Lets Make Mead

so we let it rest over the weekend and today I open up the primary ..

a nice light yellow color and the strong odor of CO2 and alcohol.

How’s a good time for a hydrometer reading. We started with a potential alcohol of 12 percent . And the reading is

And the reading is 3 percent residual sugar so right now are alcohol is 12 minus 3 = 9 percent . So far a nice sweet.. let’s taste it

The smell is pleasant and sweet ,the first taste a few bubbles from fermentation, nice sweet taste of honey and the mouthfeel of honey residue. Very nice for a week old.

So now it’s time to rack over to secondary .a fancy term for transferring into another container. We started with a 2 gallon bucket for primary , lots of head space . The secondary we want to be a gallon .very little head space , less chance of oxidation. It’s still fermenting so that little bit of Co2 and the reduced surface area will protect our mead from oxidation

so get out your racking cane or siphon hose and transfer to a gallon jug

make sure to sanitize everything that comes in contact with your mead.

And we will-let it sit here for a month , checking the airlock for water and activity in a 68 to 70 degree room away from light. A nice way to block light is to wrap in an old t shirt

So now we check it weekly and wait patiently. I just start on another .
what kind do you want to make next.

you see the black back ground, that’s my new stage for videos. We should be up and running in about two weeks . See you later…..

Day 3 today , today we will just degas , put the lid on and leave it alone for the next three (3) days.

We will come back Monday and take a hydrometer reading to see how far our fermentation has gone.

See you Monday ….

so tonight we open up the bucket , give it a good sniff , a good look . I can see some bubbles , odor of Co2 looks good .

Tonight we just degas . Sanitize our paddle or spoon and stir to remove the Co2 and to oxygenate the must.

Then replace lid and airlock and that’s it till tomorrow

Check in with you then . Any questions just email me.

See you tomorrow

That’s what it looked like when I removed the lid….

So yesterday we mixed up a gallon batch of mead , lets go check on it .

First I look at the air lock for activity… not much going on… then I get my spray bottle with sanitizer in it from yesterday and sanitize my paddle and a surface to place my bucket lid. Then I remove the lid and stick my big nose in it for big whiff . Be careful it can be strong.

It smells like alcohol, not sweet that’s good and I can see bubbles in the must. So I know my yeast has begun to convert sugars into alcohol.

Now with your paddle stir your must for 5 to 10 minutes , this releases the Co2 in the must and also gives oxygen to the yeast. Remember yeast is a living thing that needs oxygen just like us . Happy yeast Great Flavors

Now that our stir is done add 2 grams yeast nutrient and a quick stir. Replace lid , that’s it for today.

Done . Easy

See you tomorrow…

Bye

Today I am going to show you how to make what I call a standard mead.

Every easy 1,2,3…10

1-sanitize everything that will come in contact with your mead. We will use STAR SAN. Mix a couple of gallons of Sanitizer in a bucket wipe down your Fermenter, lid , airlock , paddle, yeast bowl, yeast stirrer . I also fill a spray bottle with sanitizer for use this week. In a sealed container Star San will last about a 10 days.

2- rehydrate your yeast. I am using Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast. So in a small bowl I heat a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to approximately 98 degrees. Sanitize outside of yeast packet. Open and stir in warm water and set aside. Always see what temperature your yeast producer wants and follow their instructions.

3- add one gallon of water to your Fermenter bucket I am using a 2 gallon bucket. I am also using a gallon of store bought spring water at room temperature.

4- add 3 pounds of honey . My honey comes from my hives, find a local beekeepers there honey is the best. Stir well. To make the honey easier to pour you can let the honey jars soak in a sink of warm water for 5 to 10 minutes . Now if you want this would be the time to take a hydrometer reading of potential alcohol my reading is 12 percent.

5- add yeast and 2 grams of yeast nutrients . I also add 2 grams of bee pollen stir well.

6- place lid on bucket and install airlock. Place in a 68 -70 degree room.

That’s it tomorrow lets see how’s it doing

And you did it , see it’s easy …

I’ll check in tomorrow and see how’s things are progressing

See you tomorrow

Bye

Now that we have our equipment , we have honey , time to get our water and yeast ready . Lets start with water . Meads main ingredient is water, so we need good water. Any water that good to drink without chlorine ..

Use can use spring water.

Well water without excessive iron

Bottled water…

If your have municipal water that contains chlorine, we need to remove the chlorine before we can use it. Mead make with chlorine in the water will taste like medicine.

The easy way to remove chlorine is to add potassium metabisulphite to your water at 1/2 teaspoon per six gallons of water. Now the chlorine is out and your water. If you use this method it is necessary to cover your water bucket with cheesecloth for 24 hours to allow time for the potassium metabisulphite to dissipate..

well that’s enough on water.

Yeast..there are so many dried yeast , liquid yeast , so many I want you to try them all

Lalvin ,Red Star White Labs and Wyeast are the companies I use for my yeast.

On each company’s website has a yeast chart with the yeast strains . What king of wine they make , fermenting temp, alcohol tolerance .lots of good information

So go pick a wine yeast you can’t go wrong and next time we’re going to Make some mead.

Honey doesn’t have all the nutrients that the yeast need. Remember yeast is alive , we feed it keep it happy and it will produce better flavors , better fermentation’s . Yeast nutrients cost just a couple of bucks

Three more things I want you to get for later each cost around 2.00 each

Potassium Metabisulphite . Used to remove chlorine from water and a wine preservative.

Pectic enzyme. Added to must that has fruit in it and helps with clarity of mead.

Potassium Sulfate . To prevent a stopped fermentation from restarting.

These are all used in commercial meads you don’t always have to use but come in handy to make custom sweet meads.

So that’s all our equipment , Tuesday I’ll have a video going over equipment. Till then relax have a Homebrew soon.

Whatever you use in your kitchen will be fine . We will need it when we rehydrate dry yeast .

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