Mead - Tips and Tricks?

[Kieran the Human]

Was planning on making a mead for the first time in the near future - maybe timing it so that I can age it on blackberries in the demi-john. Unfortunately I'm a bit clueless about the ins and outs of it. Basically the things I'm unclear on are

* To boil or not to boil?
* How long should it stay in primary (plastic) before I transfer to glass
* Yeast Strain?
* Aging time? (Although I assume this is dependent on gravity)

Any advice would be fantastic guys

Cheers

[Eoin]

- No boil, I always raise it to 65C for five minutes, that's enough and arguably not necessary, if I had organic or good honey I daresay I wouldn't do that as it will blow off subtle aromas.
- I don't ferment it in plastic, demijohns all the way.
- I just use a wine yeast or a generic brewers yeast - depends where you want the final gravity, champagne might be necessary.
- Up to two years, tastes good after about 10 months for a basic mead.

Hope that helps from my limited experience.

[Kieran the Human]

Cheers Eoin,

Would it be ok to bottle them with a crown cap for a sparkling mead?

[Garry]

For a basic mead, would you just use honey, water and yeast? Or would you need a yeast nutrient?


I've done ancient joe's orange mead and it turned out well although I only left it for about 4 months. I'd like to do a basic mead and let it age for 12 months to see what it's like.

[irish_goat]

For a basic mead, would you just use honey, water and yeast? Or would you need a yeast nutrient?


I've done ancient joe's orange mead and it turned out well although I only left it for about 4 months. I'd like to do a basic mead and let it age for 12 months to see what it's like.

I'd still throw in the yeast nutrient. It'll taste a bit boring if you don't add any spices or fruits though, imo.

[nigel_c]

Best tip for mead is time. Try to forget about it for a year if you can manage it. I try get a batch on the go every few months cause I've learnt my lesson about waiting for a batch to be ready before making the next.

I've made batches with juice instead of water and was very pleased with the results. Also dry coconutted a batch made with pineapple juice which was fantastic after a year.

[Blackbrew]

Very interesting Podcast on mead making from - Basic Brewing Radio with the Moonlight Meadery in the US, they explain in detail the use of "staged nutrient additions" think its (8-09-12 Moonlight Meadery) but have a search on the site.

[Eoin]

Very interesting Podcast on mead making from - Basic Brewing Radio with the Moonlight Meadery in the US, they explain in detail the use of "staged nutrient additions" think its (8-09-12 Moonlight Meadery) but have a search on the site.

This is really only when you're trying to hit champagne gravities, normally there is no need for stepped additions if you are only heading for 13-14%.

[Blackbrew]

My memory of it was something to do with compressing time-scales but it was a long time back that I listened to it...

[Stitch]

Curt stock reckons that you can know out a mead in six weeks. I have tried his approach with very good results and compared to standard approach. His approach is very time intensive though.

[JerryMcC]

For a basic mead, would you just use honey, water and yeast? Or would you need a yeast nutrient?


I've done ancient joe's orange mead and it turned out well although I only left it for about 4 months. I'd like to do a basic mead and let it age for 12 months to see what it's like.

Gary,
I also made the joes mead in January and bottled in April. So its been in the bottle close on 3 months. It was very very raw when bottling.
How did it taste after you drank at 4 months? Was there a strong pith taste or had it mellowed?

EDIT: Just found this recent post which seems to answer my question....

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/joes-ancient-orange-mead-49106/index139.html#post5345568

[beerfly]

just got a demijohn and have an urge to fill it, was thinking of a mead and doing something odd like use an ale yeast and 3 jars of centras finest (which dont seem to have any colour consistency  ). 

[lampie]

been reading a lot about mead and www.gotmead.com is a site dedicated to the nectar of the gods.

about the temprature of the honey I see a lot advise not to get the honey warmer then 40 dgr C. when honey gets warmer it will have a negative effect on the taste. I have also read this on imker forums and sites that i browse around to get some good and not to expensive honey.

Have my first mead hidden to mature sinds may last year and planning to bottle it in november in half liter bottles. I think its quite strong so it will be a nice dessert wine .

the recipe that i used for 10 liter:

3.8 kg honey
allround wine yeast
2 tsp nutrient
2 tsp citric acid

warmed the honey in 30 dgr warm water. this is enough to get the honey to pour it in a bottle and filled it 3/4 with water. Then gave it a good shake and added the yeast and 1 tsp nutrient and 2 tsp citric acid.

after 3 days filled the bottle completly it was a slow ferment. Gave the bottle a shake every 2 days and after a week added the 2nd tsp nutrient.

let it ferment for 4 weeks and then split the batch up in 2 and added 500 gram of raspberries to one brew and 10 vanilla pods to the other one.

the bottles are hidden now on a cool place to mature. Racked it in may last year and planning to bottle it november this year.

Mead needs an awfull long time to mature. I read a lot of stories that it takes at least 1 year before mead begins to develop a better taste. Even read a story on a forum where the guy found a bottle mead after 18 years! I have to look up if he ever tasted the stuff will come back on that .

I am now waiting till may then its honey harvest time and will try to get about 7 kg honey and go for a 20l batch of mead.. Still thinking about the flavoring to add.. Maybe have to bottle my raspberry and vanilla mead first maybe that the ones i am ageing now are winners.

some pics
Raspberry

Vanilla

[DrowningManatee]

Everyone talks about ageing the meads for a long time before they are drinkable( and im sure its very true), but a lot of the big guys reckon that if your stepped nutrient additions and fermentation temp's are bang on, you shouldn't need to age too long. Basically they say that ageing is to get rid of off flavours introduced by bad ferment temp/ nutrient additions etc.

On that note, Im doing a blackberry mead (3 months now) and i want to do way more meads, but before i do im wondering where to get DAP? Everyone uses a mix of this and nutrient, but it doesnt seem to be available anywhere in Ireland. Is it just gonna be fine without it (i just used youngs nutrient before) or is everyone just at a loss for where to get it? Does it go by any other name? I know there's wyeast nutrient, White labs servomyces and WL nutrient, but no sign of DAP (unless it's contained in one of these? though i don't think so).

Nice lookin meads there lampie, the vanilla's interesting as hell looking

[irish_goat]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yeast-Nutrient-Diammonium-Phosphate-D-A-P/dp/B002R6ESVC

I'm planning to start keeping excess yeast, boiling it and dumping it into the kettle to act as nutrient now as well.