Mead

[Ironhand]

Well I just bottled off 8 bottles of my Mead.
Taste test on the final product was not bad but I think it will benefit from a couple months aging.
Time will tell.

Ironhand

[SAWMA]

All the mead he could drink!

It was the accepted
practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply
his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month,
which we know today as the honeymoon.

[sse]

All the mead he could drink!

It was the accepted
practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply
his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink.
Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month,
which we know today as the honeymoon.

I never knew that...

[Roaddog]

Oh that's just grate! :cry:

[Stormrider51]

I've been a home brewer for several years and a beekeeper for a little over one.  I've made one batch of mead, or melomel as it is sometimes called.  Others have given good advice and it is true that making mead isn't hard.  As a matter of fact we have to be careful when harvesting our honey to be sure no water gets into it.  Honey in its natural state will not ferment.  Add a small amount of water and fermentation is almost guaranteed due to natural yeast present in the honey.  I'm going to repeat something said by others and offer a suggestion of my own.  You can, at least to an extent, control the percentage of alcohol in your mead by using different strains of yeast.  Alcohol will kill yeast when the percentage gets too high for that particular strain.  So a yeast normally used for a German Kolsch beer (for instance) will die off when the alcohol level reaches about 5% by volume.  A high gravity yeast used to make a Belgian Triple can produce mead of about 10% alcohol by volume.  A wine yeast can result in mead with about 14% ABV.  So it pays to match the amount of honey used to the capability of the yeast.  Too much honey with a Kolsch yeast will give you a very sweet mead.  Not enough will give you a very "dry" tasting drink.

The second thing I'd like to offer is to use some form of brewers sanitizer on everything used to make your mead.  This includes the fermenting containers, spoons, bottles, etc.  If it comes in contact with the must (mead-to-be) it should be sanitized.  That way you won't get any surprises such as having bacteria spoil your mead.  Also, bring your honey and water mixture to a gentle boil and hold it there for ten minutes or so.  This will kill any yeast or bacteria present in the must.  By doing the sanitizing and then the boil you are sure that the only thing fermenting your honey is the yeast you put there.

Happiness is made by yeast.  
Storm

[rickevans]

Still high on mylist of things to do. Right after I get the TRR Mortar finished.

[Loyalist Dave]

I don't know why you say "forget" all that you know about home brewing and use bread yeast.  Yeast is yeast, and all of them produce alcohol and carbon dioxide..., it's just a question of how much alcohol you want to produce before the yeast stops, and if you want any other flavors.  (I have baked with the trub from the bottom of the beer fermenter - trub is the crud at the bottom.)   :shock:

Another observation..., your procedure ads yeast when the new mead is at room temp, but bread yeast calls for higher than room temps..., like 100º temps.  You also add uncooked raisins.  You do know that uncooked raisins carry wine yeast buds with them?  That grayish, sorta frosty stuff you see on red or Concord grapes in the market, and you see the same on raisins in the box, a dull grayish layer..., that is from the formation of yeast buds.  That type of yeast likes room temperatures, generally at the 70º - 80º range, if the yeast is a "wine" yeast.  This is why one can crush grapes with the skin on, place the juice in barrel, and have wine several weeks later.  True there is wild yeast in the air as well, but the dominant strain in the wine is normally the same as found growing on the grapes at the time of crushing and pressing.  

So what you are probably doing is a double yeast fermentation.     The question then is ..., is the bread yeast out competing the raisin yeast, or does the bread yeast halt, and there are leftover sugars, and the raisin yeast finishes.  

I noted you mentioned putting the container in a cool dark place, so you in fact may be fermenting with the raisin yeast alone, because low enough temps will put bread yeast to sleep.  If the temperatures are under 60º, then the yeast may in fact be an ale yeast on the raisins or from the air, as temps that low put wine and many bread yeast strains to "sleep".  

LD

[greggholmes]

Here is a page i found..

http://www.greydragon.org/library/13thCenturyMead.html

[Stormrider51]

Thank you for the info, gregholmes and LD.  The type of yeast really does make a difference, both in the attenuation (percentage of sugars fermented=alcohol content) and even the final flavor of whatever you are making.  I noted the suggestion to use ale yeast.  Ale yeasts are top fermenting and work best at room temperatures where lager yeasts need cooler temps of circa 50 - 60 F.  Being that I live in Texas where there is a wide range of temperatures from season to season and the fact that I brew in a barn without airconditioning, I have a small fridge that I equipped with a thermostat control that allows me to set and maintain an exact temp.  My 5 gallon fermenting bucket fits neatly in the fridge.  England is a cooler place than Texas and ale yeast would work well.  Please also take note of the pouring from container to container.  As the writer said, this adds oxygen to the mead.  Yeast need oxygen in the initial stages when the cells are multiplying.  In my case I pour from boiling pot to primary fermenter, back to boiling pot and then to fermenter again.  That will do it.  

I seriously question the idea of mead being ready in one day.  The bubbling that indicates fermentation normally won't start for several hours.  I've never had anything cease fermenting in fewer than 5 days.  If the fermentation is taking place in an open container without an air lock to bubble and show CO2 escaping, I can understand how it might appear that fermentation is finished sooner.  Without trying to teach Brewing 101 just let me say that after all the simple sugars have been eaten by the yeast they will turn their attention to other things present and eat them.  They clean up after themselves, so to speak.  Those "other things", if not removed, can leave some really off tastes in your product.  Be patient and let your mead ferment for at least a week.  Then carefully siphon it off into another sanitized container and let it set for at least another week.  You will be glad you did.

Storm

[Gambia]

Nothing to add about brewing, other than I have gotten to sample some of Stormrider's efforts and am always impressed.

[Loyalist Dave]

Ale yeasts are top fermenting and work best at room temperatures where lager yeasts need cooler temps of circa 50 - 60 F.

Actually, Lager yeast naturally need temps from 40º-50º, while ale yeast works best  from 50º-60º such as in a cellar that does not fluctuate in temperature much.  Too much fluctuation on temps with ale yeast gives you "fruity esters" or in other words "banana odor".  

One can use lager yeast at higher temps and a quick fermentation if one does a controlled innoculation, and one gets "steam beer" as the famous brand from California speaks about.  When you get below 50º and approach 40º the faster growing ale yeast goes to sleep, and the lager yeast has no competition, but it's slow..., hence the long (lager) time for storage of a true lagered beer.  

LD

[Stormrider51]

Dave,
I have no doubt that you have the temp numbers right for most lagers and ales but I do a lot of Belgian style ales and if I set the temp to 60 degrees fermentation nearly stops.  My apologies for my incorrect numbers.  

Storm

[Rev]

I don't know why you say "forget" all that you know about home brewing and use bread yeast.  Yeast is yeast, and all of them produce alcohol and carbon dioxide..., it's just a question of how much alcohol you want to produce before the yeast stops, and if you want any other flavors.  (I have baked with the trub from the bottom of the beer fermenter - trub is the crud at the bottom.)   :shock:

Another observation..., your procedure ads yeast when the new mead is at room temp, but bread yeast calls for higher than room temps..., like 100º temps.  You also add uncooked raisins.  You do know that uncooked raisins carry wine yeast buds with them?  That grayish, sorta frosty stuff you see on red or Concord grapes in the market, and you see the same on raisins in the box, a dull grayish layer..., that is from the formation of yeast buds.  That type of yeast likes room temperatures, generally at the 70º - 80º range, if the yeast is a "wine" yeast.  This is why one can crush grapes with the skin on, place the juice in barrel, and have wine several weeks later.  True there is wild yeast in the air as well, but the dominant strain in the wine is normally the same as found growing on the grapes at the time of crushing and pressing.  

So what you are probably doing is a double yeast fermentation.     The question then is ..., is the bread yeast out competing the raisin yeast, or does the bread yeast halt, and there are leftover sugars, and the raisin yeast finishes.  

I noted you mentioned putting the container in a cool dark place, so you in fact may be fermenting with the raisin yeast alone, because low enough temps will put bread yeast to sleep.  If the temperatures are under 60º, then the yeast may in fact be an ale yeast on the raisins or from the air, as temps that low put wine and many bread yeast strains to "sleep".  

LD

Most, if not all, of the above is true, to the best of my knowledge. That is not the point. The point is this simple recipe makes a real nice mead, without jumping thru the usual hoops. When I say cool dark place, here in AZ that means a closet in the house as opposed to the 135 degree garage. You are over thinking this recipe & you should not. I offer it only as an easy way to get started, that's all. Not everyone wants to turn their kitchen into a chem lab...
 I don't know about the raisins, I was told they were for flavor. I do know that I get considerable fermentation in a couple hours, hard to see the raisins being responsible for that...

[snake eyes]

Well I just bottled off 8 bottles of my Mead.
Taste test on the final product was not bad but I think it will benefit from a couple months aging.
Time will tell.

Ironhand

Thanks for state stores.....Don't have to wait,make or wonder. Just step up and pay
for my bourbon
John

[Kermit]

If you're unsure you want to invest the time and money in making mead without knowing if you'll find the results pleasing, head for a wine specialty shop when you have the opportunity. Chances are they'll have mead--maybe several varieties--on the shelf.

I'm betting wine--the grape stuff--is about the earliest of tipples. Imagine trying to preserve grape juice around the Mediterranean. Smoosh grapes, drain off the juice, wait. The one I've always wondered about is the making of ales and beers. There are a lot more steps to making them. And then there's distillation. Bless the Irish, they figured that out centuries ago. And shared it with the world.

A bottling hint: Check with caterers who do weddings, and ask them to save champagne bottles. They will take a standard "crown" cap like fits beer bottles. I used to use them for beer. I once made some dandelion wine that wouldn't stop working. I went to the brew shop, bought some champagne wires, corked with sterilized plastic champagne corks (ask the caterer to save them for you), and wired them down. Result: sparkling dandelion wine. Would have loved to share some with Ray Bradbury.