Welcome to /r/mead!

No idea how to read this thing. Didn't take initial reading at start. Someone make it make sense please.

Gave it a quick taste and it tastes a little dry???

No idea how to read this thing. Didn't take initial reading at start. Someone make it make sense please.

Gave it a quick taste and it tastes a little dry???

Hi! It has been 2-3 week since I started my batch of spiced mead. I got a bit impatient last night and chucked in two cinnamon sticks in my 1 gallon batch. Is this going to halt my fermentation? I’ve been reading so many mixed pieces of information and I’m concerned 😅

Also any tips on how to speed up fermentation? Everything seems healthy but my last batch took 3+ months and refused to clear so I had to force stop fermentation. I would not like to repeat this.

Hey all, me again,

My mead is about ready for bottling. The mead is golden, clean on the surface (i think thats good), no specs or fuzz or weird colors, but a thick layer of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. A solid inch of sediment. Is that fine? Should I shake it up before bottling it tonight? Should I ignore it?

I'd love yalls thoughts, thanks!

Hi all, I wanted to start my first batch doing something a bit more adventurous than just a standard mead and did a blackberry mead, but I'm afraid I did it wrong and would like some insight as a beginner.

Here's the recipe I used: -5gal distilled water -4lbs honey -1.5lbs blackberries -EC1118 yeast

I had some problems in the beginning with not properly dehydrating the yeast the first time and my batch went 2 days without fermentation. After figuring out I had to have the water in a specific temperature range I was successful in starting the fermentation process seeing constant bubbling in the air lock.

Now it's been 2 weeks + 2 days and yesterday I noticed that the fermentation process stopped and all of the yeast sank to the bottom of the bucket. Today (sick at home) I decided to rack it into another container for aging. When I tasted the batch it tasted almost completely watery with a very slight fruit flavor, nothing near the quality or feel of a wine. Where did I go wrong? Too much water and not enough honey?

Edit: 5gal, not lbs

Hi y’all,

I am ready to start racking my mead, but I have a couple of questions: 1.) do I have to have a secondary fermentation container when I add bentonite or can I just add it to the primary fermentation carboy? The second is if I just rack the mead will it turn into a bottle bomb? The mead is a bit hazy but is pretty much clear now. It’s my first time making mead so I’m pretty lost on the bentonite situation. Please and thank you.

Unbelievable. I'm so embarrassed. First time mead maker here. Bought the book, watched a thousand videos, and finally got the gumption to start. My sanitary protocol has been bulletproof.

Just when I went to open the yeast package and dump it in my hand slipped and it fell into the must for a second or two. It floated on top and I fished it out with my sterile stirring spoon. Do I need to toss this batch? I know the sanitation is the biggest part so I thought I'd ask before I waste the next month if it's no good. For reference, it's the little yellow Red Star blanc yeast that comes with the Ohio Brewing kit.

Ugh.

I just got this eucalyptus and tea tree honey and I was wondering if anyone had tips. Will this make good mead? Should I cut it with other honey? Any ideas what it will mix well with? Thanks

Its been two weeks now since the start, so its time for the first check just to see how its doing.

It started at 1.098 and is currently 1.060 so not very fast fermentation but not very slow either. Its not showing any signs of stalling, it bubbles very nicely and there are no wierd stress smells.

Taste testing at this point as you could imagine is overwhelmingly sweet, with a strong yeast character (Duh...) But what flavours can be found at the moments is primarily peach. my fiance thinks the finnish taste like pears, I personally wouldnt say pear but I can see why she would say that, I would almost describe it as tutti fruitty.

I will let it go for another two weeks and be back with another reading to see how its developing.

Would adding nutrients at 13 days fermentation have any benefit or am I too late??

Hello everyone,

5mn ago i broke my hydrometer because i forgot to put it in a safe place yesterday ...

I dont have time to buy one more... Because i have a mead in Preparation and i need to be sure wednesday the ferment is stagning. To do the finish part for saturday...

I need a easy comprehension to how use my refractometer with the website a member gave to me last time:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

Since im risking 16L, im actually in a bad situation.

Thanks in advance.

Ps: please explain me like you would explain to a newbie or a kid.

As the title suggests, I'm curious what experience people have with adding yeast for bottle fermentation vs just letting what's in there do it's thing.

I've always taken the latter approach, and it's always served me well, especially since I'm fermenting all the way out to dry for sparkling meads anyway. I am always slightly paranoid something will go wrong and I'll stall out and/or get off flavours though.

For what it's worth, the current mead I'm looking to bottle condition is a 10% abv metheglin that was given proper nutrition and is on it's way to total clarification just now.

I watched a few beer videos and I see them building up yeast colonies prior to pitching. Why is this not done for mead? Is beer just more at risk for off flavors? Does anyone build up their colonies prior to pitching into mead?

I used 3lbs of honey, filtered water, about 1/3 of a packet of ec-1118 yeast and 1/2 tsp of North Mountain yeast nutrient. I didn’t add any more nutrient. My first mix only took about 10 days to finish but I used an entire packet of the same yeast and 2.5lbs of honey. This one still has a bubble coming through the airlock about every 45 seconds. Is this still actually fermenting? Looks like bubbles in the mead are coming directly from the sediment. Should I take a gravity reading now? Should I rack it now?

On Friday, my son and I made my first batch of mead (5 gal). We have our own hives so I used my own honey. We decided to go with blueberry.

As of Sunday afternoon, it was percolating nicely.

A few months from now, before bottling, I am pouring off 2 x 1-gallon fermenting jars and flavoring them separately. The remaining 3 gallons will stay as the base blueberry.

Two Questions:

1. Do people say "Blueberry Mead," "Melomel," or "Bilbemel?"

2. I am flavoring one of the jars with vanilla beans. I'm undecided on the other. I'm leaning toward either cinnamon or cardamom. Which would you go with, or would you use something entirely different?

TIA

I brought a mini keg to try to experiment with fermenting under pressure and I was wondering if I can use the regulator as a replacement for an airlock.

Does the regulator works both ways? Or am I risking a bomb here?

In yalls experience, is liquid or powder pectic enzyme better? I'm seeing both for sale, and I want to have an informed opinion before buying.

I didn't push down the fruit on my blackberry melomel during the first week of fermentation. I've since removed the fruit and didnt notice any signs of mold and the smell doesn't seem too off. What's the risk level in this situation? I'd hate to serve a potentially dangerous drink to friends if risk is high.

A Cyser from my own apples and honey from my uncle. 5 gallons of apple juice. 15 lbs of honey. 20 minutes on Photoshop.

My uncle's honey and my apples

So, I looked at some posts, and I didn't feel like it was very clear, so maybe just asking would be better. I'm hoping to make a metheglin, I have already brewed some traditional mead for 30 days and have potassium sorbate (I haven't added it yet) to prevent it trying to consume the spices (I'm hoping to use Mulling Spices). However, I'm just nervous if I'll just ruin the mead (I'm still fairly new) because it's my first time.

I'm wondering If I should clean the spices before hand with boiling water, maybe roast them in the oven (maybe it'll even bring out some more flavor). I just have a lot of worry of contaminating the mead is all. Additionally, I have a cheese cloth bag with a drawstring being shipped to hold the spices in, so I can easily retrieve them and so there's no chance of spices being bottled. Should I do something for that as well, or should I just be expecting all these things to be completely sanitized out of the container? Maybe the cheesecloth bag isn't worth it? I just want a good tasting mead that'll last in a bottle for a very long time.

Additionally, if I already did something wrong, or there is something that would of made the process easier, more efficient, or made the product higher quality, let me know.

I'll probably be the same way when I attempt a melomel in spring next year, so maybe expect to see me again.