Some mead help please?

[ben]

Hey all,

I'm wanting to give mead making a go, but every recipe that I find seems completely different. The consensus seems to be that this is more of a 6 month type project as opposed to quicker brews like tc that I'm used to - ideally, I'd like to have something to drink on Christmas eve if possible.
I found a recipe for Mead that is meant to be drinkable in weeks as opposed to months at http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/brewi ... short-mead but I'd appreciate it if someone could give it the green light before I start doing it.

(Copy&paste from the above url:)

This is a recipe for a 'sort' (quick) mead. It is ready to drink very rapidly. Because it is a quick fermentation process it tends to become very glassy so only use good quality bottles for storing otherwise explosions may happen.

Ingredients:

5l of unchlorinated water
2.1 kg honey (a decent clover honey would suffice)
3–5 lemons, sliced
500ml strong tea
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Yeast (Epernay II is good but champagne yeast would also work)
...
Allow to ferment as normal, but after 5 days taste the mead. If it is too sweet for your tastes let it continue for a further two days before tasting again. Once the mead reaches the desired level of sweetness rack into bottles and refrigerate. This is important, as if the mead is not refrigerated fermentation will continue and the mead will become progressively less sweet and will slide into unpalatability. Moreover CO2 will continue to be produced and you run the risk of the bottle exploding.

I have a few questions if someone would be so kind:

1: I'm wondering if I could store this in one of those 5l drinking bottles? E.g. ferment in a bucket then siphon into a bottle? I do have a spare keg, but it's a 5 gal and I think I’m going to have plans for it, so I don't really want to waste it on a 5l brew. Will the bottle be strong enough to prevent an explosion?
2: unchlorinated water. Do I really need this? I'm going to be boiling it after all, so shouldn't tap water be ok? Some recipe's say that tap will be fine, others say that the mead will be undrinkable.
3: I usually keep all my brews in the cellar which seems to keep them cool enough - do you think I'd be able to get away with not refrigerating it?
4: I'm thinking 2 tsp yeast and 1 tsp nutrient for 5l? Does this sound about right?

Sorry for all the questions - hopefully I might have something useful to contribute one of these days.

As per usual, any advice what so ever would be great.

Cheers.

Edit: sorry for putting this in the wrong forum.

 

[gilgamesh]

Dear Ben,

[quick Caveat, I have only been brewing since the beginnig of the year]

I have used 5l PET bottle for short to medium term storage. I usually put a little cling film on the top before putting on the cap to make a better seal (not sure if it actually does). I have not done this for mead but it seems fine so far for my wines.

I would have thought that boiled water would be fine. I used boiled water in my first attempt at mead and it fermented out, not sure how it tastes as it is still a little young.

I had a little lack of degassing problem with one of my wines, it caused the PET bottle to firm up and swell a little but it was ok. You could always check on it and let out the gas on occassion

I would put in more nutrient personally, I usually use about 2 tsps and 1 tsp of youngs super yeast compound per demijohn.

Putting the bottles in the refrigerator seems only to put the yeast to sleep. I think some stabiliser and a campden teblet would be a better option, though aging will be required to remove the slight taste, adding to the length and missing Christmas.


In conclusion I would try it. The fridge is a short cut and a non-chemical method for killing the yeast and so is essential if you want a speedy mead and not a fizzy one (I have seen that some people make this :shock: ). As an alternative you could always try freezing them to death and then putting it your cellar to thaw, checking it occassionaly for firming/swelling.

Good luck, I would be interested in knowing how it went as it may be a good alternative to the CT route for quick wines that are not intended for aging or close to a party :whistle: