water quality and bottling question?

[Sean from New Hampshire]

I'm planning a small gallon batch of mean, was wondering what I should look for in water quality? Also, once the mead clears and is ready for bottling, is it ready to drink? Or do I have to lay it down ALSO like wine?

Sean

 

[Yooper]

I just use tap water for all my beers, ciders, wines, and meads so I don't know about different waters.

Mead is much like wine, and it's better with age. In fact, mead should be aged even longer than wine because honey takes a long time to ferment and mellow out. I make mead just like wine, with the rackings and bulk aging.

 

[mgayer]

I also just use tap water. If the water tastes good straight out of the tap go for it. If it has flavors you don't like or smells then just use some bottled water from the store. Make sure it is not distilled!

Honey does take a lot longer to mellow. If you get a very high ABV % it will have a medicinial taste until it mellows. Different yeast also effect how young it can be drank. But other than that it is just like wine.

 

[SoCalBrewing]

Mgayer, why not distilled? Im not asking fecetiously, Im really curious. I know that purified means it has been filtered and is essentially just water with no minerals. To my understanding that is not what you want when you make beer. Distilled still has minerals in it, so that is what I have used when I have used bottled water. Have I been wrong, and should have gone the other way?

 

[Sean from New Hampshire]

Thanks for the advice!

Sean

 

[mgayer]

Distilled means Boiled. This means for a brewer the O2 levels are way down. It makes the yeast stress as it fights to get the O2. Most of the tap filters will remove enough sediment and calcium deposits. I also don't use water from a softner. Most water softners us salt thus your sodium is way high!

Back in the day Mead was just made with what came out of the stream or from rain water. Most any imbued drink were made in wood barrels or large crocks. Of course I would not want water out of most streams now but different waters can give you some flavors. If you taste it before it will still be in there and maybe a bit stronger.

 

[Beerrific]

Distilled means boiled and the steam/vapor is collected, so essentially all minerals are left behind. Distilled is about the closest you can get to pure water. There is stuff in regualr water that yeast need (minerals, etc.), IMO, filtered tap water (whether that be from your house or in bottles) is the best to use, of course, if your tap is clean enough that filtering won't help, plain tap water is best.

 

[fatbloke]

Well, it's my understanding that theres a "rule of thumb" about the softer the water, the better.

Here in the southeast of the UK, we have quite hard water i.e. with quite a high calcium content (lots of scale in the kettle and coffee maker). Though if you look around you can find bottled water (locally bottled) that has a lower calcium level. The originating spring being located in one of the few sandstone areas.

If you really want total control over your resulting product, then distilled water, re-oxygenated in someway (air pump?), then adding all the nutrients, minerals, etc etc yourself.

Hell, you can get really anal about it, sourcing specific honeys (and yes you appear to have a much greater choice in the US), as well as testing acidity etc etc.

I'd guess that it depends on just how far you want to go.

I've made mead with local tap water and the lower calcium bottled water. My honey is mostly sourced from the local supermarket (which means it's a blend, that is probably already pasturised). Hence I don't boil it - I don't usually heat it at all other than to make it easier to remove from the jar.

So far, I've used high alcohol yeasts mainly and thats resulted in the same issue already highlighted by mgayer (and it's also mentioned in Ken Schramm's book "The Compleat Meadmaker") though mgayer says "medicinal", whereas Ken Schramm likens it to "Listerine".

I do, currently have 3 one gallon batches of an identical recipe but using 3 different Lalvin yeasts. Not that I'm trying to be any kind of perfectionist, I'm just trying to find a recipe that is straight forward to make and doesn't necessarily need to be aged for 12 months +

From my reading "around the Bazaars", it seems that it's best if the honey is unprocessed, so that any heating removes hive debris etc, with soft water (though free from process additives like chloramine and chlorine).

I doubt whether I can achieve that, but I'd keep looking around to see whats available.

TTFN

fatbloke.

 

[mgayer]

fatbloke,

Try this one. I have been using it for several years and it is very drinkable when finished. It does get better at about 3 month intervals! I don't usually have much lasting over 6 months anyway.

5 gallon batch

1 gallon Honey
4 tsp nutrients (2 in primary, 1 added in 5 days and 1 added to secondary racking)
water
1 to 5 lbs extra honey
5 Campden Tablets
3 packets Lalvin D47 Yeast(15 grams)

Mix honey and water and shake until your arms are tired(no Boiling). Crush the campden, add to must with 2 tsp Nutrients and let sit 24 hours. Add Yeast to 1 cup of water and let sit for 15 minutes, stir and let it sit for another 15 minutes. This should be making some foam. Add this to primary and cover with a towel. In 5 days add 1 more tsp of nutrients and stir the must. In 10-14 days rack into secondary with 1 more tsp nutrients. I usually add 1 lb of honey at each racking as this will increase the ABV greatly. In the last I added 1 lb honey to the second racking and then when finished added honey to taste when stablizing. It takes about 3 months, is crystal clear by then and with a little back sweetning can be wonderful. Just rack every 30 days.

Happy meading!