Honey Mead Noob Question

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ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Hello all.I am about to start the adventure of making Honey Mead.I would like to know what is the best type of yeast to use and I also need to know if there is a type of yeast that would be gluten free as my sister is making this with me and hers must be gluten free.Any advice at all on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
My first tip... Buy this: Brew or Die by our very own Baronsamedi
Yeast: My favorite is: Lalvin 1118 (will go as high as 18 to 20% alcohol "pretty strong")

Don't sweat measuring specific gravity.... that'll come later.
My second tip: Avoid varietal honey for now... It will take some experience to make something special.

As Clint says in his book.... Even your worst brew will be better than anything you can buy. (or something like that)
Another reason for avoiding varietal honey is the cost... it's expensive.
I use SueBee honey, and buy it from Sam's Club by the case. It's still expensive, but it's neutral flavor is conducive to letting your recipe shine.
If you buy Culligan Water from say... Walmart... you can use the gallon jugs and balloons (with a small X cut in the tip as your first fermentors. They really work well for small batches. Swap over to glass when the funds allow. Glass is a little pricey but the bubble locks and stoppers are inexpensive.
1.33 cups of honey = 1 lb.
Here's a good first recipe: (This one got me hooked)

Orange Clove Mead (This is one of the best recipes, tastes great and is easy to make. If you are looking for a first recipe to try I recommend this one.

Interesting flavor and makes 1 gallon

• 1 gallon of Spring Water

• Yeast: Lalvin 1118 (1 packet)

• 25 Raisins (lightly crushed, skins broken)

• 1 Cinnamon stick

• 1 whole orange, sliced and peels included

• 1 pinch of allspice

• 1 pinch of nutmeg

• 3 1/2 pounds of clover honey

• 1 whole clove

Simply mix all the ingredients then pitch your yeast. Caring for this mead? The beautiful thing about this mead is that you can rack it off of all the oranges and raisins any time you want to, or you can just leave it all in there. When the oranges sink to the bottom you are ready to drink it or bottle it… It’s as simple as that. I recommend you bottle it and let it age for a couple more months. This recipe is just simply delicious.
Most importantly... like smoking pipes, everybody is a little different...

So, just have fun!

Edit: Gluten is the substance that holds bread together (kinda).

As long as you don't use wheat, barley and the like you should be fine.

:puffy:

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Great thanks alot for the recipe Lawrence.Funny you mention that book by Baron I just ordered it off amazon about 5 minutes ago along with The Compleat Mead Book.Thaks a ton for the tips and recipe it sounds delicious I cannot wait to try it.I know an old bee keeper who brings clover honey to my workplace all the time and I think I will have to hit him up for a few jars he should be pretty happy.Thanks again.Now I need to figure out what I am going to smoke with my first glass. :D

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
Here's a tip that may be of tremendous help.

If you are going to use "unpastureized honey" e.g. your friends.
I recommend that when making your MUST, that you bring your honey and water up to 180° slooooowly.

When you hit 180° the mixture will begin to roil, not boil.

The impurities will float to the top, so it will be much easier to skim the scum.

One thing I've learned from reading.. very OLD recipes... use a feather to skim with.

I know that sounds funny but it really works well, resulting in a very clear and clean Mead.
When you use fruit. e.g. grapes, blackberries, strawberries, apples, etc. be sure to use PECTIC ENZYME.

You'll produce a very clear mead.

The colors can be spectacular, amazing, astonishing, astounding, breathtaking, daring, dazzling, dramatic, eye-catching, fabulous, fantastic, magnificent, marvelous, miraculous, prodigious, remarkable, sensational, splendid, staggering, striking, stunning, stupendous, thrilling, and wondrous. :D

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Thanks alot for the recipes Lawrence I have wanted to try this for a long time and these recipes sound like a good fit for my taste I can't wait to try them out.

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Wow thanks for all the great info man I absolutely love this forum.I am glad you mentioned the tip on the unpastureized honey I most likely would have screwed that up lol. :) I will definately keep you updated.

 

martiniman

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 6, 2012
885
2
Thanks for sharing Lawrence.

I have a newly acquired beer making kit and think I might go the way of mead first.

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
Martiniman... Good on ya.
Beer, (at which I have no experience) is brewed rather rapidly... I believe.

However; Mead, on the other hand, is a slowish process... requiring at least a couple of months.... at a minimum.

But, well worth the wait.

 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
That looks very similar to the Joe's Ancient Orange mead recipe I started with. It makes a good mead but be warned it will finish sweet and remember to shake it for about 2 minutes when you first get it into the fermentation container (I use buckets) to aerate it then pitch the yeast in.
You can make great mead without any experience but there's a lot to making "perfect" mead so I won't overwhelm with info for now. However, I would like to add a bit of wisdom from Charlie Papazian, the homebrew sage. People have been doing this successfully now for over a thousand years so "Relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew"

 

phred

Lifer
Dec 11, 2012
1,754
4
Lawrence has you off to a good start. Haven't read the good Baron's book yet, but the Compleat Meadmaker will serve you well.
Quick rule of thumb on mead and yeast - for a sweeter mead, go with a red wine yeast. White wine yeast will go a little bit drier, and champagne yeast will do a bang-up job of digesting the sugars and leave you with a nice, dry mead. Personally, I'm fonder of the sweeter meads myself, but taste is highly subjective...
Mead does take a while to finish fermenting, but the end result is worth the wait. Mead also has a tendency to improve with age even after bottling, so try to squirrel away a bottle or two for later sampling. I found a full bottle of my first batch of mead after moving one time (the bottle got misfiled with a bunch of empties), so we did our housewarming with a nearly 10-year-old bottle of homebrew (marvelous stuff).

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Thanks for the advice I have a sweet tooth so I will probably go the sweet route at first.

 

brewshooter

Lifer
Jun 2, 2011
1,658
3
I finally got back into mead, made a couple batches years ago, after being so focused on beer. Hmm, I did brew a saison on Saturday, guess I'm still into beer. Anyway, a couple of three gallon batches of a raspberry and a blueberry melomel, should both be ready to sample soon.
As for gluten free yeast, you do have to watch out for the method used to grow the yeast. I believe the Lallemand/Danstar yeasts are gluten free. However, I'm only familiar with their beer yeasts, not sure about wine offerings, which would be more appropriate to this application.

 

cgrd

Starting to Get Obsessed
Feb 7, 2012
186
8
Winnipeg, MB
Man...now I want mead :) A good friend of mine makes some, and we did a trade this year; home brew plum brandy for some mead. Of course, there is now no more left, lol.
A warning about honey: Check the country of origin, especially if buying from a local megamart. China has been flagged for using ultra-filtering, which removes the pollen from the honey. This removes any ability to determine the plant it came from or the country it was produced in. In theory this allows producers to use syrups or other cheaper methods to bulk up honey. In practice, it allows honey to enter into the market illegally, bypassing duties, tariffs, and sanctions.

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
I am researching the yeast types now as gluten does not agree with my sister at all.I only am finding the yeast used for beer looks like it would be a problem so we should be good.Thanks to everyone for the help.I hope to get it started this weekend.I bought a 3 gallon kit to start with.Any other tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated. :)

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
All good advice above.

I have had hankering to pull a cork, ever since you brought it up.

But, I'm on some rude antibiotics. .. and booze is no-no for now. :cry:

 

phred

Lifer
Dec 11, 2012
1,754
4
Any other tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Sanitize.

Sanitize.

Sanitize.
Honey has natural antibiotic properties, which is one reason that full-rolling-boil pasteurization is not necessary (and besides which, it wrecks the flavor of the honey). On the other hand, mead is sensitive to contaminants - and since it's not fully pasteurized, you'll need to be very careful about proper sanitation during the brewing and bottling process, even moreso than with beer brewing. Keep a bucket of sanitizing solution available, and use it on everything as you go - measuring cups, carboys, bottles, thermometers, hydrometers, tubing, fermentation locks, etc.
Bleach and water is an easy way to go, but if you overdo the bleach, you'll taste it. Campden tablets are another option, but if you're sensitive to sulfites, you might want to go with one of the premixed offerings from Five Star that came onto the market well after I got started homebrewing - friends of mine use them, and they swear by them.

 

dpkrause

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 3, 2012
264
0
Thanks for posting this topic. I now have the urge to brew. Now that I am buying a house, I will finally have the space for it.

 

ohiopuffer

Can't Leave
May 18, 2012
351
0
Thought I would update.I have not started yet but I found a local beekeeper who is the husband of a close friend of my sister once I aquire the honey I should be ready to go on our first batch.

 
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