Don't sweat repeating things, as this is a "teaching channel". I learned loads from yall, and would hate to see you change, and rob someone else of a learning experience. So without further ado keep doing what you're doing lol
My father, who was a winemaker (professional) at one point of time, always said that people talk dry, but drink sweet, and made sure that a majority of the wine that the winery made was at least semi-dry or sweeter. He also never was one for any aditives, except bentonite to clear the wine before filtration, and ultimately sold out of the winery over the owner addind sulfites to the wine. I can see why you back sweeten your mead, I do like mine with a bit of residual sweetness as well.
It's just like in cocktail forums, when people say straight rum is too sweet for them, or they need to cut the sweetener by half, or they only use a teaspoon of syrup 🙄. I like his words, they talk dry but drink sweet.
Duuuuude the timing of this is wild. I literally JUST bought some mango nectar to do the same thing. I haven’t started it yet and was just about to this week!! So hype!
Just a heads up, for the calculation of the sugars added by the mango. There are multiple errors in the text on the screen. It shows 4.16 pounds of sugar when it should be 1.16 pounds, and instead of having it multiplied by 0.046 to get the specific gravity it shows 0.46.
I love the repetition because I have a hard time retaining knowledge but when I start to hear the same thing in every video it really digs it in there. I absolutely love your guys channel. I started brewing in January and since then have watched at least 90% of your videos trying to soak up as much as you guys can offer. Really appreciate what you two do ❤️
You're both such great teachers. You make it fun to learn the math and science of brewing, all while learning how to make a potentially tasty brew. Thanks for the learning and laughs.
People always say, time flies, especially when you get older. But no one ever tells you how fast a year goes by when you start brewing and sitting on batches. My first 5 - 1 gallon batches was introduced to yeast on 2-11-22.... I have so much left, and 8 more gallons in the wings. Fun hobby, good story time, and something to converse about when you have friends/family over for meals. 👍👍👍👍👍
25:00 This is one reason why I have a pair of scissors on my brewing table's drying rack. Mind you I don't sanitize them for cutting yeast packets. I guess I just like to live dangerously. Actually I usually use them to cut painters tape I use as high class labels, but they do work for other things like inferior yeast packaging.
I have never gotten tired of watching and I’ve went back to watch everything I could find you guys are awesome I love what I do and learned it mostly from you thx
I smiled through this whole thing because I've done this with a different brand of Mango nectar, and waited for you to take the reading so you could see the hydrometer almost sitting on top of the brew lol. Mine I didn't use that much because the mango is pretty strong but I got the same results - totally dry, little thin. It has never been my favorite brew at all, but after a year in the bottle it is noticeably nicer.
I calculated the sugars for my apple mango mead from the labels and added the amount of honey needed for 1.100 and it measured dead nuts on 1.100. Maybe in a 50% mixture it helped thin it enough to float the hydrometer correctly. 🤷🏼♂️
I love this video. I just finished racking a mango wine (ABV bumped up w sugar) that I made w mango nectar, and i can attest to the fact that straining the sediment through bags (even nylon) does nothing and that all the goop comes through. I've had the same experience w the hydrometer too, both with this and using nectars in the past. I think I might back sweeten with honey once it's done clearing in secondary
Nice video and Info as always . Just an update to my mead journey, I got a still "T500" and have been distilling now. Recently took a 5 gallon jug of freshly fermented mead and distilled it. Absolutely amazing. Luckily I live in a country where it is legal. The honey notes totally come through. I wish you were able to distill in Florida. Would make for some more amazing videos.
Hey guys, this looks great! I’ll be doing a few brews this weekend but because I really like mangoes I’m going to try this next. I can only imagine how dangerous this could be. Really good video, loads of great info. Cheers guys 🇦🇺
I just visited reddit for the first time in search of mead forums. I came across some quite harsh reviews of you guys there. I didn't find any greater substance for the hate, rather than people disliking you doing things a bit simple. But that is your whole concept by choice! I just wanted to let you know that I like you a lot, even after quite a few years. You guys are great. You have taught me so much and my meads end up great.
One of my most successful/popular meads is my mango-habanero. 8oz of dried mango & 1 diced habanero added in conditioning in the 1.020-1.030 range is something I recommend you try.
In reference to the towel, I bought a waiters bussing tub for about $6 and it works great to drain everything in and keep all things sanitized corralled on the counter. 😊
Great presentation my hats off to the both of you oh do you guys pick cards how’s going to be the funny one or is it t naturally the chemistry you guys have is perfect don’t ever change I get to learn and have a laugh perfection
We don’t script or plan what we are going to say so that way it is natural. We just allow ourselves to be silly on camera as our audience seems to appreciate our genuine goofiness. 🤓. Thanks for watching!
Pasteurizing will remove almost all CO2 from the liquid. In industrial boilers they use what’s called a de-airator. It uses steam generated by the boiler to cook out dissolved gasses in the feed water. Feed water is the new water going to the boiler. If they leave the dissolved gasses in the water that gets boiled it causes problems so they have to remove it with steam (aka heat)
i acually bottled my blackberry mead today made from blackberry puree and yeah alot of lees and particles. still got 2,5liter from a 4liter batch ish!. pretty good :) some particles did get into the bottles tho! maybe not the prettiest mead but it sure tastes great for a young one :)!
Oh my goodness! The need to analyse everything! That is exactly my daughter and me. Fortunately for us, both my SO and my daughter’s boyfriend are able to roll with it and join in. And they both like our meads. My daughter has a week of vacation that just started. I’m going to rope her into helping me sanitise a big load of bottles because I have several fermenters that are done. We need to balance them and I want them bottled so we can start taste-testing them and drinking them over the Summer (they’ve been bulk ageing) through to this coming winter. I’m already itching to start new brews. Mango mead is moving back up on that “want-to-brew” list… perhaps some as is and some pango-habanero. I’ve already got the peppers in the freezer. I’m thinking at least part mango nectar and part frozen mango cubes from the supermarket: they’re on offer quite often at my local grocery store.
I had the same experience with significant solids dropping out from a Guava Nectar/Soursop mead. Also had the issue with not being able to get a reading. I enjoyed the Guava Soursop mead so much I decided to make a Mango Soursop hydromel (the soursop in brews adds really nice tropical floral notes). Problem is my juices mixed were at a perfect gravity, and adding honey would have brought the ABV up too much. Compromised and decided it will be a cider but I will use orange blossom honey for priming and hope a little of the honey essence still makes it in. Should end up just around 5% after bottle carbonation. Next time I'll water down the juices to leave SG for honey to make it a hydromel.
When I made my Saskatoon Berry mead, I had to puree the berries. After the first racking, I was missing nearly an entire gallon of brew in a 5 gallon fermenter. I didn't want to lose that much. I took a sieve and poured what was left of the berries into the sieve to drain as much as possible. Came away with approximately 4.5 gallons. Put it into secondary after that and haven't looked back. The few drinks I have had so far, doesn't seem to be affected negatively.
Mango is my favorite fruit! Love this, and thank you for sharing the whole process and all the pitfalls/issues too. I'm kind of curious if the leftover "goop" could be turned into like a mango jam with canning it up. Have y'all ever heard of anyone turning the leftover fruity stuff into jam/jelly or even a marinade?
I did a bunch of fruit infused liquors last year. I then used the fruits to make jams. I did a drunken monkey butter with rum soaked bananas, vanilla peach bourbon jam with the vanilla beans and peaches from bourbon, I added a bit of the liquor to the batches too, to keep some of the flavors in the jams. They were awesome! I did a citrus tequila that I tried to make a marmalade with as a tequila sunrise, and it never set so it’s more of a syrup instead of a jam.
I am currently making a mango mead using this exact juice - with honey from Costco - and mango chunks from Walmart. I started it 4 days ago (5/7/2024). Mine is 5 gallons, I used 4 of those gallons, 3 of the honey (15 lbs) and the mangos. After fermentation got rolling, I added some Juicy Juice Mango (from Walmart) to close up the head space. My yeast civilization has clearly reached the industrial age....
yes interesting,, my ingredients would be the same,,, exactly,, I must be learning,,,, only change would be I would use very ripe mangos,,,, not nectar,,, this is readily available in Australia,,,,,,,,, enjoyed your blog,,, Thanks so much for the info,,, Bill
I have to say I really enjoy watching all of your videos that I have watched, so far at least. I initially watched a video on making wine from a store-bought juice directly in its container. I am currently doing so, and it seems like the fermentation is very slow. For reference, I bought 4 different flavors of Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail. I added about 2 grams of Lalvin D47 to each bottle. I’m guessing maybe the temperature here is not warm enough for the yeast to perform well, As the package specifies 75 to 85°F. I will continue to watch and learn from you guys. Thank you so much for what you do!
Great video tutorial. I absolutely love mangoes. I tried mango mead twice. Two major issues I had faced are - 1) The mango flavour which is present during fermentation goes away at the end. It doesn't have a good mango flavour in the end. 2) Lots of lease and you end up with less brew
Watching this I had a thought. You know that Pasteurizing will change the flavor but not exactly how. What about pasteurizing then sweetening to the level you want. You are sweetening the finished product. Also that gravity reading you had makes me re-think one of my first wines, the OG was off my scale. 1.175 was the last marking on my scale and based on the increments I guessed it was at 1.180. Now I wonder if I had too much pulp fiber in the must throwing the reading way off. I was not good at estimating back then but I thought it would be about 1.100. Thank you for all of the videos.
You should get a drill with a stirrer I used to use one when I worked at a winery they had one that switched from stirring to degassing its pretty cool and saves lots of time. We had a setup where you just put the carboy down on a stand to secure it and had the drill secured to the wall with a switch attached so you didn't need to pull the trigger, it would stir and you could just walk away. I really enjoy your videos they help to make my own mead recipe for my family they all love it and want more I am going to buy a bulk amount of bottles and some new carboys and make up a new batch of acerglyn, I made a great recipe which aged for close to a year. I hope to be able to make enough mead that I always have some aging. Slainte (cheers) from Canada!
Just started my first brews. Your simple mead and wine. I'm so paranoid I contaminated something lol. Had to keep running to grab something then I'd dip my hands in my version of TRBUS. I'm calling it BOSS. Bucket Of StarSan LOL.
Do you guys feel lucky to have each other? I mean.. look at them.. I'm not a sentimental guy, but look how cute and smart she is, and how much he actually deserves her..
@CitySteadingBrews Settled for the man that deserved her. I am learning alot from you guys Love and appreciation all the way from Palestine! Hopefully soon I'll be able to participate in your community and return some of the favor. Be well!
I love you content and I've learned so much from you guys. Thank you for taking the time to teach us. Honestly asking. Could there been a way to have kept more of the product? Even if it were to take a longer time?
I was wondering if i should use the same type honey for the backsweetening as i use for the fermentation.. would there be a noticeable difference if i used a lesser quality/cheaper honey for the fermentation, and use the good stuff for the backsweetening?
Just a heads up: I love the idea of drying chestnuts and making my own tannins-but just realized that there might be an allergy aspect for those with nut allergies like my kids. Gonna stick to tea. (Ugg...And check my commercial wine bottle labels)
I started this recipe on 10/29/23. Only thing I did different, I added frozen cherries. 11/8/23 I took a hydro reading. It was .992. I racked it off the cherries and gunk . Now, I'm letting it sit for a week before taking another reading, and then I plan to back sweaten and pasteurize.
I’ve seen people clarify juices with gelatins or agar agar, would that help counteract the issue with getting an original gravity in a project like this? I imagine it would also help having less sediment and loss when racking.
At 52:06, just curious why the airlock contents looked almost amber colored. Did you use a spiced rum for the airlock media, or did some stuff get up inside the lock?
I’ve been looking for a mango recipe!! You guys are the best I’ll be sure to try this myself. Also I’ve been doing your easy beginner recipe. I’ve noticed the airlock has almost completely stopped it’s only been about 5 weeks and I don’t think it’s done. I didn’t have a hydrometer when I started it so I don’t have an OG but I am planning on taking a reading and waiting a week but I’m not sure if I should wait to take the first reading. Some help from the best would be great thanks!
As your airlock activity has stopped I would go ahead and take a reading as soon as your equipment arrives. Doing the week apart readings will certainly help you know if your brew is done or not. Then comparing those readings to your recipe should tell you if your brew is done or stalled.
Next time use Kveik Voss as your yeast and ferment it hot. Like 90-105F hot. Give it lots of Fermaid O. That yeast throws off some great tropical fruit flavors and sweetness. A dry mead (0.994) can still taste sweet.
If you prefer using fresh fruit, I would recommend using fresh mangoes including their skin. My base recipe is normally 1.9kg of honey for a 5L batch (and 100g raisins only if I'm not adding other fruit). And I usually use whole fruit, and leave them in until the brew is ready for racking (I have a hop sock which i put the racking cane tube into before placing it into the demijohn I'm racking into). [I also don't usually adjust the honey unless I'm adding something that has added sugar.] For my mango batch, I used 2 medium-large mangoes. I chop the mango flesh up into small enough pieces to fit through the demijohn neck, discarding the seed. I've tried this recipe both without the skin and with the skin, and with the skin actually has a much better mango flavour (as opposed to without, where the fruit flavour is a bit washed out). PS Thank you very much Brian and Derica for all your videos 🙂. When I was first getting into mead making, you were the only resource I could find that didn't add a whole bunch of additives that come in packets. And you continue to inspire my new mead ideas!!
@@kylieford546 I've done over a hundred meads with probably 75% of them using fresh fruit, with yeast being the only additive (aside from honey and water) and I haven't had any problems so far. I actually find it seems to ferment better with fresh fruit. [And even better when I use mulberries from the tree in my backyard, as I suspect there are also natural yeasts on the fruit that kick in, but am yet to test that theory in a batch without adding any yeast :-D ] Noting that some fruit may cause the mead to take a little longer to clear (eg pear). But mine have always cleared eventually. [I usually let them clear after bottling as I don't have enough room/gear to leave them in the demijohn for that long and I also quite happily drink them before they've cleared :-) ]
Glad it turned out well. Always had the worst luck with mango and pear nectars. They have that gross, sour, spoiled flavor and aroma after brewing. Just stopped using it after awhile. Stick to my super amazing recipe for blueberry mead.
What can we say but, "another Great recipe"👍. Living in south Florida, I've acclimated myself to the smell of overripe mango and have purposely stayed away from it for this very reason, it takes days to clear the air from the sickeningly sweet aroma 🤣😅. So I thank you, and will try this with one adjustment. I think I'm going to separate the sediment from the mango puree first, (with one week and P.E.) before fermentation. Should help with a "more accurate" SG reading at the beginning of fermentation👍😁❤️
Perfect timing its just about to be mango season and im planning to make mine with fresh mangoes Ps. do you think keeping the peal in would affect it positively? our mangoes are quite fragrant and id like to maintain that in the final product ( i use E118 as that's all i have )
@@eddavanleemputten9232 i did not know that thank you . but we indians do use mango peals in our oil based pickels ( they are made with unripe still sour mangoes) and they are eaten with the peals after prepared
I'd say it would increase the risk of wild yeast and bacteria on the peels if you don't cook them or something, but other that it maybe going sour or funky you could do a split batch to test if it works before committing to potentially loosing a whole batch
@@Carlos-Mora - Using mango peels is not advisable. Mango peels contain urushiol, the same compound that is in poison ivy and poison oak. Throw them out. Don’t use, don’t boil. Unless you want to risk getting very ill. They also contain very bitter compounds, which means you don’t just risk your health, you risk spoiling your brew. Add to that the fact that commercially available mangoes are heavily treated with chemicals (pesticides and whatnot). Producers do not take into account the peel being consumed as it typically isn’t (as opposed to apples, cherries, pears, etc). If you’re positive you’re not sensitive to poison oak and never will be, AND if you like bitter things, AND you don’t mind consuming pesticides, it would be a different matter. But ask yourself the question: even if you don’t mind, would you serve it to people you like/love? Personally, I’d rather not. If I want more mango flavour, I’ll add more mango. Cheaper than a potential hospital bill or being racked with guilt.
How to take accurate og reading in such cases - just use a larger graduating cylinder, say 250ml instead of the 100ml being used here. Or, if you have enough depth and wide mouth in your fermenter, put the hydrometer in the must.
I'm really glad so many people like mango, so there's less for me. I really do not like mango at all, and nowadays, you can't get away from it. So many flavor combinations I find sound really good until I hit mango in the name or ingredient list. So, go for it, folks. Use up all the mango you can.
When you pour the sample for the hydrometer back into the brew, is it ok to do that later into a brew, say about 20 days? Or should it just be drank/discarded? I’m just worried about introducing oxygen into the brew, but not sure if it’s really that big of a deal.
Many people add sugar and milk to cover up (mask) the bitter tasting acids in coffee. An old trick to making the smoothest tasting cup of black coffee is to add a pinch of powdered eggshells. A little goes a long long long way to bringing the ph up to about 7. One can still sweeten and or add milk if they absolutly must have milk and sugar but they wont have to do it to cover up the bitterness. For a project like this video, It would be great to add powdered eggshell after the first racking where you can stire in 1/4 teaspoon of powered eggshell and let it settle till the next racking. Or maybe add a little more as The calcium carbonate in the eggshells will also assist in clarifying. My technique to prepare, sterlize, and powder eggshells. 1) collect a pound or so of eggshells. 2) grind them in a blender with water for about a minute. 3) dump everything into a large pot. 4) apply multiple rinses adding water swirl and drain to remove suspended powered milky eggshell and eggshell membrane. You'll have lots of crushed eggshell so don't worry about the suspended powdered eggshell, you're more concerend about removing the membrane. 5) once the rinses are clear and suspended membrane is gone, drain out the water. 6) I then dry it in the pan and stire on top of a hot stove untill they make a slight color change to whiter with a hint of gray while others may put on a tray and put into the oven. When done, 6) grind the eggshells into a powder, and sift with a fine sieve. Still google to see how others do it and decide which is best for you. I do a pound because i make a lot in one big batch and share with friends and family.
@@CitySteadingBrews I would be happy to sent you some, if you would like to try a side by side comparison on two cups of black coffee, one being the control, the other having a pinch of powdered eggshell.
As wholesome and well explained as always! Two things: I recommend to add (no joke) a/some Habanero(s) into it. The spiciness pairs amazingly with mango (not everyone´s cuppa - sure)! And one question/suggestion if you don´t mind: conical Fermenter especially for this type of brew - thoughts? Thank you as always for the amazing content!
We had a conical but never used it as our sanitizer of choice wouldn't work with it. That being said, sure a conical might have made for a clearer extraction of product, but the "goop" layer was rather significant in this particular brew, so even the mighty conical might have not worked as well as hoped. We can second the habanero addition as we made that combo ourselves: th-cam.com/video/v7btZKSUPSc/w-d-xo.html
Hey guys I am loving the channel and learning a lot from you. I just started my first mead about a week ago I put in frozen raspberries and I would like to possibly put some more dried raspberries in secondary but I wondered if you guys think I can use freeze dried fruit in place of dried fruit? Is there a difference? Whats your thoughts.
Before I get to far in this video. I bought this juice and made wine. It made the most wild cloudy looking formation in the bottom half from the pectin enzyme. Crystal clear in the top half.
Mango to me is meh. I don’t like eating it. But in a brew. I did a mango pomegranate wine and it was fantastic. But very pulpy as well. Keep up the great work.
@@CitySteadingBrews according to the published date of Feb 19, 2023 it has been now! I'm just excited as I also made this and I want to see how it might be in a year
I've made an apple juice mead. But am having problems. 1st I screwed up. Thought I was weighting 2 lbs of honey, but it was kgs. So I weighted 4.4 lbs of honey. I devolved that in a 1/2 gal of juice. Added peptic enzymes. Forgot the frement O. Added another 1/2 gal of apple juice. Mixed well an took a hydrometer reading. That's when I caught the honey wt mistake. I then poured about half into another 1.4 gal fermenter. Added 1/2 a gal off apple juice to the original fermenter an 1/2 gal cherry juice in 2nd fermenter. Half a packet of 212 in ea.
Hi, I love all your content and have a couple of brews on the go! All I have for bottling is a mega maid, is there any reason there would be an issue other than it being tedious to bottle using mega maid? Thanks in advance!
Was curious what your experiences are with different forms of juices with heavy "goop". I recently purchased a Papaya juice that was heavy on goop, I did 3/4 gallon Apple Juice with 1/4 Gallon of the Papaya juice. After one week of fermenting, the airlock was all but finished up, but nearly 50% of my carboy was lees/settled goop. In these situations, do you let it sit longer? Or is that as low as the goop will get after fermentation? I racked it and ended up with about 80 Fl Ounces, which isn't a huge deal to me. But I expect to run into similar situations in future brews and was curious if there's a better way to handle such excess goop.
So when you are pasteurizing things doesn't the temperatures start getting to the distillation temps and cause the bad alcohols that evaporate off and fall back in to the liquid become a bad thing.
The 'bad alcohols' evaporating, condensing and falling back in, or the 'bad alcohols' not evaporating and staying in makes absolutely no difference. Plus, the amount of 'bad alcohols' is VERY small. By the time you've consumed enough of them to become an issue you've died of regular alcohol poisoning multiple times. If you're distilling and are mainly drinking the foreshots and heads THEN you potentially have a problem.
Don't sweat repeating things, as this is a "teaching channel". I learned loads from yall, and would hate to see you change, and rob someone else of a learning experience. So without further ado keep doing what you're doing lol
My father, who was a winemaker (professional) at one point of time, always said that people talk dry, but drink sweet, and made sure that a majority of the wine that the winery made was at least semi-dry or sweeter. He also never was one for any aditives, except bentonite to clear the wine before filtration, and ultimately sold out of the winery over the owner addind sulfites to the wine. I can see why you back sweeten your mead, I do like mine with a bit of residual sweetness as well.
It's just like in cocktail forums, when people say straight rum is too sweet for them, or they need to cut the sweetener by half, or they only use a teaspoon of syrup 🙄. I like his words, they talk dry but drink sweet.
Duuuuude the timing of this is wild. I literally JUST bought some mango nectar to do the same thing. I haven’t started it yet and was just about to this week!! So hype!
That's awesome!
Just a heads up, for the calculation of the sugars added by the mango. There are multiple errors in the text on the screen. It shows 4.16 pounds of sugar when it should be 1.16 pounds, and instead of having it multiplied by 0.046 to get the specific gravity it shows 0.46.
ooh, wow, thank you.
So lb * 0.046 ≈ gravity?
I use a submersible hand blender to break up clumps and o even mix the honey. It adds the air too, and saves my arm from getting tired. Win win.
I love the repetition because I have a hard time retaining knowledge but when I start to hear the same thing in every video it really digs it in there. I absolutely love your guys channel. I started brewing in January and since then have watched at least 90% of your videos trying to soak up as much as you guys can offer. Really appreciate what you two do ❤️
Happy to help!
You're both such great teachers. You make it fun to learn the math and science of brewing, all while learning how to make a potentially tasty brew. Thanks for the learning and laughs.
Our pleasure!
People always say, time flies, especially when you get older. But no one ever tells you how fast a year goes by when you start brewing and sitting on batches. My first 5 - 1 gallon batches was introduced to yeast on 2-11-22.... I have so much left, and 8 more gallons in the wings. Fun hobby, good story time, and something to converse about when you have friends/family over for meals. 👍👍👍👍👍
Best video ever. You touch on all of the options.
25:00 This is one reason why I have a pair of scissors on my brewing table's drying rack. Mind you I don't sanitize them for cutting yeast packets. I guess I just like to live dangerously. Actually I usually use them to cut painters tape I use as high class labels, but they do work for other things like inferior yeast packaging.
I have never gotten tired of watching and I’ve went back to watch everything I could find you guys are awesome I love what I do and learned it mostly from you thx
Thanks!
I smiled through this whole thing because I've done this with a different brand of Mango nectar, and waited for you to take the reading so you could see the hydrometer almost sitting on top of the brew lol. Mine I didn't use that much because the mango is pretty strong but I got the same results - totally dry, little thin. It has never been my favorite brew at all, but after a year in the bottle it is noticeably nicer.
I calculated the sugars for my apple mango mead from the labels and added the amount of honey needed for 1.100 and it measured dead nuts on 1.100. Maybe in a 50% mixture it helped thin it enough to float the hydrometer correctly. 🤷🏼♂️
If you’re good enough to make it other people’s tastes.that’s freaking awesome you 2 are too sweet!
Watching you guys is just a joy that is very informative at the same time too.
Thank you 😊
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for your videos. I find them to be very helpful. I am new to the hobby and I have been watching hours of your videos. Keep them coming
Love the speed poring off the honey
I love this video. I just finished racking a mango wine (ABV bumped up w sugar) that I made w mango nectar, and i can attest to the fact that straining the sediment through bags (even nylon) does nothing and that all the goop comes through. I've had the same experience w the hydrometer too, both with this and using nectars in the past. I think I might back sweeten with honey once it's done clearing in secondary
Thank you for your honesty
Great video. This is a full tutorial on making Mango mead! Thanks!
You are welcome! Thank you for watching!
How do I feel about mango? I freaking love mango, and now I have to make this. Great video guys.
Nice video and Info as always . Just an update to my mead journey, I got a still "T500" and have been distilling now. Recently took a 5 gallon jug of freshly fermented mead and distilled it. Absolutely amazing. Luckily I live in a country where it is legal. The honey notes totally come through. I wish you were able to distill in Florida. Would make for some more amazing videos.
Hey guys, this looks great! I’ll be doing a few brews this weekend but because I really like mangoes I’m going to try this next. I can only imagine how dangerous this could be. Really good video, loads of great info. Cheers guys 🇦🇺
I just visited reddit for the first time in search of mead forums. I came across some quite harsh reviews of you guys there. I didn't find any greater substance for the hate, rather than people disliking you doing things a bit simple. But that is your whole concept by choice! I just wanted to let you know that I like you a lot, even after quite a few years. You guys are great. You have taught me so much and my meads end up great.
Thanks! Yeah, the internet is full of haters, not sure why. This hobby is easily available to all, not sure why the elitism tries to keep it a secret.
I've just finished using the same mango it turned out really good
One of my most successful/popular meads is my mango-habanero. 8oz of dried mango & 1 diced habanero added in conditioning in the 1.020-1.030 range is something I recommend you try.
Yep! That is a great combination! th-cam.com/video/v7btZKSUPSc/w-d-xo.html
In reference to the towel, I bought a waiters bussing tub for about $6 and it works great to drain everything in and keep all things sanitized corralled on the counter. 😊
Great presentation my hats off to the both of you oh do you guys pick cards how’s going to be the funny one or is it t naturally the chemistry you guys have is perfect don’t ever change I get to learn and have a laugh perfection
We don’t script or plan what we are going to say so that way it is natural. We just allow ourselves to be silly on camera as our audience seems to appreciate our genuine goofiness. 🤓. Thanks for watching!
i wanna make mead so bad now, u guys make it look easy and its fun to watch, a very charismatic duo you guys are
Why thank you!
Pasteurizing will remove almost all CO2 from the liquid. In industrial boilers they use what’s called a de-airator. It uses steam generated by the boiler to cook out dissolved gasses in the feed water. Feed water is the new water going to the boiler. If they leave the dissolved gasses in the water that gets boiled it causes problems so they have to remove it with steam (aka heat)
I have in ageing mango-strawberry-pineaple mead. Its 3 month, still bit too young, but its gooooood.
I have a gallon brew going with half a gallon of the mango nectar and topped off with Cosco apple juice.
Why the apple juice?
i acually bottled my blackberry mead today made from blackberry puree and yeah alot of lees and particles. still got 2,5liter from a 4liter batch ish!. pretty good :) some particles did get into the bottles tho! maybe not the prettiest mead but it sure tastes great for a young one :)!
Oh my goodness! The need to analyse everything! That is exactly my daughter and me. Fortunately for us, both my SO and my daughter’s boyfriend are able to roll with it and join in. And they both like our meads.
My daughter has a week of vacation that just started. I’m going to rope her into helping me sanitise a big load of bottles because I have several fermenters that are done. We need to balance them and I want them bottled so we can start taste-testing them and drinking them over the Summer (they’ve been bulk ageing) through to this coming winter. I’m already itching to start new brews.
Mango mead is moving back up on that “want-to-brew” list… perhaps some as is and some pango-habanero. I’ve already got the peppers in the freezer. I’m thinking at least part mango nectar and part frozen mango cubes from the supermarket: they’re on offer quite often at my local grocery store.
I had the same experience with significant solids dropping out from a Guava Nectar/Soursop mead. Also had the issue with not being able to get a reading.
I enjoyed the Guava Soursop mead so much I decided to make a Mango Soursop hydromel (the soursop in brews adds really nice tropical floral notes). Problem is my juices mixed were at a perfect gravity, and adding honey would have brought the ABV up too much.
Compromised and decided it will be a cider but I will use orange blossom honey for priming and hope a little of the honey essence still makes it in. Should end up just around 5% after bottle carbonation.
Next time I'll water down the juices to leave SG for honey to make it a hydromel.
any chance for a time lapse video of the brew fermentation? thanks for all the entertainment and learning stuff!
i done this once, it was amazing
Caddy Shack! LOL! Great video as always, hope to try my hand at just plain mead for the first time in the near future.
Love your channel!!! Have you guys done a video on sugar and hydrometer calculations ?
Great video as always. As you know i made an apple, mango and kiwi cider and yeah the mango "goop" is insane.
Did you use different juices to do that?
@@kylieford546 Generic store bought apple juice and generic mango juice and 4 kiwi fruits
Nice color.
When I made my Saskatoon Berry mead, I had to puree the berries. After the first racking, I was missing nearly an entire gallon of brew in a 5 gallon fermenter. I didn't want to lose that much. I took a sieve and poured what was left of the berries into the sieve to drain as much as possible. Came away with approximately 4.5 gallons. Put it into secondary after that and haven't looked back. The few drinks I have had so far, doesn't seem to be affected negatively.
I was watching you as you were opening the juice mentally screaming shake iiiiitttttt! 🤣
in my kit is a potato knife to sterelize for the yeast package. love your content.
Good idea but… not sure you need to sanitize the knife used to open the yeast :). It doesn’t hurt, but… you know what I mean.
Mango is my favorite fruit! Love this, and thank you for sharing the whole process and all the pitfalls/issues too. I'm kind of curious if the leftover "goop" could be turned into like a mango jam with canning it up. Have y'all ever heard of anyone turning the leftover fruity stuff into jam/jelly or even a marinade?
We have not tried that. Interesting food for thought.
I did a bunch of fruit infused liquors last year. I then used the fruits to make jams. I did a drunken monkey butter with rum soaked bananas, vanilla peach bourbon jam with the vanilla beans and peaches from bourbon, I added a bit of the liquor to the batches too, to keep some of the flavors in the jams. They were awesome! I did a citrus tequila that I tried to make a marmalade with as a tequila sunrise, and it never set so it’s more of a syrup instead of a jam.
Oh derica lol also girl I like the red tips in your hair!
I am currently making a mango mead using this exact juice - with honey from Costco - and mango chunks from Walmart. I started it 4 days ago (5/7/2024). Mine is 5 gallons, I used 4 of those gallons, 3 of the honey (15 lbs) and the mangos. After fermentation got rolling, I added some Juicy Juice Mango (from Walmart) to close up the head space. My yeast civilization has clearly reached the industrial age....
yes interesting,, my ingredients would be the same,,, exactly,, I must be learning,,,, only change would be I would use very ripe mangos,,,, not nectar,,, this is readily available in Australia,,,,,,,,, enjoyed your blog,,, Thanks so much for the info,,, Bill
I have to say I really enjoy watching all of your videos that I have watched, so far at least. I initially watched a video on making wine from a store-bought juice directly in its container. I am currently doing so, and it seems like the fermentation is very slow. For reference, I bought 4 different flavors of Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail. I added about 2 grams of Lalvin D47 to each bottle. I’m guessing maybe the temperature here is not warm enough for the yeast to perform well, As the package specifies 75 to 85°F. I will continue to watch and learn from you guys. Thank you so much for what you do!
If you could not get a reading with a hydrometer could you use a refractometer?
Was thinking the same. I don't know how the thickness would play in.
I thought the same, but they gave away their refractometer as a prize in Stead Fest in December.
Great video tutorial.
I absolutely love mangoes. I tried mango mead twice. Two major issues I had faced are - 1) The mango flavour which is present during fermentation goes away at the end. It doesn't have a good mango flavour in the end. 2) Lots of lease and you end up with less brew
Watching this I had a thought. You know that Pasteurizing will change the flavor but not exactly how. What about pasteurizing then sweetening to the level you want. You are sweetening the finished product.
Also that gravity reading you had makes me re-think one of my first wines, the OG was off my scale. 1.175 was the last marking on my scale and based on the increments I guessed it was at 1.180. Now I wonder if I had too much pulp fiber in the must throwing the reading way off. I was not good at estimating back then but I thought it would be about 1.100.
Thank you for all of the videos.
You should get a drill with a stirrer I used to use one when I worked at a winery they had one that switched from stirring to degassing its pretty cool and saves lots of time. We had a setup where you just put the carboy down on a stand to secure it and had the drill secured to the wall with a switch attached so you didn't need to pull the trigger, it would stir and you could just walk away. I really enjoy your videos they help to make my own mead recipe for my family they all love it and want more I am going to buy a bulk amount of bottles and some new carboys and make up a new batch of acerglyn, I made a great recipe which aged for close to a year. I hope to be able to make enough mead that I always have some aging. Slainte (cheers) from Canada!
We do but most times degassing happens naturally!
Just started my first brews. Your simple mead and wine. I'm so paranoid I contaminated something lol. Had to keep running to grab something then I'd dip my hands in my version of TRBUS. I'm calling it BOSS. Bucket Of StarSan LOL.
Great video. Am I missing the PH meter link somewhere?
I forgot to add it! I have fixed that, but here you go just in case: amzn.to/3IIPJom
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks! Oh, and I enjoyed TRBOS and the cloudscape!
Do you guys feel lucky to have each other?
I mean.. look at them.. I'm not a sentimental guy, but look how cute and smart she is, and how much he actually deserves her..
Thank you. I know I am lucky. She settled ;)
@CitySteadingBrews Settled for the man that deserved her.
I am learning alot from you guys
Love and appreciation all the way from Palestine!
Hopefully soon I'll be able to participate in your community and return some of the favor.
Be well!
I love you content and I've learned so much from you guys. Thank you for taking the time to teach us. Honestly asking. Could there been a way to have kept more of the product? Even if it were to take a longer time?
Not really no, there will always be waste.
Thank you for the response@@CitySteadingBrews
I was wondering if i should use the same type honey for the backsweetening as i use for the fermentation.. would there be a noticeable difference if i used a lesser quality/cheaper honey for the fermentation, and use the good stuff for the backsweetening?
Hey there guys I really liked watching the Mango mead today I was wondering what size stopper do you use
I believe ours are 6.5. The Little Big Mouth Bubblers come with their own stoppers which are a different size.
Thank you very much I wasn't 100% sure
Not sure if it's been brought up, but Immersion blender, for ease of mixing and aeration.
Sure if you want.
Great video! I agree, I don’t like “persnickety’ either. 😂 Perhaps the word you were looking for was “discerning”. Lol.
Just a heads up: I love the idea of drying chestnuts and making my own tannins-but just realized that there might be an allergy aspect for those with nut allergies like my kids. Gonna stick to tea. (Ugg...And check my commercial wine bottle labels)
Commercial wineries use actual Oak for tannin, unless it's really cheap goon wine, which you shouldn't be drinking anyway :)
Now we all want a brew with a babyruth. I'm not holding my breath on that one. a dual 9, that is high praise
Your videos are awesome.
Thank you!
Could you instaed of useing the hydrometer in this case, take a certain volume and wiegh it?
You guys have earned my sub!
Thank you!
I started this recipe on 10/29/23. Only thing I did different, I added frozen cherries. 11/8/23 I took a hydro reading. It was .992. I racked it off the cherries and gunk . Now, I'm letting it sit for a week before taking another reading, and then I plan to back sweaten and pasteurize.
I’ve seen people clarify juices with gelatins or agar agar, would that help counteract the issue with getting an original gravity in a project like this? I imagine it would also help having less sediment and loss when racking.
At 52:06, just curious why the airlock contents looked almost amber colored. Did you use a spiced rum for the airlock media, or did some stuff get up inside the lock?
Probably scotch. If the airlock overflowed at any point we clean and refill.
Can y'all try to do an American pawpaw mead/wine/cider? I haven't seen anyone do anything with one of these epic fruits.
I have added it to "The List"!
Making this week
I’ve been looking for a mango recipe!! You guys are the best I’ll be sure to try this myself. Also I’ve been doing your easy beginner recipe. I’ve noticed the airlock has almost completely stopped it’s only been about 5 weeks and I don’t think it’s done. I didn’t have a hydrometer when I started it so I don’t have an OG but I am planning on taking a reading and waiting a week but I’m not sure if I should wait to take the first reading. Some help from the best would be great thanks!
As your airlock activity has stopped I would go ahead and take a reading as soon as your equipment arrives. Doing the week apart readings will certainly help you know if your brew is done or not. Then comparing those readings to your recipe should tell you if your brew is done or stalled.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you and do you know what a stall would look like. I got around 1.040 for the first reading.
I like using liquid tannin in secondary
Head up just bought the same 🥭 mango juice from Costco Tallahassee for $3.99 on sale go buy it now. I'm going to have to try and make this.
Next time use Kveik Voss as your yeast and ferment it hot. Like 90-105F hot. Give it lots of Fermaid O. That yeast throws off some great tropical fruit flavors and sweetness. A dry mead (0.994) can still taste sweet.
Try mixing the tannin powder with juice in a small cup, that should solve the issue of clumping.
Sure. It foes dissolve in all on it's own though.
If you prefer using fresh fruit, I would recommend using fresh mangoes including their skin. My base recipe is normally 1.9kg of honey for a 5L batch (and 100g raisins only if I'm not adding other fruit). And I usually use whole fruit, and leave them in until the brew is ready for racking (I have a hop sock which i put the racking cane tube into before placing it into the demijohn I'm racking into). [I also don't usually adjust the honey unless I'm adding something that has added sugar.]
For my mango batch, I used 2 medium-large mangoes. I chop the mango flesh up into small enough pieces to fit through the demijohn neck, discarding the seed.
I've tried this recipe both without the skin and with the skin, and with the skin actually has a much better mango flavour (as opposed to without, where the fruit flavour is a bit washed out).
PS Thank you very much Brian and Derica for all your videos 🙂. When I was first getting into mead making, you were the only resource I could find that didn't add a whole bunch of additives that come in packets. And you continue to inspire my new mead ideas!!
Hey do you know if there is any mild issues with using fresh fruit?
Yes. You want to make sure there is no chance of infection by using camden tablets 24 hours before adding yeast to the fruit.
@@CitySteadingBrews same for dried out fruit?
Not usually. Dried fruit is naturally preserved.
@@kylieford546 I've done over a hundred meads with probably 75% of them using fresh fruit, with yeast being the only additive (aside from honey and water) and I haven't had any problems so far. I actually find it seems to ferment better with fresh fruit. [And even better when I use mulberries from the tree in my backyard, as I suspect there are also natural yeasts on the fruit that kick in, but am yet to test that theory in a batch without adding any yeast :-D ]
Noting that some fruit may cause the mead to take a little longer to clear (eg pear). But mine have always cleared eventually. [I usually let them clear after bottling as I don't have enough room/gear to leave them in the demijohn for that long and I also quite happily drink them before they've cleared :-) ]
Glad it turned out well. Always had the worst luck with mango and pear nectars. They have that gross, sour, spoiled flavor and aroma after brewing. Just stopped using it after awhile. Stick to my super amazing recipe for blueberry mead.
What can we say but, "another Great recipe"👍.
Living in south Florida, I've acclimated myself to the smell of overripe mango and have purposely stayed away from it for this very reason, it takes days to clear the air from the sickeningly sweet aroma 🤣😅. So I thank you, and will try this with one adjustment. I think I'm going to separate the sediment from the mango puree first, (with one week and P.E.) before fermentation. Should help with a "more accurate" SG reading at the beginning of fermentation👍😁❤️
And might help to boost the honey flavor at the Finnish.
Perfect timing its just about to be mango season and im planning to make mine with fresh mangoes
Ps. do you think keeping the peal in would affect it positively? our mangoes are quite fragrant and id like to maintain that in the final product ( i use E118 as that's all i have )
Mango peels contain a chemical that can make you sick. Never consume mango peels or use them in any preparation, fermentation or other.
@@eddavanleemputten9232 i did not know that thank you . but we indians do use mango peals in our oil based pickels ( they are made with unripe still sour mangoes) and they are eaten with the peals after prepared
I'd say it would increase the risk of wild yeast and bacteria on the peels if you don't cook them or something, but other that it maybe going sour or funky you could do a split batch to test if it works before committing to potentially loosing a whole batch
@@Carlos-Mora - Using mango peels is not advisable. Mango peels contain urushiol, the same compound that is in poison ivy and poison oak. Throw them out. Don’t use, don’t boil. Unless you want to risk getting very ill. They also contain very bitter compounds, which means you don’t just risk your health, you risk spoiling your brew. Add to that the fact that commercially available mangoes are heavily treated with chemicals (pesticides and whatnot). Producers do not take into account the peel being consumed as it typically isn’t (as opposed to apples, cherries, pears, etc).
If you’re positive you’re not sensitive to poison oak and never will be, AND if you like bitter things, AND you don’t mind consuming pesticides, it would be a different matter. But ask yourself the question: even if you don’t mind, would you serve it to people you like/love?
Personally, I’d rather not. If I want more mango flavour, I’ll add more mango. Cheaper than a potential hospital bill or being racked with guilt.
How to take accurate og reading in such cases - just use a larger graduating cylinder, say 250ml instead of the 100ml being used here. Or, if you have enough depth and wide mouth in your fermenter, put the hydrometer in the must.
The sugars haven't leached out so an accurate reading really cannot happen.
I'm really glad so many people like mango, so there's less for me. I really do not like mango at all, and nowadays, you can't get away from it. So many flavor combinations I find sound really good until I hit mango in the name or ingredient list. So, go for it, folks. Use up all the mango you can.
When you pour the sample for the hydrometer back into the brew, is it ok to do that later into a brew, say about 20 days? Or should it just be drank/discarded?
I’m just worried about introducing oxygen into the brew, but not sure if it’s really that big of a deal.
Do it carefully and it shouldn't be a problem. It's more of an issue if the tube and hydrometer weren't sanitized really.
@@CitySteadingBrewsAlright I’ll make sure to be careful when adding it back, thank you! I really appreciate the reply.
Many people add sugar and milk to cover up (mask) the bitter tasting acids in coffee. An old trick to making the smoothest tasting cup of black coffee is to add a pinch of powdered eggshells. A little goes a long long long way to bringing the ph up to about 7. One can still sweeten and or add milk if they absolutly must have milk and sugar but they wont have to do it to cover up the bitterness.
For a project like this video, It would be great to add powdered eggshell after the first racking where you can stire in 1/4 teaspoon of powered eggshell and let it settle till the next racking. Or maybe add a little more as The calcium carbonate in the eggshells will also assist in clarifying.
My technique to prepare, sterlize, and powder eggshells.
1) collect a pound or so of eggshells.
2) grind them in a blender with water for about a minute.
3) dump everything into a large pot.
4) apply multiple rinses adding water swirl and drain to remove suspended powered milky eggshell and eggshell membrane. You'll have lots of crushed eggshell so don't worry about the suspended powdered eggshell, you're more concerend about removing the membrane.
5) once the rinses are clear and suspended membrane is gone, drain out the water.
6) I then dry it in the pan and stire on top of a hot stove untill they make a slight color change to whiter with a hint of gray while others may put on a tray and put into the oven. When done,
6) grind the eggshells into a powder, and sift with a fine sieve. Still google to see how others do it and decide which is best for you.
I do a pound because i make a lot in one big batch and share with friends and family.
There are easier ways to get something to clear :). Time is normally effective. Gelatin and pectic enzyme too.
@@CitySteadingBrews Sure, but adding calcium carbonate from eggshells is more for buffering the ph with clarifying being a bonus. 😁
@@CitySteadingBrews I would be happy to sent you some, if you would like to try a side by side comparison on two cups of black coffee, one being the control, the other having a pinch of powdered eggshell.
Or just use calcium carbonate.
@@kreynolds1123 thank you but no need. It's the same as calcium carbonate. We have potassium carbonate and use that now.
How do you pasteurized a small mouth fermenter? I've watched the pasterizing of bottles. An do you put it in the bomb shelter?
th-cam.com/video/zWBU3EI-EFo/w-d-xo.html
As wholesome and well explained as always! Two things: I recommend to add (no joke) a/some Habanero(s) into it. The spiciness pairs amazingly with mango (not everyone´s cuppa - sure)! And one question/suggestion if you don´t mind: conical Fermenter especially for this type of brew - thoughts? Thank you as always for the amazing content!
We had a conical but never used it as our sanitizer of choice wouldn't work with it. That being said, sure a conical might have made for a clearer extraction of product, but the "goop" layer was rather significant in this particular brew, so even the mighty conical might have not worked as well as hoped. We can second the habanero addition as we made that combo ourselves: th-cam.com/video/v7btZKSUPSc/w-d-xo.html
@@CitySteadingBrews oohhhhh I missed that one! Shame on me! Thank you!
Don't forget Brian you did add a quart of water. So that'd change the og right?
Probably. It tasted good though :)
@@CitySteadingBrews no doubt.. now this year. You got to make a wine with the cotton candy grapes.
Hey guys I am loving the channel and learning a lot from you. I just started my first mead about a week ago I put in frozen raspberries and I would like to possibly put some more dried raspberries in secondary but I wondered if you guys think I can use freeze dried fruit in place of dried fruit? Is there a difference? Whats your thoughts.
Before I get to far in this video. I bought this juice and made wine. It made the most wild cloudy looking formation in the bottom half from the pectin enzyme. Crystal clear in the top half.
Lol. Yours did it too!!
It happens :)
Love you guys
Mango to me is meh. I don’t like eating it. But in a brew. I did a mango pomegranate wine and it was fantastic. But very pulpy as well. Keep up the great work.
I hope you do a 1 year tasting of this soon!
It hasn't quite been a year yet...
@@CitySteadingBrews according to the published date of Feb 19, 2023 it has been now! I'm just excited as I also made this and I want to see how it might be in a year
Would a refractometer give a better OG reading in this case? OR would you have the same issue with the thick solution?
Refractometers use light refraction so a thicker liquid will cause similar issues.
I've made an apple juice mead. But am having problems. 1st I screwed up. Thought I was weighting 2 lbs of honey, but it was kgs. So I weighted 4.4 lbs of honey. I devolved that in a 1/2 gal of juice. Added peptic enzymes. Forgot the frement O. Added another 1/2 gal of apple juice. Mixed well an took a hydrometer reading. That's when I caught the honey wt mistake. I then poured about half into another 1.4 gal fermenter. Added 1/2 a gal off apple juice to the original fermenter an 1/2 gal cherry juice in 2nd fermenter. Half a packet of 212 in ea.
Glad you caught your mistake!
Hi, I love all your content and have a couple of brews on the go! All I have for bottling is a mega maid, is there any reason there would be an issue other than it being tedious to bottle using mega maid? Thanks in advance!
Tedious and it could oxidize the brew.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank-you so much for the reply! Got myself an auto siphon
On another note. I don't care how long it takes for you to make a good vid
Hey dudes, just currious if it is possible to reuse yeast between batches? Is that a thing?
It is a thing, but a rather annoying and unpredictable thing, thus why we never produced a video on it.
Was curious what your experiences are with different forms of juices with heavy "goop". I recently purchased a Papaya juice that was heavy on goop, I did 3/4 gallon Apple Juice with 1/4 Gallon of the Papaya juice. After one week of fermenting, the airlock was all but finished up, but nearly 50% of my carboy was lees/settled goop.
In these situations, do you let it sit longer? Or is that as low as the goop will get after fermentation? I racked it and ended up with about 80 Fl Ounces, which isn't a huge deal to me. But I expect to run into similar situations in future brews and was curious if there's a better way to handle such excess goop.
They all tend to settle out, some leave a bit more lees is all.
So when you are pasteurizing things doesn't the temperatures start getting to the distillation temps and cause the bad alcohols that evaporate off and fall back in to the liquid become a bad thing.
Nope. 140f is very low.
The 'bad alcohols' evaporating, condensing and falling back in, or the 'bad alcohols' not evaporating and staying in makes absolutely no difference. Plus, the amount of 'bad alcohols' is VERY small. By the time you've consumed enough of them to become an issue you've died of regular alcohol poisoning multiple times.
If you're distilling and are mainly drinking the foreshots and heads THEN you potentially have a problem.
This kinda makes me want to do this but add Scotch bonnets,
It's been my experience in watching your video's, that whenever you use orange blossom honey, that is when you taste grapefruit?
That is a possibility, we haven't made the correlation as Bri seems to find it often.