Very New to Mead Making, Few Questions

[galexior]

About 3 weeks ago I started my first mead, as cheap as possible with walmart honey, redstar champagne yeast, and a 1 gallon jug of spring water. My friend recently finished his first batch, similar ingredients, and we are hooked. So, naturally, we want to find what works best. We were talking about making multiple batches with different yeasts and honeys and just experimenting with flavors and such, but we quickly realized we wouldnt be able to afford the honey if we made gallon batches.

Now, upon reading and talking, we found the packets of yeast we have can ferment a 5 gallon bucket. So instead of making gallon batches, we thought of doing multiple HALF gallon batches. But, earlier today, i got the idea (possibly a stupid one) for even smaller batches. maybe even as small as 16 oz bottles. So what we were thinking was rehydrating the yeast in warm water, and using a postal scale, divide it up into several equal amounts, and use it to ferment many really small batches of mead.

Now, this is just a college students way of thinking, but if we are careful enough, down to a certain point, the mead recipes should be absolutely scale-able, right? We dont expect it to be faster per bottle, and we know we would hardly be getting a 12 oz bottle per batch, but we could try all the yeasts and honeys we want much faster and find what we like the best, so we can make bigger batches of what we really want.

BTW, I do have a solid plan on what im testing and how ill be keep track of everything so i get a nice even test. I really enjoy scientific testing.

So, my questions to you:

• Is my theory sound, or am i a raving lunatic for even thinking this could work?
• If we were to be incredibly careful, so much so that scientists would be proud, might we have a shot as this working?
• Do you think the 16oz size is too small?
• If 16 oz is too small, why do you say that, and would Half Gallon batches be better?

 

[Arpolis]

Personally I would go with half gallon batches beacause it makes your honey measurements easy. In a half gallon container you just need 1 lb of honey to get you to a gravity of about 1.07. Fermented dry will give you an ABV of about 9.5% which would not need too long to age out to a drinkable product.

When you rehydrate your yeast use some honey and nutrients so they stay healthy while replicating.

Go ahead with your experiments I am sure you will learn a lot.

 

[galexior]

So other than increased difficulty of measurements, there really is no reason i couldnt use the really small size?

 

[Arpolis]

Not that I can really think of. But you might want at least a couple of glasses to have multiple people try and compair notes. When experimenting you always want to have as much data as possile and with only 12oz you may not get much of an experience between 2 - 3 people.

 

[galexior]

well, i dont really have to many friends around here yet (i just moved away to college), so i have one other personwho would be willing to try it, so volume isnt a concern yet. i might do two small bottles of each type regardless, just to be able to enjoy them a bit more.

 

[fatbloke]

well, i dont really have to many friends around here yet (i just moved away to college), so i have one other personwho would be willing to try it, so volume isnt a concern yet. i might do two small bottles of each type regardless, just to be able to enjoy them a bit more.

Your potential problem, is more than just one issue here.

A, small size makes them very fiddly to deal with so it would likely multiply racking losses

B, when adding nutrient (which I notice was absent from your original post) would also have to be worked out in tiny amounts

C, the cheapo honey that you've used (understandable as a student) isn't really ideal for traditional type meads (which is, well it would have been is you'd used some nutrient) as with traditionals it's about the quality of the honey (this applies to "show" meads as well, which is basically what you have without nutrients - honey is famously devoid of nutrient). Show meads make for long, slow, difficult ferments.

D, Traditional batches can take a very, very long time to age, which is usually what's needed, because most young meads taste hideous.....

I would suggest something that doesn't take much effort, can be made in small-ish batches (presumably discretion is needed in student accommodation) , uses cheap ingredients, etc etc.

Look out the recipe section for "Joes Ancient Orange".

It can be made with a 1 gallon plastic water bottle, the ingredients can all be obtained from a grocery store, it's very straight forward to make i.e. you can just mix the ingredients and you just need to take a peek at it once a week. Finally, the real bonus is that it's not too bad to drink once the ferment has completed, the liquid clears and the fruit has dropped to the bottom of the fermenter (buy a 1 gallon plastic bottle of water, put half into a pop/soda bottle, add the ingredients, top the water up to where the bottle angles in toward the neck, use a balloon with a few pin holes for airlock, let it do it's thing for a week or two until the ferment settles down, then top off to an inch or two below the neck, then leave it be until it's ferment finished, it's clear and the fruit has dropped).

You can easily bottle it into small beer bottles, whether you go for glass bottles and have to find a capper and crown caps, or you use the plastic bottles from a home brew store (hell, you could probably get away with using old pop/soda bottles of some sort).

I understand about needing to keep the numbers down, but trying to make ultra small batches etc, is just a complete PITA.

 

[galexior]

you bring up a good many points. perhaps i should rethink my experiments. as for nutrient, i havent used the commercial stuff. for the batch i have going under my bed, i have a handful of raisins that i cut in half and added to the jug, which is a gallon jug of water (with an airlock balloon, actually). I do have a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket and carboy and an air lock, but im hesitant to start a big batch until i know what im doing and so that i wont create some nasty drink that i spend loads of honey money on.

as for the aging issue, i was previously unaware of that bit. the more i read through, the more i realize i have alot of homework i need to do, because im totally outclassed and unprepared for all of this. i recently started getting my paychecks from my new job, and all of it is spend money because my living expenses are paid for by my loans, so im thinking i should invest in some true nutrient, some good honey, and proper air locks (unless you think the balloon airlock is a valid substitute).

thank you so much for all the advice. im rather excited to see how this all works out.

 

[johnny5000]

well, i dont really have to many friends around here yet (i just moved away to college), so i have one other personwho would be willing to try it, so volume isnt a concern yet. i might do two small bottles of each type regardless, just to be able to enjoy them a bit more.

You're in college with a supply of alcohol. I'm sure you could find SOMEONE to try it