Mead - the homebrew thread

[doobiegoobie]

20 lbs for five gallons is my max. Will definitely increase next batch...

How much you thinking? It's probably more, but it seems like Schramms goes for 10#/gallon. Seems kind of wild but I think I'm gonna go for it. Just gotta do some more research first to make sure I don't waste that much amazing fruit

 

[Beerontwowheels]

How much you thinking? It's probably more, but it seems like Schramms goes for 10#/gallon. Seems kind of wild but I think I'm gonna go for it. Just gotta do some more research first to make sure I don't waste that much amazing fruit

At 10lbs per gallon of mead, you would probably have to start getting creative with your fermenter choice (or split the batch). Even at 4lbs/gallon, for a 5 gallon batch, an 8 gallon bucket was cutting it close. At 10#/gallon, you'd probably need a 15 gallon carboy/bucket (hello Speidel!).

 

[RLD]

doobiegoobie Pretty sure I remember Naegerbomb saying Schramm's uses around 6lbs+ of fruit per gallon. Seen a post on facebook from Four Fires meadery recently that one of their new batches has 11-12lbs of fruit per gallon. How is that even possible haha?

 

[Phischy1]

Does it seriously take that much fruit? Even at 6#/gallon that seems like a crazy amount.

 

[doobiegoobie]

At 10lbs per gallon of mead, you would probably have to start getting creative with your fermenter choice (or split the batch). Even at 4lbs/gallon, for a 5 gallon batch, an 8 gallon bucket was cutting it close. At 10#/gallon, you'd probably need a 15 gallon carboy/bucket (hello Speidel!).

Ahh good call. I only got a free 6.5 gal big mouth, so I'm going to mix my honey in water for ~2 total gallons, then just add fruit until it's full. We'll see how much that turns out to be!

doobiegoobie Pretty sure I remember Naegerbomb saying Schramm's uses around 6lbs+ of fruit per gallon. Seen a post on facebook from Four Fires meadery recently that one of their new batches has 11-12lbs of fruit per gallon. How is that even possible haha?

I thought they used more, but Schramm's is (very understandably) pretty tight lipped about recipes. But yeah, that's a **** ton of fruit regardless. I wonder if these places are just adding honey to fruit puree. I've heard Steve Piatz say that on average 10# of fruit will yield 1 gallon of water. So they can't be adding much, if any, water to a 10#/gallon batch. But ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[doobiegoobie]

Ahh good call. I only got a free 6.5 gal big mouth, so I'm going to mix my honey in water for ~2 total gallons, then just add fruit until it's full. We'll see how much that turns out to be!

I ended up starting a batch with local stone fruit and orange blossom honey. Turns out you can get ~50# into a 6.5 gal big mouth bubbler (~ 15# apricots, 12# ranger peaches, 20# hale haven peaches, 2.5# nectarines). Barely. It's right up to the top but the fruit is still pretty frozen so I'm going to get it a few hours to let it thaw and condense a bit before adding everything else. I just hope I can fit my 2 gallons of liquid in there. Kiiiiinda nervous

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I ended up starting a batch with local stone fruit and orange blossom honey. Turns out you can get ~50# into a 6.5 gal big mouth bubbler (~ 15# apricots, 12# ranger peaches, 20# hale haven peaches, 2.5# nectarines). Barely. It's right up to the top but the fruit is still pretty frozen so I'm going to get it a few hours to let it thaw and condense a bit before adding everything else. I just hope I can fit my 2 gallons of liquid in there. Kiiiiinda nervous

Degassing gon' be like dis mang:

 

[doobiegoobie]

Degassing gon' be like dis mang:

Oh I'm 100% going to lose some liquid. Just gonna keep a towel around it and hope degassing like 6x a day is going to help.

But I ended up getting all my honey in! So that's nice.

 

[Jas45678]

Oh I'm 100% going to lose some liquid. Just gonna keep a towel around it and hope degassing like 6x a day is going to help.

But I ended up getting all my honey in! So that's nice.

I don't believe you...post a pic

 

[doobiegoobie]

I don't believe you...post a pic

I'll try to get one in a bit. Gotta overcome being drunk and lazy though

Anyone have experience making a coffee mead? I got 14# of this really cool coffee honey that has some gorgeous toffee and carmel flavors going on. I'm thinking about fermenting with RC212 to bring out berry notes, and then get a berry-forward coffee, and then maybe aging on actual berries. I'm going to ferment once I get some more GoFerm and then figure the rest out later, though.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I'll try to get one in a bit. Gotta overcome being drunk and lazy though

Anyone have experience making a coffee mead? I got 14# of this really cool coffee honey that has some gorgeous toffee and carmel flavors going on. I'm thinking about fermenting with RC212 to bring out berry notes, and then get a berry-forward coffee, and then maybe aging on actual berries. I'm going to ferment once I get some more GoFerm and then figure the rest out later, though.

No experience there, but I'm intrigued.

**********************************************************************

Update on my traditional - mixed it up on 8/3, 11 gallons split into two 6.5G carboys, both read out at 1.130 OG. Gravity samples so far have been:

8/06: 1.112 (2.4%)
8/08: 1.100 (4.0%)
8/12: 1.060 (9.5%)

Looking for at least another 30 points, and would be thrilled if the yeast quit at 1.026 (14%). Quick temp check before gravity reading shows the mead is chilling at 65° in my keezer/ferm chamber.

Took my first ever legit (not paper strips) pH reading today (MW102) and it revealed the mead is sitting at 3.27pH. Seems on par as research shows most meads finish fermentation somewhere between 3.0 - 3.2. Going to cross my fingers and hope my SNA regimen (Travis Blount Elliot schedule) keeps the yeast healthy enough to finish out.

Early impressions are that my split of 71B & D47 might not have been the best yeasts to ferment with since I was looking to retain some of the marshmallow/maple traits of the MeadowMaple honey. I kind of figured this but wanted to stick with yeasts I was familiar with given this honey wasn't cheap. Still...tastes great so far (fruitier than what I had in my head though) and I think it will taste great once it comes out of a barrel a few months down the road.

 

[jvanaus]

I know bochets have been discussed briefly, and wiltznucs coined his bochetomel phrase earlier in this thread with raspberries (also tasted at Huna day last year - it was spectacular), but I'm toying with the idea of a strawberry bochet.

I wasn't able to find much online about strawberries and caramelized honey, and I'm not entirely sure the flavors would meld very well. Only toying with a one gallon batch - starting with three lbs of cheap-o Costco clover honey, add water to the one gallon mark after caramelizing the honey, then one lb of strawberries in primary.

Terrible idea?

 

[Beerontwowheels]

I know bochets have been discussed briefly, and wiltznucs coined his bochetomel phrase earlier in this thread with raspberries (also tasted at Huna day last year - it was spectacular), but I'm toying with the idea of a strawberry bochet.

I wasn't able to find much online about strawberries and caramelized honey, and I'm not entirely sure the flavors would meld very well. Only toying with a one gallon batch - starting with three lbs of cheap-o Costco clover honey, add water to the one gallon mark after caramelizing the honey, then one lb of strawberries in primary.

Terrible idea?

I'd drink it. I haven't had a bochet, nevermind made one though.

 

[jvanaus]

I'd drink it. I haven't had a bochet, nevermind made one though.

I'm convinced.

I've heard a crockpot caramelizes honey easily and in the least painful way possible - so I think that'll be my first try. Definitely don't want molten lava honey burning the hell out of my hands.

 

[elkhunter36]

I know bochets have been discussed briefly, and wiltznucs coined his bochetomel phrase earlier in this thread with raspberries (also tasted at Huna day last year - it was spectacular), but I'm toying with the idea of a strawberry bochet.

I wasn't able to find much online about strawberries and caramelized honey, and I'm not entirely sure the flavors would meld very well. Only toying with a one gallon batch - starting with three lbs of cheap-o Costco clover honey, add water to the one gallon mark after caramelizing the honey, then one lb of strawberries in primary.

Terrible idea?

This might help if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.meadmakr.com/mc35-pro-bochet-tips-so-you-dont-botch-it/

 

[jvanaus]

This might help if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.meadmakr.com/mc35-pro-bochet-tips-so-you-dont-botch-it/

Very interesting podcast so far - thanks for the share. I think it's very interesting how he says they back-sweeten using a second batch of caramelized honey after fermentation is done. Sounds like a great idea if the first taste doesn't get you where you want it to be.

 

[elkhunter36]

Stealing ideas from bigk84 HOD clone recipe. I wanted to do this with all fresh fruit from Wisconsin. Everything is in season now.

10# fresh Door County Montmorency cherries
10# fresh Door County Raspberries
10# fresh Red Currants. We picked these ourselves



and 14# orange blossom honey

We will see how things turn out


Oh and we picked a few gooseberries, wife wanted to make a pie.

Yesterday was 4 weeks for this in the primary so we strained the fruit out. Ended up with just under 4 gallons. Smells amazing.


And today is pyment day. We ended up with 24 quarts of concord grape juice this year so making 2 batches, one with our usual Wisconsin white clover honey and one with orange blossom honey. Will be fun to try them side by side.

 

[doobiegoobie]

I got a buddy who works as a winery, so I was able to score ~4 gallons worth of merlot, cab sav, cab franc, and tempranillo must (mostly merlot). I ended up adding enough blueberry honey to bring it up to 6ish gallons at 32 Brix, and fermented with RC212. I was hoping it would stop around 4-5 Brix, but that 212 blew past that and it's dry now. Holy **** that puts it at like 18-20% ABV. I was hoping for something with a little residual sweetness, so I'm either going to blend it with a sweeter mead or just backsweeten. It's got a nice flavor though, so I'm hopeful it'll turn out. I'm gonna try to get some more grapes to do another one, but grape season is almost over here

 

[buzzword]

I got a buddy who works as a winery, so I was able to score ~4 gallons worth of merlot, cab sav, cab franc, and tempranillo must (mostly merlot). I ended up adding enough blueberry honey to bring it up to 6ish gallons at 32 Brix, and fermented with RC212. I was hoping it would stop around 4-5 Brix, but that 212 blew past that and it's dry now. Holy **** that puts it at like 18-20% ABV. I was hoping for something with a little residual sweetness, so I'm either going to blend it with a sweeter mead or just backsweeten. It's got a nice flavor though, so I'm hopeful it'll turn out. I'm gonna try to get some more grapes to do another one, but grape season is almost over here

iso

 

[doobiegoobie]

iso

 

[buzzword]

I'M Mr. Meeseeks!

 

[axeman91821]

Anybody have tips on using cinnamon and/or vanilla? I've got a couple gallons of apple cyser that's about 6 weeks old and 14%ABV. I'd like to rack it onto some cinnamon and vanilla beans to age and hopefully bottle in time for Thanksgiving. Was thinking one cinnamon stick and two beans to start and sample weekly, but happy to have input on both the quantity and type of cinnamon and vanilla to use.

 

[mjohnson171]

Anybody have tips on using cinnamon and/or vanilla? I've got a couple gallons of apple cyser that's about 6 weeks old and 14%ABV. I'd like to rack it onto some cinnamon and vanilla beans to age and hopefully bottle in time for Thanksgiving. Was thinking one cinnamon stick and two beans to start and sample weekly, but happy to have input on both the quantity and type of cinnamon and vanilla to use.

What's your're total liquid volume? That's going to determine how much to add.
Also depending on how long you plan to let the cyser sit on vanilla/cinnamon will determine how much too. And how strong of those flavors do you want to shine through.

I've worked with vanilla in a lot of meads, but never cinnamon, so I can only add experience on the vanilla.

If you only want a faint hint of vanilla I use 1 bean per gallon for a few weeks. If you want a ton of vanilla flavor I used 5 beans/gal.

Also I split and scrape each bean.

 

[axeman91821]

What's your're total liquid volume? That's going to determine how much to add.
Also depending on how long you plan to let the cyser sit on vanilla/cinnamon will determine how much too. And how strong of those flavors do you want to shine through.

I've worked with vanilla in a lot of meads, but never cinnamon, so I can only add experience on the vanilla.

If you only want a faint hint of vanilla I use 1 bean per gallon for a few weeks. If you want a ton of vanilla flavor I used 5 beans/gal.

Also I split and scrape each bean.

So right now the batch is probably a little under four gallons, but I'm planning on racking three gallons to secondary with the spices and bottling the rest as is.

Definitely would like a bit of flavor to shine through, but don't want it to be a total bomb either. Going off what you said I'm thinking maybe five vanilla beans for three gallons.

 

[mjohnson171]

So right now the batch is probably a little under four gallons, but I'm planning on racking three gallons to secondary with the spices and bottling the rest as is.

Definitely would like a bit of flavor to shine through, but don't want it to be a total bomb either. Going off what you said I'm thinking maybe five vanilla beans for three gallons.

Start small and periodically taste. You can always add more if you don't like the amount of vanilla after a week or two.

 

[doobiegoobie]

Was lucky enough to score some leftover grapes after a local winery did their harvest! After hand ****in squeezing those ****ers, I ended up with 2.5 gallons of a blend of sangiovese and tempranillo grapes. I'm doing a cold soak on them now, and am planning on adding blueberries and black raspberries along with a mix of blueberry and raspberry honey to get to ~36B. Might add some vanilla after reading about what yall do, too. Gonna get weird with this one though!

 

[doobiegoobie]

Been on a mead making kick lately (i.e., I've been stressed as **** with work/school/dissertation **** and making mead/beer calms me the **** down) so I threw together another mead. 16.5# of a blend of blueberry and raspberry honey to get to 4.5 gal of ~30B, and fermenting with D47 at 58F right now. Gave it a big dose of O2 at pitch, again this morning, and will do it again tonight after adding my first nutrient addition. Those new episodes of Got Mead Live have been super helpful. I'm probably gonna add some Ethiopian coffee to half when it's closer to done, and some butterfly pea blossoms to the other half for a weird ass color.

 

[Ednolb]

What kind of honey do you guys use during wintertime? Do you buy honey at a store or buy enough stock in summer when there’s lots of fresh honey? Or simply no meadmaking during wintertime?

 

[Beerontwowheels]

What kind of honey do you guys use during wintertime? Do you buy honey at a store or buy enough stock in summer when there’s lots of fresh honey? Or simply no meadmaking during wintertime?

I haven't had a hard time finding honey no matter the season. Local apiary seems to have a good stock.

 

[doobiegoobie]

What kind of honey do you guys use during wintertime? Do you buy honey at a store or buy enough stock in summer when there’s lots of fresh honey? Or simply no meadmaking during wintertime?

I haven't had a hard time finding honey no matter the season. Local apiary seems to have a good stock.

Same here. Honey doesn't really go bad (just keep the moisture down), so there's usually plenty around in winter.

 

[Ednolb]

Mine doesn’t, that’s the problem. Maybe I should look for one with a bigger stock then.

 

[axeman91821]

Man, 71B really is a beast. Took my cyser down from 1.114 to 1.002

 

[jvanaus]

Man, 71B really is a beast. Took my cyser down from 1.114 to 1.002

How long was the fermentation and what nutrients / schedule did you do? I have a cyser fermented with 71B as well that's pretty clear and I think pretty close to being "done" so I'm currently bulk aging.

Need to get some readings soon so I can see how it's fallen and how much I might want to backsweeten.

 

[axeman91821]

How long was the fermentation and what nutrients / schedule did you do? I have a cyser fermented with 71B as well that's pretty clear and I think pretty close to being "done" so I'm currently bulk aging.

Need to get some readings soon so I can see how it's fallen and how much I might want to backsweeten.

Made/pitched this batch sometime in late August. Was down at 1.008 on October 1st, which I thought it was done at that point. Took another reading while getting ready to rack to secondary with some vanilla and cinnamon last night and it was down to 1.002. Good thing I checked as I ended up increasing the amount of honey I used to backsweeten. I used Fermaid-O in additions at 1, 2, 3, and 7 days, degassing twice a day for the first week.

 

[mjohnson171]

More homemade mead porn needed.

 

[MooseLang]

I'm on my phone, so I can't catch up on 40 pages of Mead talk right now. I recently had my first Schramm's, and it blew my mind. Was thinking about making a Ginger mead.

- My local Amish Market has raw wildflower and Alfalfa honey for $30 per 5lb container. Is that a decent price? Are either of those varieties good for mead?

- How much honey do I need to make a 5 gallon batch?

 

[mjohnson171]

I'm on my phone, so I can't catch up on 40 pages of Mead talk right now. I recently had my first Schramm's, and it blew my mind. Was thinking about making a Ginger mead.

- My local Amish Market has raw wildflower and Alfalfa honey for $30 per 5lb container. Is that a decent price? Are either of those varieties good for mead?

- How much honey do I need to make a 5 gallon batch?

$6/lb is on the high side for bulk of 5 or > lbs, especially for wildflower. Never bought alfalfa so that might be in line. Typically $4-5/lb is what you pay for “bulk” honey.

Both would be good for a mead, however I’d think the alfalfa honey would be wasted on a fruited or ginger mead if that’s what you were looking to make.

 

[MooseLang]

$6/lb is on the high side for bulk of 5 or > lbs, especially for wildflower. Never bought alfalfa so that might be in line. Typically $4-5/lb is what you pay for “bulk” honey.

Both would be good for a mead, however I’d think the alfalfa honey would be wasted on a fruited or ginger mead if that’s what you were looking to make.

Thanks for the info! I will keep shopping around.

 

[elkhunter36]

Stealing ideas from bigk84 HOD clone recipe. I wanted to do this with all fresh fruit from Wisconsin. Everything is in season now.

10# fresh Door County Montmorency cherries
10# fresh Door County Raspberries
10# fresh Red Currants. We picked these ourselves



and 14# orange blossom honey

We will see how things turn out


Oh and we picked a few gooseberries, wife wanted to make a pie.

Bottled today. I am pretty pleased with the results. The Pyment should be bottled Sunday and I will post a pic.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Update on my traditional - mixed it up on 8/3, 11 gallons split into two 6.5G carboys, both read out at 1.130 OG. Gravity samples so far have been:

8/06: 1.112 (2.4%)
8/08: 1.100 (4.0%)
8/12: 1.060 (9.5%)

Looking for at least another 30 points, and would be thrilled if the yeast quit at 1.026 (14%). Quick temp check before gravity reading shows the mead is chilling at 65° in my keezer/ferm chamber.

Took my first ever legit (not paper strips) pH reading today (MW102) and it revealed the mead is sitting at 3.27pH. Seems on par as research shows most meads finish fermentation somewhere between 3.0 - 3.2. Going to cross my fingers and hope my SNA regimen (Travis Blount Elliot schedule) keeps the yeast healthy enough to finish out.

Early impressions are that my split of 71B & D47 might not have been the best yeasts to ferment with since I was looking to retain some of the marshmallow/maple traits of the MeadowMaple honey. I kind of figured this but wanted to stick with yeasts I was familiar with given this honey wasn't cheap. Still...tastes great so far (fruitier than what I had in my head though) and I think it will taste great once it comes out of a barrel a few months down the road.

Found a 10g whiskey barrel today on the interwebz. Wasn't cheap, but at least the search is over (still some left @ midwestbarrelco.com, in case anyone is interested). Purchased this morning and already have tracking info.

Will pull a sample of the mead tonight (for science) and figure out what the hell I am doing with regards to fining/clarification. Any suggestions? Bentonite, SuperKleer, etc.? Haven't used finings before, hoping I don't have to. I guess I could coldcrash it...