Traditional Honey Mead.

[Millet]

Bottled today after being racked into a second vessel for 4wks..it may clear a little more but I am happy with it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bottled today after being racked into a second vessel for 4wks..it may clear a little more but I am happy with it.

Hope it tastes as good as it looks. Well done

 

[Dariusz]

do you can send one?

 

[Millet]

Hope it tastes as good as it looks. Well done

It tastes lovely even at a young age..

 

[Murox]

It looks fantastic but please, stop taunting us.

 

[steve1958]

Looks good

 

[Millet]

It looks fantastic but please, stop taunting us.

Get some knocked it is easy to do..

 

[Millet]

It looks fantastic but please, stop taunting us.

Just to rub it in..lol..

 

[Murox]

Just to rub it in..lol..

slàinte

 

[Macdee]

Where did you get the bottles from and do they seal well ?
Will you store it now for a year ?

 

[Millet]

Where did you get the bottles from and do they seal well ?
Will you store it now for a year ?

The bottles are from my lady friends choice of wine..i have been saving them for over one year now and have quite a lot..yes the bottles seal well and i have no time limit set as to how long it is stored.. i have a taste test every week and if it is to my liking it goes down the hatch..

 

[wightbees]

Looks really nice mate. How easy was it to make and what directions did you follow please

 

[Millet]

It is so easy to do..on my phone at the moment but when I get on my keyboard I will explain in detail.

 

[Millet]

Looks really nice mate. How easy was it to make and what directions did you follow please

Ingredients..
3lb of Honey.
1 x Orange.
1 x Tea bag.
1 x Campdon tablet.
Around 4 Ltr bottled water.
Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast.
Yeast Nutrient.

This is my method and it works well..

Pour 2Ltr of water into a pan on the stove and add the honey..slowly heat to around 70C while stirring..when the honey is thoroughly mixed put the pan in a cold water bath..
Put a tea bag in a cup and fill with boiled water..
Cut the orange into segments small enough to fit into the Demijohn and add them..
Take the tea bag out of the cup when cooled and pour that in..
Put a crushed campden tablet in some warm water to dissolve it then add to the Demijohn..pour the pan of honey water into the vessel and add the yeast nutrient..
Leave for 24hrs..

After 24hrs add the yeast into a half filled 12oz jar of 22C water(this hydrates the yeast)..and leave for around 20mins while gently agitating..pitch the yeast and top the vessel up to just past where it starts to curve with room temperature water..

Leave it alone with a airlock on for two weeks or until fermentation has stopped(the airlock will let you know)..

Rack over into a second vessel with a airlock and leave to clear..once certain fermentation has stopped and the mead is clear put into bottles and leave as long as you get the taste you like..

This was racked on the 12th December and clearing nicely..it is Apple and Pear Cyser hitting the scales at 14.44%..

 

[Millet]

Whoops too much mead..makes x2

 

[Millet]

For the above post everything is sterilized with no rinse Starsan/Chemsan which is highly recommended by me as i have not messed one up yet using this disinfectant ..

 

[Beersmith]

For the above post everything is sterilized with no rinse Starsan/Chemsan which is highly recommended by me as i have not messed one up yet using this disinfectant ..

Many many thanks for posting. Most informative!

I made a couple of batches of mead before I even started keeping bees. I added a fruit acid mix (malic, tartaric and a tiny bit of citric) and tannin in powder form. The result was pleasant enough but more akin to a white wine than a mead.

I'll be giving your approach a try in the not too distant.

Thanks again.

 

[Millet]

When using fruits especially apple juice i also use pectolase as it breaks down the pectin in the fruits which makes it clear a lot better..

 

[Helen]

So just went and bought a load of brewing stuff & chemicals mentioned above, to start my first mead attempt in the new year.

 

[Poly Hive]

Just be aware Helen that mead is odd stuff and dosen't seem to follow the rules, bit like bees really.

I found when starting two identical batches the same day with the same same same everything that one took off and fermented out in three weeks and the other one dithered about and could take 6 months.

I asked a pro about it and his expert reply was... "Aye it's a bit of a bugger"

Good luck,

PH