Mead - A tutorial

[Zulu]

I gave a presentation to the Guilford BeeKeepers end of last year and thought I would share the presentation here . My Beer club members assisted me and one of them is a noted Mead maker , so he did a practical demo of how easy it is

Biggest take aways:
Cleanliness is important !!!!!! Any honey can be used.      DONT USE BREAD YEAST !!!!

Here is a PDF for anyone to download the full presentation:http://www.guilfordbeekeepers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Mead_2013.pdf

[Zulu]

White Labs and Wyeast are Liquid Yeasts, rest are Dry packs--- all can be bought online or at Local Homebrew store







Here is a link to the original in high quality http://www.beelab.umn.edu/prod/groups/cfans/@pub/@cfans/@bees/documents/asset/cfans_asset_317478.pdf

[Zulu]

Starrlight Meadery is in Hillsborough NC - very helpful










Touch of lemon juice helps with acid... finings are used to Clarify the Must and are essentially flocculants - Knox Gelatine, Isingglas, Bentonite are typical ones



Best book out there is Ken's :
http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802
http://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Mead-Step---Step-Instructions/dp/0937381004/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1381438485&sr=8-3&keywords=brewing+mead
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wild-Wines-Meads-Unusual/dp/1580171826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381438657&sr=8-1&keywords=making+wild+wines+and+meads







http://www.buckshoalsvineyards.com not working !!
http://www.foxhillmead.com
http://www.redstonemeadery.com
http://www.blacksnakemead.com
http://www.northernbrewer.com
http://www.morebeer.com
http://starrlightmead.com/
http://www.bnektar.com/
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/index.php?s=bf5863494183d81647aa6f45bffdfdee

[Perry]

ALRIGHT!
I have two folks that I am in on making apple mead with right now. Volker, whose Apple mead is to die for, and Ian, who works for a vineyard in his retirement.
After Ian and I finish making our batch of apple mead we are going to try making different types of Melomel.
Thanks Zulu.

[BoilerJim]

Zulu, I have been telling everyone I was gonna make some mead for a long time. I think your presentation may have done the trick. Thank you.

[Marbees]

I am so easy to convince  Now the question is not IF, but WHEN

Perry did the same thing to me with candle making

Great thread Zulu, thank you

[LazyBkpr]

OK..  MEAD!!! 
  Glad to see theres someone interested!
   First question..  How does MEAD taste to you?

   I wanted tomake some, so my daughter bought me a bottle off the shelf at a wine store..  it was MEAD not Melomel etc..   I was excited!!    I popped the cork on that bottle, and the SMELL brought so MANY wonderful memories of summertime fishing using STINKBAIT for catfish that it nearly made me cry..
   I kid you not, the smell was DEAD RINGER Old Whiskers Stinkbait!!
   My wife cringed and backed away hastily...   I FORCED myself to taste it..   Yep! Tasted like stinkbait too!!!  (Dont ask how I know that)
   I dumped the bottle out..
   Bought another bottle of a different brand about a month later, figuring I was wasting my money..   Not so much this time. It tasted better, it WAS drinkable, but, it had a mustiness about it that was nearly unpleasant..   I finished the glass I poured, and gave the rest to my daughter to take home with her...

   So I decided to make my own..  used this recipe;

      Blueberry melomel.
Ingredients

    49 ozBlueberry Puree
    6 lbsClover Honey
    6 tspAcid Blend
    3 tspYeast Nutrient
    3 tspPectic Enzyme
    5 tabletsCampden Tablets
    5 gramsCote de Blanc Wine Yeast



Procedure

Combine honey with one gallon of water in a stock pot and heat to 180 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and skim any white
 film off of the surface. Do not boil.

Remove pot from the heat and place it in a sink of cold water to reduce its temperature. Stir every 10 minutes and change the sink
 water, do this two or three times.

Add 1 gallon of water, acid blend, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and grape tannin. Stir well.

Pour the blueberry puree into the kettle and stir well.

Clean and sanitize your fermenter pail, lid and airlock.

Open the packet of wine yeast and pour it into the fermenter pail. Pour the must into the fermenter. Add water to make a full 3
 gallons.

Close the fermenter pail, attach the airlock and ferment at room temperature for 3 weeks.

1st Racking: Racking mead should be done by gently siphoning. We do not recommend using wine pumps or filters. Mead is very
 susceptible to oxidation. Move the fermenter pail into racking position at least 2 days before actually transferring the mead.
 This will allow time for the sediment to settle.

Clean and sanitize a 3 gallon carboy, stopper, air lock and siphon set up.

Crush 3 Campden Tablets and place them into the carboy. Gently siphon the blueberry melomel into the carboy. Be careful not to
 disturb the sediment.

Add water to bring the level of the mead up to the bottom of the carboy neck.

Close the carboy with an air lock and ferment in a dark place for at least 30 days but not more than 45 days.

2nd Racking: Clean and sanitize the fermenter pail then siphon the mead from the carboy to the pail.

Clean and sanitize the carboy and repeat the 1st racking step, but this time only use 2 crushed Campden tablets.

Allow the blueberry wine mead to rest in a dark place at least 30 to 45 days or until it clears.

3rd Racking: There is no substitute for time when making mead. The more mature the mead is prior to bottling the better it will be.
 A third racking will allow the mead to brighten and age.

All recipes except Sweet Mead do not use any additives on this racking.

Bottling: blueberry melomel can be bottled as you would wine or beer. I prefer to bottle in 375ml wine bottles or 7oz clear beer
 bottles. These smaller sizes reduce waste caused by leftovers. If the beer bottle method is used the caps must be the oxygen barrier
 type. Wine bottles should be closed with a 1-3/4 inch cork.

Gently fill each bottle but do not cap until all are filled.

Cap or cork the bottles. Store them upright in a dark cool place. Mead will take time to age and in my experience it will undergo
 many changes. A batch which tastes great a bottling time may taste bad after 3 months in the bottle and then fabulous at 6 months.


   Everything went as planned,  I used Wild Maine Blueberries from our friends fields. All went according to plan, and the mead was bottled..    Tasted VERY strongly of rocket fuel when it was bottled..   Three monts later it still tasted like rocket fuel.  6 months later it still tasted like rocket fuel.. it is now near the nine month mark.. the rocket fuel taste has diminished, but that seems to have uncovered the familiar musty taste.. reminiscent of gym socks left in the gym locker too long...
   The mead is clear, nothing floating.. LOOKS absolutely mouth watering stunning.. I just cant get past the musty taste..   Going to give it more time, try again at the one year point..
   I wont waste any more honey if it all tastes like this, I'd prefer to make blueberry wine instead of mead or Melomel...   Compare it to a mildy sweet red wine and tell me how YOU compare it???

[stickbow95]

I love mead. I have around nine gallons aging in carboys currently. One is a traditional, another a Cyser that will finish dry, last is the same Cyser with a cinnamon stick added in the secondary racking.

Back when I started making mead, my first attempt was using the "Joe's Ancient Orange" (Its the one pictured in the milk jug with oranges, raisins, and yes... bread yeast. It turned out great and I was forever hooked.

I do a few things different from what was outlined above.
1. I don't use heat. I feel it removes some of the flavor.
2. I don't start the fermentation in a carboy. I use a food grade bucket with a lid and airlock. It's much easier, especially if you are adding fruit to the must.
3. I use cheap vodka in the airlock as it doesn't get moldy like water will.
4. I don't leave the mead sitting on the lees after fermentation is complete. IMHO the lees affects the taste of the mead. I rack to a glass carboy after fermentation. Once it is clear, then I will either bottle it, or rack to another carboy to bulk age.

[efmesch]

Thanks for the  presentation, Zulu. 
One small addition, I usually make my mead from cappings honey.  Instead of ruining all the honey stuck to the wax when I melt it down in my solar wax extractor, I place the cappings in a large plastic fermentation vessel, add water and slosh it around to remove as much of the honey as I can.  After producing the honey-sweetened mixture, I filter the solution and separate it from the wax.  Each component is treated in its own way--the washed wax is melted down and recovered while the honey-water solution is treated further for mead production, using any method one choses.
Needless to say, cappings honey is considered by most, to be the best honey in the hive.  In my opinion, it shows up in the mead produced.
By the way, I don't heat the honey before fermentation,  Sterilization with Campden tablets can do the job.  Heating the honey may make some things easier, but it removes delicate flavors and fragrances from the finished product.

[Zulu]

I just got to drink the first bottle that we made by the simple method the night I gave this presentation. Very tasty, ........l.pass the bottle please !!!

[LazyBkpr]

The Blueberry Melomel I made a year ago next month has mellowed a bit...  It has gone from tasting like Raw rocket fuel to refined rocket fuel..     

[Zulu]

The Blueberry Melomel I made a year ago next month has mellowed a bit...  It has gone from tasting like Raw rocket fuel to refined rocket fuel..     

What temperature did you ferment at, should be mid 60's for most yeasts.   Too high a temp will create high fusile alcohols

[LazyBkpr]

that could be the problem..   The Pantry was the coolest place I had at the time, it was probably low to mid 70's in there at all times..  So worthless to keep waiting?

[efmesch]

Wondering if 6 teaspoons of acid blend might not have been too much for your brew.  I would also ask, what kind of acid was in the blend.  Citric acid (I have learned from experience) leaves a harshness that doesn't go away with time.  If you can get tartaric acid, it makes a world of difference.

[Zulu]

that could be the problem..   The Pantry was the coolest place I had at the time, it was probably low to mid 70's in there at all times..  So worthless to keep waiting?

If over a year , then it probably wont improve much (But sometimes you get lucky) , but can be used to blend with a better mead , make a generic simple mead and blend it.
Also Not sure of the musty flavor you refer to , never had that myself.

as  a Homebrewer, I am lucky enough to have controlled fermentation fridges , and temp can make all the difference.
Type of yeast also can make a huge difference, while wine yeasts are the most common ones used,  there are specific Mead Yeasts now available from the Homebrew stores

make a small batch only till you find one that works for you.

[LazyBkpr]

Good tips Zulu.. Thanks. I will give that a go..   I will likely clear out a small spot in my fathers cellar to try this again. Usually hangs around 62 - 65 down there, even in the heat of summer.   I will also check on the Mead yeast. Thanks again!