A mead brewing project

[Okbrewer]

OBTW! I forgot one item on the equipment list! If you are interested in the starting and finishing specific gravity, and checking it along the way, you will need to add an Hydrometer to the list. Also available in the local homebrew stores, ask them to show you how to use it if you are not familiar with the hydrometer.

Edited August 25, 2004 by Okbrewer (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'm bumping this up to the top because we are a few days away from September, when I thought we were getting started!

What's the scoop? Are we hoping Brooks will acquire yeast for all of us and we'll pay for the shipping? Is everyone else ready? Is the idea that the Mead would be ready for the holidays, or is that wishful thinking?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Well??????

It is September -- what's the scoop, boys?

[Okbrewer]

I'm ready! I plan to start this weekend, but Monday will be more likely since I have the day off.

Brooks? Any word on the yeast or should we fend for ourselves?

How about a roll call on what we all plan to do and how big a batch we each will make?

Anyone have any questions about the process or equipment?

(Carolyn it might be just the two of us!)

Edited September 1, 2004 by Okbrewer (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm working on seeing how I can arrange the yeast today. I should have an answer by Thurs noon. It's a pretty common one, so it shold not be a bunch of trouble getting it worked up in a short time.

I'll let you know as soon as I have an answer.

Brooks

[Mayhaw Man]

Oh yeah. I'm in. Might as well make something to give away for Christmas to my friends (or my enemies, I suppose it all depends on the results )

[Carolyn Tillie]

This recipe is for a 5 gallon batch:

15 - 20 lbs Honey

4 Gallons Water

2 tsp yeast nutrient or Diammonium Phosphate or Wyeast Nutrient, 1 tsp yeast energizer,  4 tsp acid blend (all optional)

Wyeast 3783 (Rudisheimer)  (Brooks will be getting this for us?)

Pour the honey into the plastic fermenter along with about 2 gallons of water.  Stir until the honey is well dissolved in the water.  Add the remaining water and stir.

The  yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and acid blend, if used, can now be added.

Add the yeast and stir lightly. Ferment until the gravity reaches approximately 1.020. Then, rack to secondary fermenter for an additonal 1-3 months (at least!).

Top up (with water and/or more honey) to desired volume and bulk age. When the mead is clear and stable, it may be bottled.

I hate to be totally lame about this, but is the yeast nutrient added the same time as the yeast? These are the only instructions I have (not having researched it beyond this) so I'm curious if there is something stupid I should know...

Edited to add -- I've checked and that yeast is not available here in the wine country. Is there something else I can use or should we wait for Brooks' research?

Edited September 1, 2004 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[cdh]

I think that I'll aim for a 3 gallon batch with 12 pounds of honey... not sure which honey I'll use yet... the Trader Joes stuff @ $2 a lb is tempting, but must check out the honey pricing and selection at my local homebrew shop.

[Chef Shogun]

Gah, I forgot all about this! I'm in, but I'll be a bit behind as I gather supplies. Anybody know a good brewing supplier in the DC area?

[aiki_brewer]

Rats - I joined this forum to early - or too late! I'm a long-time homebrewer who's dabbled in mead, and started a 3 gal batch blueberry mead back in June. It's due for a second racking in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, at the moment, I've only got 2 3 gal carboys, so I can only do one batch of mead at a time. Of course, I've also got 4 batches of beer going at the moment (barleywine, bock, ESB, and Oktoberfest), so I guess I'll have enough to drink for a while...

Cheers!

[Okbrewer]

Carolyn, You can add the yeast nutrient right before or at the same time as you add the yeast. And you asked if it will be ready for the holidays? The answer is YES! but that is NEXT year's holidays!

I will probably be making a 5-6 gallon batch to be split later into smaller batches. I will use the clover/wildflower honey I have on hand.

If Brooks can get us the wyeast 3783, great. If not, or if you are anxious to get started, check your local homebrew shops for this yeast or wyeast 3632 (sweet mead yeast) or White labs sweet mead yeast or Lalvin 71 B or D47 or Ec1118 even!

Have fun!

[cdh]

I got the brewing started yesterday, but in a smaller quantity than planned, and with a different strategy... 1.5 gallon batches, with differences between them. First difference that seems worth exploring is the yeast.

Anybody have any thoughts on using ale yeasts in making mead? I decided that since mead is so simple and easy in ingredients and procedures, that it would be a great medium to experiment with different yeasts to emphasize their inherent characters.

I had some belgian wit yeast slurry sitting around in the fridge left over after my last brewing project, it seemed like as good a start as any since the Wyeast 3499 (from whence came the slurry's ancestors) description indicates that it is an alcohol tolerant strain, and it seems to produce some acidity on its own, and since mead recipes call for added acid, I figure that using a yeast that makes its own might be beneficial. So I got the jar of yeast slurry out, shook it a bit and tossed in a couple tablespoons of corn sugar and some more water and waited for it to show signs of life.

Then I made up a 1.5 gallon batch of mead wort out of 3 pounds of honey and some water with a bit of tea added. Tossed my fizzing yeast in, and am awaiting activity.

Edited September 6, 2004 by cdh (log)

[cdh]

Another question:

What is the opinion here on open vs. closed fermentation? This first batch I think I'm going to try an open ferment, i.e rubber banding a clean dish towel over the top of the vermentation vessel rather than putting on an airtight lid with an airlock. I know that the behavior of the 3499 yeast is extraordinarily vigorous and should do a good job of keeping a blanket of CO2 over top... We'll see how this experiment turns out.

[aiki_brewer]

Anybody have any thoughts on using ale yeasts in making mead?  I decided that since mead is so simple and easy in ingredients and procedures, that it would be a great medium to experiment with different yeasts to emphasize their inherent characters.

←

Generally I've used Cuvee yeast for making meads - it's got a high alcohol tolerance, and isn't going to add much in the way of flavor characteristics. With ale yeast, you're likely to get diacetyl flavors (and, in the case of wit yeast, phenolics) that could unbalance the flavor of the finished product, particularly if you're going for just a straight mead. Honey's flavor is pretty subtle (at least for most of the kinds of honey one would use to make mead - I tasted eucalyptus honey once, it was like eating sweetend Vic's Vapo-rub...)

As for open v. closed fermentation, I always go for closed. I'd be worried about even a "clean" dish towel, as clean ain't necessarily sterile. Guess it depends on how big your fermentation vessel is, and how likely the blow-off is to come into contact with the towel and whatever's in the air beyond. If I'm likely to have a vigorous fermentation, I'll go with a blow-off tube rather than an airlock - about a 3 foot length of tubing, one end crammed into the carboy stopper, the other securely submerged in a plastic container filled with a couple of inches of water and a little bleach. Basically a giant airlock.

Edited September 7, 2004 by aiki_brewer (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

Brooks, did you ever find anything out about the yeast? I'm still ready to start, albeit way behind, but I don't have the proper yeast....

[cdh]

Carolyn-

You work for a winery, right? Any chance of nabbing a jar full of the lees? That would do the yeasty job, I'd imagine, provided they'd not been killed off with sulfites or such before you grabbed them.

Everybody seems to be advocating wine yeasts for fermenting mead, so you're likely to do quite well with what you've got readily to hand.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Carolyn-

You work for a winery, right?  Any chance of nabbing a jar full of the lees?  That would do the yeasty job, I'd imagine, provided they'd not been killed off with sulfites or such before you grabbed them.

Everybody seems to be advocating wine yeasts for fermenting mead, so you're likely to do quite well with what you've got readily to hand.

←

I checked with our new assistant winemaker, Tress -- he thinks that the lees is probably mostly dead. There are a number of yeasts that ARE available to me, other than the one indicated. Should I just go with something else? Has anyone heard from Brooks?

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm still here. Inever go anywhere (except under the house to plumb, there's no access there-I'll have to work on that). I have no answer from the guys, but I just sent another message and called and left one so I should here today.

There's another option if I can't work this out, but I would have to ship myself. I would rather have them do it.

I'll be back.

[wnissen]

I checked with our new assistant winemaker, Tress -- he thinks that the lees is probably mostly dead. There are a number of yeasts that ARE available to me, other than the one indicated.  Should I just go with something else? Has anyone heard from Brooks?

←

Carolyn,

Try Beer, Beer, and More Beer, they have the White Labs sweet mead yeast for sale and they ship if you can't make it down to Concord. You can't go wrong with a White Labs strain.

I think your winemaker is right about the lees. That yeast is tired, having gone a long time without oxygen and nutrients. Typically when re-using yeast, you take some of the actively fermenting wort/must, which has vigorous yeast in it. The other option is to make a starter using yeast nutrient and some kind of sugar, and get those yeasties back to full strength. But by far the easiest is to just get a live commercial starter.

Walt

[chappie]

In fall 1998 I made five gallons of mead (actually more of a cyser because it contained a few gallons of unpasteurized apple cider) using honey, the aforementioned cider, water, champagne yeast (maybe Montrachet? -- Can't recall) and a large bucket of ripe wild persimmons.

I never used sulfites to kill the wild yeasts, which I later learned were quite potent. Because persimmons are so tannic, it had a bitter taste each time I racked it for quite some time, and I didn't end up drinking it for two years.

But when I did, that stuff was quite wild. I had it bottled in old champagne bottles sealed with bottle caps (American sparkling wine bottles accept a cap nicely), and when you opened one, you had to do it over a bowl because it would geyser about a third of its contents. It was very effervescent, and the persimmons lended a unique fruity taste, but good God was that the worst hangover I've ever had.

I haven't made mead since, but think next time I'll do a still batch with mint and/or spices (a melomel?). But I wonder, if you found a source, could you use raw honey? Would the enzymes produce desirable effects?

[GaijinGirl]

The mead thread makes it sound as though there is both interest and experience in mead brewing to be found here on eGullet.  Why don't we try to get together a communal meadmaking project sort of like the Chef's Beer thread from last winter?

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My husband is a big-time homebrewer and meadmaker. When I mentioned this thread to him, he suggested that I mention Gotmead.com. It's where all the experienced meadists go to share and talk. The URL is: http://www.gotmead.com

Janet

[cdh]

So... time to ask for a progress report from everybody.

I've got about 1.75 gallons of water with 3 pounds of honey dissolved in it fermenting now with a witbier yeast in my stainless steel brew kettle. Pulled out a spoonful yesterday to taste, and it is quite tasty already, though has long way to go fermentation wise... still quite sweet.

How's everybody else doing?

[Carolyn Tillie]

I'm still looking into buying yeast!!!

eGads, at this point, I'll be lucky to get started at the END of September!

[cdh]

Hey Brooks--

How's that yeast hunt coming? Any progress on getting your guys in motion?

My first 1.75 gallons is bubbling away and I'll probably rack it into something in the not too distant future... and I've got another 6 pounds of honey to play with, so if you've got a line on a good and proper mead yeast I'd gladly wait for it so that I can give it a try.

[cdh]

Hey again Brooks--

Just noticed that Ivan is pointed right at you, so you've clearly got other things than yeast on your mind right now... Once the chaos subsides, let us know how you made out down there.