Mead anyone?

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if anyone is interested in using clover honey as suggested in the recipe been in aldi and there selling it in there on offer for £1.99 per jar of 340g unfortunately I've already bought mine :doh: and didn't want to buy more as want to try mead before going crazy and brewing loads of something I may not like. They also had eucalyptus in mine too.
 
I have some frozen blackberries in the freezer, was wondering if I could use this recipe a a base for blackberry mead and what weight of blackberries I would need to flavour?
 
I've got one on the go now, used a kilo each of rassies and blackberries in a gallon.
Racked it recently, tasted great already.
I reckon anything over half a kilo of berries will be good, but the more the merrier.
 
Sorry, newbie question but why the use of bread yeast? Is it for flavour? How does it affect the alcohol level?

Thanks for the recipe tho - looking forward to trying this! :thumb:
 
CougarShark said:
Sorry, newbie question but why the use of bread yeast? Is it for flavour? How does it affect the alcohol level?

Thanks for the recipe tho - looking forward to trying this! :thumb:


Bread yeast because it is an old recipe, before you could buy specific wine or mead yeast.

Bread yeasts can handle about 13% abv. By performing cruel and unusual things on them I have got them up to 16%, but would no longer want to drink anything they have produced.


I used wine yeast in my batch of mead, plenty of yeast nutrient too because honey is somewhat lacking. I didn't use the OP recipe though, there is a "modern" version called MAOM mead which calls for modern yeasts. I plagiarised it quite heavily, then adapted it. This is week 3 of a 4 lb/5 L batch and it is still fermenting quite happily, so it takes a while.
 
I think bread yeast does have a particular flavour (from what I've read, never used it myself) and sometimes maybe this suits a recipe.
 
be aware tho.. Bread yeast gives the mead a really bready flavor. obviously..

There are lots of specific mead yeasts to try if you don't like the bready flavor. Experiment!
 
My first try at this recipe has been in bottles for about 2 weeks now. Had the first bottle yesterday, I know it's a bit early! Well it was very sweet ~ 1.040 (I used 2.1kg of honey in a 5L batch) but the flavours were fantastic and it was so clear without a drop of yeast. This is probably because I left it to ferment for well over 2 months and racked it once half way through. I'd say that there is no noticable yeast or bready flavour at all, just loads of honey and spices, when I openned the bottle it smelt like Christmas. The only thing I'd change would be the amount of honey I used, next time I'd like it to finish at about 1.020-1.030, so maybe 1.9kg of honey in 5L.

I think it's worth giving the bread yeast a try first time round, but do give it plenty of time.
 
Has anyone tried the Lowicz syrups in a Mead? I'm thinking of a 5 gallon batch with maybe 3 or 4 Bottlea of Cherry on the primary. Any advice would be great.
 
oldbloke said:
I've got one on the go now, used a kilo each of rassies and blackberries in a gallon.
Racked it recently, tasted great already.
I reckon anything over half a kilo of berries will be good, but the more the merrier.

Just racked onto stabiliser.
The one with 5lbs of honey finished at 1022, the one with 5lbs of golden syrup at 1038 (!!!)
Allowing for racking losses, back of envelope says minimum 16.5% and 14.5%. Tastes like more. Tastes great, too, if maybe slightly sweet.
If you like cinder toffee, try using golden syrup instead of honey sometime. It always gives at least a hint of that flavour.
 
oldbloke said:
........ minimum 16.5% and 14.5%. Tastes like more.

When drinking the cider and mead that I've made so far I've noticed that, although it's not that strong, it seems to go straight to my head. And it's not just me either, Chinese friends who are happy to drink 50% chinese spirits get quite red faced after just one glass. Is this the curse of the homebrew?
 
About to bottle mine.

4 lb honey in 5 L. Orange zest and juice, lemon zest and juice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg.

Finished at 0.996, nice and dry.
 
That's come out pretty strong then 14-15% if I'm not wrong. I remember reading the MAOM posts and a few mentioned that it needs quite a bit of time to mellow.

Are you going to back sweeten at all or leave it dry?
 
jkp said:
That's come out pretty strong then 14-15% if I'm not wrong. I remember reading the MAOM posts and a few mentioned that it needs quite a bit of time to mellow.

Are you going to back sweeten at all or leave it dry?


Tempted to do 3 dry, 3 a bit sweeter.

I'm about to move house so it will no doubt get buried among 40 suitcases worth of clothes my wife cannot bear to throw out and resurface in a few years nice and matured.
 
Just bottled mine (maom) and fark me is it rough.

Quite horrendous, hoping it improves with age.
 
Keep us posted as to how it improves over time. Quite interested to see exactly how long it takes to mellow.
 
Will do.

Started this 28th Jan 14, bottled 03 Mar 14 - On bottling it is as rough as old boots. Harsh alcoholic taste, quite yeasty, slight spice smell, mild spice/citrus taste. Lacking in astringency and acidity compared to a grape wine, might see if I can run my car on it.
 
I think you may have made the same error i did on my first; took it out too quickly..

Mead likes a long time in the secondary...at least 2 months.
that said, my first batch was rough as a prozzies **** at bottling but matured quite well in only 3-4 months it was lovely.
 

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