Mead Brewing

[lethearen]

Also, is there anything to keep in mind if scaling down the above recipe?

I haven't tried this particular recipe, but others I've used have been able to be scaled down successfully. I'd say getting the yeast amount correct is the hardest part, as it tends to come in 5-gallon batch sized doses. But if you can get that, you shouldn't have issue.

Another thing to consider is making sure you have the right sized carboy for the job. Making a 2 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy could cause problems with oxidation, which causes off flavours and may invite other nasty critters (molds and bad yeasts) to the party.

[Detroitpete]

I Really enjoy making mead. I have made 6 batches so far and found that I like the following recipe best:

Two gallons of honey ( I like either Wild flower or Buck Wheat)
Heat one gallon of water and add honey, this will make it easier to mix.
Fill a 6 or 6.5 gallon carboy with honey/water mix and water to 5.5 gallon mark.
Add 5 tablespoons of yeast nutrient
Stir mix vigorously ( I use an attachment for my power drill), this will add air and help fermentation.
Add yeast and cap carboy with a vapour lock. ( allows CO2 out but no oxygen in)
Let sit and ferment for 1 month.
Shift to a new carboy and replace vapour lock. Use a siphon and leave as much sediment as you can behind. Leave in this carboy for 3 months.
Here is the hard part. Bottle and leave in a cool place for at lease a year.

I am getting mead that runs between 20 and 22 percent alcohol content. It has been drinkable after one year, fine after two, and I am waiting to see what 3 years will do. For added flavour either add oak chips during the three months in the second carboy or get a small oak cask and let your mead age in it for 6 months to a year.

I get my honey over the internet at The Bee Folks. Their prices are not bad and they deliver.

OMG--I WANT SOME!!!!!!!!

[Bing]

I have brewed both beer (all mash) and mead in the past. I had much better success with beer because I had all the equipment but my meads were OK.

As others upthread have said use a champagne yeast or a yeast strain developed for meads. It can tolerate the higher alcohol content. For example the dry mead yeast can go to 18% ABV.

Here's a link to the Wyeast Mead page with links to loads of info on mead styles and the Wyeast strains that are appropriate.

[Detroitpete]

I wonder if Mr. Beer has mead recipes? If one was interested in making 2 gallon batches instead of 5 gallon batches.

[AFS1970]

I tried two batches of mead, made the same day. They were both from kits. By kits what I really mean is a spice packet that came with yeast. I was lucky enough to get some fairly local honey (two towns away) and used bottled water. The instructions were easy, boil everything other than the yeast, let cool, put into jugs, add yeast and let sit. The only think extra I bought was two vapor locks instead of the cloth and rubber band bits that came in the kit.

Now these were supposed to be quick meads, in that they said they would finish in about two weeks. After looking it up online, I found that it was not considered finished until the vapor locks stopped bubbling. That took almost 6 weeks. I then siphoned off the mead into new jugs and was surprised when it kept fermenting and off gassing more.

All said and done, they mead took a few months to finish. Both yielded about 3 quarts. One retained almost no flavor from the spices, and is a very dry mead. The other stayed fairly sweet and very spicy. Both came out very cloudy. I have since read about different ways to keep that from happening.

[Madadh]

I have found two methods for clearing my mead. The first is quite simple, get it cold. A cold winter day is great since you can but the carboy outside before bottling. The second method is to use a clarifier like "Liquor Quik Super-Kleer K.C". It woks real well and does not add any taste.

[Pyper]

I tried to make mead once, but it's hard. It takes so long to age, and so you need a lot of self control.

One of the things that is difficult in making mead is that if you use only honey, the yeast can run out of nutrients. Then they die off and stop making alcohol. There will still be a few living, and so they keep working, but it's really slow.

Anyway, if I understand what you've done correctly, here's your problem: 15 pounds of honey in 5 gallons of liquid yields a potential for 21% alcohol. The fact that you're stalled out at 1045 means you have about 15% ABV. Even champagne yeast isn't going to generally ferment past about 15% alcohol. If you add water to bring the volume up to 8 gallons, then your 15 lbs gives a potential for 13%. If you pitch some champagne yeast into that diluted liquid then it will ferment it out as a dry mead. But be aware champagne yeast will produce some champagne flavors.

[Pleater]

In my recipt book the fermentation process is begun with only part of the honey in the vessel, and by testing the SG to see that the time is right, more honey is added by heating it with some of the liquid, then it is left to cool and added back into the fermenting vessel.

Spices are best added once the fermentation is finished, as the alcohol will extract the active ingredients and give both good odour and taste. Leaving the spices for weeks or months actually gives a poorer result as the fermantation carries away the more volatile parts of the spices.

Yeast nutrient, citric acid and equipent of the brewers' art are all fairly essential for a good result.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[jkane]

Lot's of great information!

I make a LOT of mead! I have 24 batches frementing right now. Most are 4 gallon batches. Some are 5. There is an 8 gallon and a 16 gallon batch also. I have 5 1 gallon "test" batches also.

Normally you go with 3 parts water to 1 part honey. So a 4 gallon batch that will finish slightly sweet would be 3 gallons of water and 1 gallon of honey. 1 gallon of honey is about 12 lbs.

15 lbs of honey with 3.75 gallons of water will make a 5 gallon batch at about 14% ABV when finished also.

Hmmm ... if you made a 5 gallon batch, then you should be able to get down to at least 1.020 or so. Actually, the mead calculator says 15 lbs of honey with enough water to bring volume up to 5 gallons would be OG of 1.106. That has a potential of 14% ABV if you made it down to 1.000 FG.

Did you make less than 5 gallons with 15 lbs?

1.040 is about 9% ABV if you started with 5 gallons.

Was the yeast a "beer" yeast that can only make about 9% ABV before it dies?

Watch things like PH with mead. Mead tends to be lower PH which is why honey is stable on a shelf without refridgeration. The yeast can be stresssed in too low of a PH environment.

Also, the suggestions for nutrients is good! Unlike barley, honey has plenty of sugar, but lacks vitamins and other nutrients that the yeast wants. Adding about 2 teaspoons of Yeast Nutrient and another 2 tespoons of Diamonium Phospate at the start (or some each of the first 3 days) is recommended for faster and more complete fermentation. Aerating (which home beer makers are afriad to do) for the first 3 days is also a good idea.

Tell us more about the recipe and how much water plus anything else in the mead and we can help figure this out! Then again, sometimes it just happens! I have had my share of stuck fermentations! Out of 13 identical batches this fall (except the base honey) all finished except 3 which are still fermenting. Slowly, but at least still trying. I have not figured why those 3 were slower than the rest. It happens!

[jkane]

As for sweetness... well, mead runs the gambit. Some meads are really (REALLY) dry... others can be really (REALLY) sweet. And anywhere in between. Sweet meads are called "sack" meads. I don't think dry meads have a special term, but I could be wrong.

It is VERY common for a Sack Mead to be sweet. If it were not, it would taste like gasoline due to the alcohol content.

Here are the terms used to describe alcohol content.

Hydromel: Low in alchol.
Standard: Alcohol between 7-14%
Sack: Alcohol over 14%. The "book" says up to 17%, but that is old school. Today that can be 22% (and maybe even more) with very careful feeding of the yeast.

There is another set of terms used to describe mead sweetness.

Dry: Very little residual sweetness.
Medium: Some sweetness.
Sweet: Very sweet.

There are also terms to describe carbonation!

Still: No bubbles at all.
Petillant: A few bubbles, but they fade quickly.
Sparkling: The carbonation continues to form at the botton of the glass for a long time.

Sorry, I am working on my mead judge certification. ;)