Mead recipe please

[Hivemaker.]

That is of course if your not just uncapping and extracting...but crushing or otherwise destroying the entire combs....not much wax,gained per comb, or honey lost by just uncapping.

 

[oliver90owner]

I certainly agree that is correct, Hivemaker. But that will not affect the ratio of honey:wax and so the cost of sales items (honey:wax).

I still look at wax as a by-product rather than 'the crop'. All will help the overall balance of inpututput or profitability, but I certainly don't go out of my way to produce wax from my colonies. I have read the HP had/has a good outlet for wax, but I need persuading of positive economics - I am open to learning something and maybe changing my views on wax collection/generation. I am sure there are others out there who would appreciate some figures, one way or the other, not just opinion (which is obviously split at the present time).

Anyone else have any numbers?

Regards, RAB

 

[Arfermo]

If in any doubt at all that it has not finished working then DO NOT BOTTLE... exploding bottles are not only very very messy but highly dangerous.

Your starting SG seems low. How much honey did you add per gallon?

PH

You can ensure its not going to work in the bottle, merely by stunning the yeast with metabisulphate (2 Campden tablets) and the adding a stabiliser (Sorbistat) 10 mins later - but its best to get the specific gravity down to at least somewhere below 1015 first if you can. If the specific gravity is too high and it has ceased fermentation, I was advised by a qualified wine judge some years ago that one can often get a "stuck" must to restart by sploshing the contents from demijohn to bucket and back a few times to inject oxygen to revive the yeast. It does work sometimes from my own pratical experience over some 30 years. When its finished and it tastes watery and flavourless, just give it a few months and the chuck it then if it isn't worth keeping or blend it with some other wine. Very often blending proves a real winner.

 

[Nellie]

Tried the first bottle at a party on saturday. It didn't stay long enough in the bottle to know for sure that it'd definitely finished and it hasn't yet cleared despite being nearly 4 months in the DJ.

All things considered, for a first attempt I thought it was pretty good and, to my untrained palate at least, seemed to be of a similar quality to some of the bottles entered in the AGM show this year.

 

[Morlock5K]

I am currently doing a beginners mead. Jao the ultimate beginners mead

It seems to be bubbling away quite happily at the moment and should be ready in 2 months

 

[bignikki]

I once made mead from cappings , then added a frame that had been filled with pollen, it was one of the nicest drinks I've ever made.
Apart from the flavour I think also that it would act as a yeast nutrient so no need to add marmite.
In fact now that I've remembred I should go and do it again with that bucket of cappings I've got in me kitchen !

 

[Hombre]

In a lot of old recipes for wine etc the obligatory piece of toast was specified and that was actually nutrient. We've moved on a bit since then of course.

The pollen sounds like a good idea. I know that I have picked out pollen from a frame being extracted and found it to be very nice and quite different.

 

[Virtu]

Hi all...new to the forum! We have made mead for years using the recipes in Charlie Pappazian's The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing. We use champagne yeast for its high alcohol tolerance, yeast nutrient and a moss tablet. We dont use any chemicals whatsoever, content to let the fermentation take a year and the clearing almost another whole year. It makes for fantastic mead.

As we are just getting into beekeeping this year, we have always just used purchased honey (7kgs), boiled (with half the necessary water) for 15mins to remove stray wax etc. And enough water to fill a 2 1/2 gallon carboy. It sits bubbling away next to our gas fireplace for its fermenting life and then down to the cool cellar for clearing at its own sweet pace. We have never had a bad, alcoholly batch and even friends who don't like alcohol love our mead.

Mead is the reason we are getting into bees.

 

[garethbryson]

I made a batch with champagne yeast and yeast nutriend, it had finished fermenting in one week and was bottled a week later just to make sure. it is clear in the bottles with no secondary fermentation and turned out to be 22% alcohol by volume. I also made a batch with a recipe that came with the equipment. The recipe was 1 satsuma orange, 5 rasins, 3 cloves and then 4 pounds of orange. This turned out to be awfull as i think it is very hard to sanitise the orange peel therefore got a load of unwanted wild yeasts.

 

[For want of a better word]

4lbs of thick honey
1 gallon filtered Tamar water
warm to not quite a boil
skim and allow to cool
1 packet of Champagne yeast started and bubbling
1 small jar Marmite
stick of cynnamon and four cloves
one dead hamster or other small rodent to give it hidden body

Ferment
Lay down and avoid?
Last lot I made could have put a beehive into orbit!
comments please !!

 

[beeatshellards]

welcome to the forum Virtu

 

[Beehive]

Mead

A friend emailed me a link to wikihow.com. The link was then make-mead. I was going to try this one because it has pictures and videos.

 

[MuswellMetro]

method taught to me

put all the capping in a large cleaned dustbin plus a couple of pounds of old honey if the capping are not to half way mark, fill the bucket and take the specifc gravity agitate and next day, adjust until the gravity to 1.1

add wine yeast, add one one crushed blanched lime per gallon of must

cover leave for 7 days

put in demi johns with air locks and bottle after 6 months


and unlike PH
##

leave for 3 to five years to mature

 

[African Queen]

Sterilisation

Where I live it is impossible to get a sterilising Agent, such as campden tablets, the only thing which I found on the shelv was Milton Solution (to sterilise Baby utensils). It does not contain any Sulphur, only Sodium Hyperchloride. Will this be sufficient to sterilise the Utensils I will be using for making Mead?

Furthermore, the only alcohol yeast, I was able to get hold of was Ale yeast from a local brewery, will this be good enough?

 

[victor meldrew]

Where I live it is impossible to get a sterilising Agent, such as campden tablets, the only thing which I found on the shelv was Milton Solution (to sterilise Baby utensils). It does not contain any Sulphur, only Sodium Hyperchloride. Will this be sufficient to sterilise the Utensils I will be using for making Mead?

Furthermore, the only alcohol yeast, I was able to get hold of was Ale yeast from a local brewery, will this be good enough?

Milton should be ok but beer yeast has a low alcohol tolerance and will more likely produce a honey ale !
If you can obtain some organic wine and pour it out carefully in one operation save the dregs/lees.With these wine yeast containing dregs you will be able to produce a starter from this using a little blood heat water and a bit of honey , pop a bob of cotton wool in the container as a stopper , place in a warm place and once it starts working, use this to start the main brew !
VM

 

[African Queen]

Milton should be ok but beer yeast has a low alcohol tolerance and will more likely produce a honey ale !
If you can obtain some organic wine and pour it out carefully in one operation save the dregs/lees.With these wine yeast containing dregs you will be able to produce a starter from this using a little blood heat water and a bit of honey , pop a bob of cotton wool in the container as a stopper , place in a warm place and once it starts working, use this to start the main brew !
VM

Blood Heat Water?
Organic Wine is very expensive here, but I know the Importers, maybe I can find a bottle from them, that they will give away, due to spoilage. Hopefully spoilage, because they started fermenting.

 

[countryman]

made two gallon of mead yesterday using the last of my honey followed nellies method but used about 4 1/2 pound in each gal fizing up nicely now let you know how it goes

 

[Beehive]

Mead

I've just bottled two types of Mead. One was purely honey, water and champagne yeast. The other used a red wine yeast along with cinnamon, raisins and an orange. Both are delicious. The first one is beautifully clear with the other being slightly cloudy.

 

[tonybloke]

racked off and filtered a gallon of mead yesterday.
it is so lovely that before I'd finished filtering the mead I'd started another gallon off.

recipe and method

4 lbs of honey warmed in 4 pints of water
juice of one lemon > into the mix
dried yeast > 1/3 cup of warm water > leave to soak without stirring for 15 minutes.

put warm honey/water/lemon juice mixture > into demi-john.
stir yeast into water, > add to demi-john.
top up with warm water to within 2" of the bung level
place hand over neck of demi-john, invert the demi-john (without letting the liquid escape) pick it up and give it a good shake!
return to upright position.
insert bung / airlock.
should start almost straight away.

 

[bees4u]

I would like the one for methoglyn, anyone? Not sure how to spell it. I first had this 32yrs ago at a bee meeting and rode home on my motorbike with very rosy cheeks! Off course you wouldn't do that now!