Easy Beginner Mead - Racking and Bottling
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Easy Beginner Mead Finishing, Racking and Bottling.
Here's the Tasting Video of Easy Beginner Mead: • Beginner Mead Tasting ...
Today we rack and bottle the mead. We made a very simple, repeatable recipe for mead to serve as a "First Mead", something beginner brewers could easily reproduce and learn the basics of mead making.
The first video in this series, how to make your FIRST mead: • How to Make Mead at HO...
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So now we racked and bottled it... how does it taste? Watch the Tasting Video here: th-cam.com/video/Ub_DZvhS7RU/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
if i am not wrong , there is a danger of methyl poisoning risk. what should i do to avoid it...?
There is a very small amount of methanol created in any wine, mead or cider, even commercial products. The amount is not dangerous, and ethanol os the cure for methanol poisoning anyway. Methanol is really only a problem of you use some method to concentrate it.
I learned a cool trick from an old timer about head room in your jug.... Goes like this.... Always keep a bag of sanitized glass marbles and if your Brew doesn't fill the jug enough then drop in enough marbles until the level of the liquid reaches the desired height in the neck of your jug.... I hope this tip helps someone it certainly has helped me ✌️
excellent tip, much thanks! 😎👍
oh my gosh thank you for this tip. I never would have thought of that but it's gonna come in so handy!
But why you would still have the same amount of liquid
To avoid headspace which can cause oxidation.
I hate the elitism in brewing. “Extract beer brewing is bad.” “Using bread yeast is lame.” “You can’t use liquor bottles to put wine in.” You have made a mead that is way better than anything in the store for pennies worth, I can’t believe that people would have a problem with that. Good on you two for taking initiative to show people how twisted that is, I’m glad you have success doing what you love
What was the recipe for the mead on the cheap?
I just wanna point out, that I appreciate the man in this video being a gentleman and letting the lady have first taste the two times during the process. Bravo man, stay classy!
In sweden we have used breadyeast for such things for ages, nothing wrong with it! Best honey-lemon mead I ever had was made with fresh breadyeast, about 17% alc. in it to, we became quite rowdy that midsummer... Thanks for a fun show!
Greetings from Poland, now I can improve my English by listening to what I like!
Best mead ive ever had! aged for 8 months.... 2 months into my second batch! you guys are great! thank you so much!
Omg Derica’s ‘no, no, no, d,d,d,d’ was great. Clearly she speaks the same language as my wife!
I recently bought a Carlos Rossi sangria 3L jug for my first mead, and stored the wine in some flip tops so I could get started. None of my local stores carry the apple juice in the glass jug. Bonus is I get to make and enjoy some mixed drinks while waiting for the mead to finish
RW Knudsen organic apple juice is the best one that comes in a gallon glass jug. It’s like 10 bucks and I think Amazon sells it
Angel's share? Since it's mead let's call it Valkyrie's share. Skal. 🍺
Well... that assumes all mead is of Norse origin, it's not even the first mead, nor the only mead. Mead is universal, found in China, Egypt, Africa, North America and in Norse lands.
. . ...jejejejeje,, I said the same thing!!
@@CitySteadingBrews
Well then, call it the Bees's share, better yet, the Queen's Share!
@@CitySteadingBrews fair point, but you cannot deny the mainstream association would justify the term
@@Cloudrunner5k sure, but that doesn't deny me the opportunity to be pedantic anyway.
Brian & Derica, thanks so much for sharing. Made our first batch using this recipe. While ours is only about 6 weeks old, we are already stoked as it tastes terrific. Can't wait to try it again in a few weeks!!!
As a new mead hobbiest, this video really really really helped me. Thank you!!
Glad it was helpful!
im ready to pull the trigger on making my 1st mead after watching your great video ,just bought 10lbs of blackberry honey from local farm
Awesome! Enjoy!
Im definitely thinking of making a batch following your instruction. My dad is a hobby wine maker and i plan on borrowing his supplies to make it and then surprising him with the finished product.
Go for it! And... have fun! 😊
A trick ive learned is that if you pull the siphon "plunger" up to the top of the siphon that you displace much less space in the container and are able to put the auto siphon much farther and makes it easier to get it started and dont spill the brew.
:) Good idea.
Bread yeast YES! For anyone interested, I’m getting consistent 16 to 18 percent out of Red Star Platinum baking yeast, not a hard cake at the bottom (careful racking), but not noticing wispy’s either. Love, love LOVE all your videos and your back to basic attitude!
Rowrowrowrowroworow! (Star Platinum... Sorry, I'll go now.)
I love the D&D references. I used to play in the early eighties and miss it.
We are starting up a D&D channel soon.
@@CitySteadingBrews absolutely here for it. Just started my first campaign and made my first character last week and I'm infatuated with the game.
Loving the new timeskip format.
We're working on it more actually. Trying to eliminate the wait between videos on the same brew to a few days rather than months!
Same💪🏿👍🔥
thanks for getting me into mead making
You're welcome.
Greetings From Germany, i just found your Channel a few Days ago. I´m happy that i found your Channel, i will Start my First Mead and Wine next Week.
How'd it turn out?
I started making wine some 30 yrs ago and I am a huge fan of the yeast you folks are using in this video and the only yeast that I use.😉
Love the colour of this one 😍
It looks amazing!
Tastes even better, lol.
There is a mead brewery in Manila near Tamworth, in country New South Wales. I became a fan of mead when I was posted to an Armour Corp. Unit headquartered in Tamworth. My great uncle lived on the Manila road, so I would stop by and visit him either on my way out or on my way back. My uncle would get a kick out of me turning up in a army land rover and sitting for chat and dropping off a bottle of mead. My uncle served in New Guinea during the Second World War during the defence of Australia, and he would salute me when I was in my uniform with slouch hat with emu feathers. I miss him and I will make this mead in his honour. Thanks for the video and information.
12:00 I love Dereka's NONONONO. I could see her doing that to you often. I just have a sense that she keeps you in line at times. :)
Also, thank you for the video, great timing because I am almost 2 weeks into my first mead from your earlier how to video. I'm a beekeeper and used all my own honey for this. I hope I have just found a way to expand my hobby! I think I've watched all your mead videos now.
love your channel, much thanks! 🫡
Wow thank you so much!
I've found that using a zip tie or two hooked under the handle and over the bung work much better and are more convenient(easier) than rubber bands or ties for bungs wanting to creep out of the bottle.
Just an fyi for anyone that has a few lying around
You two are awesome and I’m excited to create mead for the first time.
Awesome! And thanks 😀
Makes great sense. As a former microbiologist and science teacher, you are right on target about cleanliness and the reality of brewing. If it works, just do it!
You guys rule! And yes, bread yeast is more than ok to make mead. There’s nothing worse than geeks imposing stupid rules to make ancestral brews! Back then, they didn’t even knew about yeast!!! Love your channel!
True ancestral mead makers use the magic rod to mix their mead, none of that fancy pants "yeast" thing they pour in in blasphemy to the Gods of brewing.
Keep it flocculated!!
Amazing videos! I love that you perform the steps live while talking thru the steps. And, you don't really get off track /rant as much as you think you do. You're making really great content! Bravo!
Glad you like them!
Just finding this channel, you guys are amazing, I just purchased everything I'm going to need after watching your videos, can't wait!
Welcome aboard!
I wanted to say "Thank You" to you both. I discovered your videos about a year ago. Couldn't stop watching them. They were fun to watch, insightful, and got me excited to try my own brewing. I have bottled my first batch, and yesterday I started a new batch of your orange and raisin, tea recipe. WITH Fleischmann's Yeast! LOL. You are right if it tastes good. who cares. Thank you again. Keep making your videos. They are so fun to watch.
Awesome, thank YOU for watching and supporting us. It's great to see someone enjoying this hobby as a result of our videos!
If all goes as planned my next effort will be a 2-3/4 gal batch of this recipe. My most pleasant mead to date was with bread yeast.
@@bucmeister7713 - It’s fun, isn’t it? 😊 Got a Viking’s Blood inspired cyser waiting to be bottle carbonated and the mojito kilju is 27 days into fermentation and finally slowing down. Trying to decide on ginger beer or passionfruit wine/mead next. Ugh... decisions... yet it’s fun and self-rewarding because we get to drink the result!
It always makes me happy to see someone getting into home brewing so I couldn’t resist dropping you a note. I’m glad you enjoy it! Keep watching and re-watching the videos on this channel: you’ll find yourself adding recipes to your ‘want to brew’ list and thanks to the tasting notes on the 6 months and 1 year videos you’ll get a good idea of how the brews turn out over a longer period of time... which is absolutely great!
Thanks for this recipe. Gonna make soon. I have a desert meade I made 22 years ago in my basement that will sit another 1.5 years. Plan on opening along with a Rose' made 20 years ago when my daughter graduates College. Been in a small fridge at 45 degrees and never touched.
Bottled my first mead today and I'm absolutely over the moon with how it turned out. You guys helped me so much with the process. Thank you very much!
Yo do you know
Any way to rack it without any equipment bro can I not just scoop out the liquid
I just got into Mead Making yesterday, bought my kit today, and found this channel. You two are definitely the most fun to watch of the Mead TH-cam world.
How is that first mead going?
Sorry... I always get a little giddy when I see someone is getting into home brewing and started their first mead/wine/cider. Chances are your very first brew is close to ending fermentation so I couldn’t resist asking.
If you have a hydrometer and a way to take a sample (turkey baster) you can easily check: two gravity readings a few days apart that show the same result means fermentation is done. That means you could rack it over and that you are ready for the next step. If fermentation isn’t done, just give it another week (or two). Don’t throw away the sample: if you sanitised the equipment to take that sample you can pour it back...
Have fun brewing!
@@eddavanleemputten9232 Hey! So that first mead just got bottled a week ago! It didn't get as high as I'd like, but ended up reaching 9% with some solid sweetness left. I considered trying to restart it, but I decided to just go ahead and leave it as is, as I wasn't worried about being absolutely perfect with that one, and I still really enjoy it! But, The day after I started that, I actually started 2 others. I did a Blackberry that hit 12.27% and a Sweet Red Wine (Welches Grape Juice Wine) that hit 10.25% and they all have turned out wonderfully! I don't drink very much, maybe once every few months, but honestly just making meads/wines and giving them to family and friends has been my new favorite hobby. Every time I taste the meads/wines I make, it's just so fulfilling. Like, I made this, and IT'S GOOD! Definitely my new favorite hobby, and mood lifter! If I feel down about not doing something well, I can atleast sit back and think "Well, I do make a good mead". Thanks for inquiring!
Just bottled this mead today! I brought some over to my experienced mead brewer neighbor and he said it was amazing =) . He couldn't believe it was my first mead. I didn't have the hydrometer when I started it 3 months ago but he suspected that ABV was around 6% which is perfect because I love sweeter meads. Thanks for making my first mead a success!
Love this! I made mead when I lived in the Congo. Authentic wild honey as it came with bees trapped in it. Used bread yeast came out great.
If you want to, you can always overproof this with a little rum. We did this for Christmas and it went down a storm.
Good deal I can’t wait to try myself
Hello,
I make my mead the same way that you did this one, with the same yeast, and mine NEVER gets a chance to age, it gets consumed to quickly too. It comes out that good.
LOL, I age one, drink one that day, and drink 2 within a month.
I LOVE the content you guys produce, I am totally new to homebrewing having so far made 2 delicious batches of stout beer and your raspberry cider, currently undergoing carbonisation. I have tried mead many many years ago...20+...and remember it being delicious, your videos have me fired up to make mead, can't wait to get it on the go! Keep producuing the content, I am learning so much, and if you are ever on holiday in Scotland, let me know, I would like to throw myself at the feet of the masters...or at least shake your hand!
Lol, certainly.
You two are the best at explaining straightforward, down to earth subject matter on wine making. So glad to have stumbled on your channel!!!...Thank You!!!
I'm so fascinated by these videos, and now I've got the bug to make mead. I drank some for the first time last year, and had no idea it was a thing up until that point. Although it wouldn't surprise me if what I drank wasn't real mead. There's a local beekeeper that sells honey in my area, and he offers honey from different seasons. I'm planning on buying some from him, and I'm ordering the rest of the supplies tonight. I'm eager to get started!
I want to thank you both for making such approachable videos and making it pretty easy to ease my way into this hobby. I started my first mead after watching your super simple cyser video on 7/21/20, and now have four meads (Cyser, ginger, sack, and rhodomel) and two wines (elderberry and apple pie) started.
Awesome! That's great to hear! Thanks for watching!
I have never subscribed to any other channel...but this is a first...I'm subscribing!!!
Wow that’s awesome! Thank you!
Good morning yall, I just want to thank you for all the info on your videos, just racked my first ever brew yesterday. 8ish weeks in primary so I'm hoping in the next 3 or so weeks I'll be bottling. This was my test brew and so far I'm very very satisfied. I started another batch and really looking forward to how that will turn out now that I know it's going to be amazing. Thank you again!!
I just discovered your channel and have just begun my first attempt at brewing my own mead! Love your videos and am looking forward to watching many more of your videos
Welcome!
Great job guys it looks amazing and now I'm jealous. Guess I now have to go make myself some.
Yup, you do!
Did you? How’d it go?
@@eddavanleemputten9232 i did and although I did so some things differently it came out great. Not my best wine ever but age could make it an amazing wine
@@thewatcher2524 - That’s great news! I didn’t know you made wines as well. Mead is different and perhaps of you do add nutrients to your wine, you might consider doing so for mead should you make one again. I use home made nutrient (boiled baker’s yeast) and that seems to help a lot, along with de-gassing daily during fermentation. I love brewing meads, wines and ciders as each has its own characteristics I love.
Happy brewing!
i love both of your camera presences on your video's. It feels like wer're personally friends and that its a back n forth educational conversation :)
Thank you! That kind of feedback means a lot to us.
When I made my own Mead it took 6-months to age in the bottle but it came out taste in fantastic
Try another but use Apple juice, You will love that. All the best, Karl.
haha - I misunderstood what I was seeing here, and thought you guys were using a jiggle siphon. My fancy siphoning device arrived in the mail, I got settled in and tried to rack my mead. Holy shit a jiggle siphon was a bad decision. No matter how gentle I tried, it just violently stirred all the contents of the jug. I watched this video again, noticed you were NOT using a jiggle siphon, found the same siphon type you were actually using, and it went smooth with my 2nd batch. Thanks for all the advice! I'm learning a lot from y'all and improving as I go.
You guys are the best! I just started my first gallon batch of mead, which is fermenting like mad, and I am so excited I found your channel to keep me inspired and constantly striving to improve my craft. Cheers!
Ironically, Chaucer's was the first mead I drank, which is what got me hooked on mead years ago. Fast forward to today, I agree; I couldn't go but it again unless absolutely needed!
I'd like to see your take on kombucha or a high alcohol kombucha.
Well... you won't like my answer. I don't like kombucha... I have tried dozens of types and just can't get into it.
Plastic wrap works for keeping the bong (rubber stopper) in place. I found the #6 stopper holds better in the one gallon carboys.
Really needed a video like this, have 3 different meads on the go and the patience to wait is killing me :D
This was actually the best two part tutorial on making mead, whenever I start, ill follow these videos
Edit: So right after making the inital batch, you leave it to ferment for a good 6 months or so, and, to my understanding, shake it every week/2 weeks? And then by the 3 month mark, test to see how its fermenting, rack it and then let it ferment some more and then by the 6 month, bottle it and enjoy? Did i get all that right?
Edit 2: How do you safely remove the stopper without having the mead shoot up out of the jug
We only did a couple months on this one... you don't always need 6 months. Take readings. As for swirling, I only do it daily for a week or so. Test after a month. Then do as we say in this video: th-cam.com/video/hsOd9rWRcSU/w-d-xo.html Also... follow the first video in this series as it goes over assembly, but this one does show all the rest of the steps.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you!
Got turned on to some home brewed mead at a gaming convention in Oct. so I had to watch this. There's a party Friday night (drinking game (card game)) that usually just breaks down to a drunkin fun time of welcoming new folks and partying with friends that you haven't seen in a year.
Totally agree with brewing, it's the same as cooking. You like you red pasta sauce with a subtle hint of dill garlics at one level and basil at another. You're really able to tweak things into your own flavor zones after you have the base recipe done.
Once spring hits and we have some steady temps I'm going to need to try making this and the simple cider recipe you guys do. The good thing is it should give me enough time to ferment and rack both of them.
Started a fermentation 3 days ago. The hardest part is waiting to taste it 😬
Give it a month or two!
We moved into a condo a few years ago and I gave away all of my beer/wine making equipment. You have inspired me to try the small batch style of making mead and more, went out today and picked up the very few needed supplies. Thank you for all the videos.
$30 for Chaucer's? How high is Florida's liquor tax?! Now I know why meth is so popular there.
Just looked it up, I must have it confused with another.... It's $14, still 3x what we can make it for.
About to go and buy my ingredients for my first mead right now! Wish me luck
Good luck!!
your edditing is adorably cheesy and I love it xD My hubby really really wants to make mead, wine, and such. We're about to try and close on a house with a basement and he wants to set up shop down there to make stuff like this. I'd love to try this recipe. this looks great.
Thank you both so much 💓, now I know how to make my own 💝💖💝🥂
These videos of yours are seriously the best ones I've seen . Informative and funny, I will be making mead this weekend!!
Like the format too. Know might be a little more effort to make but for a begginer brewer, it shows the whole process. Thanks!
Well, get ready for even more improvement! We have a new ideas to shorten the wait for the updated videos!
OK, now thats just weird, I just watched the preceeding episodes yesterday to get a refresher before I started my first batch. I was thinking, "if only I could catch the next episode first". Thanks a ton!
We are planning to make that the norm... for example, you watch "how to make this thing" on Friday and "this thing update" on Sunday!
I racked my first mead made with walmart honey and D-47 I got in a kit for Christmas. So far the flavor is not as exciting as what you guys described. 😅 But it is getting better. Was at 1.018 from 1.110 when i racked it.
I started your recipe on the 5th of February. Used a local wildflower honey for it. Im really looking forward to comparing the two.
Thanks for all you do!
this channel is awesome
Why thank you!
Just did my first rack with this mead recipe and tried a sample. You guys were not joking about homemade mead being better than anything you could buy. I can't wait to bottle this and have a full glass!
Woohoo!
i finally am going to embark on mead making. I've done homebrewed beer with good results always wanted to try mead. And I'm going to use this recipe to do it, wish me luck
thank you for your videos! I'm planning on starting my first batch soon and I wouldn't have been able to do it without your videos, thanks for the passionate and informative videos!
Glad I could help!
Just did my first rack (wasted so much 😅) but omg the taste on this is great. It got to a strong 14% yet the flavor isn't alcohol first. So good. Too bad I only have have 90oz.
Just racked my first mead from watching these videos. I’ve never actually tried mead before but have always wanted to. My sample was GOOD. Very orange and almost had a mulled wine like spice to it. I might start a second batch right away before waiting to try this bottled.
Thanks for this video, I have been making mead for years with bread yeast, and people ask how to do it. Now I can just have them watch this, much easier for me!
I just tasted my JAO. So much better than commercial. My first mead! I'm hooked! Thanks for your advice.
I waited 10 weeks to rack my first mead using y’all’s recipe and it was awesome! Thank y’all!
i love the gremlin energy. thanks for the tutorials, gonna start making mead asap :)
Those 3l carboys are like TP during the pandemic
I watched your video on hard cider and ran it to the letter. introduced it during Christmas dinner and it was gone very quickly. im doing this one next. thanks
This vid was a huge help. Started my first batch. Though I went with craisins and dried cherries. Also started an experiment with plums.. thank you for the knowledge on this vid
So I have started my first mead and have gotten to the racking process...i pasteurized my 3- and one-half bottles and then took 2 bottles down to my basement for clearing...i put a half bottle and a full bottle on top of my refrigerator and in one day 24 hours...the ones on top of my refrigerator are crystal clear. This is something that you may or may not have addressed in your casts...the small amount of vibration and heat from the refrigerator have cleared the one and a half bottles more efficiently then the ones in my basement.
Just bought my first mead kit. I'll definitely be referring to your videos. Sliante!
Wow.
I have to try to make this.
Looking at all of the other types of spirits, they all look complicated, this looks like even something a novice like me can make. And not screw up.
Thanks for the video
I totally agree bread yeast works fine tend to get 10 to 12 percent every time. Love the videos keep em coming please.
Yup, the people who tell you you shouldn't use it have never used it.
Thank you for 'clarifying' the whole 'bread' yeast thing. I knew that beer and bread were simultaneous developments, as yeast is the thing that makes both, so I never understood why there should be 'brewer's' yeast, wine yeast and bread yeast. Traditionally, it was wild yeast that was doing the trick, so bread yeast ought to be far more consistent than that would be. Now I've gotta get the stuff together and brew my own mead! When it's done I'll call up old Ragnar for a party. Oh...he's dead, is he? Too bad. I'll have to drink it all myself.
Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks guys, i've just done my first Demijohn. It cost me about £3 for the honey and yeast, no black tea but used some raisins. Hope it turns out as well as yours.
Thanks for linking part two in the first vid :D
No problem
I just had a cranberry mango mead stall with a high sugar level and an abv of 5.5, so I added a jalapeño to it for a week, after two months of conditioning, and bottled. Folks love it. It’s tart sweet and fire 🔥. And the fire helps with the sweet! It’s a wonderful mistake. I share this because you two motivate me to try different things. Thank you 🙏 for doing what you do.
Nice idea! Glad it worked out!
Thanks for making more detailed videos! I would love to see how you handle things like stabilizers too
We don't. :)
The best store bought mead I've ever had here in the US was a Danish import called Dansk Mjod. It's strong and their spices are just so good.
Their meads are alright. Mostly fortified which means they aren't 'true' meads. They are more like a port mead, if you get the meaning.
I just love your Mead videos. Thanks again
Thank you for watching!
This is only the second video of yours that I have watched, the first being the first half of this mead's life. I am thoroughly impressed and I am losing my mind to try this mead. So much so that I am going to start from brewing scratch and give it ago..... when I find a job.... and get a few pay checks in.... BUT IMMA DO IT!
You can do it!
@@CitySteadingBrews UPDATE! I got hired! I'll be incrementally buying supplies over the next few pay checks and hope to be brewing by Turkey Day
Found you guys channel yesterday, a friend makes homemade wine and I want to try a mead. Ty for your tutorials
Just learning your instruction seem easy to follow thanks.
I think i'ma skip the oj and tea and such but make just a straight wildflower honey mead, this has been very helpful!
hanna hart and the modern rouges all three tried to make "mead" with less than stellar results. I musta made 1,000 comments on their videos about how they did it wrong and then linked watchers to your videos on how to brew mead and make it actually drinkable.
TheStraycat74 lol that’s awesome!
My first reaction at only 11 seconds in...Oooh! That's pretty! After watching the 1st video, and the murky liquid, swirly, must stuff, was amazed at how nice the color of it had become! Glad I went right to this video after the 1st one, as I would have missed this. Impressed that this was so good at just 7 weeks! After watching, decided to subscribe. Why? You may ask. Because I like the topic, store available materials/mead/homemade brews, and I like your candid presentation! Will be watching for more great videos.
Me and my wife absolutely love your videos. In addition to being extremely helpful and informative, watching your videos feels like having friends over for dinner and has put many a smile on our faces during lockdown.
These My First Mead videos encouraged me to give mead making another go after I tried and failed to make Nord Mead from the Skyrim cookbook. (The instructions in the book were very basic so alot of the finer points of the process, which you covered brilliantly, were omitted entirely.)
My own My First Mead is almost 8 weeks old, and have a couple of questions for you. Upon watching your Traditional Dry Mead video, I realised that I had not accounted for measurements of Honey and Raisins according to a UK Gallon i.e. I didn't multiply the measurements by 1.2. I used the same measurements that you did, and also used Orange Blossom honey and Sunmaid Raisins. The only ingredient I couldn't get was Fleischmans yeast, so I used one from my local supermarket called Allinsons Dry Active Yeast.
I was confused at the time of the initial hydrometer reading, as it was vastly different to yours, coming in at 1.074. I took a reading this Monday, and it went really dry, coming in at 0.998. Unless my calculations are completely incompetent, would that make the ABV around 10.5%? Has it stalled? Am I correct in assuming it went really dry because I didn't add the correct quantity of Honey and Raisins according to a UK gallon?
It tasted really dry with a strong alcohol footnote, very faint trace of honey but not sweet enough. After tasting, I added abit of honey to the tasting glass and it drastically improved the flavour, so after I rack in about a week I'm thinking about backsweetening or stepfeeding by adding more honey. What would be the best way to do this? I want to make sure its done right 😀
Okay, yeah, UK gallons are a bit larger than US Gallons so you made a drier mead. No big deal. It will age out beautifully if you just give it 6-8 months.
If you backsweeten it with more honey, it's very likely to keep fermenting. You can do what's called a step feed, where you add some (1/2 lb or so), let it ferment, then taste it and check it until it's at a level you like. This may take time too and a lot of patience. You could backsweeten then IMMEDIATELY (like that day) pasteurize using any of our methods. That will prevent fermentation and keep the sweetness.
No, it's not stalled, you just used less honey per volume so it created less alcohol. Nothing wrong with that at all, and in fact, we did a dry mead video recently where we ended up with something quite similar to what you did, and we loved it.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thats great, thanks for your help on this, I really appreciate it. After umming and ahing for abit, we decided to go with your first suggestion. We racked it and will let it age for 6 months in time for Christmas dinner. Tasted it again today and now the honey is coming through on the aftertaste, so I can imagine that it will get even better over time 😁
Going to try Viking Blood next, just sourced a wide mouthed fermenter that didn’t cost an arm and a leg and will start it tomorrow. Thanks again for your help and for helping me discover a new hobby 😁
@@CitySteadingBrews Hi Brian and Derica, just wanted to update you 😃. The mead was showing negative pressure in its secondary vessel, so I bottled it today, and it already tastes way better than before. The dryness hits first, then the honey aftertaste comes in really strongly afterwards and sticks around, its 😃.
I can only imagine how much nicer its going to get for Christmas time. Two bottles will be saved for the winter, the rest will be drunk very quickly in the next few days, thanks again for you help and advice, much appreciated! 😊 😃