ben 10 Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 All good. Still have no idea why anyone would dry hop a mead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 8 minutes ago, Green Blob said: All good. Still have no idea why anyone would dry hop a mead. never tasted one so dont know what it supposed to taste like but in interest of experiment after I've made first normal one I'll try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 On 9/27/2020 at 7:11 PM, Smashed Crabs said: Ended up getting ahold of cheap strawberries aswell to add to this so ended up being 2 kg raspberries and 1 kg strawberries so it wasn't really feasible the dump 3kg of berries into a 10L ferment so I went down the juice path. Brought them to the boil in a large pot with equal parts water then ran a potato masher over them for a few minutes to get all the goodness out. Once done overlapped some large fine meshed strainers and a chux in each then poured the liquid through, slow process getting all the juice through but I guess I have eliminated the majority of the seeds. Extreme deep red nearly fresh blood colour and awesome aroma. OG was 1.120 so this will ll be some decent melomel and I'm hoping the colour stays as deep red as it is. Pitched the yeast and had a foamy krausen within 20 minutes. This is brew that's going to sit in place for 3-6 months depending on the global situation so hopefully the yeast doesn't stall but suppose the missus can be trained to fix it if required. Ordering some mead horns soon so hopefully this is the batch that breaks in the horns. Random observation though, had a taste of the rice malt and damn that is actually some nice tasting cheaper per a kg honey alternative! And it's meant to be a neutral flavour so hopefully let's the berries shine. Now the waiting game. Racked this off into two 5L demis and quite impressed with the colour, nice deep blood red will look good coming out of a mead horn. Finished at 1.000 so packs a bit of a kick, dry as a bone also so might play with sweetening it in the glass. Overall a decent mead from initial tastings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Smashed Crabs said: Racked this off into two 5L demis and quite impressed with the colour, nice deep blood red will look good coming out of a mead horn. Finished at 1.000 so packs a bit of a kick, dry as a bone also so might play with sweetening it in the glass. Overall a decent mead from initial tastings. are you going to bottle and carbonate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 Might carbonate some, will transfer into smaller bottles eventually. I only just got back home from being away for 6months got a lot of stuff to go through brew wise … got 5 FV's full of TPW I need to run which is a solid effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 20 minutes ago, Smashed Crabs said: Might carbonate some, will transfer into smaller bottles eventually. I only just got back home from being away for 6months got a lot of stuff to go through brew wise … got 5 FV's full of TPW I need to run which is a solid effort. I was reading back through this post and you made a few variants with berries etc? The whole thing has been bit of an overload actually. I might have read @ChristinaS1 post wrong about using DAP crystals by it self and had to use with bread yeast. Then was it boil bread yeast for nutrients or that's how it comes? I just added tea spoon dap crystals on day and bit after krausen started sink and stirred. Haven't done second gravity check yet because of already small volume so not sure where it's at. Not sure if should stop using the dap crystals and get bread yeast from supermarket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 I'm pretty much using bread yeast exclusively for all my brews at the moment. Mostly due to the fact I'm no longer making beer so the yeast isn't vital. Remembering back Im pretty sure I boiled up some baker's yeast as nutrient and used it for the Mead which went from 1.120 down to 1.000 But yeah if you want to use some as nutrient just boil some up for a few minutes and throw it in. But if your making a Mead like a JAOM it's not needed as the sultana's are used as the nutrient. This stuffs pretty good and cheap as chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 @Smashed Crabs you get it from supermarket? not a fan of sultanas so trying my own style of mead. after boiling it let cool before add to mead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 Yeah I get it from the Woolies down the road I think it's $5 or something for 280grams. And I don't let it cool down I usually throw it in with the honey to help it dissolve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 7 hours ago, jamiek86 said: Not sure if should stop using the dap crystals and get bread yeast from supermarket? If more than 1/3 of the gravity points have gone down you should not be adding more DAP. Like you I am usually dealing with small volumes and don't want to do a gravity reading so my rule of thumb was to only add DAP for the Step 2, at the 48 hour point. If you have extra packets of kit yeast laying around you could use that instead of bread yeast. But boil it, to kill them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 5 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said: If more than 1/3 of the gravity points have gone down you should not be adding more DAP. Like you I am usually dealing with small volumes and don't want to do a gravity reading so my rule of thumb was to only add DAP for the Step 2, at the 48 hour point. If you have extra packets of kit yeast laying around you could use that instead of bread yeast. But boil it, to kill them. plenty of them thanks for help I added a tea spoon on dap after just over 24 hours lesson learned for next time. it smells quite estery hopefully not stuffed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 smell even worse getting home today think was all that dap added making ferment too vigorously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaS1 Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 5 hours ago, jamiek86 said: smell even worse getting home today think was all that dap added making ferment too vigorously. DAP is like crack for yeast. This is why most professional mead makers have switched to Fermaid O. Boiled bread yeast is similar to Fermaid O. Plus, a teaspoon of DAP seems like a lot for a small volume. Did you follow the amount recommended in the calculator I linked to? Gotta weigh it too, don't measure in teaspoons. Get yourself a small scale that can weigh in 10th of a gram. But there is a good chance the mead will still be alright. Give it time. That rotten egg smell ought to go away. Christina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 48 minutes ago, ChristinaS1 said: DAP is like crack for yeast. This is why most professional mead makers have switched to Fermaid O. Boiled bread yeast is similar to Fermaid O. Plus, a teaspoon of DAP seems like a lot for a small volume. Did you follow the amount recommended in the calculator I linked to? Gotta weigh it too, don't measure in teaspoons. Get yourself a small scale that can weigh in 10th of a gram. But there is a good chance the mead will still be alright. Give it time. That rotten egg smell ought to go away. Christina. yes I looked at calculator just didn't think teaspoon weigh so much I have scales I pulled out and weighed after silly rookie mistake. was just busy on week off and rushed into it. I also git my 24 hour 48 hour mark mixed up.like an idiot after one day though it had been 2 lol how the hell ya do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) was more of a fruity yeast smell like if brewed ale too warm but 10 times worse. I really hope apart from taste I haven't ruined it some other way like drink it and kill me. Like if a spirit maker doesn't discard the ethanol part? @ChristinaS1 if sample taste horrid might end up dry hop this batch to make drinkable and just try not to stuff next one. Edited April 13, 2021 by jamiek86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 photos don't do it justice the smell was enough for me to tip down drain and have fv soaking in small squirter of bleach and water to top. More research next time about the whole thing including the de gassing etc and how often. It would have tasted fairly fowl after the 5 grams of dap that made it smell like rocket fuel. After I picked it up to move to bench for gravity which was on 1.018 it had small white film on top that sunk why lifting and created haziness in second pic. It had that infected smell not worse I've had but was there. First one since started brewing again last September and have pumped some batches out. More research and stick to a few mr beer recepies I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 On 4/18/2021 at 12:23 PM, jamiek86 said: More research next time about the whole thing including the de gassing etc and how often. I'll try again and suggest the JAOM. It doesn't need nutrient. I don't even know what degassing is. I made this one March last year and will bottle it today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 Quote Degassing Mead and its Importance Its not exactly a proven science. Degassing mead may in the end just be an myth, but it does make some sense. I mean when it comes to brewing beer you don’t need to degas. But that may just be because honey is thick and harder to ferment than typical beer wort. https://frugalhomebrew.com/degassing-mead-what-is-it-and-why-its-important/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiek86 Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 @Green Blob thanks mate think ill just stick to Mr beer kits for a while waiting that long to bottle something isn't what I'm after atm thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 Okies but if you do the JAOM you stick it in a cupboard and forget it. 5 litre water container from Bunnings works a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 Wow, well reading some of the above it all comes together... Well something does anyway. @The Captain!! another glass tonight of my mead... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Nearly time for myself to put on another mead and set and forget for a while. Might go back to ol faithful but do a modified JAOM along with another yet to be determined mead. Just gotta get around to sourcing the honey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Lockdown simple orange and mango mead 2.5 kg Honey .500 g Rice Malt 1.5 kg Mangos 2 Small Oranges 1.092 should finish around 1.000 Will sit this in the FV for around 3 months come back from work around Christmas and rack it off and bottle for Christmas day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashed Crabs Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 30 mins in and she's thick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted August 14, 2021 Author Share Posted August 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Smashed Crabs said: Lockdown simple orange and mango mead Nice, the orange pith should give it a little bitterness. What yeast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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