Mead, Cyser and Melomel

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IainM

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I finally got round to getting some demijohns, as opposed to the 5L water bottles, so with the new possibility of long-term fermentation and storage, I decided to get some honey-based things on the go. A basic mead, a cyser and a melomel. These were basically nicked and adapted from the recipes of @Cqr and @BeerCat on the mead thread.

Brew#26 Mead
4 Jars of the Tesco 99p value honey, dissolved in a bit of boiling water
1 5g pack Wilko Gervin universal wine yeast, made into starter
1tsp yeast nutrient
0.5 tsp citric acid
Topped up in demijohn

Brew#27 Cyser
3 jars Tesco value honey
3L Tesco apple juice
1 pack wilko gervin universal wine yeast, made into starter
0.5 tsp pectolase
1 tsp yeast nutrient
0.5tsp citric acid

Brew#28 Blackcurrant Melomel
3 jars Tesco value honey
1 jar tesco blackcurrent jam
1 tsp pectolase
0.5 tsp citric acid
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 pack wilko gervin universal wine yeast, made into starter
Topped up in demijohn

All started bubbling pretty much immediately!

20160729_125158.jpg
 
Looking good
I did a demijohn with 3x tesco honey one litre of tesco apple juice
Plus the usual bits
+ 850 g suger SG 1,160
Could be to sweet time will tell
 
Best so far was 7 jars, left for 10months. Not used Pectolase recently, forgot about it but found as someone else said it clears with stabilser and bentonite. Only thing been adding is lemon juice.

Sounds good. What was the yeast and FG, and was that also the cheap 99p honey? That seems like a lot of for 1 gallon. Perhaps I should add another jar to each one.
 
I stupidly didn't write down the yeast for my first few brews but as far as i remember it was Wilko Wine yeast, The £1 a sachet stuff, either that or GV4 but probably Wiko. I used the cheap 99p 350g honey. I think its the same at Aldi, Liddle, Tesco etc. The 6 jar ended up at FG1032 16.67% and the 7 jar FG1050 16.01% . I had to restart the 7jar with more yeast but i think as someone else said its because i didn't make a starter and pretty sure never used any yeast nutrient.
I may try making a starter in the demijohn then chucking the rest of the ingredients in the next day as i am a biz lazy.
 
340g honey 89p Aldi, 454g £1.25 in Lidl. Bought four of the latter and some marmalade will make a batch when I have a few dj's free.
 
Well, six weeks in and all three are still fermenting slowly but they must be close to finishing as they are pretty clear, and the melomel, mead and cyser are at 0.997, 1.002 and 0.993 respectively. They taste pretty hot, so I can understand why people leave them conditioning so long. The melomel is like rocket fuel, the mead is very clear and quite light but still hot, and the cyser is similar but you can really taste the tartness and flavour of the apple juice. I'm not sure I'd like them too dry, nor too sweet, so I'm thinking of putting a third of a jar of honey in each and racking onto some stabiliser.
 
I reckon that will work well adding more honey although i am always unsure how much to add. I watched a cider making video the other day and the guy froze a carton of apple juice and defrosted it in a jar to remove the syrup. He also adds wine conditioner which is inverted sugar concentrate. Bentonite is great for clearing if you have not tried it.
 
I reckon that will work well adding more honey although i am always unsure how much to add. I watched a cider making video the other day and the guy froze a carton of apple juice and defrosted it in a jar to remove the syrup. He also adds wine conditioner which is inverted sugar concentrate. Bentonite is great for clearing if you have not tried it.

I'm not sure if this is the right way to think about it, but I has a WOW I stabilised at 1.020 that is as sweet as a desert wine and sweeter that I would like in the mead, and a third of a jar of honey in 5L water would give about 1.010 which is about where I think I'd like the sweetness to be, so that's the plan. I guess time will tell!
 
I usually find it works well to ferment dry and then after stabilising, clearing and racking top up dj with whatever fruit juice you are using, seems to add the right sweetness without overdoing it. Then as long as it doesn't start fermenting again after a couple of weeks it goes through a filter and then forgotten for 6 months, then bottled for another 6 month wait.
 
I usually find it works well to ferment dry and then after stabilising, clearing and racking top up dj with whatever fruit juice you are using, seems to add the right sweetness without overdoing it. Then as long as it doesn't start fermenting again after a couple of weeks it goes through a filter and then forgotten for 6 months, then bottled for another 6 month wait.

Sounds like a plan. I racked them onto stabiliser and 1/3 of a jar of honey each and topped up, and fermentation has stopped. The mead and melomel are clear, but the cyser is hazy. I don't have a fiter, but if they aren't crystal clear it doesn't really bother me. I'll rack again next week and taste them, maybe adding some more honey if needs be, then stash them in the shed.
 
Well, it has been almost a yeast since I started this, and almost 9 months since I stabilised and sweetened, so I thought I'd give these a taste and bottle them up. All I can say is what a difference that conditioning time has made! They've gone from hot alcohol burn to very drinkable indeed. The cyser is still a bit cloudy, but the mead and melomel are clear. The mead is definitely my favourite, but the other two are good too. I'll certainly be putting some more of these on, maybe with a more flavourful honey, and perhaps a melomel with Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Conserve.
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That looks awesome. I am using those cork tops as well. I dont know if i sent you these links for honey but i am going to try some better quality stuff out next. Also going to try the MJ mead yeast as says produces lots of esters. https://www.payneshoney.co.uk/honey-in-bulk/hungarian-acacia-honey/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009F7JA14/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That Ethiopian/Zambian honey looks very interesting, though from the reviews it seems like some pots are better than others.
 
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Glad you're having success, those look great. My meads are being a bit dodgy so far.

That looks awesome. I am using those cork tops as well. I dont know if i sent you these links for honey but i am going to try some better quality stuff out next. Also going to try the MJ mead yeast as says produces lots of esters.

I used the MJ Mead yeast at the end of last year although in a dark fruit melomel. It fermented really well down to around 1.000 s.g. for about 14% alcohol (don't have notes to hand). Can't really comment on the esters as I used heather honey which is massively powerful and is still currently overwhelming the elderberries, blackcurrants and raspberries that were included.

Just racked it for a 2nd time last week and it's tasty but probably needs sweetened. The MJ yeast is a bit of a beast with similar alcohol tolerance to a champagne yeast so your mead will end up dry (or incredibly alcoholic).
 
Great stuff Iain, those meads look beautiful. Glad to hear the bulk ageing worked, I wish I'd done that on my last batch and will definitely do so going forsrd


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@Iainm when you stabilised did you add the sweetening honey at the same time or does the stabiliser need time to take effect first to be sure the extra honey doesn't ferment at all?


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@Iainm when you stabilised did you add the sweetening honey at the same time or does the stabiliser need time to take effect first to be sure the extra honey doesn't ferment at all?

I diluted the honey a bit and pasteurised it, then split it between three demijohns, mixed in the stabiliser, and racked the mead onto it and topped up. So yeah, I racked onto a mixture of stabiliser and honey.
 
I diluted the honey a bit and pasteurised it, then split it between three demijohns, mixed in the stabiliser, and racked the mead onto it and topped up. So yeah, I racked onto a mixture of stabiliser and honey.



Great, thanks.


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