Made my first mead - Few photos.

[Wolfy]

if you could keep a bottle back and leave it for a couple of years you'll be pleasantly surprised.

We got our glass demijohns from Freecycle, the man's daughter started making mead in them, but went overseas and did not return, so he had them in his garden for some years, when we tipped it all down the driveway (and the smell in the car on the way home) was a surprise indeed!

[Wolfy]

raisins for nutrients, and thats it...the yeast get the nutrients from the raisins, its a nice mild taste...whenever i have used nutrient, the barrel has gone down the sink.....

I really don't mean to be rude, and I can accept that you like the taste of the mead made with raisins, (they will add flavour and tannins).
However, I'd need to see something scientific before I believe that a handful of raisins can provide a minimum of 130mg/l of Free Amino Nitrogen required for difficulty free yeast fermentation, let alone the 3-500mg/l that is usually recommended, in addition to providing the other micronutrients that yeast require.

[floydmeddler]

Wolfy. I have some yeast nutrient. Should I add some? If so, how much?

Cheers

[Wolfy]

Wolfy. I have some yeast nutrient. Should I add some? If so, how much?

Most all of the mead recipes in the back of The Compleat Meadmaker (Ken Schramm) suggest 2 tsp (9.9ml) of both 'yeast energizer' and 'yeast nutrient', for 18.93l batches.
One of those products is DAP (Diammonium phosphate), most important since mead is so low on FAN (Free Amino Nitrogen).
While the other is a combination of yeast hulls, nutrients and sometimes DAP - most likely what you have if you use it when you brew beer.

[floydmeddler]

Little update. I racked into glass demijohn after 1 month and gravity is now at 1014. Still fermenting bubbles so will just leave it. Is there any way I can speed the ferment up? Would adding yeast nutrient now be a sensible idea or have I missed my chance?

Cheers

[Wolfy]

My guess is that the the time for that is past, now is the time to wait

... and wait


.... and wait some more.

I didn't find a reference to what yeast you used, or if you were aiming for a specific type of mead, but from 1.098 to 1.014 it's done quite well and is spot-on if you were aiming for a 'Medium Show Mead'.

[floydmeddler]

My guess is that the the time for that is past, now is the time to wait

... and wait


.... and wait some more.

I didn't find a reference to what yeast you used, or if you were aiming for a specific type of mead, but from 1.098 to 1.014 it's done quite well and is spot-on if you were aiming for a 'Medium Show Mead'.

Ah cool Wolfy. Nice to hear that. I used this stuff - half a sachet: http://www.whyteshomewineequipment.co.u ... 0yeast.jpg

I imagined it would go below 1.000. I used this yeast before with grape juice and honey and it fell below 1.000. I did have a lower O.G though. Thought all sugars in honey were all fermentable. Perhaps not!

[Wolfy]

If you let it go, I suspect it will go lower, it's only about 11% now, and I'd guess that wine yeast will be capable of 15-16% alcohol, let it sit for a few months and check it again.

[floydmeddler]

That's the plan. any need to rack, say once a month?

[Wolfy]

Most of the recipes all end with the following advice:
"Rack to secondary and age until clear. Bottle when you are ready."
Seems you are at the stage where the longer you leave it alone and forget about it the better.

If it had large amounts of fruit or other stuff added, racking multiple times might be useful, otherwise he seems to suggest only once is needed.

[floydmeddler]

Cheers. Was worried about autolysis. Does this not apply to mead / wine?

[gti1x]

Cheers. Was worried about autolysis. Does this not apply to mead / wine?

Yes it does (although possibly slower). That's why you rack it off the lees (the muck at the bottom, including yeast) into a clean container at around this point. As more stuff (technical term) falls to the bottom you may need to rack it a further once, twice ... as required before bottling.

HTH

GTI

[floydmeddler]

Cheers. Will do it every month until there is none and it's clear.

[floydmeddler]

Bottled last week and enjoyed a 'sample' bottle with friends at the wknd. Mmmmm! Superb. Everyone loved it.

I need to hide it somewhere to age or I'll drink the lot! Very happy.

[fatbloke]

Bottled last week and enjoyed a 'sample' bottle with friends at the wknd. Mmmmm! Superb. Everyone loved it.

I need to hide it somewhere to age or I'll drink the lot! Very happy.

Well done with your efforts Floyd.

I would suggest that if you make more meads, you can forget about pasteurisation, as it's not necessary with mead. I notice that someone already post a link to Paynes in Hurstpierpoint. They don't have a massive selection of honey but most of what they do keep is pretty good.

As for yeasts, avoid the Young's ones, they're OK but there's plenty better out there - I've ended up sticking to the Lalvin range, because while they usually have to be mail ordered, they provide more data about their products than any of the other producers. Yes they do make a massive range of products, but a lot of them are only available in the UK in bulk quantities (I get FermaidK from the US as well as DAP). For nutrients, Tronozymol will do the job fine, but I always add it in a staggered addition method and the only thing I'll add for nutrient after the 1/3rd sugar break is either yeast hulls (again a mail order thing) or I boil up a couple of teaspoons of bread yeast in 100 to 150 mls of water, then let it simmer for 10 minutes. It can be added in place of any organic nitrogen source that might be recommended.

A good dig round Gotmead will give you a lot of excellent info, even if you do end up having to find a few local equivalents for a some ingredients (and some of the amazing sounding honey they use, doesn't seem to be available here), there's still a lot of good advice to be had.

regards

fatbloke