[mjohnson171]

Found some cheap raw orange blossom honey, it's time to give mead making a try. I'm going to use my existing brett culture to ferment it, just need to find a simple recipe.

Dry mead - 3lb honey per gal of water
Semi - 4lb honey per gal
Sweet - 5 lb honey per gal

Add yeast & nutrients.


Boom, there's your simple recipe

 

[bigk84]

Bottled up my Black Currant mead yesterday...it's beetus in a bottle, so good.

For an amusing pic of this from abawol01 , see here.

 

[mjohnson171]

Bottled up my Black Currant mead yesterday...it's beetus in a bottle, so good.

For an amusing pic of this from abawol01 , see here.

Eye Es Oh.

 

[wiltznucs]

Lots of good stuff going on in here. Had a busy mead weekend here.

Pulled our Double Black black currant and blackberry melomel out of a wheat whiskey barrel where's it been for the past two months. Hit it with a bit more sulfite and backsweetened. Will bottle next week.

Started 5 gallons of a new concept I'm calling ABC. A mix of Aronia Berry, Blueberry and Cranberry.

Started 15 gallons of our PB&J Goober Grape mead.

Finished the day by racking 5 gallons of Honeybell Dreamsicle to secondary.

I'm pooped. That's the busiest mead weekend I've had in months.

 

[sweemzander]

Bottled up my Black Currant mead yesterday...it's beetus in a bottle, so good.

For an amusing pic of this from abawol01 , see here.

Got a batch of Black Currant going now in primary myself

 

[mjohnson171]

Where are you guys getting your black currants? And are you using both fresh/frozen currants and currant juice? If you're using currant juice where are you finding it.

I've looked around at stores by me (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, chain grocery stores) and haven't found any juice. I'm leary to order anything online without actually seeing the label first to verify if there are preservatives or anything other than 100% currant juice.

 

[Jb123]

Where are you guys getting your black currants? And are you using both fresh/frozen currants and currant juice? If you're using currant juice where are you finding it.

I've looked around at stores by me (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, chain grocery stores) and haven't found any juice. I'm leary to order anything online without actually seeing the label first to verify if there are preservatives or anything other than 100% currant juice.

I've been checking these guys out. The juice looks legit too.
http://www.currantc.mybigcommerce.com/frozen-black-currants-de-stemmed-5-lb/

 

[Jb123]

http://www.currantc.mybigcommerce.com/all-natural-black-currant-concentrate-32-oz/

 

[sweemzander]

Where are you guys getting your black currants? And are you using both fresh/frozen currants and currant juice? If you're using currant juice where are you finding it.

I've looked around at stores by me (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, chain grocery stores) and haven't found any juice. I'm leary to order anything online without actually seeing the label first to verify if there are preservatives or anything other than 100% currant juice.

It is more of a "Test Run" Batch, but I used a combination of:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/black-currant-vintner-s-harvest-fruit-bases.html (found it cheaper somewhere else)
http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just-juice/just-black-currant (at my local Woodmans)

If it turns out well, I might just keep using the combo of the two, but I want to order from here:

https://nwwildfoods.com/product/fresh-frozen-organic-black-currants/
Its pricey, but free shipping

 

[mjohnson171]

Great info guys! Because of this just placed an order for 24lbs of honey and will soon be ordering some black currants.

 

[sweemzander]

Great info guys! Because of this just placed an order for 24lbs of honey and will soon be ordering some black currants.

Just curious, where do you order your honey?

 

[bigk84]

Where are you guys getting your black currants? And are you using both fresh/frozen currants and currant juice? If you're using currant juice where are you finding it.

I've looked around at stores by me (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, chain grocery stores) and haven't found any juice. I'm leary to order anything online without actually seeing the label first to verify if there are preservatives or anything other than 100% currant juice.

currantc.com it's good stuff.

 

[mjohnson171]

Just curious, where do you order your honey?

Amazon. I search 'bulk honey' and depending on the time of year it gives me a couple different options from farms and honey producers, in addition to stuff like Krikland brand. Sometimes you get lucky and find a place that's Prime eligible. Today It wasn't But it only cost $32 to ship 27lbs honey. So that's not terrible.

 

[wiltznucs]

I prefer the Knudsen products for black currant. CurrantC is solid but the acidity of their contentrates even after dilution seems much higher than Knudsen. I don't mind a bit of tartness but found myself having to backsweeten far more than I'd like to mask the CurrantC.

 

[sweemzander]

I prefer the Knudsen products for black currant. CurrantC is solid but the acidity of their contentrates even after dilution seems much higher than Knudsen. I don't mind a bit of tartness but found myself having to backsweeten far more than I'd like to mask the CurrantC.

Good to know. I chose the Knudsen juice since it seemed to be the purest I could find

 

[sweemzander]

Amazon. I search 'bulk honey' and depending on the time of year it gives me a couple different options from farms and honey producers, in addition to stuff like Krikland brand. Sometimes you get lucky and find a place that's Prime eligible. Today It wasn't But it only cost $32 to ship 27lbs honey. So that's not terrible.

Again, I was purely curious considering you are more or less local to my area. I generally buy Costco Clover honey (cant beat $13 for 5lbs), but I usually use that in combination with Wildflower or Orange blossom.

I have been really happy with this: http://www.sleepingbearfarms.com/shop/honey/star-thistle-honey
They sell on amazon as well

Otherwise, I order from Kallas up in WI: http://www.kallashoney.com/honey-varieties.html
Good prices and shipping was not that much (phone call orders)

 

[mjohnson171]

I have been really happy with this: http://www.sleepingbearfarms.com/shop/honey/star-thistle-honey
They sell on amazon as well

The star thistle honey from Sleeping Bear is what I just ordered!

I also try to buy local honey when available, like at farmers markets or if I'm in Wisconsin. For example the Elegant Farmer in WI is not too far from my family's lake house, and they sell some nice honey in 3lb jars http://www.elegantfarmer.com/. I was really impressed with their Orange Blossom.

One of these days I'm going to buy a 60lb 5 gallon bucket of honey like the big boy meaderies.

 

[sweemzander]

The star thistle honey from Sleeping Bear is what I just ordered!

I also try to buy local honey when available, like at farmers markets or if I'm in Wisconsin. For example the Elegant Farmer in WI is not too far from my family's lake house, and they sell some nice honey in 3lb jars http://www.elegantfarmer.com/. I was really impressed with their Orange Blossom.

One of these days I'm going to buy a 60lb 5 gallon bucket of honey like the big boy meaderies.

I frequent Elegant Farmer. We go every fall for apples.
Bought some of their honey and cider for a cyser (currently aging in secondary - hoping to bottle in a few months)