Mead

[SIRMIGHTYBALLS]

Is it possible to make a mead with just honey,water,yeast,and fruit of choice without any chem.would it work or would i just be wasting time and ingredients?

 

[bernardsmith]

It may work but yeast need nutrients for the yeast to effectively uptake sugars and convert the sugars into alcohol. Without the necessary minerals and nitrogen the yeast act a little like malnourished people surviving a famine or drought. It becomes really difficult for the cells to ferment and so you might find that what might normally take a couple of weeks may take months or it may not ferment without the creation of all kinds of stress -produced compounds that make the mead all but undrinkable (worst case).

 

[SIRMIGHTYBALLS]

Is there anything natural that would do the job in place if chems?

 

[viking1984]

I have read that you can boil some raisins and add them in primary, or boil half a yeast packet in some water and add that. Both are supposed to work like a "nutrient" I guess. Never tried it myself, but have also made mead without nutrient before and had it turn out fine.

 

[CA_Mouse]

Most "Yeast Nutrient" is dead yeast cells. In that, they are not considered chemicals. Raisins are another great alternative, make sure that they are naturally dried and that sulphur wasn't used in the drying process.

 

[bernardsmith]

What is the evidence that a handful of raisins will have enough nutrient load for anything but a couple of yeast cells at most? Grapes for wine may have enough nutrients but there you are talking about bushels of grapes not a handful of dried raisins. Raisins as suitable nutrient suppliers sounds more like an old wives' tale than anything based on reality. Sorry.

 

[Kent88]

Is it possible to make a mead with just honey,water,yeast,and fruit of choice without any chem.would it work or would i just be wasting time and ingredients?

It is possible. But it might take a long time.

The additives that I think of when I make mead or melomel are campden tablets, pectin enzyme, yeast nutrient, some form of acid (citric, malic, tartaric, blends, etc), and stabilizers like sorbate and campden tablets again.

I don't know how many people use campden tablets to pre-sanitize their must, but alternatively you could heat pasteurize your must. I think bringing liquid to 165ish fahrenheit for a half minute or so should work. You could blanch any fruit you want to add and that might keep unwanted microbes at bay.

Pectin enzyme is good for getting your melomel to clarify. If you don't care about appearance, skip.

Yeast nutrients can be substituted, with varying degrees of success, with boiled bread yeast, maybe some raisins, or using fruit or fruit juice that is high in nutrients that yeast need but honey lacks. Or you could just let it ferment for a few years. Maybe make a pyment?

The pH should drop given time (I think?), or you could add fruit that is acidic, like rhubarb or maybe black currents (I wouldn't know about currents first hand). If you don't want to use powdered acids to drop the pH or add acidic fruits, I would suggest you stick with a dry mead.

You can skip the stabilizers, but make sure it is done fermenting before packaging, and maybe bottle into champagne bottles. I think stabilizers add to the shelf life of a wine/mead as besides preventing further fermentation, but I'm not completely sure how. I have been told they help prevent discoloration and even oxidation. I have skipped stabilizers and had no problems with the wine, but I didn't let it age for long.

 

[Themightymonarch]

Is it possible to make a mead with just honey,water,yeast,and fruit of choice without any chem.would it work or would i just be wasting time and ingredients?

Sorry bud, chemicals are everywhere...even in natural sources like water and air. The key is the chemical itself and the dose. Natural cyanide (found in bitter almonds, apple seeds, etc.) will kill you just the same as synthetic cyanide does for dose.

 

[madscientist451]

My first attempts at mead making didn't include any nutrients. The honey fermented into alcohol but it had a harsh character that took a long time to go away. Most of it eventually got consumed, so I suppose it can be done.
If you want decent tasting mead you really need to use yeast nutrient.
Also, re-hydrating your yeast and pitching 1 pack per gallon really helps.
The actual ingredients in Fermaid O are "proprietary" but are advertised as being organically-derived, so I suppose technically they aren't "chemicals"?
I don't sulfite my mead must before fermenting, but pro mead makers do.
You can get away without using sulfites on the homebrew level if you want to.
Search for "best mead practices" on the Basic Brewing Podcast for lots of great tips.

 

[bernardsmith]

If you want decent tasting mead you really need to use yeast nutrient.
Also, re-hydrating your yeast and pitching 1 pack per gallon really helps.
The actual ingredients in Fermaid O are "proprietary" but are advertised as being organically-derived, so I suppose technically they aren't "chemicals"?

You can probably make a very generic nutrient compound by simply rehydrating a tablespoon of bread yeast in some water with a teaspoon of sugar for 15 minutes and then zapping the batch in your microwave to raise the temperature high enough to kill the yeast.