A mead brewing project

[Chef Shogun]

I'm still looking into buying yeast!!!

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

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I'm right there with you! Where should we be, exactly? "Put honey and water into bucket"?

[cdh]

So, y'all,

How's it going? Got anything brewing yet?

I find myself in possession of a gallon and a half of still quite cloudy mead fermenting in an airlocked PET bottle, and a quart of honey vinegar, which is what the dregs I left in a pitcher became after a couple of weeks. The honey vinegar seems quite promising in taste, though very cloudy despite having been poured through a coffee filter on its way into the bottle it is in now.

[ivan]

Hey again Brooks--

Just noticed that Ivan is pointed right at you,

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This really confused me for a while.

I'm ok now.

[cdh]

The hurricane... not the secret agent.

[cdh]

Since this topic is bumped, a brief update.

My 1.5 gallons is still nowhere near clear... have racked it once so far... maybe will do again soon.

Looking and smelling good.

And the vinegar that resulted from the mead brewing leftovers is quite good too, and has provided a very active vinegar mother for other acetic experiments... a fine way to get rid of white zindfandels that were brought to the house. Pink vinegar is fun to look at, and better tasting than the wines it came from.

[RobStagis]

I just found this thread. Being a homebrewer, I tried a 1-gallon batch, putting it the jug/fermenter Oct. 16. It's still bubbling - I racked it of most of the sediment in December. I guess this will teach me patience, eh? I've brewed (and drunk) 3 batches of beer in that same timeframe. :)

[cdh]

Hi Rob...

Glad to see somebody else with some fermenting honey water out there reading this thread. What yeast did you use? How many pounds of honey to the gallon of water?

You're still getting bubbles? Mine hasn't bubbled in months... but is throwing sediment like you wouldn't believe. The cloudiness is slowly but surely dropping out of solution.

Edited February 17, 2005 by cdh (log)

[RobStagis]

Heh - being poverty-syticken means I didn't buy 'spensive ingredients. My sis had a jug of crystallized cheap honey. I put 3.5 pounds (eyeball-estimate) into it with Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast. It burbled for a while on the top shelf of my closet, then stopped. I waited for a while (this was in December), then got ready to bottle it.

Erk - when checked, its gravity was 1.6!!!!! Not 1.06 - 1.6! Sheesh - so, I added a pint of water, thinking that maybe the alcohol had killed the yeast. Another 1/2 tsp of acid blend and a tsp of yeast nutrient and stuck it back in the jug, leaving it on the counter next to the stove for warmth.. Lo and behold, it started bubbling again. THEN I put the jug on top of my water heater. Yep - it's alive! Out of sheer impatience, I'm also moving it, occasionally, into the sun for an hour or so.

Can't wait!!!

[robi]

hi all, robi here, from budapest hugnary,

i just came across ;this wild and nitersting topic/thread so i am out fo the running for the group trial,

however, i have 8 kilograms - sg like 17 pounds of honey sitting roudn waiting to be used in sg. so why not mead. after all, i live in a land of drinkers....

what strikes me as funny/interesting is the idea of adding yeast.

yes i am a newbie at meading but everybody always talks about wine yeast... why? we make 2 - 3 thousand litters of wine a year with my father-in-law, actually he makes it, i just help in the harvest and sometimes crushing - and there is no yeast added. I have a few friends from ethipia who makes tej, or the ethipian mead, and they laughed at the idea of yeast...

so how was this done 500 yrs ago when you could not buy yeast?

i prefer to do it the old fashioned way and i cannot get all those yeast you mentioned here, and mail ordeing to hungary is a pain....

robi

BTW, is a carboy the same as a demijohn?

[TongoRad]

Hi robi. Good luck with your first batch. I'll try to be as helpful as I can-

what strikes me as funny/interesting is the idea of adding yeast.

so how was this done 500 yrs ago when you could not buy yeast?

There is a difference between Wild Yeast and Cultured Yeast. Wild yeasts are everywhere, but especially like to reside on grape skins. Traditionally one did not pitch new yeast into any fermented beverage (wine, beer, cider, mead) but relied on the regional wild cultures (called 'spontaneous frementation'). This can have unpredictable, and sometimes disastrous, results- or it can lend a regional flair to the finished product . The modern way is to start with a clean slate by killing off as many microbes as possible through heat or sulfites and then to pitch a cultured yeast bred spicifically for the task at hand. This is, of course, the more commercially viable option.

As a hobbyist you can go either way, though my experience suggests that wine is a lot more forgiving than mead when it comes to spontaneous fermentation, and may even benefit in the way of a malo-lactic fermentation. I'd recommend that your first batch of mead be made with a wine yeast- any one that you can find, actually. Your local supply store may not have the liquid cultures mentioned here, but even dry yeast would be preferable if available- there is nothing worse that having to dump a batch that you have invested so much time and money into. It would probably be impossible to duplicate your friend's Tej using a local supply of honey, though you certainly experiment as you become more proficient. Even then I'd start small, such as one gallon test batches.

BTW, is a carboy the same as a demijohn?

Essentially the same thing- a glass vessel with a thin neck to allow an for airlock to be fitted at the top. They come in many different sizes.

[cdh]

While I'm updating eG on my current brewing project in other threads, I thought to revisit this thread to report on how my mead experiment has been doing.

I racked it again about a month ago, and hit it with a little gelatin dissolved in water to help it clarify.

I looked at it today and have decided that it looked good enough to taste. So I did.

The Witbier yeast pretty clearly produced a whole lot of acidity in this mead, so much so that it has a dry champagne sort of flavor. A bit of residual sweetness, but a bracing acid structure underneath it. Tasted so champagne-like that I decided to throw some CO2 into it and make it properly fizzy.

Will report back once my two chargers of fizz are dissolved into the mead.

[Susan in FL]

Chris, I wish you could beam me up some samples of your brewing. That would make your great posts even better.

[cdh]

Well, Susan, are you going to make the pilgrimage to put in an appearance at the Grey Lodge on May 13th? I could bring along a sample or two for you.

After having a glass of german wine last night, I've rethought the flavor profile of the mead... less champagne, and more riesling-y, actually. The acid is not nearly as biting as champagne acid, and the sweetness is more like a german halbtrocken. The flavor is more rounded and less sharply pointed.

[fatmat]

Inspired by this thread, I have set up my own mead experiment today. I'm a bit of a bucket chemist, so measurements are guesstimates.

3lb honey - clover

juice from 4 lemons

rind of two lemons - no pith

1/2 pt white grape concentrate

1 tsp all purpose wine yeast - high alcohol tolerance

1/2 tsp nutrient

1 gallon water

Boiled and cooled water. Disolved honey in water, less two pints. Squeezed lemons and added juice to must (saving rind of two). Added yeast and grape concentrate to one reserved pint to get a starter going. Chopped the lemon rind and put in bowl with other reserved pint, boiling. This will be strained and lemon rind extract will be added tomorrow. Starter was added four hours after it was mixed.

I'll keep you posted on it's progress.

[fatmat]

I added the lemon rind extract today - only used half tho as it was quite pungent. The brew is bubbling away quite happily to itself, so all well so far...

[cdh]

Sounds good!

Do be prepared to wait for months before it clears.

Do you intend a sparkling or a still mead?

[fatmat]

I'm planning on a still one at the moment, but I've got plenty of time to be indecisive - I'm planning on drinking this for xmas 2006, so I'm in no hurry

The brew was working, but at quite a slow rate, so I added two grams of Gervin Minavit nutrient, which is a fertiliser/multivitamin blend. It seems to have done the trick - the brew is working really well now.

[Little Frog]

Hello eGullet mead brewers!

Thought I would bump this thread and see how everyone's batches are doing, as I am about to embark into my first mead brewing adventure...

This thread was a huge help when it came to getting the equipment and the ingredients.

I read several books on mead, but past the basic instructions, most launch into various technical/stylistic considerations that do nothing but confuse the bewildered newbie.

So it was really helpful to find a tried-and-true basic recipe.

My friends and I will start brewing next week. I am sure I will have plenty of questions for our mead experts soon!

Wish us beginner's luck!

[Susan in FL]

Hello eGullet mead brewers! 

Thought I would bump this thread and see how everyone's batches are doing, as I am about to embark into my first mead brewing adventure...

This thread was a huge help when it came to getting the equipment and the ingredients.

I read several books on mead, but past the basic instructions, most launch into various technical/stylistic considerations that do nothing but confuse the bewildered newbie.

So it was really helpful to find a tried-and-true basic recipe.

My friends and I will start brewing next week. I am sure I will have plenty of questions for our mead experts soon!

Wish us beginner's luck!

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I'm not a mead brewer, but I'm very interested. Good luck, and please do keep us posted.

[nr706]

Yes, good luck. I've made sparkling meads, and they've come out fine, but a bit too much honey flavor for my tastes. But when it comes to the flavor of a nice braggot ...

Edited October 27, 2005 by nr706 (log)

[cdh]

I consumed my 1.5 gallons of mead this summer. It turned out wonderfully, though I think that the witbier yeast's tart tang overshadowed the honey flavors.

About 3 weeks ago I started another batch of mead, this time 7 pounds of honey to 3 gallons of water, and used Lalvin's Narbonne yeast. It has been in the basement bubbling away, and is just starting to calm down. Soon I'll rack it off the yeast and let it sit until next summer.

I may toss in some oak chips and/or some fruit too. I've got a while before I have to make those decisions.

[RobStagis]

An update. First, my um, '1.6' Gravity should've been 1.16. Bailiff - slap his peepee. That batch took 10 months (!) to finish, came out still, sweet (sweet mead yeast, eh?) and brilliantly clear. It has gotten better as it's aged.

I made a raspberry mead (melomel?) that was bone-dry, also with with sweet mead yeast...huh. I blended some of that with some of the sweet stuff with great results.

I'm in!!

[Okbrewer]

Wow! Has it been that long since this thread started!? Anyone else have success with this or subsequent mead brewing!? I made a batch of base mead last weekend, 24# honey for a 9 gallon batch and used Lalvin 71B-1122 (Narbonne) yeast, also added some yeast energizer and nutrient. It took off rather quickly and is bubbling away nicely. I will likely split this into at least 3 batches, adding fruit, juices, and/or spices. I'll let you know how it progresses.

Bob R in OKC

[cdh]

That mead from 11 months ago did get a little oak and some fruit... I tossed a few pounds of frozen sour cherries and wineberries in there, let it sit until around May, then force carbonated and bottled it. It is quite pleasant now that the oakiness is calming down and the berry flavors are mellowing. I've got a good supply of it now, so I'll be able to observe its changes over time.

[TRK]

I am a beer brewer but have been thinking about starting a mead for some time. Right now my only problem is a shortness of funds and a lack of interesting local suppliers of honey. If anybody knows local honey producers in the Monterey area who don't charge an arm and a leg for honey (the guy I talked to at the farmers market wanted more than it would cost to get premium honey shipped from a brewstore), please let me know.

One note, I have read on another forum that the sweet mead yeast some people had trouble with has a tendency for stuck ferments. That Rob Stagis' experience seems to back that up. What I have been told is that the best way to get a sweet mead is to use a dry mead or wine yeast and let it ferment out, then stabilize with sulfites or similar, and add honey to taste. I haven't tried it, but that was the advice given to me.

When I get around to brewing my first batch, I will update this thread.