Mead

[jenivida]

Not sure if this is the right place to put it but I am testing a Mead recipe today.

Normally an all grain beer brewer but I have been experimenting with turbo cider and Fruit juice WOW recipes

Basically wanted to try brewing a Mead. have no idea how it will turn out but worth a try :smile:

Ingredients

6 jars of Tesco Everyday Value Clear Honey 340g - 99p a jar.
50 ml of lemon juice
ec-1118 yeast
1 & 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient
Water

Method

put 1 litre of water and all jars of honey into a saucepan (i used a little bit of off the boil water to get the last of the honey out the jars)

to that I added 50 ml of lemon juice and boiled for 15 minutes.

I skimmed the foam off the top as apparently that is contains a protein that you don't want (possibly).

mean while I hydrated the yeast.

after the boil had completed I added another litre of water and cooled to pitching temp. I then put all the nutrients and honey water into a 5 litre demijohn and aerated by shaking with a bung in.

once that was done I added topped up with water to WOW levels and added the yeast.

once fermentation is complete I will top up with water to 5 litres and once clear I will bottle.

will let you know how it turns out

 

[jenivida]

 

[Cqr]

May have to try this out :thumb:

 

[Roddy]

sounds good, on my list to try at some point 😃

 

[BeerCat]

I did exactly the same recipe without the lemon juice. Have been told it's good to make a starter as honey can be difficult to get going.

 

[TartanSpecial]

6 jars of Tesco Everyday Value Clear Honey 340g - 99p a jar.

2kg honey in 5ltrs will probably come out fairly sweet, but it should be strong and have a decent honey aroma and taste. I did one last year with 7.7kg orange blossom honey in 21ltrs...came out well, though definitely in the medium sweet category. I was using Lalvin 71B 1122..and it finished at 1.014. Maybe your ec-1118 will finish at a lower gravity and not be as sweet as I'm thinking.
I'm working on mead recipes today and have just ordered 21lbs of orange blossom honey to have a go at a few recipes inc a pyment using 50% honey and 50% welch's concord purple grape juice. Need to squeeze it in between a couple of planned beer brews ...and it locks up my fermenter for 3-4 weeks.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I did exactly the same recipe without the lemon juice. Have been told it's good to make a starter as honey can be difficult to get going.

For mead I rehydrate the yeast in go-ferm, and add fermaid-k nutrient in sequential additions over the first 3-5 days. Not sure if it makes a difference... but that's what they seem to do in the US these days.

 

[Wraeccan]

I've made about a dozen meads with varying levels of success. The best was from honey from a bee-keeper friend.
As has been pointed out, they can be a git to get going.

One thing I have noticed is that they can have a tendency to 'stall' and, once bottled, spuriously start to ferment again.
Because of this I am stabilising future batches prior to bottling.

 

[jenivida]

It is bubbling away after 24 hours. no krausen though

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OzFAVAz780&feature=youtu.be"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OzFAVAz780&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

OFF TOPIC -

Where did you get the airlock, is it glass?

 

[BeerCat]

It is bubbling away after 24 hours. no krausen though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OzFAVAz780&feature=youtu.be

That looks healthy. I have found in my very limited experience the ones with jam in went off a bit stronger. Guess its the sugar content. The only honey brews were slow fermenting compared to beer for sure.
Interesting about starting to ferment again cos i put some in a bottle and its now carbonating. Have any of you tried it mulled? :grin:

 

[jenivida]

OFF TOPIC -

Where did you get the airlock, is it glass?

Yeah I have a few. My dad used to make wine about 20 years ago. Found a load of equipment in his shed about 8 x 5 litre demijohns a few glass airlocks and an old Demijohn heater made by boots :thumb:

 

[jenivida]

Interesting about starting to ferment again cos i put some in a bottle and its now carbonating. Have any of you tried it mulled? :grin:

This is my first attempt at mead but mulled mead sounds very Christmasy :wink:

The Complete Joy of homebrewing (fourth edition) has some interesting mead recipes including a ginger mead

 

[cheapbrew]

Yeah I have a few. My dad used to make wine about 20 years ago. Found a load of equipment in his shed about 8 x 5 litre demijohns a few glass airlocks and an old Demijohn heater made by boots :thumb:

Yeah I remember those from years back, really easy to break and get very fine bits of glass everywhere, I was glad when the much cheaper compact plastic ones came along. You can still get them for around a fiver upwards if you are a careful type.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I like the look of them I may have to invest in a couple.

 

[jenivida]

9 days in and it is still bubbling away :-D

 

[TartanSpecial]

9 days in and it is still bubbling away :-D

you must be doing something right...hopefully it will continue to completion.

 

[BeerCat]

Just racked mine for the second time and only down to 1034. Way too sweet for my taste. That's with repitiching a starter as well. Think it will be ok to mix with some of the very dry stuff though.

 

[TartanSpecial]

blending sounds a good way forward (my medium sweet which ended at 1.015 is a bit sweet for me so I can imagine what 1.035 will be like) . I see Waitrose have a half price offer on welch's purple (concord) grape juice... I may nip along and get my 9ltrs for at £1.25/ltr for my concord pyment and move it up the brewing schedule.

 

[jenivida]

Finally stopped fermenting. Raked to secondary fermenter had a sneaky taste and it tastes amazing, really sweet but that is not surprising as the gravity is at 1.059. now just need to wait for it to clear.