Making Mead

[Auryn]

I have read the sticky about with the recipe for mead.
I have a few questions I was hoping someone with experience could answer.

My mother is a bee keeper.
Currently in the house we have about 4 gallons of honey from the extraction she did this past weekend. That was from only half of one of her 3 hives.

Since I've never made mead before I was wondering if I could take the stickied recipe and quarter it. Make only 1 gallon of mead for my first go at it, so if I screw up I dont waste a lot of ingredients and effort on top of a lot of time.

Second question, do I need to clarify/filter the raw honey or can I go ahead and use honey that might have some transient pieces of wax or propolis??

When you set the mead away to age, is there a goal temperature it should stay at?? Im in south Florida so except for about 1 month in the winter the AC is always set between 70-78oF

[Prof. John Bull]

In general, smaller batches are more difficult since there is more surface area compared to the volume of mead.  This poses problems with both oxygen absorption and contamination.  You can do a one-gallon batch but a three gallon batch is more likely to prove successful, a five gallon batch moreso.

I age my mead at as cool a temperature as possible, generally 50 degrees in the winter and 70 in the summer.  It takes several years (five or six) at these temperatures.

I use raw honey that has not been filtered and use a cold process that does not involve heating the honey.  This requires the addition of metabisulphite to prevent spoilage.

I would not worry much about wax or propolis.

[Auryn]

Thank you for such an informative response. So is the problem making a 1 go batch in a 5 gl bucket? If so could that be minimized by making a 1 gl batch in say a 1.5 gl bucket??

In the sticky it mentions aging the mead at least 6 months but it doesn't say at what temperatures. Is your 5 to 6 yr estimate for the 50degree aging or the 70degree??

If you say it needs to stay as cool as possible I guess I teLly shouldn't even bother as the coolest it ever gets in the apt is 70o and that's rare- it's more like 72-74o.

[Lairde Guardn]

I also use raw honey, and I don't have to wait for 5 or 6 years, I can usually get a nice meade in about 6 to 8 months depending on how clear I let it get at the first and second rack.   I let my mead set at room temperature and that is always between 68 and 78 degrees.

I also do not heat the honey nor do I add anything but yeast and activator.   One thing that I do though, is I never use water, and always use a fresh cider, either Apple or Cherry and get some great tasting meads, or Cysers if you want to be picky on the names.

[RenMomma]

+1 on using the cider and not water. I kept it at 58 degrees Fahrenheit and waited only 2 months to drink it the first time i made meade. It was not very sweet, but it was good stuff! I used a recipe in one of my herbal books, i haven't seen the recipe on this forum.

[Auryn]

I knew you guys wouldn't let me down in my search for information .
A couple of more questions, the container that the fermenting mead ages in, does it need to be dark or can it be clear??

Are there any links to where I can get the activator and yeast?? And what am I looking for exactly??

The idea to use cider instead of water is brilliant- makes total sense. Do you use store bought cider or is that home made also??

[Prof. John Bull]

Thank you for such an informative response. So is the problem making a 1 go batch in a 5 gl bucket? If so could that be minimized by making a 1 gl batch in say a 1.5 gl bucket??

Using a container sized for the batch does help (as does using a bottle that seals well rather than a bucket with a lid) but still poses difficulties.

In the sticky it mentions aging the mead at least 6 months but it doesn't say at what temperatures. Is your 5 to 6 yr estimate for the 50degree aging or the 70degree??

If you say it needs to stay as cool as possible I guess I teLly shouldn't even bother as the coolest it ever gets in the apt is 70o and that's rare- it's more like 72-74o.

Longer is better.  Lower temperatures are better.  You can do it at 70 degrees for six months and you'll get mead and it will be strongly flavored.  The quality improves over time as the off flavors disappear and the good ones develop.

Mead is one of those things like investing in real estate, growing oranges, or learning a musical instrument.  You have to learn to think and plan in terms of 5-10 years or longer.

[Pascal]

 One thing that I do though, is I never use water, and always use a fresh cider, either Apple or Cherry...

What a neat idea -- will have to give it a go.  I normally use tea instead of water (1/2 peppermint, 1/2 chamomille), but cider sounds fun.

[Magister]

Auryn:

A few things you should keep in mind.  Making meade (or wine, or beer) is as much an art as it is a science.

The science is in the simple yeast processes, the converting of sugars to alcohol, and the use of chemicals (or not) for clearing, preventing refermentation, or to prevent spoilage.

The art - is everything else.

The stickied recipe (probably mine) will make a very nice meade, with around 11 percent alcohol content (give or take).  You can use a hydrometer to measure the dissolved sugars before and after fermentation to get an idea.

The amount of time it "ages" in the bottle to get that "full" flavor is, and probably will always be a matter of debate among brewers.  Some people will drink the meade right from the carboy after clearing, others like have posted in this thread say that anything less that years is worthless swill.  The truth of the matter is - you have to find out what YOU like.  Personally, for me, a year is about the limit.  After that for me it begins to lose the "bite" I like.  Again - it's a matter of taste.  No one person can tell you exactly how to do it.

Remember there are basically four stages to making meade:

1. Preparing the Ingredients - Raw honey typically requires more prep (boil and skim to remove wax, dead bug parts, leaves, etc.) to save on clearing time later.  Some people prefer to not bother with this and just let it clear longer later in the process.  Get all your "additives" together and prepped.. all that fun stuff.

2. Fermentation: Typically done in a plastic bucket, with a sealed lid and airlock.  I've made it in a gallon jug, with a balloon over the top collecting the gases (remember to let some of the gases out occasionally as the balloon fills), but really - why if you don't have to?  

Fermentation time varies considerably based on several factors:
A. Starting Specific Gravity (the amount of sugars in the solution when you start)
B. Type and strength of yeast used,
C. Average temperature of where the fermentation vessel is stored
D. What Specific Gravity you want to stop the fermentation at (lower is a drier meade, higher is sweeter) - Lower means more sugar has been converted to alcohol, higher less.  So, lower = higher Alcohol Content.  Which is not always a good thing.
E. Some say even if the vessel is stored on the ground, or up in a rack.

Any and all of these can effect how long it takes for the end of the fermentation stage to come.  I've had it finish in two weeks, other times three months.  There is a "Super" yeast you can buy at brewing stores that will do the job in 48 hours.  It's rough stuff, but it does a great job of converting the sugars to alcohol (I don't like the stuff for meade or wine though.  Adds an off-taste to me.  If you plan to ultimately distill the fermented product then it's perfect).

Does the fermentation bucket have to be dark, opaque, or can it be clear?  It can be any of the above technically.  If it's clear and in direct sunlight it might kill the yeast and slow the fermentation process.  If it gets to cold it might kill the yeast.  Most fermentation vessels are white solid plastic buckets (beer, wine, meade) these are cheap and work perfectly.  For a small batch like you are talking a gallon milk jug works fine.  Each type of yeast has a preferred working temperature.  Read the package, or consult the web.  There are many good sites out there that explain the different yeasts, their preferred temps, and uses.  Redstar (manufacturer of yeast) has most of this information on their website.

3. Clearing and Racking: Moving (siphoning) the fermented solution to a clearing vessel, usually a glass carboy, and the addition of a clearing agent if you want.  This agent could be sparkloid, the newer gel clearing agents, or even the egg white method.  This is where the dead yeast, any left over particles from the additives, or other impurities falls to the bottom.  At this point they are usually clear glass for several reasons: To let you see all the nasty stuff on the bottom so you don't siphon it back out in the next step, and you are no longer fermenting so it doesn't matter if the sunlight gets in.

3b. Re-Rack, let clear longer. For solutions with a lot of impurities you might need to re-rack it and let it clear again.  Judgment call.

4. Bottling and Aging:  Here is where you get to put all that wonderful stuff in bottles - sealed with corks or otherwise air tight.  I use re-purposed wine and champagne bottles.  New corks of course.  A five gallon batch will usually make around 16 wine bottles of meade for me.

Now here is the question most people debate on.. How long should I let it sit in the bottle before I drink it?  Well .. technically you could be pretty well drunk on the stuff you siphoned from the carboy already.  It might taste a little harsh, but it has the alcohol.  

The rule of thumb is the longer it sits, the smoother it gets.  

Most people I know tend to open a bottle of a new recipe batch every month or so after say three months to see how it is progressing so they know the next time the minimum time they should let that recipe age.

In the end the best part of getting in to brewing is the experimentation.  Sometimes you'll end up with something horrible other times you'll hit on a winner.  Either way, remember in time you'll be joining the debate on the why's and what's, but for now take everything else here as just one more persons opinion - including mine

[Hoowil]

Gallon batches are fairly easy, if you have the right container. I use gallon glass bottles I get apple juice in, with a small bunged airlock with good success.
I may have to try using the juice this next time...

[Lairde Guardn]

For those going to use juice or cider the first time, remember that there is sugar in those and hence there will be more alcohol........

[RenMomma]

I used a big ceramic crock. I would use a stone one but haven't been able to afford it. It's got a lid as well so it works really well for the fermentation since it's light-blocking. I wrapped with a towel then left to ferment in my basement.