Smashed Crabs Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Sampled my mead today after reading the recent forum posts about brewing with honey. This has improved immensely! The strong alcohol flavor has died down and the other flavors have come thru nicely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 looks great. I have a light one and a dark one at the moment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowbrew Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 G'day my fellow mead makers. I put my first mead down a couple of days ago and i was wondering how people bottle them? Do you just use normal beer bottles? Clear bottles? Crown seal or cork? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowbrew Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 Thanks Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 I used a case of Firestone Walker Union Jack stubbies, pry off crown seal. Oh and one Coopers PET to detect potential explosions over time (looks like no chance of that). Cheers, John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 yummy yummy glass of honey.... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 On 1/9/2019 at 11:51 AM, Ben 10 said: yummy yummy glass of honey.... Mate yer just unstoppable in the food n bev production! Pure Gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Just laid in some ingredient for a future foray... inspired by you Mead Brewing Legends! Will have to organise a glass demijohn and bubbler etc.. Question re fancy yeast (that can cope with higher ABV) vs bread yeast - advice anyone? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Can use a champagne / cider yeast. Meads incredibly versatile when it comes to which yeast to use and off course how strong you actually want to make your mead. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzza Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 On 1/9/2019 at 11:51 AM, Ben 10 said: yummy yummy glass of honey.... Benny Brewing Legend - did you use any u-beaut yeast for your magic drop or just throw in a few sultanas and a bit of bread yeast? Seems like there are all sorts of flash yeasts available - and SC suggest a cider yeast too - what yeast did you use Master Brewer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joolbag Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 Fascinating stuff everyone. Well my bag of Fermaid O arrived yesterday, so the 4 large jars of honey I have tucked away will be shortly turned into mead! I don't have a glass carboy but will use a brand new, clean white bucket for my first mead. If it turns out well and I can continue to get honey from a friend of a friend's hive, then I might invest in a glass carboy, bung, etc. I had a good read of JAOM, as well as the mead made right page. Thanks Ben10 and Christina). I'm going to follow the TOSNA protocol for my first mead. I have the honey, the nutrient and Mangrove Jack's mead yeast M05 https://mangrovejacks.com/products/mead-m05-yeast-10g). Simple and hopefully will ferment well, highlight the flavour of the honey. Here's hoping! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der kleine Drache Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 It's time to harvest spruce tips where I live so I wan't to make dry sparkling session mead. Input and ideas will be appreciated. Spruce Mead (carbonated) 22 litres ca 4,6 vol% 3,5 kg honey spruce tips 1 kg Fermaid K 12 g 6-10 lemons, or maybe rhubarb. edelmans yeast Steinberger (fruity yeast) 1 ml enzym Zymex pectolase 170 g honey for priming Day 1: Sliced lemons (or rhubarb) and spruce tips together. Pour boiling water on it. Add honey and enzyme when below 45 °C. Put it into fermenter, fill up to 23 l and 22 °C, add yeast. aerate. Ferment at 20 °C. Day 2, add 4 g Fermaid. Stir gently to release CO2 Day 4, add 4 g Fermaid. Stir gently to release CO2 Day 7, add 4 g Fermaid. Stir gently to release CO2 Ferment for at least 2-3 weeks, until the bubbles have slowed completely. Drain clean into secondary fermenter. Ferment at 21 °C for 1 week. Raise temperature. Ferment at 22 °C for 1 week. Drain clean into new fermenter. Cold crash 2 weeks + gelatine finings. Drain into priming fermenter with 170 g honey mixed with some water. Let the bottles sit at about 21°C for 2 weeks. Store at 12 °C or lower. Chill a few days before drinking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 @der kleine Drache looks good. I really don’t know much about mead or honey for carbonation but looks like you’ve done ya research. Hope it goes well for ya. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der kleine Drache Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 19 minutes ago, The Captain!! said: @der kleine Drache looks good. I really don’t know much about mead or honey for carbonation but looks like you’ve done ya research. Hope it goes well for ya. Thanks! The recipe is a combination of recipes I've found. Made a very nice sweet cyser last year and a dry apple/rhubarb/red currant variety this winter (not so nice, too sour) but have been wanting to do sparkling session mead since I tried some at a friends party five years ago. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porschemad911 Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 (edited) I bottled one PET of my Canberra honey mead last year. It seems to be softening so time for it to go in the fridge before it oxidises too badly. The ones in glass are still tasting nice and fresh. Cheers, John Edited May 8, 2019 by porschemad911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 I have never made mead before, but I once made a batch of spruce tip beer. You can read about it in this thread: You may find some helpful information there. At first blush, 1kg looks like a lot of spruce tips. In beer making the top amount I saw recommended was 8 ounces (~240gm) in a 5 US gallons (~19L). I think it is best to err on the side of caution in these cases. Better to use to little and still be able to drink your mead than to end up with something really unpleasant and not want to drink it. Not sure where you live but be sure to research which species of spruce is used for brewing in your area. They are not all the same. Some are better than others, and some should be avoided altogether. I live in Canada and here blue spruce is considered the best, red spruce is good too, but white spruce (which is the most common this time of year) is to be avoided. It has an odour of cat pee. I used red spruce and was very happy with the results....I would go with lemon. Lemon and spruce contain some of the same essential oils. Good luck with the mead. Cheers, Christina. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der kleine Drache Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 16 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said: I have never made mead before, but I once made a batch of spruce tip beer. You can read about it in this thread: You may find some helpful information there. At first blush, 1kg looks like a lot of spruce tips. In beer making the top amount I saw recommended was 8 ounces (~240gm) in a 5 US gallons (~19L). I think it is best to err on the side of caution in these cases. Better to use to little and still be able to drink your mead than to end up with something really unpleasant and not want to drink it. Not sure where you live but be sure to research which species of spruce is used for brewing in your area. They are not all the same. Some are better than others, and some should be avoided altogether. I live in Canada and here blue spruce is considered the best, red spruce is good too, but white spruce (which is the most common this time of year) is to be avoided. It has an odour of cat pee. I used red spruce and was very happy with the results....I would go with lemon. Lemon and spruce contain some of the same essential oils. Good luck with the mead. Cheers, Christina. Thanks for the info! I live in Sweden and the recipe is based on an american Spruce Beer recipe, an american session mead recipe and 2 swedish spruce wine recipes + I have made some nice herring with spruce tips last year. One of the swedish wine recipes recommended 10 kg spruce tips for 10 litres of wine!!! Our young spruce tips taste a bit sour/herbal and can be really nice to eat as they are. I think letting them be in the fermenter can bring out some pine taste. Today I'm fetching the honey. Hoping there will be time for some spruce picking this weekend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der kleine Drache Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Went for a walk in the forest the other day and collected 700 grams of spuce tips. Very hot and I spent a few hours collecting. Needles to say it was a pine. Will have go again to collect the rest. Made spruce tip herring: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der kleine Drache Posted May 23, 2019 Share Posted May 23, 2019 (edited) Took your advice Christina and did'nt get more spruce tips. Did some homework and changed the recipe. Added lactose for some slight sweetness but maybe it's not going to be noticed. Changed the recipe once again when I felt the lovely smell thinking: "This would be awesome with blueberries!" Checked the freezer and stole my wifes blueberries. No dessert for me. Carbonated Spruce and Blueberry Mead 23 litres 2,8 kg honey 710 g frozen spuce tips 250 g lactose 6 big lemons (1213 g) 500 g frozen blueberries 2* Coopers yeast Edelmans yeast champagne 23 drops Concentrace (cos I like the taste it give my water) 2 ml enzyme Zymex pectolase 12 g Fermaid K → to be portioned @ 4 g 3 times first week. 160 g honey for bottling Boiled water and lactose. Poured it on the sliced lemons, the Coopers yeast and the spruce tips. Added the honey, Concentrace and enzyme at 45 °C. Added the frozen blueberries. Filled fermenter to 25 l and 25 °C, added champagne yeast and aerated. Edited May 23, 2019 by der kleine Drache spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Pulled a litre bottle of my mead out that iv been ageing just - a year and wow the taste is phenomenal! The strength and easy drinking taste wasn't that great the next day thou .. drank more of it then I should of and wow iv never been as hung over as that and I just recently spent a week on Bangalore road. Disclaimer: I also had 3 long necks with it so I'm not a lightweight haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 On 5/25/2018 at 6:34 PM, The Captain!! said: lets hear about this in 12 months time then. Good luck matey Captain Wow, so good. Light honey aroma, slight acid bite in the after taste. Nice lingering honey flavour after that. Good mouthfeel. Nice warm alcohol. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 7 minutes ago, Ben 10 said: Wow, so good. Light honey aroma, slight acid bite in the after taste. Nice lingering honey flavour after that. Good mouthfeel. Nice warm alcohol. Of course looks sensational. I’m really going to have to do one of these. Truely looks bloody fantastic there Ben. And by the sound of your tasting notes, just spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 I finished off the night at GABS with a mead from Stone Dog Meadery. Very tasty. Steve Kirby makes great mead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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