MEAD

[Anonymous No.6366853]

Hello /ck/

I am not really sure if this is the right place to post this but.. I guess it is something you make in the kitchen so. Yeah..

Well you see I am a scout leader and we have been talking about trying to make mead.
And since I had never tried it before I thought I could ask for your expertise.

Mead in general thread?

[Anonymous No.6366912]

It's generally kind of easier to make a good fruit mead (melomel) than a good simple honey-water-yeast mead. Meads are usually pretty harsh unless aged for a long time (months to years), and off-flavors from stressed yeast or whatever are usually present unless you've got a perfected process. So fruit helps cover that up.

The most popular beginner recipe for mead is 'Joes Ancient Orange Mead'. But you could just as easily start with any recipe for mead if you want something different Just make sure you follow what seems like a reputable recipe from a meadmaking site, not a 4chan vertical or 'how 2 get drunk 4 cheap!!!.doc'. I also remember someone on /ck/ who made a lot of meads and knew a lot, not sure if he's still around.

IMO other types of alcohol turn out better, faster. Cider and hobo wine are just as simple but ready much sooner. Beer needs more niche ingredients and a bit more equipment but is ready in a month or less. All of which I enjoy more than mead, but maybe i just don't like mead.

[Anonymous No.6366931]

>>6366912
the thing is that we had decided on making three different types of mead and I decided on a melomel or rather a cyser. I am just not sure if I need the apple cider or if I can use normal apples chopped into smaller pieces.

But I have been looking through some recepies and most of them have said to "transfer" the mead into a new container after.. I think it was 3 months?

And yeah we know that there are far faster ways to do something like this but we have our mindset on mead

[Anonymous No.6367028]

>>6366931
Yeah, "transfer" is also called racking, basically just siphoning the mead off the top and leaving sediment at the bottom behind. Off-flavors can occur from yeast autolysis if it's left in the primary fermentor too long (several months), and also it helps with clarity. Personally, I would do that sooner than 3 months, maybe after 1 month.

Ideally, the container you ferment in should have a decent amount of headspace so there's room for it to bubble and foam up during fermentation, but the second container you rack to should be smaller - as close as possible to the amount of liquid it will hold - so as to minimize the amount of oxygen in it. Practically, I'm not sure how much that matters, I wouldn't go crazy worrying about it.

[Anonymous No.6367035]

>>6366931

I made a cyser and I used 5 gallons of apple cider (MI) and 6 pounds of honey (plus a pound of brown sugar)

used champagne yeast
turned out pretty good

[Anonymous No.6367036]

>>6367028
Just get canned nitrogen.

fill the bottle with that, then fill with liquid. Almost no oxygen.

[Anonymous No.6367042]

>>6367028
Also, regarding oxygen, BEFORE fermentation you want there to be as much oxygen as possible in your mead because it helps the yeast grow and makes for a healthy fermentation. So it's good to shake up and aerate your must before you pitch the yeast. AFTER fermentation, you want as little exposure to oxygen as possible. It doesn't mean you can't rack it or take an occasional sample, but try to keep that stuff to a minimum and try not to be violent with it like shake or pour it.

[Anonymous No.6367044]

>>6367028
Hmm I guess it would help the clarity. But wouldn't the yeast have more time to work if you left it untouched for 3 months?

>>6367035
>I made a cyser
so when making a cyser, do I replace the water with cider or will I have to mix the two?

>>6367036
oh that's pretty smart

[Anonymous No.6367055]

>>6367044
Yeah they make "wine keeper"sprays that are nothing but pressurized nitrogen exactly for this purpose (but for wines). You can probably find cheaper at your local welding supply store like a airgas or Praxair if you use large amounts

[Anonymous No.6367056]

>>6367044

you want some apple flavor so at least used some frozen apple juice concentrate though there is probably an extract available from brew supplies

it's home brewing
just go for it

[Anonymous No.6367063]

>>6367044
Fermentation will probably be done well before a month is up (though, use a hydrometer to be sure). When you rack it to a new container, there's still some yeast in the mead, you're just getting it off whatever particles and dormant yeast end up at the bottom.

But IDK, if some mead expert thinks there's an advantage to leaving the mead on the yeast cake longer then he might know better.

[Anonymous No.6367075]

>>6367044
With a cyser, you typically decide how much cider and honey you need first and then use any additional water to fill up to how much mead you want to make.

As an example, a recipe in The Compleat Meadmaker has a Cyser that makes 5 gallons of finished mead, and starts with 4 gallons of cider and 8 pounds of honey.

>>6367063
Yeah, most meads will finish within about a month (2-5 weeks depending on the size of the starter, the desired ABV%, and the conditions the must was kept in). Leaving a must on the yeast for 3 months seems like overkill. I test after 2 and 4 weeks with a hydrometer to see how close it is to finished (original gravity - measured gravity).

I'm by no means an expert with mead, but if any one has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them or try to point you in the direction of where you can find that answer.

[Anonymous No.6367156]

>>6367075
>The Compleat Meadmaker
... got a pdf of that book?

[Anonymous No.6367168]

>>6367156
No I don't. A quick google search turns up a bunch of bullshit to find a PDF for free too. Amazon has a digital version for $10 though.