Morrison's Value Mead

[RobWalker]

Well, no idea what mead is like, so thought I'd make a cheap, low ABV one so I can get a taste for it. Will update this as I open bottles and at taste test points so anyone who wants to try making mead for cheap. Sorry muddydisco 0:)

Might modify it yet, but this is cheap and cheerful so we'll see how it goes.

1.02kg (3 morrisons value jars) in 1 gallon water = 1.065 OG.

Honey jars submerged in hot water to loosen it up, all mixed together with Montrachet wine yeast and 1tsp Nutrient.

First few days of fermentation, it took a little while to get going but it's nice and constant now, shaking daily is getting the colour blended around nicely, although it's something like cloudy pineapple juice at the moment!

Total cost? £3

Water bottle fermenter completes the "value" aspect of this :lol:

FG will land it at...

0.996 - 9%
0.998 - 8.8%
1.000 - 8.5%

Gonna carbonate a fair bit and serve with ice on a hot day I reakon :)

 

[ArmChair]

Might give this a go, ive got an empty DJ and it looks easy

 

[RobWalker]

could be worth a blast for the price! gonna wait until it's fermented and settled, then i'll give it an initial taste when racking and let you know how it is :)

 

[shearclass]

Hope it works out!

It seems a bit light on flavour though.

I have a cherry and cocoa mead, that i kicked off in march time, plan to drink circa December 2013.

 

[charlie_mead_face]

nice work mate :thumb: some of the most simple meads ive made have been the best. one thing i would say is dont shake it, its very tempting i know but you want to let the sediment cake up so when you go to rack it for the first time its nice and solid or you'll have to repeat the prosses 2-3 more times, adding anything up to a month to you brewing time

 

[RobWalker]

nice work mate :thumb: some of the most simple meads ive made have been the best. one thing i would say is dont shake it, its very tempting i know but you want to let the sediment cake up so when you go to rack it for the first time its nice and solid or you'll have to repeat the prosses 2-3 more times, adding anything up to a month to you brewing time

No problem, I got plenty of time! I was shaking to loosen up the honey at the bottom. Had a bit of difficulty keeping it all nice and dispersed so the yeast can get to it easily, but that's sorted now becaauussee...

it's fermented out now! stupid me went out and bought another pot of honey as the beersmith calculation had this at 5.7%, which would be too low for me to get an idea of how mead tastes. turns out the final gravity estimate was 1.015, whereas it's obviously going to be closer to 1.000, meaning 8% at 0.998, which is great - havn't measured FG yet, will do on first racking.

shearclass, sounds good! I hope to experiment with fruit and flowers, but for now I'm just figuring out what the hell mead actually is - hahah. hoping to get a real idea of what my friends think in March, when we play Medevil Beer Pong, with dragons, castles, catapaults and wenches... :

 

[TRXnMe]

How long does mead take to mature ready for drinking?

I like the idea of this, I'm thinking a nice wintery flavour, a couple of cloves, some cinammon and maybe a few spices, mulled mead?

Any idea if it would turn out good, or even if it would be ready for either Bonfire night, or Cchristmas if I kicked it off this week?

 

[RobWalker]

I hear it takes some time. I'm prepared to wait as it stands, plus, I have no idea what this honey is like after fermenting! I doubt it would be ready that quickly, but maybe palatable :lol:

 

[TRXnMe]

OOKKKayy

Maybe bonfire night 2013 then

I'll go back to plan A, toffee apple cider :)

 

[shearclass]

Medevil Beer Pong, with dragons, castles, catapaults and wenches...

Awesome!

 

[Devonhomebrew]

How long does mead take to mature ready for drinking?

I like the idea of this, I'm thinking a nice wintery flavour, a couple of cloves, some cinammon and maybe a few spices, mulled mead?

Any idea if it would turn out good, or even if it would be ready for either Bonfire night, or Cchristmas if I kicked it off this week?

Mate made a autumn fruit mead once didnt last 1 month was that good wishi did mature it but aslong as its clear you can drink it bt aging will improve by loads :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

What's autumn fruit? I think I might make another once this is done and add some fruit juice (if I like it.) Pomegranate or something along those lines.

Toffee Apple also takes a long time TRXnMe, if you need something fast I would suggest making a cider with 4L juice, chemicals, top up with water. less gravity means it's ready to drink quicker!

 

[TRXnMe]

I can by suppable cider type stuff cheap from the supermarkets :)

The ale I brew from kits is for quick supping, well after a couple of months in the keg anyway

The wines and ciders I've got on the go I'm hoping to be a little 'special' so I'm prepared to take advice and leave them to age for 6 months or more if that will make them different to what I have to pay between £5 and £10 for, maybe ven more if I get it right

 

[shearclass]

6 months is really minimum, if that, for wines, according to every recipe i have read.

My first country wine was started in september last year (blackberry), and I plan to leave this until at least my dad's birthday in october.

 

[oldbloke]

Depends on the wine. I've done a few that are lovely right from bottling, and many that are immediately drinkable but take maybe 6 weeks to become lovely.
Strawberry for example. Every time we have a bottle we say "must make more", and we don't age it much at all - it doesn't get the chance!
OTOH, something like elderberry can be almost undrinkable until a year is up.
With a bit of experience, you can make an educated guess from the sneak taste off the syphon when you bottle.
Blackberry shouldn't need a huge amount of aging - depends on the exact recipe of course. My mixed berry wines are acceptable immediately, good after about a month, and improve a bit after that. There's not much scope for vast further improvement in them though so no point in holding onto them for ages.

I've done 2 meads (getting this back on topic), the first was a bit harsh at first (though one friend declared it great [he was drunk at the time]) but is great now at a year, the second was drinkable, just, immediately, and pretty good after 6 months. I have one fermenting now which is strictly a melomel (mixed rassies and strawbs) and the taset off the syphon when I racked it was not half bad, and it's not even finsihed fermenting - the fruit hides the mead rawness quite well. But I plan to ferment this one to at least 18, 20 if I can, so it'll be a while before it's ready. It was about 14 when I racked it, and it'll be getting just a little more honey and a high tolerance yeast when I get back from Spain.

 

[RobWalker]

Welp, racked yesterday, and it's a mix of emotions.

Firstly, it's stuck, unfortnately. It's at about 1.032, which means it's about half done. I've added more yeast and nutrient, gave it a shake, hopefully that'll get it going again. If not, i've got some pretty weak, sweet mead, which I will serve mixed with vodka if all else fails : but I'm hoping to ferment it entirely for now. Any clues on how to get it going again? It's under airlock and sterile, so no huge rush, but would like to sort it out.

Secondly, I nicked a bit to taste. It's sweet and tasty, the honey is lovely, very thin I guess but I can deal with that because I'm not a big wine man, so the more body, the more difficult it is to drink for me :p undoubtebly I will be cutting fermentation when it's dried out, backsweetening with honey quite a lot (I'm thinking 1.020) and drinking it flat with ice. It tastes like a lovely summer tipple that way, which suits me down to the ground. I reakon with a bit of fresh lemon and fresh mint, this would be amazing!

As for how it translates between cheap and expensive mead with a good recipe, I have no idea yet. :

 

[RobWalker]

Just a quick post to say adding more yeast and nutrient has started it off fermenting again :)

 

[ish1349]

Just a quick post to say adding more yeast and nutrient has started it off fermenting again :)

:thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

so today I answer the age old question - can you make mead from value honey?

in short, the answer is yes.

in long, the answer is...not really.

sure, i'm sat here drinking a glass, it's crystal clear, there is taste, it's not rough. but what I would compare it to is this - would you serve the hairy bikers a fry up made with morrison's value sausages? that, my friends, is a big fat no.

sweetened, well, it just tastes like alcoholic, slightly watery musty honey. there's no body, no intricate flavours. there's certainly nothing wrong with it, but it's not first on my list to rebrew.

i won't take a photo. it looks just like this tbh.

going to keep a few bottles normal, might dry hop some, maybe add elderflower to one or two. a fun experiment, no harm done for £4, and if you want mead, it can be done. :thumb:

 

[stu]

My local bee-keepers apparently put their not-good-enough-to-sell honey to one side for local homebrewers. It's proper decent organic stuff.