Mead

[jamesb]

I'm thinking about doing some mead, for about Christmas time. We both prefer one on the slightly sweet side, and not overly strong.

Anyone got any experience with it? I'd have no idea what I was doing.

 

[Wez]

Is this of use mate?

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1325&p=16705&hilit=mead#p16705

 

[jamesb]

Sounds like a bit too much going on in it for me tbh. I've got some recipes in some old brewing books, just wondered if there was anything better than dump some honey in water and add bread yeast :)

How would I stop the fermentation so it doesn't end up too dry? Potassium sorbate? Would i need yeast nutrient, or any of the other stuff lying around homebrew shops?

 

[arturobandini]

I made some Pyment (Mead with grape juice apparently) using cheapish Red grape juice and fermented on the slurry of a Californian Red Wine kit. I used two pots of fairly decent quality honey and melted them in the juice with water. Everything got mixed together and I also added yeast nutrient and a teaspoon of Tannin to the must. Grapes contain their own tannin and as I was using grape juice in theory their should be tannin present. Grape Tannin is contained in the skin and Grape juice is not pressed in the same way as Wine Grapes are so probably hardly any Tannin present. Tannin is important in a must to stop the end drink becoming thin and insipid. It fermented out fairly fast due to the high yeast count in the slurry and is bulk conditioning now. It's been 3 months now and it is crystal clear needing to be bottled and laid down.

Hope that helps or gives you a few ideas James!

 

[jamesb]

I'm getting there, thank AB.

 

[llannige]

Not an expert myself,knowing only the "basics"

To stop fermentation.Add 1 campden tab +1gram of potassium sorbate per gallon(4.5L).
Fermentation usually needs a bit of a boost and various stuff can be used,I found yeast nutrient to be the easiest thing to get hold of and it does the job.
For fining I found Bentonite an easy and quick solution.

 

[jamesb]

Thanks llannige :thumb:

 

[arturobandini]

Potassium Sorbate and Campden are the usual fermentation stabilisers. This recipe seems pretty popular -

Mead Link

 

[llannige]

Potassium Sorbate and Campden are the usual fermentation stabilisers. This recipe seems pretty popular -

Mead Link

That,s the one I posted a while back and Wez gave the link to.
Worked out well for me,never had any probs with it and it turned out O.K. :thumb:
Not quite my cup of tea though.

 

[dmrevis]

I'm gonna try the one from http://www.wwbc.org.uk/recipes.html#SweetMead but i'd prefer a plain mead without the orange and lemon, or is this specifically needed?

 

[tubby_shaw]

As well as adding flavour the orange and lemon add acid which is required for happy yeasties :thumb:
If you don't want the citrus flavour you can replace with citric acid

 

[dmrevis]

Lemon may be a nice back flavour, but i'll skip the orange i think.

 

[jamesb]

Thought I'd resurrect this.

I bought three bottles of Moniak Mead from the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival last weekend and managed to polish them off in two days. It's quite a sweet one.

So I thought I'd actually get round to making some this weekend.

Any idea where I'd want to stop the fermentation?

 

[llannige]

Usually after a couple of months or when the fruit drops.Try racking at that time to see how clear it is.
Or you could stabilize it around this time anyway with campden tabs or potassium sorbate.

 

[jamesb]

Usually after a couple of months or when the fruit drops.Try racking at that time to see how clear it is.
Or you could stabilize it around this time anyway with campden tabs or potassium sorbate.

Sorry Llannige, I said "where". I was assuming to get the sweetness that I'd want to stop the fermentation before all the residual sugars are fermented.

I don't know where mead will end up, but I was going to assume under 1.000. I was just wondering what gravity I'd want to stop it at.

 

[llannige]

O.K. I now see what you are saying.

My batch stopped at 0.992.But I don't know where you would want to stop it. :hmm: