Making mead

[Dr.Pierce]

We had several bee hives succumb to mites this winter. I went NB4 the robber bees started flying. When the weather realizes that it is indeed springtime- those robber bees like to steal all unguarded honey. With the help of the neighbor's kid, who had been bugging me (pun intended) to teach him about honey bee raising. We secured around 75 pounds of mixed wildflower honey. My own son has been hinting about making a batch or two of mead- honey wine. I bottled up the remainder of the honey for the wife to give away as gifts.

I went online to do a little research and settled on a very traditional and simple 5 gallon recipe:

15 pounds unheated honey
2 packets of Lalvin 71B-1122 white wine yeast
yeast nutrient
remainder of space in the glass carboy w/ water.

It's been 26 hours and it's bubbling.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Are you going to sulphite and sweeten it? Oak it? And something for flavour?

My personal experience is that I like very few iterations of mead. One combo I did like was a dry mead, steeping red grape pomace after the initial fermentation, and having a bit of carbonation.

Reminiscent of natural wine.

 

[DistillingJim]

Ive got some mead going at the moment. Its fermenting with some vanilla, cinamon and nutmeg. No idea how it will turn out but I like to have something experimental on the go.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I make mead. The honey comes from my bees. I like it very sweet (like my dip). A combo I really like is about 25% maple syrup and 75% honey.

 

[Dr.Pierce]

Are you going to sulphite and sweeten it? Oak it? And something for flavour?

My personal experience is that I like very few iterations of mead. One combo I did like was a dry mead, steeping red grape pomace after the initial fermentation, and having a bit of carbonation.

Reminiscent of natural wine.

You guys sound like you have far more experience than I do- in mead making. I am probably going to keep it simple and not add any other flavors. I like the primitive approach- although I am a stickler for sanitation. On the other hand- perhaps I am just feeling lazy.

 

[CobGuy]

Wow … that's a great haul o' honey!

I've made beer many times but never attempted mead.
Perhaps that should change this spring!

~Darin

 

[Dr.Pierce]

Are you going to sulphite and sweeten it? Oak it? And something for flavour?

My personal experience is that I like very few iterations of mead. One combo I did like was a dry mead, steeping red grape pomace after the initial fermentation, and having a bit of carbonation.

Reminiscent of natural wine.

ChinaVoodoo, thank you for your suggestion on the oak after fermentation is done.
I'm looking into adding sterilized oak chips in a cheesecloth bag w/ 2 marbles to wt it down.
-2-3 oz. oak per 5 gallons of must. Leave the bag in the must for 2 months. We cut down a White Oak tree 2 years ago- lots of chips from that!

 

[fimbrew]

I like the idea of a simple plain sack mead. Dont oak the whole batch. Just oak the small jug. I don't think you are going to need to sweeten that.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

15lbs in, what is that? 5 U.S. gallons and 1 imperial gallon? With wine yeast, I think it'll ferment totally out.

 

[Dr.Pierce]

15lbs in, what is that? 5 U.S. gallons and 1 imperial gallon? With wine yeast, I think it'll ferment totally out.

15 lbs. of honey topped off with the remainder filling a 5 US gallon glass carboy. The yeast I'm using is a white wine yeast. It'd supposed to be a semi- sweet final product.

 

[GreenDragon]

Good luck! I’ve been a home brewer for 20 years now, but never tried mead. (Gives me a horrible headache). I like to throw in a handfulll of toasted wood cubes in my batches of beer to give it that “oaked” flavor. I just boil them for five min then church them in with the beer.