Unsure about my Mead

[BeerCat]

I recently made up some Mead, well 3 lots as i want some for Christmas.
Batch 1 4 340g jars of honey, 20 raisons and half a packet of champagne type yeast.
Batch 2 6 jars packet wilko yeast and teaspoon of nutrient
Batch 3 7 jars packet wilko yeast and teaspoon of nutrient

I must of made a mistake with my gravity reading as the 1st batch should of been about 1110 according to the brewcalc and my reading was 1060. I racked it off yesterday and the reading was 1068! Extremely sweet and no taste of alcohol.
Its still fermenting and has been quite rigorously but panicking i chucked in other half of yeast packet and some nutrient.
Am i an the right track here and how long should it take to ferment?
1 st batch is 2 1/2 weeks old and started to clear nicely, 2nd is a week and 3rd is 4 days. Photo is left to right.

 

[Wraeccan]

I find mead very hit and miss to get going.

Two tips I have:
1, Always boil the honey and water mixture before putting in the primary. Honey has properties that can inhibit yeast growth.
2, Always start the yeast off in a different jar. Put a little sugar, water and yeast nutrient (or grape juice, ideally) in a clean and sterile jar or plastic bottle and add the yeasty beasties to start multiplying. After a day add in to honey and water mixture with citric acid (or lemon juice) and more nutrient.

May be too late for tip 1, but you could still get a starter culture going...:thumb:

 

[BeerCat]

Cheers for the info. They are all still bubbling about every 5s but show no sign of clearing. The 1st batch is going strong after almost a month but that was repitched.
Is it best to rack to a secondary before i repitch or shouldn't i worry about it?
Been 30 years since i made any wine and i cant wait to try some. Will get the necessary stuff next week and follow your instructions. :)

 

[Xeno]

One of my favourite brews.

2 jars of honey and a jar of jam and water.
Bring up to the boil to melt it then dump in a bucket with a good spoon of pectolase once cool
Week later strain into demi add yeast,nutrient and pre mixed bentonite.
After the initial flurry i top up with apple juice.


I add bentonite to most wine type brews as it really helps with clearing.
Pain in the butt to mix but worth it, I usually make up a jam jar full and keep it for when it's needed.

 

[Cwrw666]

Your low OG reading could well be caused by the honey not having mixed in completely and settled in the bottom of the DJ. Obviously, after a while it gradually dissolves so that even though the brew is fermenting the SG appears to rise.

 

[BeerCat]

This is the 1st batch made on 13th August, re racked and repitched on 29th. Looks like its starting to clear nicely. Cant wait for a taste test. Might make some more with Gooseberry Jam this weekend. Thanks for all the tips, got loads of things to try out now. Good to know about Bentonite.
Is it worth putting into primary or shouldn't i bother?
Reckon will get another 3 or so on the go for Xmas! :

 

[BeerCat]

The starters helped kick start the fermentation so i now have 6g of mead to bottle. Last time i took a reading was very dry, about 1000 so my question is what sort of FG should a medium and sweet mead finish at, Am presuming its gonna be around 1020 for a sweet one? I have already made the mistake of adding more honey to one and it just started fermenting again so bought some stabiliser.
Does anyone else use this? Is it safe, has a poison warning symbol on the pot.
Also i don't have any wine bottles or a corker. Are they 100% necessary or can i get away with 500ml clear beer bottles? Stored in the dark of course.

 

[BeerCat]

A good few months old now. Crashed it in the garage for a month then sweetened with more honey. Had some mulled the other day and its also good mixed with Vanilla Vodka.

 

[TartanSpecial]

looks nice. What did the final gravities come out for each of the batches (before adding more honey)? I did a 21 ltr batch with 7.7kg honey and it finished at 1.014, 14.6% abv and is probably in the medium sweet category. Want to try another to aim for medium dry by using less honey.

 

[BeerCat]

Cheers it came down to 1000 and that was 4 x 340g jars. I added about 150g of honey back to it, possibly a bit too sweet now but the Mrs likes it.
That's the 1st batch i have bottled so will let you know how the others come out soon as i get enough bottles. Batch 2 is 2040g and batch 3 is 2380g.

 

[BeerCat]

Ive done a melonal with 3 jars honey 1020g and a 350jar of homemade damson/blackberry jam. According to the brew calc gravity was 1095 and its finished at 992 making it 13.52%. Its very dry like a white wine but has a lovely colour and I've had a glass tonight. I reckon rather than backswetening you could just add a spoonfull of honey to the glass if you like it sweeter. Could use a decent flavoured one as well. I only used the cheap 99p ones. 3 months old, racked once and lovely and clear. Prefer this to my straight mead as less cloying. Ive got another mead with 7jars now stuck at 1035 so thinking off adding a jar of apricot jam and re pitching. This is interesting doing this and got a few people on it last night.
Just checked the 7jar mead i did and OG was according to brewers friend 1.167 and FG is 1035 making it 17.33%. No wonder my Mrs says its like a liquor. If i can get it going again to 1010 will make it 20%. :)

 

[Cqr]

Ive got to try your mead recipe
Do you staberlse it ??

 

[BeerCat]

No i didn't stabilise them so far. I bought some but not used it. Mainly because its an extra step and i didnt want to add any chemicals to the brew. The 1st batch i did which was 4 jars ended up very dry. I sweetened it up with more honey and its now too sweet for my taste. Its started fermenting again in the bottle so hopefully will sort it out. I dont think the one with jam will be a problem though as it finished so dry. Definitely will be trying more of this. Apricot for sure and Gooseberry. I reckon this would also be nice with some hops in after initial fermentation has stopped.

 

[TartanSpecial]

For the 7 jar batch 1.035 may be the natural end point.

 

[BeerCat]

For the 7 jar batch 1.035 may be the natural end point.

I feared so after reading one of your posts on another thread today. Oh well its mainly done for an experiment and to give away so nothing lost. I guess it would be great for sweetening a dry beer or for your favorite gran. Sadly mine are no longer here but i can imagine them supping on a small glass. Bottled up some more today. 2 jars oh honey and a jar of blackcurrant jam. FG 0994. Actually pretty drinkable especially if you like white wine. You could fix the tartness with extra honey if you like but i kinda like it like this. Lovely and clear with no finings and racked after 2 weeks. Its 3 months old. Only thing is i wish i soaked all the labels of the bottles first. Oh well. :)

 

[BeerCat]

Ive just bottled this lot up after cold crashing in the garage for a month. I must say am surprised cos i really like it and its sweet! Didn't take an OG but according to brewers friend it would be 1159. FG was 1032 making it about 16.5%. I also forgot to degass it so it and didn't bother adding a stabiliser. I might try blending it with the last lot see what that tastes like but on the whole its come out well. Just under 5months start to finish.

 

[brumbrew]

I first brewed mead for a friend 2 years ago. He bought a bottle of it round at Xmas and I was horrified that when he opened it, it was fizzy. Like champagne. How the wine bottles haven't burst I'll never know.

However it tasted A-mazing!

I've got some that has cleared but I can see small bubbles still rising from the lees.

I'm in two minds if to bottle or wait. I have champagne bottles n such so no problem.

Also waiting on my mayple syrup mead (methaglyn)

 

[NCFCcrazy]

I first brewed mead for a friend 2 years ago. He bought a bottle of it round at Xmas and I was horrified that when he opened it, it was fizzy. Like champagne. How the wine bottles haven't burst I'll never know.

However it tasted A-mazing!

I've got some that has cleared but I can see small bubbles still rising from the lees.

I'm in two minds if to bottle or wait. I have champagne bottles n such so no problem.

Also waiting on my mayple syrup mead (methaglyn)

But how did the fizzy mead taste?

I must admit, I have never used a stabiliser in my wines, may consider it with my Mead though.

 

[brumbrew]

But how did the fizzy mead taste?

I must admit, I have never used a stabiliser in my wines, may consider it with my Mead though.

To be honest, it was very nice. So maybe fizzy champagne style mead is something to look at. Of course this was by total accident.

Autolysis is it called?

He bought round the two year old clove mead.

As I say very nice, a good winter warmer too ;-)

 

[brumbrew]

Best flavour yet is a thumb sized piece of ginger grated and 4-5 black pepper corns crushed.

One of our friends is a 'mixologist' or cocktail maker. He suggested it, and it was the best yet. Might do it to the one I've got going now. ;-)