Ok, so as you've already seen in a total noob when it comes to mead. I live in a small town in west/central PA, and despite having access to a fair selection of craft beers, which is the only beer I drink (besides HB of course) I have never even seen mead available anywhere. Due to PLCB regulations I'm guessing the only way to get it in this state would be a state run liquor store, or a local meadery. I know of many local wineries that put out excellent wines, but none that produce any mead. If there is anyone who lives in PA, and knows where to get any please help. I'm sure it's available if you know where to look. Perhaps by ordering online from finewinesandspirits.com, and picking it up at my local state store. In PA you cannot have wine, or liquor delivered to your house i.e. wine of the month club. I would like to get into making mead, as I think it would be a perfect solution to our families tastes. I like dry, but my wife like sweet (Moscato is her favorite). I could make a five gallon batch, fully attenuate, and then back-sweeten half to suit her, but leave the other half dry for my liking. However, I want to make sure it's something we both enjoy before investing time, and money into this endeavor. Thanks in advance for any help I receive.
Total Noob... Both with mead and HBT!
- Thread starter dmenace86
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I asked a similar question before making my first mead, and was advised to just jump in and do it because a lot of commercial meads suck and sampling one might turn me off from making one.
I would make a one gallon JAOM for the wife, and a 1 gallon traditional mead for you. Don't invest in a 5 gallon batch for your first time out.
I would make a one gallon JAOM for the wife, and a 1 gallon traditional mead for you. Don't invest in a 5 gallon batch for your first time out.
theblackwolf
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i second maylar's advice, try 2lbs honey for yourself, 3 for your wife , followed by backsweetening 1/8th of a cup of honey untill it gets to where she likes it.
bernardsmith
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Hi dmenace86, Honey is not inexpensive and to make a batch of 5 gallons you will need something like 15 lbs of honey ( perhaps 10 lbs to make a session version) but there is no law of nature that requires that anyone who makes a batch of mead for the first time and who might need to spend 6 - 12 months aging their wine only to find that it is not as wonderful as they imagined it might be when they pitched the yeast should consider that anything less than 5 gallons is a waste of their time. Mead ain't beer and you could make 1 gallon batches every week for 5 weeks tweaking your process and protocol as you catch weaknesses or problems so that even while making your "first 5 gallons" you have in fact learned a great deal more about mead making than you might have making a single 5 gallon batch... Not least you could see what differences there are in using different varietals of honey and /or different strains of yeast... all for the same 15 lbs of honey. Oh, and while a "brew day" may take the best part of an 8 hour day, to make a batch of a simple mead (honey, nutrient, spring water and yeast) might take all of .. I don't know... 20 minutes (?) if you include the time it takes to sanitize equipment.
Now that I have my process down, it takes me upwards of 30min, and that's counting in racking a previous batch.
Thanks everyone! I find it ironic that the advice I'm getting is to NOT try any commercial meads, and just go for it, but I do thank you for the advice. Sometimes going in blind is the best. Also, the five 1 gallon batch method is a great idea. It really makes sense, and will make the learning curve much easier. However, from what I have read I think my main concern is gonna be remembering to de-gas. That's gonna take a little getting used to because I did something similar to my wort, by exposing it to contamination like that everyday, I would be a nervous wreck thinking about the end results, but, as noted above, mead ain't beer!
Degassing a gallon of mead can be as simple as giving the jug a swirl. I don't like opening a fermentor either.
But do check out the JAOM recipe, as one of your first gallons. It finishes sweet and needs zero intervention for two or 3 months. Just be sure to follow it verbatim - no substitutions or interpretation. It was my first mead, and now I'm hooked.
But do check out the JAOM recipe, as one of your first gallons. It finishes sweet and needs zero intervention for two or 3 months. Just be sure to follow it verbatim - no substitutions or interpretation. It was my first mead, and now I'm hooked.
bernardsmith
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During active fermentation the yeast will take up any O2 you provide and the pH and the fact that you are dealing with honey and not grain means that souring is not a given. Most seasoned mead makers have no qualms about using a bucket as their primary - no lid , no airlock - no bubbles to fetishize over - loosely covered with a cloth. That means that several times a day they can vigorously stir the mead (during active fermentation) to aerate and to degas. When the gravity drops to about 1.005 then you want to rack the mead into a carboy - No headroom at that point. And that suggests that you should be prepared to take gravity readings every couple of days. Again, mead ain't beer and if you sanitize appropriately (use K-meta - that also acts to inhibit oxidation of the honey) without any concern whatsoever you can freely return the sample back to the bucket.
bernardsmith
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... and spring water. NOT distilled water, and really not municipal water if it contains chlorine or chloramine
I have a carbon filter I use that takes chlorine, and other chemicals out of my tap water. I use it for my brewing water, and I was assuming I could do the same for making mead.
Drewed
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You "could" but how good is your carbon, and when was it last replaced? (I work in the water filtration industry, and have an uber system on my drinking water, and still buy water for mead.)
Honestly, one of the easiest things to do is buy one gallon jugs of spring water, dump some out and ferment right in the gallon it can in.
I'd say make a JAOM ( Joe's Ancient Orange Mead), A BOMM ( Brays One Month Mead ) and a COMM or C-BOMM (Cyser [Brays] One Month Mead) This will allow you to get your feet wet pretty cheaply, or at least in smaller steps, teach you all about step feeding (TOSNA- Tailored Organinc Step Nutrient Additions and TiOSNA ("i" for In-Organic) are two methods for this) And if you don't royally screw the pooch, you will have drinkable meads in about a month to a month + a few days.
Honestly, one of the easiest things to do is buy one gallon jugs of spring water, dump some out and ferment right in the gallon it can in.
I'd say make a JAOM ( Joe's Ancient Orange Mead), A BOMM ( Brays One Month Mead ) and a COMM or C-BOMM (Cyser [Brays] One Month Mead) This will allow you to get your feet wet pretty cheaply, or at least in smaller steps, teach you all about step feeding (TOSNA- Tailored Organinc Step Nutrient Additions and TiOSNA ("i" for In-Organic) are two methods for this) And if you don't royally screw the pooch, you will have drinkable meads in about a month to a month + a few days.
theblackwolf
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everyone just seeeeeems to forget, honey.. is naturally resistant to infections, spray the holy living hell out of everything with starsan, soak and shake it down til everything is sanitized, honey yeast and water, and your mead will be ok. it is surprisingly forgiving. (im drunk, take what i write with a grain of salt just to be safe, however.. sanitize errything), SKOL.
My filter is recommended to be replaced at every 800 gallons, or one year. Whichever comes first. It also states in the paperwork that it removes all chlorine and organic flavors. I use it for my homebrew, and have never had any issues. I don't know what brand it is though. I get if from morebeer. At any rate, perhaps I'll just go the spring water route. I also have a question regarding different honey varietals. A friend of mine has 55 lbs of mesquite honey left over from a 60 lb bucket he bought for some reason. He's offered it to me for a buck a pound, which is a great buy, but will it have the typical "mesquite" flavors present? While that could be interesting for experimentation, I want to try making a couple batches of a "clean" mead so I know what to expect.
Drewed
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Go ahead and use your carbon filter. If it works for beer water it should be ok for mead water. In my work I've dealt with people who say "My brand XXX filter is the best." Oh really? "Yea, I've had it on my faucet for 10 years and it is still working!" Lol
I've read that Mesquite honey does taste like "mesquite" -- not smoky, but if you can taste the difference between mesquite-smoke and hickory-smoke, you'll have an idea what to expect of the honey.
I've read that Mesquite honey does taste like "mesquite" -- not smoky, but if you can taste the difference between mesquite-smoke and hickory-smoke, you'll have an idea what to expect of the honey.
Lol I'm sure you've heard it all when it comes to filtration. For me it's something that I treat like any other piece of equipment, which means proper care, and replacing hardware when necessary. As for the mesquite honey, I think I'm gonna get it. I've never made mead before, so simple is probably the best approach. That being said, if I'm already making a batch, and considering aging requirements, this is what I'm thinking: make a 3 gallon BOMM. 1 gallon will be left as is. I will add some poblano pepper, and maybe a small chunk of habanero, to another. The last will be oaked, or maybe add some home toasted mesquite. If I can source some. I think it will be a fun experiment. That's what it's all about after all. Well, it is to me anyway.
ShareBrewing
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It can be pretty hard to locate mead in PA. I live in the Pittsburgh area and even at the State liquor stores I can only find 1 example of a mead. It was alright. It's funny to say that if you want a good mead, make it yourself, but it's absolutely true. Mead is quite forgiving. On my 21st birthday, my brother handed me a 2.5 lb jug of red bamboo honey (who knew that existed?) and said to make alcohol with it. So I did.
After making it, life got busy or maybe I just got lazy, but I let it sit in the single gal glass hug for about a year over the 71B lees. Never transferred to secondary. Let it ferment dry and then backsweetened slightly to 1.018. Still turned out GREAT! One of the best meads I've ever tried. The best way to get into mead is to just dive right in.
PS: look for Kingview Mead in the future. They just opened in the past few months here in PGH. Not sure how far they distribute their kegs, but keep an eye out.
After making it, life got busy or maybe I just got lazy, but I let it sit in the single gal glass hug for about a year over the 71B lees. Never transferred to secondary. Let it ferment dry and then backsweetened slightly to 1.018. Still turned out GREAT! One of the best meads I've ever tried. The best way to get into mead is to just dive right in.
PS: look for Kingview Mead in the future. They just opened in the past few months here in PGH. Not sure how far they distribute their kegs, but keep an eye out.
Thanks for the tip. I'm about 2 hours east of Pittsburgh, but I make it out that way several times a year, so if I don't see it in the state stores around here I'll check out there next time.
