My First try at Mead.......

[MuckyFunster]

A year?! Ooft. I bottled mine after 3 weeks! It was hogging my demojohn. Lol.

I’m going to try some bramble mead next month. We grow hunners ae brambles round my way and August is the best time to pick ‘em. I’ll maybe give that one a bit longer in the DJ then.

Planning a gallon...

1.3 kg honey
1.3,kg brambles
Zest of an orange
Juice of a lemon




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[Jambo]

Hi Mucky,

Never tried it myself but Acton and Duncan's mead book advises against blackberry and elderberry meads due to their tannin content. They advocate pretty much everything else though!

If you're stuck for something to do with brambles I'd suggest creme de mure or a bramble wine.

[WalesAles]

A year?! Ooft. I bottled mine after 3 weeks! It was hogging my demojohn. Lol.

MF,
Have you only got one DJ?
Get some 5Lt Plastic water bottles, loose lid, no airlock, blanket over the top, job done!

WA

Sent from my HUGE Recliner Sofa!

[Laripu]

A year?! Ooft. I bottled mine after 3 weeks! It was hogging my demojohn. Lol.

MF,
Have you only got one DJ?
Get some 5Lt Plastic water bottles, loose lid, no airlock, blanket over the top, job done!

Don't listen to him. Plastic is evil.
Use proper glass and airlocks.
Over time it all pays for itself.

WalesAles - be a good boy.

[WalesAles]

OK. I am a good boy, sometimes.
MF,
Go to the local boot sale and pick up some GLASS DJ`s for about 50p each. Clean and sterilise with gusto!
(Who the hell is Gusto), before you all come in with same thing!

WA

[Laripu]

OK. I am a good boy, sometimes.
MF,
Go to the local boot sale and pick up some GLASS DJ`s for about 50p each. Clean and sterilise with gusto!

WalesAles for PM!

[Jim]

I still have 2 plastic fermenters from 1975 - beat that!

[Laripu]

I still have 2 plastic fermenters from 1975 - beat that!

I can't beat it all by myself. But with a little help ...

I started brewing in late 1990, because I finally had a flat that was big enough, and that coincided with a new job as a software engineer. I gave my manager some homebrew, and he responded by giving me a 25 litre carboy and an 11.3 litre carboy, both glass. They had been used by his father, who had homebrewed for many years, but had died over a decade prior, and they remained unused.

The big one has a manufacturing date on the bottom: 1965. The small one had no date, but looks like the same style of manufacture. It's probably safe to say they were used in the 60s.

I still use both, and the 25 litre one is my main primary for 23L batches. You can see it in the recent Facebook time lapse post.

[MuckyFunster]

Lol, I have two glass DJs. One a 4.5l Muntons and the other a 5l Wilko special.

I’m just impatient and wanted the mead out so that I could start planning something else!

Incidentally, they’re both empty at the Mo!


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[wolfenrook]

Hi Mucky,

Never tried it myself but Acton and Duncan's mead book advises against blackberry and elderberry meads due to their tannin content. They advocate pretty much everything else though!

If you're stuck for something to do with brambles I'd suggest creme de mure or a bramble wine.

Piffle, I have some blackberry melomel in the kitchen where it's been conditioning since last year, made with fresh and locally foraged blackberries. It's positively delicious, you just have to give anything with berries like blackberries or raspberries plenty of conditioning time as it's super acidic for the first few months (better than messing around with chalk...). Just don't leave the must on the fruit for too long, and make sure to use pectin enzyme.

[Jambo]

Thanks for sharing - I might give it a go then as early signs are for a monstrous blackberry crop here this year!

[wolfenrook]

Yeah, tons here too, even more than last year! Early as well! Will have to buy raspberries this time around though if the Mrs wants the Rubamel again, my parents don't grow them any more sadly.

[MuckyFunster]

How do you use the pectin?

I was planning on following this pretty simple recipe that I found, here...

https://www.pixiespocket.com/2011/07/on ... -mead.html



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[wolfenrook]

Not pectin, pectic enzyme. Sorry for the confusion. Your goal is to remove the pectin rather than to add any, as otherwise the pectin naturally present in some types of fruit makes your mead cloudy. It also helps to break down the cell walls in your fruit, extracting more juice whilst your making your must.

https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ac ... _100g.html

I've used this one that last couple of times https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ac ... lters.html

You can actually see the haze in the pics in that recipe link.

Another tip, if you are doing a fruit mead try Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast, it seems to compliment fruit really well. Also, do consider using a good nutrient, such as Tronozymol.

I used some chopped up granny smith apples in with the fruit too, but that is just my preference. I put the fruit in a nylon filter bag in the fermenter whilst making the must, that way when it's time to remove it I can just lift it out and drain it into the fermenter. These are pics from my raspberry Rubamel, but same thing really.

Making the must with the fruit

Once the fruit is removed

Once you have finished the must, you can move it to a demijohn and fit an airlock (I start out in a brewing bucket, with a moist tea towel fastened over the top as the initial reaction will blow clean out of a dj...) after about 24-36 hours.

[steviebobs83]

Came across this thread and thought I'd add my 2 pence...

I've lobbed in 3 jars of Lidl honey and a jar of homemade redcurrant jelly into a 5l bottle of Morrisons mineral water with a balloon for an airlock and 3/4 of a packet of out of date lalvin champagne yeast. Got it to around 1.083 OG

It's been going about 2 weeks and I'm going to rack it into a demijohn and leave it til at least Xmas to test it.

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