What else do I need to make my mead or melomel?

[Ariel]

What else do I need to do to help finish making my mead? I am thinking about adding fresh fruit juice to it like pomegranate or something else. Im not sure what to do next or how to do it. It has good bubble activity so im not worried about the yeast having been killed from the freezing and thawing process.


My recipe

• 8oz of Sandts Buckwheat honey
• 12oz of honey (Nassau Honey - I think it was clover honey)
• WLP720-HB (It was frozen for months and I defrosted it in the fridge before pitching it)
• Raisins
• Cloves
• Ginger
• Lemon peel
• Lemon juice
• Sugar
• About 90oz of boiled water to remove the chlorine

What Ive done

1. I warmed up some water to 120 degrees. Mixed in a tablespoon of sugar into it and poured in the WLP720-HB.
2. Mixed both honey with some warm water to dissolve them and mixed everything together in a 96oz plastic grape juice bottle.
3. After a day I started to see some slight foaming and bubbling in the bottle.
4. Three days after I started making it I added in about 5 cut-up raisins and shook up the bottle.
5. The next day I added in about 5 more raisins, 1/2 inch of cut ginger, 3 cloves, lemon peel, and about a tsp of fresh lemon juice. Shook it all up again.

 

[dwhite60]

Some actual yeast nutrient will help. You can boil some dry yeast in some water for a few minutes to kill it then add that to your fermenter. I don't think raisins even come close to being enough yeast nutrient.

Another thing you need, patience. Patience is the mead maker's best friend.

 

[Ariel]

Some actual yeast nutrient will help. You can boil some dry yeast in some water for a few minutes to kill it then add that to your fermenter. I don't think raisins even come close to being enough yeast nutrient.

Another thing you need, patience. Patience is the mead maker's best friend.

Would adding fruit juice be enough nutrients? When and how should I add the fruit juice?

Do I need to do anything else after adding nutrients? Keep shaking it every day for a week to aerate it or have to put it in a secondary contianer to age or can I leave it in the first one?

Im just trying to make sure I don't mess up to find out I wasted time at the end

 

[dwhite60]

Would adding fruit juice be enough nutrients?

Im just trying to make sure I don't mess up to find out I wasted time at the end

Fruit juice with pulp might, might, be better. Make sure it has no sorbate in it. This will prevent your yeast from working.

Where did you get your recipe?

Do a search for, "Joe's Ancient Orange Mead". It's a nice easy recipe that is fool proof, simple, and flavorful. It's pretty good in about 45 days but improves with age.

 

[Ariel]

Fruit juice with pulp might, might, be better. Make sure it has no sorbate in it. This will prevent your yeast from working.

Where did you get your recipe?

I didn't find a recipe. I just threw in some honey I was going to throw out and some yeast that may have been dead. Figured id try it instead of throwing them out. Thanks for the recipe!

I would use juice that I squeeze myself.

 

[Dan O]

I didn't find a recipe. I just threw in some honey I was going to throw out and some yeast that may have been dead. Figured id try it instead of throwing them out. Thanks for the recipe!

I would use juice that I squeeze myself.

You were going to throw honey away?
Honey doesn't go bad. It's good forever. They found honey in the pyramids that is still good today. If it's crystallized, you can put it in 110°F water until it becomes fluid again, but, it doesn't go bad......ever!
@dwhite60 is giving sound advice with the Joe's ancient orange mead (JAOM) Delicious & super simple to make. Just follow the recipe & don't deviate from it & you'll have some damn tasty mead. Some of the instructions seems to go against what other meads need to go through, but, for this recipe, it works. Only problem with that is you'll find yourself asking why you only made one gallon
Happy meading

 

[Ariel]

You were going to throw honey away?
Honey doesn't go bad. It's good forever. They found honey in the pyramids that is still good today. If it's crystallized, you can put it in 110°F water until it becomes fluid again, but, it doesn't go bad......ever!
@dwhite60 is giving sound advice with the Joe's ancient orange mead (JAOM) Delicious & super simple to make. Just follow the recipe & don't deviate from it & you'll have some damn tasty mead. Some of the instructions seems to go against what other meads need to go through, but, for this recipe, it works. Only problem with that is you'll find yourself asking why you only made one gallon
Happy meading

I was going to throw it away because no one liked the honey and it just sat there unused.

Thanks. Ill consider that for my next mead. This one already started. I crushed the seeds of a whole pomegranate and put the juice with the seeds in the bottle. Im hoping it turns out good at the end.

 

[Dan O]

Be careful how long you leave those seeds in. Seeds and pits (cherry pits, peach pits, plum, etc) add bitterness if left in too long. In MY own experience, 8-10 days is where I rack off of the fruit. But, you have to taste it to find where YOU would prefer it. Usually, once the fruit goes pale, (loses color) is where I like to rack it. If you take a reading & find that your ferment isn't quite done, make sure you get the yeast floating into suspension by gently swirling the carboy before you rack off of the fruit so it can finish.

 

[Miraculix]

You were going to throw honey away?
Honey doesn't go bad. It's good forever. They found honey in the pyramids that is still good today. If it's crystallized, you can put it in 110°F water until it becomes fluid again, but, it doesn't go bad......ever!
@dwhite60 is giving sound advice with the Joe's ancient orange mead (JAOM) Delicious & super simple to make. Just follow the recipe & don't deviate from it & you'll have some damn tasty mead. Some of the instructions seems to go against what other meads need to go through, but, for this recipe, it works. Only problem with that is you'll find yourself asking why you only made one gallon
Happy meading

That's actually a false myth. Honey can go bad, it depends on the water content. If the water content is high enough, it can start to ferment on it's own, turning into vinegar at the end. If the water content is low enough, nothing will happen.

 

[Ariel]

Do I have to be careful about adding oxygen as I filter out the seeds?

 

[Dan O]

That's actually a false myth. Honey can go bad, it depends on the water content. If the water content is high enough, it can start to ferment on it's own, turning into vinegar at the end. If the water content is low enough, nothing will happen.

Yes, but, I also should have stated if stored in an airtight container. Thank you for correcting me.

 

[Dan O]

Do I have to be careful about adding oxygen as I filter out the seeds?

Do you have a racking cane? If so, then make sure it's positioned as low as it can be in the clean, sanitized carboy before you start. If you don't have a racking cane, get one! Don't forget to sanitize, sanitize, sanitize!

 

[videojunkie1208]

You can put some cheesecloth over the end of the racking cane if you have small bits floating around the mead.