Welcome to /r/mead!

I'm so happy, my second ever mead is a success, and everyone loves it. It's a traditional mead on the sweeter side in which I used almost a pound of grated ginger as well as some ginger syrup. It's got a wonderful spicy kick to it like you'd get in a ginger beer, I highly recommend everyone try a ginger mead at least once. It's pretty cloudy today, as I just strained it and it's only been done for a few days, but I just had to try it.

First attempt at mead. All 10-12% ABV.

Front row is elderflower which went so damn well I almost teared up siphoning it.

Next is blueberry blackberry, excellent but a lot lost to sediment.

Last one is spiced which is a bit shit and not clear at all but it’s it will get you drunk at least.

Overall good first attempt. More soon to come.

I'm still working on my first batches and I made a rookie mistake by doing primary fermentation in 1 gallon glass mouth jars. My concern now is when I rack into the secondary carboys, I'm going to be losing a lot of volume from not transferring the lees or fruit mass. The recopies all use 3lbs honey, one is JAO, one raspberry, one blueberry using frozen fruits, yeast nutrients, and Mangrove Jack's MO5 yeast.

The main batches are done with primary fermentation based on gravity readings. I did start a simple batch with just honey, water, and yeast nutrient with the intention of topping off the secondary using that to avoid watering down the originals, but it's still in pretty active fermentation and has been going about 10 days.

Which of the following options would be optimal to save my batches as best as possible?

1. Wait until my 'top off' batch is done fermenting, leaving the main batch on the lees/fruits longer
2. Rack now, getting the main batches off the lees, and topping off with the still-fermenting batch, accepting that I'll need to rack again once that fermentation is complete
3. Rack the primary batch now, accepting that the headspace will not be ideal, then top off once the simple batch is done fermenting?

In the photo the original batches are on the left with the top-off on the right.

https://preview.redd.it/mmmvnfe49eyd1.jpg?width=692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0de8b3795f5ee22add0053f705f72325680fe389

Just started this batch 2lbs of honey 2cups of raspberries LAlVIN K1-v1116 yeast

So I decided to treat myself, something rare I do from time to time, by getting some mead from the store. Today, I picked up a locally owned meadery. It had just a lil sediment, just like all the other brands I saw on the shelf.

Didn't change a thing about how appetitizing it looked. Brought it home, and immediately enjoyed a glass.

So don't stress it. If you get a lil sediment in the bottle after all said and done, so be it.

Stay buzzed

Hey my dudes

I've had this in primary since August 24/24. It's changed colour significantly but there has been no build of sediment on the bottom.

It's a standard recipe. 3lbs of honey and K1 V1116.

This is probably my 12th time making mead and experimenting with melomels and cysers. I haven't seen this before.

Is it all good? My thought is that I'll transfer it to secondary leave it for a week or two then try cold crashing?

Any thoughts or advice?

Delicious. First time really achieving a drinkable brew. So pretty. Made my knees go weak.

I've had these two batches going for almost 2 months. Blueberry lavender melomel and an orange spice mead. I used clover honey in the orange one and a local honey from here in Washington state. Blueberries were frozen, mashed up partially just with my spatula. I gave like a month for primary and have had them cold crashed in the fridge for a few weeks.

I tasted them today and they are already very drinkable! Both are relatively dry but not bone dry. A little heat in the back of the throat but not bad. I will probably not bother with clarifying as they are already very clear. These should be ready for aging. Btw these are my 2nd and third batches of mead ive made so far. First one is clover honey and lavender and is aging and I've no idea what it tastes like other than probably too sweet. Whoopsy. Your thoughts are welcome!

Blueberry lavender melomel: Lavender buds 3lbs PNW honey 1.25 LBS organic frozen blueberries Lalvin d47 yeast

Orange spice: Pinch of nutmeg Lanvin d47 3lbs clover honey Clove of all spice Cinnamon stick Half and orange sliced

So these are from the same batch brewed a year ago. The 2 on the left were bottles after fermentation. The 2 on the right were bottled today after sitting in a dark growler for a year. They smell and taste similar. But I'm confused by the color difference. (Please ignore my bottle variety haha)

I’m starting a 5-6 gallon cyser and I’m hoping to use up on of the packs of yeast I currently have (named in title). Is there a best option on which I should use? I know EC-1118 probably isn’t the best choice in terms of residual sugar, but I’ll leave it in for discussion

Recipe

4-5 gallons of apple cider Fill rest with water 8-10 pounds of honey 8-10 apples cut up yeast Fermaid O Yeast energizer

Hello Friends,

So I have a Cyser on the go. Fermentation is done, I have racked it into secondary and used potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite to stabilize. I have then backsweetened with 4.5oz of wildflower honey.

My question is, how long would you guys wait after this to begin using sparkolloid to clear out the Mead? Is it better to wait some time or can I use it a matter of days after the sweetening is complete?

Curious how everyone else things of this.

I'm planning on starting a batch of some mead again this weekend and I want to know if this is a good idea. I'm planning on it being a cyser. Usually I get an unfiltered apple juice brand with no preservatives from sprouts and there's a brand of honey I've used before that tasted good. But I was thinking of upping the amount of honey. I was thinking of using two 80oz containers of it in a 3 gallon jug but wasn't sure if it was too much. And I was thinking of either using KV 1116 or EC 1118 yeast. That way it'll be stronger %wise but hopefully still sweet. But I'm not sure if that's too much honey. Also I'll be racking it into three 1 gallon jugs for secondary and was going to leave one plane, one with cinamon, and the third I'm not sure about and was curious about what I could experiment with for flavors.

FYI

Hello guys, I asked for help a few days ago. I was not sure what these white flakes are.

I remembered they appeared after the last sweeting and this was when I took all the rest out of my “rest-bucket” with honey I couldn’t sell.

Now I took some of the flakes out and flamed it with a lighter. Look, a little ball of wax appeared.

Sometimes it can be this easy. Thanks for help!

Hi, what is the most common way you use to stabilize mead? I am not sure. Thanks for your help. I am gathering all the necessary elements for my elaboration.

First mead in a 6 gallon carboy, on day 30 now and it is still bubbling strongly. Started swirling it occasionally as of two days ago to get some of the gas out and prevent it from bubbling so loudly but read earlier today that stirring this late into fermentation is bad. What should I look for to indicate that fermentation has ended? How long until I should try reading the gravity/ move it to a new carboy?

So I’ve been trying to get the SG of this apple pie batch I’m making but my hydrometer has just dropped to the bottom. I usually test it in the jar I’m making the mead in so I don’t know if that’s the issue or if there’s something else I should add to help out?

Also, what do you guys store your cleaning solution in? I’ve put it in a container before but I just didn’t know if people had a better way to go about it

Getting pretty discouraged about brewing my own mead and cider.

I've done 7 different 1 gallon batches in total. The first two meads I made were absolutely phenomenal. Gave them out to friends and family and got really positive feedback about them so naturally I thought I had the process down. Decided I wanted to do a cider next, and that went extremely well too, backsweetened it with maple syrup and it turned into a really nice autumn drink.

Those were last year. The beginning of this year I made the same mead recipe I did the first 2 times. I sanitized everything with Star Sans and made the batch the exact same way as I did the first two. Waited the same amount of time, but when I went to rack it into secondary, I was met with the most foul smelling scent I've ever smelled. The whole batch smelled like vinegar and hot garbage. Didn't bother racking it and dumped it instead.

The next two batches went the exact same way. Got super frustrated and started scrubbing and cleaning everything religiously before making another one. Used WAY more star sans than I ever would have needed for a one gallon batch. Thought for sure this one would be fine and ended up with nasty infected vinegar smell again. Decided to take a break because I was clearly doing something wrong. Early last month I tried again, filled a bucket full of water and star sans and submerged everything in it before brewing. It was just a traditional mead so literally just honey so there weren't even really anything else to sanitize besides the equipment which were sitting in a bucket of way too much star sans and it STILL GOT INFECTED. Did a cider again last week with store bought pasteurized cider which is still fermenting now. Went to check it a little bit ago and it's that same nasty infected smell.

I've used twice as much sanitizer as I should have needed, washed and cleaned everything, and used the most basic recipes with the most basic amount of things to add to minimize the chance of infection and everything still gets infected. Is this normal or am I just really bad at this?

I am planning to put about 15lbs of blackberries into the secondary of a 5gallon batch of mead. My intent was to back sweeten to about a 1.012 from a 1.001. Is the sugar from the blackberries enough to get it there or do i need to add honey as well?

As the title says, it'll be my first time trying my hand at mead. I don't want to drop the $50+ that the premade bundles cost, so I found the components all separate. Would I need anything other than the following:

Yeast - Red Star Cote des Blancs (5 pack, 5g per)

Nutrient - Fermaid O (1oz/28g)

Orange Blossom Honey

Carboy, airlock, bung

1 Step Sanitizer

(When the fermentation is closer to finishing, I'll have another gallon tub ready and tubing to transfer)

I prefer shopping on Amazon for free shipping, and this seems to be everything I need. Could someone with a little more knowledge let me know if this works? I plan to add spices like Cinnamon sticks, but if someone else has a great recipe I'll be open to following it.

Just made my first gallon of mead (traditional, Ec1118, 1.9kg honey, 17ish% abv). Fermented in about a week and now its chilling in secondary for a while.

But i want to do more! I know ill have to be patient for a few months while it clears and all. But ive been looking forward to doing this for years and im happy and excited to do more.

It seems to me like the carboys are the biggest bottleneck right now. How many carboys do you have and when did you guys get them.