Mead - the homebrew thread

[Jb123]

I'm pretty fortunate I happen to have a honey farm 5 miles from my house 4lbs for 12$...not bad, but limits me to wild flower only. Was able to score some fresh orange blossom in Detroit for 20$ 5lbs....this is a very expensive hobby and I just do one gallon batches....

 

[Jb123]

What kills me is Schramms "doesn't use water" hard to believe but explains the prices and overall intense flavor or his meads.

 

[TomTwanks1]

What kills me is Schramms "doesn't use water" hard to believe but explains the prices and overall intense flavor or his meads.

I find this very hard to be true. On several of his meads it clearly marks 51% (insert berry) 49% honeywine (ie honey + water fermented). Maybe he means he doesn't dilute the meads with straight water?

 

[Jb123]

I find this very hard to be true. On several of his meads it clearly marks 51% (insert berry) 49% honeywine (ie honey + water fermented). Maybe he means he doesn't dilute the meads with straight water?

Well I'm not 100% sure. I asked his daughter one day when there and she said they use fruit and fruit juices only? I could have misunderstood her as I was there for a couple hours drinking...**** 64oz of Ballantine cherry juice is like 30$+...I don't wanna sound like a know it all just kinda putting it out there maybe someone else knows....

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Good to know about costco. The honey from the lbs ran me 70$. Could have saved 25$ had I thought to use my costco card!

 

[JulianB1]

Just racked my mead onto 3 lbs of fresh blackberries. Froze them overnight to break the cells walls.

1.106 OG (March 9th), 1.014 when I racked over the berries (12.3% abv) today.

Will take a gravity reading in about two weeks. If things are tasting good I will add the camden tablets and the k - sorbate and bottle a week or so after that (assuming it's dropped clear again...).

The gravity sample on Saturday was tasting pretty good. Hoping the addition of the blackberries takes it to the next level!

Thanks to everyone who offered advice!

ISO: this.

Will pay shipping and send many good southeast beers in return.

 

[Jb123]

Going to make a apricot mead next I think, this week....anyone have any tips? I've looked online and the few I see seem a bit overkill with some of the chemicals .

One gallon batch:
3-4lbs wildflower honey
1 gallon water
Lalvin 71b yeast (I've heard this works really well with fruit) usually use d47...
**thinking of putting 2-3 lbs of apricots in primary and then would rack it on 5lbs later on....

I want this to be pretty sweet so thinking 4 lbs of honey rather than 3
Would work better?

Anything you have to add is appreciated as always.

 

[Jb123]

Welp trying it
3-3.5lbs honey
Gallon h20
2.5 lbs apricots
71b yeast

 

[Jb123]

Vigorous fermentation about 12-15 hrs in. ( I did add 1/2 tsp yeast energizer when I pitched the yeast)

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Vigorous fermentation about 12-15 hrs in. ( I did add 1/2 tsp yeast energizer when I pitched the yeast)

What was your OG? Curious...

 

[Jb123]

What was your OG? Curious...

Around 1.1

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Around 1.1

You should join the Talk Beer Homebrew Club (send me your email address in a PM and I'll send you an application - no cost to join!) - We will probably have a mead competition before the year is out. The number of bottles you'd send out would be equal to the number of participants minus 1. I'd figure 6 bottles at most, but maybe there are more meadmakers here than I estimate.

 

[Jb123]

Well after a few days of fermentation it appears my apricot mead has "stuck" anyone with knowledge of this, ever happen to you??? I used nutrient and all....the other two I've made this never happened...

 

[Jb123]

Well I guess 71b works fast...took a gravity reading today 1.000 so roughly
13%. Going to rack it on around 3-4 lbs of apricots. See what happens !

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Well I guess 71b works fast...took a gravity reading today 1.000 so roughly
13%. Going to rack it on around 3-4 lbs of apricots. See what happens !

That 'must'* be pretty dry. My mead started at 1.106 (similar to yours) and my last hydrometer reading was 1.012 (2 months later). I used 71B also. I suppose the juices I used affected the pH and maybe that's why mine stopped at 1.012.

*That is probably the oldest Mead pun in the book, huh?

 

[Jb123]

That 'must'* be pretty dry. My mead started at 1.106 (similar to yours) and my last hydrometer reading was 1.012 (2 months later). I used 71B also. I suppose the juices I used affected the pH and maybe that's why mine stopped at 1.012.

*That is probably the oldest Mead pun in the book, huh?

I tasted it today and well obv it's not tasting the best but I think with time it will mellow out??

I used a whole packet for one gallon that's prob why this happened...I guess I prob should start using less yeast in just paranoid it won't ferment if I pitch too little.

 

[Jb123]

Give it time. My apple pie mead took forever to start myself. And dont be fooled; just because it doesnt seem like its fermenting via airlock doesnt mean its not. I did something very similar with d47/cider /that was pastuerized ( i think maybe even sulfite?) & 10 lb honey and it fermented, just took like a month. Most importantly, TAKE GRAVITY READINGS!!!!

Took off after about a three weeks, just tasted a ounce at the month after start date and it's already pretty tasty. Still fermenting , going to add some Madagascar vanilla beans and Vietnamese cinnamon after ...pretty excited for this one! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Jb123]

Anyone making meads? I've got a cherry mead and a mulberry mead going now! Tasting pretty boozy....I've read ken let's some of his meads age for 2 years before he sells them...hoping that's true because a few of mine taste boozy as hell but the fruit flavor des come through .


Cheers

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Anyone making meads? I've got a cherry mead and a mulberry mead going now! Tasting pretty boozy....I've read ken let's some of his meads age for 2 years before he sells them...hoping that's true because a few of mine taste boozy as hell but the fruit flavor des come through .


Cheers

I'm still sitting on the batch I made back in March. It's chilling in secondary in the room where all my sours hang out. I keep getting nervous that brett or bacteria will find it's way into my mead and ruin it. I'd like to up the cherry flavor (at bottling) as I think a 50/50 blend of black currant juice and Sour Cherry juice left it a bit too dry. More sour cherry, less black currant juice next time.

 

[Snarf1]

I've been kicking around making a batch of mead. So much nice fruit right now and I don't have any beers ready and mead seems like a good way to get to use some of the fruit I'm seeing. A lot of guys is my homebrew club make mead and it's generally pretty bad. Being the competitive sort, I really want to make a good mead. Being the cheap sort, I really don't want to spend over $100 on fruit and honey and not make a great mead. So I've been doing some reading/listening and here are the two most helpful things I've found so far, both from Ken Schramm.

Stream of Ken Schramm on Basic Brewing Radio (if link doesn't wort it's the Jan 9, 2014 episode). There's a lot of business related talk and the show's usual stuff, but there's some good info too.

Schramm mentions an article he wrote on honey fermentaion in the interview. It's got great info on nutrient additions and why they are important.

 

[rcubed1]

Ken Schramm is awesome but also listen to the Michael Fairbrother podcasts that are out there. He's the head guy at Moonlight and he gives you his base recipe and techniques. Low fermentation temps, staggered yeast nutrient, de-gassing are all keys. He uses Lavalin 71B for yeast.

Acid balancing your mead if it's not right is another key if you think it tastes off. That and potentially back-sweeting. We have a ton of great mead makers in one of my clubs.

 

[Jb123]

Ken Schramm is awesome but also listen to the Michael Fairbrother podcasts that are out there. He's the head guy at Moonlight and he gives you his base recipe and techniques. Low fermentation temps, staggered yeast nutrient, de-gassing are all keys. He uses Lavalin 71B for yeast.

Acid balancing your mead if it's not right is another key if you think it tastes off. That and potentially back-sweeting. We have a ton of great mead makers in one of my clubs.

Talked to kens son...they use 71b 1122 as well. I've been using d47 because that's what I've read a lot of ppl using and he said that 71b will give u more mellow smooth flavors. Going to try that with my next mead.

 

[Jb123]

Racked all my meads. Strawberry rhubarb is good, little boozy. Added some more honey see how that works..mulberry is solid but not a ton of fruit came through...apple pie I put a whole vanilla bean and some cinnamon into secondary tasting pretty darn nice. Cherry it's pretty darn fruit forward compared to the rest but still boozy. These are all pretty young as far as meads go I guess....will try using 71b-1122 next mead I make and see how that changes things!

 

[quirk6]

I have my first batch of mead sitting in secondary. I made a small batch with 48 oz clover honey, 530 oz each black currant juice and water. Used D47 yeast and nutrient. After several weeks I added some blackberries. OG was 1.120 and was at 1.010 when I racked it onto secondary after 6 weeks. I tried it when I transferred it and I thought it was tasting really nice. A very wine-like character from the currant juice, but with really nice honey floral notes. I really want to keep moving forward with the mead making. It's easy, fun and tasty.

Anybody ever try making a sparking mead?

 

[Jb123]

Getting tired of letting my meads mellow out so trying something new. Honey n water and using 71b 1122 yeast instead of d47 by the urging of a helpful professional. Going to let it ferment first and then add three pounds fruit(wild raspberries 3lbs) and a few habaneros for a one gallon batch. Have been putting fruit in primary up
Until this. This will put me like 6 meads deep. Interesting to see if this yeast change makes it less "hot". A few are mellowing out but it's been about 6 months for those. We will see: )

 

[Jb123]

Today we racked meads:
Strawberry rhubarb is nice about six months out now. Back sweetened it a bit. I don't think I could tell ya blind that it's strawberry rhubarb but it tastes nice.

Mulberry is pretty great too! The flavor is subtle.

Cherry is ok, needs some work. Still pretty young. Going to put 16oz pure cherry juice in it. Should help I think.

Apple pie is the star of the show! Needs to mellow a bit. The cinnamon is huge but balanced. Had one vanilla bean in, just added another. High hopes here!

These were all d47 yeast

Now first time with 71b I made just a standard mead honey and water then added one habanero. So much more mellow of a ferment, prob will only use this yeast now. The habanero really comes through it's pretty solid! Going to add more peppers and rack on 3lbs of raspberries or juice enough raspberries to get one gallon juice and add that to the mead.

 

[ExPimp]

I'm reviving this thread... I bought all the pieces to successfully make 1 gallon batches of mead. I was at the Austin homebrew store and asked for recommendations for yeast, they sold me Red Star Côte des Blancs wine yeast. Does anyone else use this yeast? Also, do you guys fruit in primary, secondary, or both? I know different stages will impart different characteristics, but I guess I'm looking for some anecdotal evidence of how it affects it. Thanks guys!

 

[Jb123]

Anyone tasting their meads? My habanero is interesting, holding off on adding fruit. I like the way it taste. Sweet up front and spicey on the back. Kinda disappointed in the cherry considering the amount of cherries added and also the roughly 16oz of pure cherry juice, the good **** too $$. Maybe it will evolve. Everything else I'm very pleased with. Just have to bottle now roughly 5 gallons of mead ....

 

[quirk6]

I tasted my cherry not too long ago, wasn't impressed. Still tasted young and hot whereas my black currant blackberry was tasting quite nice at the same age. Going to try the mulberry and cyser soon.

 

[Jb123]

I tasted my cherry not too long ago, wasn't impressed. Still tasted young and hot whereas my black currant blackberry was tasting quite nice at the same age. Going to try the mulberry and cyser soon.

I did mulberry it smells jammy as hell, the taste not so much. It's very good but the smell 10/ taste 6.75 good luck! My apple pie cyser is very very good for my first go at it!

 

[quirk6]

I did mulberry it smells jammy as hell, the taste not so much. It's very good but the smell 10/ taste 6.75 good luck! My apple pie cyser is very very good for my first go at it!

There's no spice in my cyser, but I'm going to dry hop it with Nelson Sauvin the week before I bottle it.

 

[sliverx]

Wildflower with blueberries and strawberry

 

[quirk6]

Bottled my Black Cherry Mead and racked my Cyser and Mulberry mead onto secondary. All of them unfortunately, have plastic-y quality to the nose and taste. Not sure what happened, same honey and yeast as my black currant mead which turned out great.

 

[rcubed1]

Bottled my Black Cherry Mead and racked my Cyser and Mulberry mead onto secondary. All of them unfortunately, have plastic-y quality to the nose and taste. Not sure what happened, same honey and yeast as my black currant mead which turned out great.

Sometimes you can get that character from the seeds of fruit. Could be wild yeast producing that character as well.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Looking for comments on the following 5 gallon recipe:

11.75 lbs of Orange Blossom honey (1 gallon)
64 ounces of R.W. Knudsen's Just Tart Cherry juice (100% organic, no fillers or killers)
64 ounces of R.W. Knudsen's Just Black Currant juice (100% organic, no fillers or killers)
Racking onto some blackberries later down the line, probably 5-10 lbs. (Turned out to be 3lbs)
~ 3 gallons Purified water (to 5 gallons)

2 packages of lavlin 71b-1122 yeast (re-hydrated)
staggered yeast nutrients

OG came in at 1.106

I took a sample of this mead last week and was pleasantly surprised with how it's come around. I last sampled it 4-5 months ago and wasn't really a fan at all. The flavor almost a bit medicinal, reminded me of cough syrup in a way (not mouthfeel wise, just flavor). The gravity at the time seemed pretty steady at 1.012.

My most recent hyrdometer reading shows this finished pretty bone dry at 1.000. Using the 'Alternate' ABV Calculator @ Brewersfriend.com, it looks like this is clocking in at 15.1%! I was only aiming for 13% or so, but it is tasting good so not upset. It's funny, I was getting pretty impatient with it and had thoughts of dumping it. Glad I let it sit a few more months.

 

[rcubed1]

Usually with wine yeast in mead you can expect to drop 100 points. You might want to back sweeten it.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Usually with wine yeast in mead you can expect to drop 100 points. You might want to back sweeten it.

I'll give it another taste in two weeks and make a decision. I really liked it as is. Haven't used any K-sorbate and K-sulphite in this batch and not really planning on it if If I don't have to.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

So I went to bottle my mead today. Sanitized the bottles, bottling bucket, racking cane, etc. Had everything set up and ready to go. Before I transferred the mead to the bottling bucket, I tested out one of the corks (LD Carlson premium quality, #9 x 1-3/4) in the Renana 375ml bottle. Cork goes in nicely, but is a real sonuvabitch to remove.

Glad I didn't just blindly trust the word of the clerk at the LHBS. Had I done so, I would have filled my 40+ bottles and every single one would have pissed me off when attempting to open. Narrowly avoided disaster today.

I'll head back to the LHBS and buy the #8 size corks tomorrow and try again.

 

[Beerontwowheels]

45 bottle yield.

Color/clarity porn

Extra pic just because.

About to uncork a bottle and give a taste. Planning on labeling and waxing in the coming weeks. Any suggestions on names?

 

[mjohnson171]

I've made a few small 1 gallon batches of mead before but usually just consumed them out of the jug. I'll soon be doing my first bottling. Since it will be an uncarbonated melomel, is there any reason to leave head space in the bottle? Any adverse affects of say a short fill bottle or half filled bottle? I would imagine not, and maybe the extra oxygen might help the mead a bit if I'm going for that little bit of oxidation that's sometimes desired. Just curious more than anything.


FWIW: I will be using small 187ml nip bottle with a crown cap.