Attempting to make mead

[SpudtheBinx]

Hi guys, I decided to have a go at a mead/melomol and ended up trying two seperate gallons of black forest and strawberry. I have documented the black forest one so far here. I would appreciate if anyone can have a look and tell me if I am making any fundamental mistakes? I am aiming for about 16% vol and according to my calculation I should get that as long as the yeast holds out. I will be publishing all my recipes there and also documenting my kit successes and failures.

Cheers!

[Duffbeer]

Sorry mate your link just shows "cannot find server" tried 3 times,

[SpudtheBinx]

hmm ok, I will have a look at that.

[SpudtheBinx]

Link should work now, my router was port forwarding to the wrong pc

[StockeyDAW]

Hi guys, I decided to have a go at a mead/melomol and ended up trying two seperate gallons of black forest and strawberry. I have documented the black forest one so far here. I would appreciate if anyone can have a look and tell me if I am making any fundamental mistakes? I am aiming for about 16% vol and according to my calculation I should get that as long as the yeast holds out. I will be publishing all my recipes there and also documenting my kit successes and failures.

Cheers!

Well there are many ways to make mead my way is much different than your proposed method. See both the Mead making section and the mead recipes in this forum for the reasons and way that I make my mead. But as indicated there are many ways to make mead. Here are some things I would change: You appear to have processed honey and this honey is highly filtered and therefore it is likely that some of the nutrients and minerals and flavor or floral components have been removed? You are using frozen fruit; pears,plums, figs raisins? are these free of sorbate? You mentioned 16% alcohol - why so high? much longer to clear and age, with the amount of sugars at approximately 3.5 lbs it would take more than that to give you that amount of alcohol. I would surley not use sugar in with my mead. Honey gives it body ,aromas and flavor why sugar? I would pastuerize the honey by heating to around 175 degrees F for 30 or so minutes skimming the wax off the top of the honey - but in your case the skimming may not be necessary since it may have already been done in the processing. Yes you sure do need the tronozymol (yeast nutrient and yeast energizer). I am not familiar with the type of yeast that you intend to use but if you want the high alcohol you will need a yeast with high alcohol tolerance. I use Tartaric acid in all my meads others do it differently. In my opinion you definitely need to know the pH of you mead before pitching the yeast. For the fruits you need a nylon straining bag to put them in if not much longer for clearing.

As said previously please see the information in the Mead sections of this forum. Cheers DAW hope it works for you. Please feel free to ask further questions if you wish.

[fatbloke]

Erm, I suspect that while StockeyDAW isn't familiar with the yeast, I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Youngs GP tops out at about the 12 or so %, you'd be better suited using the "high alcohol/Dessert wine" one - in other words, if you find that once the ferment has finished that it still tastes quite sweet, then you'd probably have to go for a "restart" with either the "HA/DW" one or get yourself something like the Lalvin EC1118 (erm, I think that's the number for the champagne version).

Also, the clearing might take a while, if you want to do it naturally or you might want to give it a bang with some finings of some type (google is your friend, just as much as winesathome ).

Though you will still probably find (provided that you sort out the strength with a restart or whatever - you may find that the mix is already fermented to dry - but with the GP yeast I doubt that you'd achieve 16%) that if it finishes ok it will taste very, very rough.

My first batch of mead (The Dry Mead recipe from CJJ Berrys' "First Steps" book) took well over a year to become drinkable. I tried the same recipe but did a 4 gallon batch by using 20% extra honey to see how that turned out (it's still ageing) as the first try wasn't sweet enough for me. Yes it did have more residual sugar, but was still "rough as old harry"!

So far, the nicest "straight mead" recipe I've tried, was one that my mother found in "the Gales Book of Honey" (her and me dad keep bee's). If you want a copy of it then PM me and I'll forward it (I keep forgetting to post it in the recipes section).

As for the fruit, of the recipes I've tried, I'm still waiting to see how it turns out - and have to defer to StockeyDAW.

If you google (or check amazon) for a book called "The Compleat Meadmaker" by a bloke called Ken Schram, it has a bit more of the science sh1t in it and some recipes. Some of the suggested honeys are a bit mysterious, as are some of the yeasts.

I've managed to get some of the "redstar" yeasts (and one of the Lalvin ones - D47) from "homebrew heaven" (yes they are in Washington State, but due to the £/$ rate it's not a problem). Or if you google for Brouwland (they're in Belgium) you can fine Wyeasts' "sweet" and "dry" mead yeasts - I've found anecdotal evidence that they're very good (I'm waiting for the packs I ordered on Sunday last, to arrive).

Dunno if any of that lot is helpful?

regards

fatbloke

[SpudtheBinx]

Ah so the yeast is going to be a big problem then. I bought it as it was general purpose 'for high alcohol'. I guess I define high alcohol differently to others. I did wonder at the question 'why so high?' I always thought of mead as something between a good wine (12%) and a fortified port (20%). It also explains why my hi juice wine has slowed right down, as I was aiming for 13% on that. I made some hi juice white and that feremented to 995 in 2 weeks (9%) with the same yeast! I had best go shopping for yeast on payday. I just hope my local brew shop is open the weekend before xmas

[fatbloke]

Ah so the yeast is going to be a big problem then. I bought it as it was general purpose 'for high alcohol'. I guess I define high alcohol differently to others. I did wonder at the question 'why so high?' I always thought of mead as something between a good wine (12%) and a fortified port (20%). It also explains why my hi juice wine has slowed right down, as I was aiming for 13% on that. I made some hi juice white and that feremented to 995 in 2 weeks (9%) with the same yeast! I had best go shopping for yeast on payday. I just hope my local brew shop is open the weekend before xmas

As I say, don't be too obsessed to start with. The first 3 batches I made was with the High Alcohol/dessert wine yeast. I got really impatient because the first batch, well "bleaarrrgggghhhhh" came to mind when it was first off the yeast and that was despite doing a fair amount of reading before hand (and yes I'd tried a few commercial meads first - which I liked).

When that first batch was bottled about 6 months ago, I was still very unsure as to whether it would end up down the kitchen sink or not. It was only by chance that I opened a bottle to see if it had improved any and to my complete amazement it had. It's not perfect, after all, it was a first attempt. Hence my comment about different recipes n.b. so "it" had had the best part of 18 months ageing, lots of people say that is the very minimum!

My blog is reasonably up to date i.e. it got the mead stuff in as well as my other efforts, plus I've linked loads of mead related sites (erm, I can't honestly say that I've double checked that the links all work recently though). It wasn't until I found the "gales recipe" that I found one that I liked (a little bit anyway) straight off the lees. Only then did I start trying other yeasts. Hell, even though I decided that when I was testing 3 different Lalvin yeasts, that I liked more than the others (there should be info in the blog about that), I've still got others to try, because the 3 Lalvin ones where available mail order from one of the UK based HBS, after that, I started getting stuff from international HBS, like Brouwland in Belgium and Home Brew Heaven in the US (bloody weird with the Lalvin yeasts not all being available here as they seen to be actually made in Croatia).

The US shop is a good one at the moment, because what with the current exchange rate, even with the postage, it was working out about 60 to 70 pence per pack instead of the usual 85 to 90 ppp of the UK suppliers.

That way, you can either vary the honey with the same yeast or the same honey with different yeasts (I started with the yeasts as they're a lot cheaper than 3 or 4 pounds of honey per gallon - even the cheapo crap tesco stuff I've used so far).

As they say on one of the game shows, "the choice is yours".

Regards

John the fatbloke

[StockeyDAW]

Ah so the yeast is going to be a big problem then. I bought it as it was general purpose 'for high alcohol'. I guess I define high alcohol differently to others. I did wonder at the question 'why so high?' I always thought of mead as something between a good wine (12%) and a fortified port (20%). It also explains why my hi juice wine has slowed right down, as I was aiming for 13% on that. I made some hi juice white and that feremented to 995 in 2 weeks (9%) with the same yeast! I had best go shopping for yeast on payday. I just hope my local brew shop is open the weekend before xmas

Hope that you made out OK with the yeast. My opinion would be a maximum of 16 % and then you can expect to have a much longer ageing time - save the higher alcohol things to the ports. Something in the order of 12 - 14 and some even say 10 % alcohol is better. For Mead yeasts my suggestions would be:Lalvin 71B-1122, KIV-116 or Red Star Pasture Red for the darker colored meads or for the light colored Meads with higher alcohol tolerance either Red Star Premier Cuvee or LalvinEC-1118

[fatbloke]

Hope that you made out OK with the yeast. My opinion would be a maximum of 16 % and then you can expect to have a much longer ageing time - save the higher alcohol things to the ports. Something in the order of 12 - 14 and some even say 10 % alcohol is better. For Mead yeasts my suggestions would be:Lalvin 71B-1122, KIV-116 or Red Star Pasture Red for the darker colored meads or for the light colored Meads with higher alcohol tolerance either Red Star Premier Cuvee or LalvinEC-1118

Now that, Mr StockeyDAW, is my kind of tip!

i.e. it puts names and numbers to types and gives me something to try.

Most of the meads I've made thus far have been quite light (the honey that is) because it's usually the cheapest to experiment with. Now it gives the experiments some direction (and an excuse to spend a bit more £££'s on some quality honey - not just the usual sh1t).

TVM

regards

John the fatbloke

[StockeyDAW]

Now that, Mr StockeyDAW, is my kind of tip!

i.e. it puts names and numbers to types and gives me something to try.

Most of the meads I've made thus far have been quite light (the honey that is) because it's usually the cheapest to experiment with. Now it gives the experiments some direction (and an excuse to spend a bit more £££'s on some quality honey - not just the usual sh1t).

TVM

regards

John the fatbloke

Thank You John for that. I have found that the yeast really does make a difference. With all the flavors in the different honey and the various fruits, spices herbs etc we want to save as much of the honey varietal and fruit flavors and complex aromas as possible. The correct yeast will help us achieve that. I am sure there are many yeast there that would also do very well but I am not familiar with them.
Good honey from the Apiary (not processed) also makes a difference and many time can be less costly.
Cheers DAW

[fatbloke]

Thank You John for that. I have found that the yeast really does make a difference. With all the flavors in the different honey and the various fruits, spices herbs etc we want to save as much of the honey varietal and fruit flavors and complex aromas as possible. The correct yeast will help us achieve that. I am sure there are many yeast there that would also do very well but I am not familiar with them.
Good honey from the Apiary (not processed) also makes a difference and many time can be less costly.
Cheers DAW

I don't recall whether it was you that mentioned it DAW, but I read somewhere reasonably good reports of the Wyeast Sweet Mead liquid yeast, so somewhat ironically, I'd located a reasonably local (well I suppose Belgium is more local to the UK than Florida is to California ) supplier and ordered some, well actually I ordered a pack of the Sweet Mead and a pack of the Dry Mead one.

I picked the package up from the parcel depot this morning (though the boss doesn't know as I just detoured in my truck to get it - only about 30 or so miles).

So, the next batch I make is gonna be from a recipe that I've made before - actually it's the one I posted about a while ago when I was experimenting with dry yeasts - except this time it'll be liquid yeast and in 3 gallon batches. Not that it matters if it doesn't turn out that well, as I'll just bung it under the stairs with the other 10 or so gallons of "experiments" to age in bulk - and I get to use the cheap honey from the local supermarket - which, if for no other reason, allows me to check for consistency i.e. I'm just comparing yeast, I'll worry about the honey when I'm basically happy with the recipe "as is".

If it's fine with cheap honey, then surely it can only improve with decent honey !

regards

John the fatbloke

[StockeyDAW]

I don't recall whether it was you that mentioned it DAW, but I read somewhere reasonably good reports of the Wyeast Sweet Mead liquid yeast, so somewhat ironically, I'd located a reasonably local (well I suppose Belgium is more local to the UK than Florida is to California ) supplier and ordered some, well actually I ordered a pack of the Sweet Mead and a pack of the Dry Mead one.

I picked the package up from the parcel depot this morning (though the boss doesn't know as I just detoured in my truck to get it - only about 30 or so miles).

So, the next batch I make is gonna be from a recipe that I've made before - actually it's the one I posted about a while ago when I was experimenting with dry yeasts - except this time it'll be liquid yeast and in 3 gallon batches. Not that it matters if it doesn't turn out that well, as I'll just bung it under the stairs with the other 10 or so gallons of "experiments" to age in bulk - and I get to use the cheap honey from the local supermarket - which, if for no other reason, allows me to check for consistency i.e. I'm just comparing yeast, I'll worry about the honey when I'm basically happy with the recipe "as is".

If it's fine with cheap honey, then surely it can only improve with decent honey !

regards

John the fatbloke

I have tried that yeast it works very well. Make sure you give it a good whack to break the vile inside and shake about thoroughly. The last time I ordered some - it was during last summer the ice pack that was supposed to keep it cool was completely melted (customs delay) so when I tried to use it, it did not seem to want to start fermenting so I had to reintroduce a dry yeast. It does however seem to take longer to get a start. Since I have had that problem with the ice pack melt and never know how long it takes customs some time I have decided to go only with the dry yeast. I enjoyed the sweetness that the yeast leaves and so did the ladies in the family. Cheers DAW

[fatbloke]

I have tried that yeast it works very well. Make sure you give it a good whack to break the vile inside and shake about thoroughly. The last time I ordered some - it was during last summer the ice pack that was supposed to keep it cool was completely melted (customs delay) so when I tried to use it, it did not seem to want to start fermenting so I had to reintroduce a dry yeast. It does however seem to take longer to get a start. Since I have had that problem with the ice pack melt and never know how long it takes customs some time I have decided to go only with the dry yeast. I enjoyed the sweetness that the yeast leaves and so did the ladies in the family. Cheers DAW

That's what I'm hoping for. Though at the moment the temperature thing won't be a problem, as it's not got above about 6 degrees C for the last week or so. It was nice and cool when I picked it up and it's now in the fridge until I'm ready to use it. I doubt whether it's got much above 10 C since they dispatched it - hence I suspect that it should be OK (hell if need be, I could drive to Dover - about an hour and a half - and after getting a ferry - 45 minutes or so - drive on to Belgium - I'm guessing another hour and a half to 2 hours. Belgium is "EU" so customs isn't an issue either) though that's probably a little extreme just to try a yeast.

In truth though, if it turned out OK, I'd happily do the drive and buy a case of it and keep it refridgerated and then start testing honeys as well.

I'll have to wait and see which I prefer.

regards

John the fatbloke.

[Aristaeus]

Yeast is it...then yeast you will get

If you have a problem with dry yeast, no detours please...send a stamped envelope to a friend that will mail it to you. The Winter is here, so temperature is no problem. Did you get that email John? Yeast chart? No handling charges! Send $1 and a self addressed stamped envelope to Michelle, Mecca Coffee Company, 1143 E. 33 Place, Tulsa, OK 74105. Most of the dry yeast is $.50 to $.85. Lovely people Michelle and Charlie, took me under their wing, taught me what for!