What have you learned from mead mistakes?

[Rowdy50]

I'm about 2.5 months into my first mead. I second-guess all my choices every day, but so far I'm leaving well-enough alone. My recipe was:

15 lbs sam's club honey
Distilled water to 5 gal
No heating, just shaking to mix
1 pack Premier Cuvee yeast
Staggered nutrient additions in the first week

I racked it after two weeks and again a month later. Now I'm wondering if I should rack it again or just let it sit there on the lees until it clears. On one hand, there's only CO2 in the headspace and I don't have anything to top it up if I rack it, and on the other hand, I don't know if the small amount of lees will really make a difference. I'm sure it'll turn out fine either way.

No idea what the OG or current SG are, but samples taste like dry, alcoholic honey. Good, but obviously needs a lot of time.

What mistakes have you guys made with meads and what have you learned?

 

[loveofrose]

I guess my answer to your question is I made nearly all the mistakes one could make. Which is why I wrote an article so others wouldn't have to.

Current Mead Making Techniques

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html


Better brewing through science!

 

[phil74501]

I've learned two things. Start with smaller batches. Learn what you're doing with one gallon batches. Then move to 5 gallons. Saves honey money. Secondly, make sure the spigot is closed on your fermenting bucket before pouring your must into it.

 

[fuelish]

Have learned (well, I already knew this, just have developed the patience, slowly) to age longer before drinking it..... nothing like having a mead be at it's absolute best, and you only have a few bottles left Am getting better at this, but....temptation to taste while aging is still strong...

 

[edroberts]

Always make sure SWMBO knows of your intention to have a brew day well in advance.

 

[bernardsmith]

Always make sure SWMBO knows of your intention to have a brew day well in advance.

But fermenting honey takes - what? 15-30 minutes or so depending on the volume of honey you need to dilute and aerate? You can pitch the yeast into several batches of mead in an evening (and sanitize all tools and vessels as you work) and still have several hours to spend with your family or doing other work... I don't think wine making requires "brew days"in quite the same way that brewing does...

 

[bernardsmith]

I'm about 2.5 months into my first mead. I second-guess all my choices every day, but so far I'm leaving well-enough alone. My recipe was:

15 lbs sam's club honey
Distilled water to 5 gal
No heating, just shaking to mix
1 pack Premier Cuvee yeast
Staggered nutrient additions in the first week

I racked it after two weeks and again a month later. Now I'm wondering if I should rack it again or just let it sit there on the lees until it clears. On one hand, there's only CO2 in the headspace and I don't have anything to top it up if I rack it, and on the other hand, I don't know if the small amount of lees will really make a difference. I'm sure it'll turn out fine either way.

No idea what the OG or current SG are, but samples taste like dry, alcoholic honey. Good, but obviously needs a lot of time.

What mistakes have you guys made with meads and what have you learned?

Hope not off topic if topic is about learning from doing but the use of distilled water in wine making is typically not "indicated" as those in the medical profession might say. Distilled water lacks minerals and the minerals you find in spring water and even municipal water (excluding chlorine and chloramine) is precisely what the yeast needs and what honey lacks...

http://winemakermag.com/1443-softened-water-wine-wizard

 

[Rowdy50]

Hope not off topic if topic is about learning from doing but the use of distilled water in wine making is typically not "indicated" as those in the medical profession might say. Distilled water lacks minerals and the minerals you find in spring water and even municipal water (excluding chlorine and chloramine) is precisely what the yeast needs and what honey lacks...

http://winemakermag.com/1443-softened-water-wine-wizard

Yeah, that's one of the things I learned after making this one that I can't change. I'll use spring water on the next one for sure, or at least let my city water sit out overnight to get rid of the chlorine.

My hope is the staggered nutrient additions (and my tendency to make rounded teaspoons out of a specified teaspoon) will be enough to replace the stuff the distilled water lacks.

 

[bernardsmith]

Yeah, that's one of the things I learned after making this one that I can't change. I'll use spring water on the next one for sure, or at least let my city water sit out overnight to get rid of the chlorine.

My hope is the staggered nutrient additions (and my tendency to make rounded teaspoons out of a specified teaspoon) will be enough to replace the stuff the distilled water lacks.

To neutralize your chlorinated water I believe you simply need to add K-meta to the water (Campden tabs) . Many municipalities today don't add chlorine (which as you say you can leave out and allow the chlorine to evaporate. They add chloramine and at room temperature chloramine is a liquid not a gas. I believe that K-meta binds to the chloramine and prevents it from creating phenolics when you pitch yeast..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_metabisulfite

I use spring water from our state park (it's free but is tested ) but I would think you simply treat the water in the same way you treat fruit and such like before pitching the yeast and wait 24 hours for the free SO2 to evaporate.

 

[WVMJ]

Measuring by teaspoonfulls is another mistake, measuring by grams is much better, you have drank to much coffee one day and your heaping spoonfull is shook a little more than normal and you dont put in as much and it either works better or worse than last time and you wont know why. WVMJ

Yeah, that's one of the things I learned after making this one that I can't change. I'll use spring water on the next one for sure, or at least let my city water sit out overnight to get rid of the chlorine.

My hope is the staggered nutrient additions (and my tendency to make rounded teaspoons out of a specified teaspoon) will be enough to replace the stuff the distilled water lacks.

 

[fuelish]

Measuring by teaspoonfulls is another mistake, measuring by grams is much better, you have drank to much coffee one day and your heaping spoonfull is shook a little more than normal and you dont put in as much and it either works better or worse than last time and you wont know why. WVMJ

Good point, although I'd say the mistake is in the rounding of the teaspoon....proper level teaspoons/tablespoons are accurate enough for home use for those who don't have a sensitive scale.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Never add fine powders / granules to anything that has already started to ferment without dissolving it first.

 

[drgoodbrew]

+1 to measuring in grams rather than teaspoons/tablespoons.

2 other things:
*1-->buy ken schramm's book "the compleat meadmaker" he is to mead making what papazian is to homebrewing.
*2-->patience is key. take your time to let everything age and clear. many meads take upwards of a year or more to mellow and clear. take your time and you will be rewarded!

 

[WVMJ]

There is another new mead book written a little more modern and from a beer brewers point of view. WVMJ


The Complete Guide to Making Mead: The Ingredients, Equipment, Processes, and Recipes for Crafting Honey Wine

Jul 30, 2014by Steve Piatz

 

[alane1]

There is another new mead book written a little more modern and from a beer brewers point of view. WVMJ


The Complete Guide to Making Mead: The Ingredients, Equipment, Processes, and Recipes for Crafting Honey Wine

Jul 30, 2014by Steve Piatz

No need to yell

 

[Rowdy50]

Never add fine powders / granules to anything that has already started to ferment without dissolving it first.

Haha, yeah I learned that one! Got the old mead geyser the first time I added nutrients. They were all dissolved in a thieved sample after that.

 

[WVMJ]

not yelling, just cutting and pasting, its got lots of pictures for beginners though and is an easy read, no affiliation, WVMJ

No need to yell

 

[RichBrewer]

I learned from my first batch many years ago that unless you want a very high grade rocket fuel, you need to know what you are doing!

I have recently started my second attempt armed with much more information thanks to hightest's informational post on mead making. This attempt is nothing like my first in which I boiled the honey in water, topped up to 5 gallons, dumped in some yeast nutrient, added acid blend, and pitched the dry yeast into the must. It fermented out quite well but it was so hot as to be undrinkable even after more than a year of aging.

 

[Dr_Floyd]

Hope not off topic if topic is about learning from doing but the use of distilled water in wine making is typically not "indicated" as those in the medical profession might say. Distilled water lacks minerals and the minerals you find in spring water and even municipal water (excluding chlorine and chloramine) is precisely what the yeast needs and what honey lacks...

http://winemakermag.com/1443-softened-water-wine-wizard

Just to play Devil's Advocate, I've used Distilled Water a few times and have always had a really clean ferment. No off flavors, I've even gotten Lalvin 1122 yeast to go up to 17% (it's supposed to top out at 14%, honestly no idea how it's even possible) those times I used Distilled. I'm certain it helped I was doing staggered nutrient additions.

 

[Dr_Floyd]

I've been very fortunate that I only made two major mistakes despite having made only 6 batches so far. My only MAJOR mistakes (note, I've made minor mistakes since then) were in my first batch. I learned:
-Always put solid ingredients in a hop sack (I put lavender in and it added a ton of particles that wouldn't have had to fall out of solution had I bagged it), otherwise you will increase the time it takes to clear.
-Having never experienced it before I had no idea how CLEAR Mead could actually get, so I bottled too early and was left with bitter lavender sediment at the bottom of the bottle, barely drinkable. Now that I've had a batch go completely clear I know the difference, it's just one of those things you just won't understand without having experienced it first-hand first.

 

[Frognostic]

I learned that the capacity of demijohns is more like 5 litres than 4.5 litres.

When I make mead I try to make a bit over 5 litres to avoid headspace after racking.

I also learned that it's better to do the staggered nutrient additions and add vitamin B1 rather than rely on raisins in primary and bung the powdered nutrient in after racking to secondary.

 

[TheNoodlerHank]

I made some mead using Sam's club honey. And it turned out good