My First Honey Mead - Tips and Advice

[TasunkaWitko]

I've got the ingredients in place to make my first honey mead, and will most likely get it going this weekend. It will be a 1-gallon batch and I am pretty eager to give it a try.

It won't be anything fancy; just three pounds of honey from our local apiary, a local spring water that has worked well for me with my beer brewing, and Lalvin D47 yeast. I also have some yeast energizer and yeast nutrient. As far as I can tell, that's about as basic as it gets. As I get more experienced, I would like to experiment more with "burned" honey and possibly alternative sources of yeast nutrients such as raisins etc.

I've brewed beer before, and have some apfelwein going, but this will be my first mead - if anyone has any tips or advice, please feel free to share them here.

That's it for now; more as it happens etc &c.

 

[SnakeRidge]

I just did the same thing. 3# honey in 1 gallon of spring water with Fermaid K and DAP. I didn't boil the honey, what I did was brought the water to boil, added nutrients then let it cool slightly. Added the honey, which brought the temp down to 160* or so and let it cool from there. I pitched the D47 yeast and forgot about it for 2 months. It dropped crystal clear and I bottled it this weekend with a touch of new honey for a little carb (1 volume). The hydro sample tasted very nice, can't wait to try it in 6 or 12 months. Mine finished out at 1.003 with the D47.

 

[fuelish]

First tip ....just call it mead....mead is made with honey as it's base ingredient and it goes without mentioning (...just being ornery this morning after a couple rough 12 hour nursing night shifts )

 

[SnakeRidge]

For a tip: if you haven't read Ken Schramm's 'The Compleat Meadmaker' you should. It's pretty informative especially if you want to get into adding spice, fruit, etc. Schramm is basically the Charlie P of meadmaking (mazing?)

 

[ACbrewer]

Local honey is best. Don't bother with hot water. You don't need to cook anything, although the heat does make it easier to stir things together.

A lot of mead makers use staged nutrient addtions. For 1 gallon I think you add like 1tsp for each? (pretend you do for the purpose of my post, and follow your recipe for correct amount). Take 1 tsp of nutrient and 1tsp of energizer, mix together and put in 1/2tsp of the mix (or just 1/4 tsp of each) when you make the mead. Then 12 hours later, add another 1/4 tsp of each, and at 24hours 1/4 tsp of each. Stir each time, don't be afraid to aerate and add oxygen. Check the gravity. when the gravity gets to 1/2 or 1/3 sugar add the last 1/4 tsp of each. Ex. gravity starts at 1.120 roughly, so around 1.060 down to 1.040 add that last 1/4 tsp.

give it time to ferment.

Stirring mead to get the co2 out decreases yeast stress and helps the ferment. Don't stir after last nutrient add.

Some of the honey flavors have a low evaporation temp (hence me saying don't heat the honey, or the water you put it in.).

Sweeter the finish, the more it will mask off flavors. And probably the higher ABV you will have - unless you back sweeten.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

+1 to Snakeridge's post. Compleat Meadmaker is THE book to have. I read it cover to cover in about a week and keep it around for reference when I need it.

It sounds like you're off to a good start.

• Add half the nutrients at yeast pitch and the other half after a day or two. This is called staggered nutrient additions. There are lots of schedules you can research and choose what's best for you.

• Keep your ferment below at or 70F. D47 gets a "hot" (tastes like hard alcohol) above that.

Good luck and happy meading!

 

[loveofrose]

See my article and website below while your waiting for Ken's book.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

 

[Frognostic]

I have used raisins as nutrient for mead in primary, over the course of two weeks, then strained the raisins off and added yeast nutrient in secondary.

Last mead I made, however, I skipped the raisins and added two crushed vitamin B1 tablets and 1/4 teaspoon of Young's yeast nutrient. I plan on adding another three 1/4 teaspoons over the next two weeks at four day intervals to complete the recommended teaspoon of nutrient.

 

[WVMJ]

The Complete Guide to Making Mead: The Ingredients, Equipment, Processes, and Recipes for Crafting Honey Wine Paperback – July 30, 2014 by Steve Piatz



Another good book on making mead written from a beer brewers perspective.


I never heard anyone ever say not to stir a mead after the last nutrient addition, we stir until the day before we plan to rack off the primary to let the junk settle out.



WVMJ

 

[TasunkaWitko]

A big thanks for the input, folks - I'm freeing up a fermenter soon, and will be giving this a try sooner rather than later.

Take care, and please keep the replies coming!

Ron

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

My advice is to avoid using hot water. Just poor the honey, water and additives into your carboy. Then cap it and shake the @$^#@ out of it. A good 10 min of shaking will mix it up beautifully and get the oxygen in that the yeast will want in the beginning.

Also be careful wen you add the staggered nutrients. Give your carboy a swirl or two first to degas it a bit, and add them slowly. Mead volcanoes are real, and are real hard to clean up.

 

[JINKS]

I've got the ingredients in place to make my first honey mead, and will most likely get it going this weekend. It will be a 1-gallon batch and I am pretty eager to give it a try.

It won't be anything fancy; just three pounds of honey from our local apiary, a local spring water that has worked well for me with my beer brewing, and Lalvin D47 yeast. I also have some yeast energizer and yeast nutrient. As far as I can tell, that's about as basic as it gets. As I get more experienced, I would like to experiment more with "burned" honey and possibly alternative sources of yeast nutrients such as raisins etc.

I've brewed beer before, and have some apfelwein going, but this will be my first mead - if anyone has any tips or advice, please feel free to share them here.

That's it for now; more as it happens etc &c.

Joyous mead making to you.

Let me know your final numbers (when ready) and I'll finish the label.

 

[ACbrewer]

Also be careful wen you add the staggered nutrients. Give your carboy a swirl or two first to degas it a bit, and add them slowly. Mead volcanoes are real, and are real hard to clean up.

I had this recently with a wine... lost about 4 or so oz.. maybe more... just had to wait it out. And it wasn't the nutrients, but the stabilizers....

 

[JINKS]

A big thanks for the input, folks - I'm freeing up a fermenter soon, and will be giving this a try sooner rather than later.

Take care, and please keep the replies coming!

Ron

@TasunkaWitko Me again. label stalker

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I missed these posts guys; my apologies! Thanks to all for the advice...if things go well, I'll be starting my mead this weekend.

@JINKS - very cool - I like them! The bottom one especially has a great look, and the step away from the traditional style of the beer labels is awesome.

Would you be able to replace "High Plains" with "Milk River" for the Meadery name? Would give it a local flavour, for sure!

Thanks for the awesome label shots -

Ron

 

[JINKS]

I missed these posts guys; my apologies! Thanks to all for the advice...if things go well, I'll be starting my mead this weekend.

@JINKS - very cool - I like them! The bottom one especially has a great look, and the step away from the traditional style of the beer labels is awesome.

Would you be able to replace "High Plains" with "Milk River" for the Meadery name? Would give it a local flavour, for sure!

Thanks for the awesome label shots -

Ron

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Too beautiful - :rockin:

Thanks, JINKS!

 

[JINKS]

Too beautiful - :rockin:

Thanks, JINKS!

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