First Mead

[user 40883]

Thought i would share with you my First Mead Foray
So I bought 4 jars cheap of Honey from Aldi @£0.75p pre Bottle, 5litres of Aldi Spring Water,and a 5g Wilko's Gervin Wine Yeast
So I Boiled the 3 jar's of the Honey (just over 2lb stirring when boiling, then turning down to simmer and still stirring to stop it sticking to the Pan for 30mins, let it cool for around 15-20mins, then adding to 2.5liter's of Aldi Spring water and mixing all together in a 1 gallon DemiJohn, then topping up to the shoulders with spring water. SG Was 1.070, ADDED THE 5g of yeast plus 15 raisens and 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient to the mix, fitted a Blow Off Tube and Kept at 20c for 12 DAYS FG was 1.004 SO ABV 8.66% approx
Syphoned off to a clean demijohn and added 1 crushed Campden Tablet and half teaspoon of Potsium Sorbate to Kill off the Yeast and left for 36hours
Syphoned off again to clean Demijohn, and added 4th jar of Aldi Cheap Honey to Back Sweeten, (tastes nice) now leaving for around 4-5 weeks, in the dark then Bottle and give a bottle to my mate and open at Christmas Eve.
I know it may be a bit early to try after about a month for maturing but to be Honest I can't wait, although on the Plus side I have more Honey so will be making another Batch Next Week but in a slightly different way with (extra honey) and more maturity time also. Sorry I Didn't take any Photo's but the Colour was a nice amber after Boiling The Honey Wil take photo's Next time
Any Reply's and criticism would be welcome

 

[user 39926]

I've used the cheap Aldi honey in a cyser (also their apple juice) before, it turned out OK.

One thing to avoid is boiling the honey, a general recipe would be something like 4 (or five) *340g jars of honey (generally the best you can get your hands on, avoid anything that says a blend of non-EU honeys) - maybe some chopped raisins (small amount), not really needed if using a better honey. Add to santised demijohn top up with water and a cup of black tea to 4.5 l mark, add nutrient/yeast. Shake well.

Then leave - for as long as it takes, after putting it into secondary I wait for that to clear naturally then bottle.

Talking about Aldi they had some lemon blossom honey last year (single country of origin) I put that into a mead - that's coming up to a year old now, may need to crack open a bottle. Also noticed that they had some of that forest honey (dark stuff) last time I was down there, may experiment :)