First attempt at mead

[gitface]

Hi All

It's been a standard subject with my friends that I would have a go at making some mead (been saying for over 3 years now) so decided that I better put my money were my mouth is and have a go.

I wanted a light mead so based in on the basic recipe here, this is what I used:

2 Jars of honey ~ 2 lb
4 litres of apple juice
2/3rd tsp Tannin
1 tsp Malic Acid as this already in the apples
Lalvin D47
1 tsp of Nutrient

I was a bad'un and didn't take the starting SG as I left 1 litre of apple out to leave room for any foaming, this has now gone in. From my calculations though this should have started at 1.082.

I used 2 lb of honey as I reckon that from reading here that will give me a lighter mead that can be drunk earlier, was this right?

So how does this look?

Mark..............

[fatbloke]

It's been found that D47 can produce fusels when fermented in meads at over 21C, so if you keep an eye on the temperature of the batch, you're more likely to have reasonable results.

It's also likely that it will finish dry, so depending on what you're aiming for, you may either consider step feeding with little bits of honey, so you push the yeast over the tolerance cliff (about the 14% ABV mark) or ferment dry and back sweeten......

While it "should" ferment reasonably quickly, I'd suggest a minimum ageing period of 6 months to a year.

And technically its a cyser, not a mead......

[gitface]

Hi

I used the D47 as the write up from the tutorial section said it was a good yeast for mead.

I was aiming for dry, but you have me thinking now. Do they benefit from being sweeter or is it down to taste?

I'm starting to get used to this make and then chuck it in a cupboard lark so 6 months and taste it is then.

A cyser, I was wondering what the proper name was for some reason I'd convinced my self that it was a pommel not sure why I wanted to call it after a part of a sword

Thanks

Mark.......

[fatbloke]

Hi

I used the D47 as the write up from the tutorial section said it was a good yeast for mead.

I was aiming for dry, but you have me thinking now. Do they benefit from being sweeter or is it down to taste?

I'm starting to get used to this make and then chuck it in a cupboard lark so 6 months and taste it is then.

A cyser, I was wondering what the proper name was for some reason I'd convinced my self that it was a pommel not sure why I wanted to call it after a part of a sword

Thanks

Mark.......

Meads can be a bit counter-intuitive. Just because they're made with honey, people expect them to be sweet. Which is why, I suspect, that most commercial ones are cloyingly sweet.

Plus there's a commercial factor, that dry meads particularly, can taste hideous when young and it can take a number of years ageing for them to recover some of the honey character i.e. some aroma and perception of sweetness.

Hell I can't even explain the flavour of a dry mead, other than to say "unique".

D47 can make good meads, its just that those who make meads in warmer climes, have found that with honey musts, it can produce fusels at ferments over 70F/21C, that can take a very long time to age out/mellow.....if ever.

Personally, I would have suggested 71B as it metabolises some of the malic acid - but even that one carries a caveat i.e. rack it off the gross lees and as much of the fine lees as possible as its not a yeast that is good for ageing on the lees/sediment. It can cause autolysis issues......

Hence my penchant for K1-V1116 and D21 (especially for traditionals).

If you have a look over at the gotmead forums, they've got a good "NewBee" guide linked in the left side, yellow dialogue box. It explains most of the stuff that beer and wine people find unfamiliar, like early stage aeration, staggered nutrient addition, etc etc.

[gitface]

Hi Fatbloke

Been having a look through gotmead and doing a reading.

Just an update, tested the sg today and was down to 1.032 so have added another jar of honey which took the sg to 1.053.

I've decided that I want this to be about medium/medium dry or ~1.000 to 1.005. If the yeast goes to 14% and stays then I should end at 1.000, at which point I'll taste and sweeten as needed.

Mark............