How to Make Mead at Home - EASY FULL Honey Wine Process
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Brew Your Own Mead - Make Honey Wine at Home - FULL Process
How to Make your First MEAD. Simple First Timer Mead Recipe. From Fermentation to inebriation, or start to drinking. Mead isn't so difficult to make as some might lead you to believe. It's really quite easy to make your first mead at home. This beginner mead recipe uses ingredients you can probably find at your local grocery store. Make sure you make mead with a good quality honey though, as the old saying "garbage in, garbage out", still applies.
While this is a beginner mead recipe, it's still one of my favorite meads, and I still make it, exactly like we do in this video, simple mead does not mean bad tasting mead. Sometimes, simpler is better. Can you alter this recipe? Of course. It's a guideline for making your first mead, but you can tailor it to suit your needs as you learn how it works. That said, we urge you strongly to follow it as closely as possible your first time or two making mead for yourself as there's a few concepts that are important to understand before branching out and experimenting.
Happy MEAD making!
Ingredients:
3 lbs Honey or 1.36 Kilograms (we used Orange Blossom, but Clover or Wildflower would work well too): amzn.to/3ou8d1p
1 cup steeped Black Tea: amzn.to/3JbmN67
1/4 - 1/2 of an orange Zest (we used orange zest that we dehydrated)
1 teaspoon Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast: amzn.to/3uuJq12
2 ounces or 57 grams Raisins (make sure they are oil and preservative free, we used Sun-Maid and chopped them up): amzn.to/3J8cpf8
Water (we used filtered tap water that has the chlorine removed, you are looking to add enough until your mixture goes up to the shoulder of your fermenter)
Beginner Mead Tasting (My First Mead) ONE YEAR LATER!: • Beginner Mead Tasting ...
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1 Gallon Fermenter with Airlock: amzn.to/3rthTeu
Bung and Airlock (for those who got the Apple Juice Jug like we did): amzn.to/3gtibMg
Scale: amzn.to/35SQomq
The Red Bucket of Sanitization: amzn.to/3rvrjX6
Star San: amzn.to/3GvB3og
Solid Bung #6: amzn.to/34q0dHU
Baster: amzn.to/3rthBUW
Graduated Cylinder: amzn.to/3LfFneY
Hydrometer: amzn.to/3B3qfMY
Belgian Tasting Glasses: amzn.to/3HBHbwH
3 Liter Fermenter: amzn.to/3rx5q9T
Auto Siphon: amzn.to/34j7FEI
Bottling Wand: amzn.to/3ur882s
Screw Top Wine Bottles: amzn.to/3Lg87V6
Glencairn Glasses: amzn.to/3skCmBt
Odin's Brewery t-shirt: city-steading....
Well That's Neat t-shirt: amzn.to/3HqDoSR
Flash t-shirt: amzn.to/34AcPMs
Slytherin t-shirt: amzn.to/3uoGfIm
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City-Steading Brews t-shirt: city-steading....
Ireland t-shirt: amzn.to/3uqxMV7
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I'll climb on this train. I made this recipe earlier last year. It was quite cloudy right up until it wasn't. Gave a bottle to my son who shared it with a buddy that is training to be a sommelier. His buddy could not get over the fact that it was made with 'mere bread yeast'. This really does finish up quite well - a bit sweet, but very nice regardless. Will be making again - this or a version with a Lalvin yeast (don't want to challenge the experts too much). Thanks for sharing.
I have been brewing mead for a few years thanks to you guys. I guess I can sound a bit harsh in some of my comments but thats mostly because I'm not a native speaker. So today I'll try to sound a bit more positive 😁 you guys are great! Your philosophy that brewing should be uncomplicated and fun really helped me. No magic required. I just wanted to learn how to brew and be done with it but thanks to your way of doing things I keep coming back for more videos. You have really added value to my life with this skill set. I really appreciate it! Thanks!
Happy to have helped :)
Yea we
@@amandacothran2084what does this mean?
Damn 2 years later and this positivity got me feeling great. I’m going to aim to be like you dude. It’s easy to complain but we rarely praise.
Yea we!
Of I’m not mistaken this is a re-issue of the first mead video you already posted, right? It’s a wonderful recipe and thank you for re-issuing it as a start-to-tasting video. Perfect for any beginner to get into mead making and it answers most of the beginner’s questions. It’s a nice incentive for someone to get their feet wet and into home brewing of meads, wines and ciders.
My blueberry mead is quietly chugging along. Airlock sniffer that I am, it.s beginning to smell like wine and the colour is GLORIOUS. So happy… Yesterday I cracked open a bottle of my dry-to-semi-dry passionfruit mead just after dinner. It’s wonderful and I really would like to know if you’ll be doing a passionfruit mead or wine anytime soon. How are your passionfruit plants doing?
I’m also wondering if you’d ever consider using kiwifruit. They’re on offer quite often at the supermarket… but quite acidic so I’m wondering how you’d plan your recipe.
Yup!
I really like this format. It's nice to see you have worked out how to show the complete process in a pleasing manor in one video. I'll be making this again in the coming weeks.
That particular honey cost over $78 here in Texas, so I'll stick to the local honey at about $63 (12lb).
As always, thanks.
Trying to put some of the older content together this way. Not all of it works well this way but this was a key series imo.
Started my first batch yesterday after watching this video. Exact same recipe. Just wanted to thank you guys for making this soo easy.
You are welcome!
Ooo how's it going so far?
Again. I LOVE this series. The only one I can think of thats better than this one, is the one "When Brian was about to shove down the autosiphon into the cardboy and Derica shouted "NNNNoNoNo!""
If you don´t know what I am writing about, search for it, its worth the effort.
@B&D: 💖
I’m just starting out brewing and I love your channel I’ve been binge watching all your videos!! I mead them!!
Welcome aboard!
I just got to say I love the turbo bucket and every time she says it!!! it makes me smile so don't stop saying it please very important to make people smile.
I made my first mead. My process was very basic I didn't use any fancy equipment. I just used a 1.5 litre bottle of Fiji water( because I thought the bottle looked cool),400g of honey, raisins and Fleischmanns yeast.
I put everything in the Fiji water bottle(plastic) and used a balloon with a few holes in it as my air lock system.
I didn't take any readings or anything but I hope it turns out okay. Since I have never had Mead it will be the best one I will have ever tried. Wish me luck.
I'm about to start my first batch, and I'm totally using Fiji water but using a fermenter.
Thanks for this. I've tried it recently but using wine yeast, nutrient and a jar made for food fermentation (Kilner) because it has a wide neck. I racked straight from the first fermentation into bottles with swing ceramic caps. I left the caps on but unclamped just so whatever might be still going on in there could burp if necessary. Buckwheat actually tastes quite nice - but maybe that's just me.
I've been getting into making home made wines and wanting to distill as well slowly over the past year or so, and you guys have been some of the people that have really helped me learn and go forward in this. Thank you.
I can't wait to get started you guys are awesome thanks
Happy to help!
Started mine last night Thank you guys
I'm on it watched videos. Binge watched all week got brewing vessels Friday. Got 3 gallon batches going within 6 days of watching sll your info good stuff 👍
Your videos are fun. Informative keep up the good work guys. 👏
I really enjoy it when you get "descriptive"👍!
Some may call it a rant.
Whatever you call it, I hope it's contagious.
Creative time spent is a luxury 😁👍🙏
Thank you!
I just started "My First Mead' yesterday following this recipe pretty much exactly. I used some Red Star yeast from a previous brew instead of bread yeast. It started bubbling pretty quickly.
One comment on your equipment links, I got a 100ml cylinder like the one linked here. I find it worked great at the start of my first cider brew. But when the fermentation was over there wasn't enough liquid to float the hydrometer. I decided to test it with water to see if it would go to 1.000. That is when I realized the volume wasn't enough to float it. I would get at least a 150 or 200ml for the Brewers Elite hydrometer. The BE kits seem to have 250ml 'test jars'. I noticed most of the City Steading videos use larger jars/cylinders as well.
Interesting… we used the 100ml cylinder for a long time with no problems but I do prefer a larger one.
Hey guys I just made and drank some of my first mead. Traditional and was able to yield a 13.4% abv. Made a small 1 gal batch using 3lbs of honey. 7 16oz bottles full. It was a big hit. Thank you for all the information
A big thanks for also putting metric measurements
I have been watching your channel and trying some different brews for a couple years. This one threw me a bit. I can’t remember which basic mead video it was but I posted here because it’s the newest. Here is the build:
3 pounds of Kirkland raw honey
1 decaf tea bag ( decaf yuck! it’s all I had lol)
1 gallon spring water
1 packet of 71B
Primary started on 5/27 original SG was 1.103
June 9th SG was 1.060 added nutrient and swirled
June 28 SG was 1.030 put it back and basically forgot about it
Today I pulled it and it was 1.024. That’s 4 months!
Have you ever had 71 B fail? No part of this fermentation was very active.
Wonder if the yeast was bad or if it stalled/ slowed
Could be a bad packet of yeast.
16:00 important to mention, the rubber stoppers come in different sizes. I don't know how those sizes work but that's the first "oh" I made when I went to get one
Many fermenters will tell you what is the best size stopper for it. Most of ours work best with a 6.5 stopper.
@@CitySteadingBrews even the ones that come with apple juice or olive oil?
Ok guys I just did this mead, the blueberry mead, and the apple cider tonight! The meads are bubbling after an hour so I'm super duper excited!! Thank y'all for the videos and giving me the confidence to try this out!!!!
Yay! Happy Brewing!
I'm making my very first brew using this recipe right now (started 8/12) and I'm very excited because it has gone remarkably well. No strange colors or smells. I just took a second gravity reading and I'm surprised at how well the yeast did. If I took my readings correctly, I'm looking at a brew with 12.2%ABV. This is well beyond my expectations. I'll take another reading next week and I may be racking this brew. I'm very happy with this recipe so far, very excited for the next step, and very thankful for the wealth of information in your videos that has made this process SO EASY! Thank you!!
So I finally got all the equipment but the graduated cylinder. I've been watching you guys for about a year or so and I'm really looking forward to making my first mead. I plan to make a gallon for my upcoming wedding and I have time to make a test brew before I brew the mead for the day with aging. I appreciate all the information you guys provide it's insightful and entertaining as well! Thank you again guys!!!
I so like your video's. I've been making mead for about 20 years now. Starting with a cola bottle as a fermentation vessel with a punctured balloon as a airlock, I know really prison like. But now I'm making about 5 liter of mead every few months and every time its different.
You showed a really nice basic recipe here which can be done by everyone which may become a starting point for many a journey.
P. S. I. Really like your faster style of content next to your, both of you ofcourse, normal content.
Hey guys!
Firstly I would like to thank you for all the content. I've been following your videos for weeks. You are amazing.
Forgive me for my English.
It's my first time doing all this stuff and I'm having so much fun! Thanks to you guys :)
I've already made the Wine, raisin, and orange peel hydromel and ginger hydromel.
I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem if anyone can help me:
1- My mead readings are coming out well above those shown in the video, and I am following all the steps, rewatching the videos several times. mead with raisins and oranges was 1,220 and ginger mead was 1,200.
2- I am using 3 pounds of honey measured on the scale because the jar where it says 3lb had only 2.4 pounds. And you teach in the videos that it needs to be exactly 3 pounds. Maybe this is what I'm doing wrong?
Did I lose both meads?
3- Another interesting fact, I used 71B for the ginger mead and after 12 hours the fermentation was very weak, almost 0. Same with the raisin mead, with another yeast. Nothing compared to wine which is crazy! hahaha
Thank you very much for all the hours of teaching and laughter, success to you. 🙏
Not sure what to tell you here. Seems there is a discrepancy in tour measurements.
@@CitySteadingBrews I know right? As I said, I rewatched it several times to understand what I did wrong, even the equipment that I used was bought by using the links in your descriptions, same brands, sizes, etc. The Honey I bought from a beekeeper in Montverde.
Well.. let's see in two weeks I'm gonna do the second reading from both Meads and the wine.
Thank you very much for all your support 😃
1.220 is WAY higher than expected… not enough water?
@@CitySteadingBrews I know, is way higher, I saw some comments here and no one got close to 1.2 that's why I'm worried and came to ask you guys what I did wrong. 😕
-Same quantity of water, I did every step watching, pausing, and rewatching to not make any mistakes. The only reason that I can imagine is the 3lb pure honey measured by the scale, which is almost 0.6 lb more than just using the 3lb honey jar. And the scale is okay, I did the measure other stuff to ensure that it was okay.
Thank you!
Are you sure it's 1.220 and not 1.120?
First off, I would like to start by saying thank you for all these instructional videos. After watching them and playing a few games, like Valheim for example, my wife and I thought it would be cool to try and make our own mead. This would have been a great idea but we think I bit off more than I could chew at my current knowledge level. We attempted to recreate a mead from Valheim which contains blueberries and raspberries. So in our attempt, we used 2.5-2.6 lbs of honey, 6 ounces of blueberries, 6 ounces of raspberries and roughly 1 gallon of water. After we mixed it together, we took an initial gravity reading which came to 1.09. We capped it off and stowed it in a closet to make sure it was safe and secure from our curious cats. Today marked the 1 week of the fermentation, and we took our second gravity reading. It went from 1.09 to 1.05, so it appeared to be fermenting well but wanted to rack it from its initial 1 gallon carboy to another due to the amount of sediment on the bottom. After doing so, we noticed that there was a substantial amount of headroom in the new container. So long story short, we were curious if it is ok to add more water at this stage to minimize the headroom?
Sediment at the bottom is a normal part of the process. So there was no need to rack it at that time. Many of the yeast will settle out of solution along with other solids and create sediment on the bottom. Racking brews early can lead to a stalled fermentation as you may remove too much of the yeast colony. Here is a video that goes over that concept further: th-cam.com/video/hsOd9rWRcSU/w-d-xo.html If your brew is still fermenting then the additional headroom might not be too much of a worry. You can carefully add something like glass marbles (that you sanitize first and don't drop in there as you may break your fermenter) to limit the headroom. You can also add more liquid, but this will change your ratios. As long as you are aware of that and continue forth with a brand new gravity reading as your baseline, then you should be ok. That said, it will be very difficult to make an educated guess as to what your final ABV is.
@@CitySteadingBrews Awesome! I appreciate the help.
If l might make a suggestion, another way to mix your ingredients is to use a wide mouth container (like a pot) and stir it together and then transfer it into the smaller mouth jug. It can help a beginner or a clumsy person like me not drop the jug
I've tried a few of your recipes, this one so far is my favorite. Made it twice now and just committed to a five gallon batch.
I attempted Viking Blod and got the WORST off flavors imagined, the Acerglyn was good, the Metheglin stalled at 8%...but my initial gravity was 1.130, both the apple wine and Cyser were ok but will need to age.
I used Lalvin ec1118 and bread yeast for the basic Mead and I too liked the bread yeast better. FYI, my clearest product thus far has been bread yeast derived.
Bless you both and thankyou for being so inspirational.
I want a t-shirt that says "Want more alcohol from your brew? Drink two glasses."
Great idea for a tshirt!
Will buy
Thanks for your videos team! I made my first meads today, this one, a JAOM and a 'traditional'. Looking forward to seeing his they turn out!
Love your video and the options that you layout for the beginner.
This video touches everything. So well done. Both of y'all seem like such fun people. Thanks for the info. I just made my second batch ever. I'm two weeks in on the first. Might start another in two more weeks. Definitely caught the bug. Thank you both for being the people you are. 😊
Awesome! Thank you! Happy Brewing!
Thank you
Just got my first attempt at making Mead going, I decided to try it after watching this video. Great explanations, clear steps, and enthousiasm. I will edit my comment in about 7 weeks to let you know how it is going :D
Wonderful! I hope all goes well for you!
Can you mash the raisins up run them through a food processor to make it easier to be used?? I tend to finely mash everything I ferment, cause to me it seems to get the most out and I find it increases the alcohol and enhances the taste.. If you believe I am wrong, let me know.. Also I always use spring water, We have a well and the source in an underground spring, we had it tested several years ago and was given a big thumbs up, it has all the right minerals (and no chlorine).. Also instead of racking, can't you just filter it?? I just dabble at it, but would like to do more, since I am retired and have lots of free time.. LOL.. Thank you for sharing..
I love Mead. Going to make a pumpkin Mead next September
My cyser is 3 weeks old mmmm thx for showing us how
I gotta get off my excuses and try this. Though it's gonna have to be red star yeast and orange pekoe tea because that's what I have.
Wish me luck!
Luck! Should be fine.
I very much enjoyed this video and your original first video on making your first mead. Can you do a new video this year making your first mead but using high end yeast and ingredients. Can you use black tea in all your meds for tannins?
You can easily just use a different yeast in that recipe. As for high end ingredients? What do you mean? You can use black tea but we find that wine tannin powder is more convenient.
@@CitySteadingBrews you say in both videos Basic mead. So what would be an advanced mead for a first time mead maker. Like if I made this what should I try and make next?
We have many recipes for mead. Just because it’s a beginner mead doesn’t mean it’s not good and some others that are more ‘advanced’ don’t necessarily come out better. Mead has a very wide range and it’s more about personal taste than anything in what you want to make.
I've been at it for a bit over a year, thanks to you guys. You "Bourbon Bochet" inspired me to do a "ryed" mead. Do you have any thoughts on adding malted rye to a basic or a metheglin?
You guys rock haha you made it an all in one video love it. You both got me into brewing mead by watching your videos you guys do an amazing job!! Thank you for all the knowledge 😁
Brian recycling his fermenter jokes. Lol! Good video guys 👍.
So me and Derica both made the same face and eye contact when she almost dropped the bottle. 😂
This is very educational and fun to watch! I am about to start my first mead but have a question. I have sulfur water at my house. I live in the country on a well. Is it ok to use sulfur water to brew?
If you water has a high sulfur content then it might not be the best for brewing.
I just started this today. 15 min ago haha. But i used a little big mouth bubbler and ec 1118. My og was 1.092. Im expecting to have to back sweeten this a bit.
Another question. When your mead is coming to the end of it's fermentation, and the bubbles in the airlock are about 20 seconds or so apart...when you take the FG reading (to see where it's at)...and mark it down...then let it sit for another week, and take an FG2, if the readings don't come out identical, what's a good point spread that will let you know that chances are good it's safe to bottle? 2 pts? 4 pts? 6 pts? Basically, if there's a point spread between the FG1 reading and the FG2 reading, is it safe to bottle? I'm just curious. I've had activity in my airlock for just shy of 6 weeks and I can't tell if it's still fermenting or just offgassing. Any info would be greatly appreciated....
I have been enjoying your videos on mead. I have a 1 gallon batch of traditional mead that I have racked about three times. It is clearing but tonight upon checking it, I noticed a very fine thin white film on the top of the mead. Is it mold? Should I be concerned or will it clear up as the aging process continues? Thanks for the informative and entertaining videos.
Can you transfer to a bottling bucket with a spigot at the bottom and then slow filter it through a coffee filter into like a 2 gallon wide mouth glass fermentor for the 2nd? Just wondering if it will help take out the "whispies" better. Also want to make sure it doesn't take anything out I would like. I make wine and beer but have been waiting on mead - evidently waiting for this video - so I have a lot of equipment but not sure how they translate between beer/wine/mead.
1- 1 1/2 dried figs chopped fine.... much better than raisins in my opinion.
I really enjoy the videos really informative I started this Mead today and my OG was 1.080 any thought on if that is in a good starting range
It's fine.
Curious: For the final rack to bottles, were the bottles and racking siphon cleaned with StarSan, or just cleaned/rinsed? I know we need CLEAN when starting a ferment, but is that same level of clean required when you do the final rack? I ask because the bottles got tipped and a solution emptied... I had to assume it was water rinse, not StarSan. I want to get this process RIGHT, thus the question. ;-) THANK YOU!
Everything gets sanitized.
Hi guys! Great Videos. I have a question. Does the amount of headspace matter in the second bottle that you siphoned into? I have 2 1 gallon bottles and after seeing the video, Im worried that it will be too big.
Have you ever tried substitute extra fruit for honey and add extra fruit? I only added 1lb honey and extra fruit to substitute the sugar…2days in and gurgling like a champ, but will it go dry?
You will need a lot of fruit. It just doesn’t have as much sugar as honey.
Should I expect much activity in secondary in regards to the airlock?
No. Should be really slow since fermentation is done and it’s just off gassing.
Hi, this is veey insightful! I was following your steps using forest honey, however my hydrometer did not float. After adding yeast and putting bung, I notice that the airlock is bubbling. Can you advise what should I do? Thx!
You need to get the hydrometer floating or you can't get a good reading. How much honey did you add per gallon?
@@CitySteadingBrews at first I put 1.4 kg, but after I saw it did not float I add 50g more, but still do not float. Hydrometer also not floating on pure water
Ok, stupid question time....
Do you somehow sanitize the fruits that go in the mead? Did you somehow sanitize the raisins...and how did you keep them sanitary while chopping them?
I was wondering this the other day when watching your mandarin orange mead video...and it almost seemed you alluded to sanitizing the whole mandarins first....but I wasn't sure you meant that.
Thank you in advance!!
CC
I've been watching y'all for a long time.. but finally making the dive... I just made this recipe slightly loosely .. large hand full of raisins two, medium oranges peelings, cup of black tea 3# pounds honey.. 1.15 OG... With 71beaset yeast.. if it goes dryish... Am I really looking at 15-18 ABV?!
This was my very first mead. People raved about it. Laughing, at first I thought this was a rerun you snipped into a one parter. But nope, just making more of a tried and true.
finished my first basic mead primary last Sunday, gave it three days to be sure before i racked it the first time and I did not use raisins in mine. gravity was 1.150 at start and going into conditioning gravity was 1.070 so I'm estimating at 10.8 or 11% abv but will recheck when it finishes in a few weeks hope it is cleared up by start of march but will be okay if its not batch should be good have yet to taste it yet
It will be fine, but I would not have racked it at 1.070, as it will take longer to ferment further. That is sweeter than plain grape juice, which is pretty sweet. Your ABV is a little over 11%, but, if you started with an SG of 1.15, you have a potential of over 20% ABV. Unless your using something like EC-1118, then you are going to have a very sweet mead, no matter what you do.
Note that with an SG that high, you were risking a stalled fermentation.
@@johnshaw6702 my yeast was d47 a 13% so its in range to be done and the air lock and lack of bubbles seem to say that was the case and is partly why I waited the extra days before I racked but great advice all the same, so thank you. did not think of it stalling at the time.
@@scoutdylan149 It sounds like it didn't stall. You apparently did everything right, but 1.070 is very sweet. If the original SG was 1.105 it would have been better for D47. I don't use a scale, I just add sugars (sugar or honey) until it reaches the SG I'm shooting for. I do recommend getting the FermCalc application and going with the Duncan & Action calculation for potential ABV (+/- 0.5%). But don't use their sugar weight to volume converter, because it is wrong. (Reality is that that it is closer to 2.25 cups/lb, not 1.8 cups/lb)
Enjoy your new hobby, I have.
Oh, by the way, FermCalc has a paper online showing where they got their calculations. There is also the British documents that provide the means to calculate the potential ABV. For about 1.098 to 1.100 SG it would be (1.100 - 1.00) x 135 = 13.5% ABV. Extrapolating, your potential ABV would be about 0.15 x 139 = 20.85%.
Sorry, I think I'm a natural teacher. I tend to get carried away with my explanations. But on the plus side, that is why I love this channel. They don't make assumptions about what you know and don't know.
Love your videos. I made this mead on 1/28/22. Racked in 3/26 after hydro readings stopped moving. I have since racked two more times hoping to help it clear. Seems like the bread yeast will not settle correctly. Any suggestions or just deal with a bit of sediment? It remains pretty cloudy. Thanks to you both.
You can try cold crashing if you have the space: th-cam.com/video/M3cGti0-2jQ/w-d-xo.html
@@CitySteadingBrews unfortunately no space to cold crash. I think I’m going to rack one more time and then bottle. Thanks for the quick response.
First of all, thanks a lot for the video! I'm very new to all this and i've been looking to make my own mead for a while now. Your process is by far the easiest and less expensive one i've found so far so i decided to make my brew by following your instructions.
I got a few questions though, the only fermenter i have is a 30L plastic bucket (glasswear is way too expensive and unfortunately this kind of big bottles isn't sold in stores in Switzerland), and if i understand everything properly i can't just fill a sixth of it and call it a day (that much headspace is bound to cause problems right?) so i will have to scale this up quite a bit. I'm guessing i can go ahead and scale everything up to get to my desired volume, but i remember watching one of your videos where you said that the yeast amount shouldn't be scaled up. Is there a limit to this or should i scale it up a bit?
Unfortunately for me, i have yet to find a store or vendor who sells Fleischmann's in the country, but i found some who sell Mangrove Jack's M05 for pretty cheap. I assume that changing the yeast from bread yeast to M05 would change the recipe entirely, so i'd like to know if you have ever heard of any bread yeast that is close to Fleischmann's but is sold in Europe?
I have some concern about the headspace too, i heard that keeping 20% of the fermenter's volume for headspace would be a good idea, but i prefer asking you before making a mistake.
Sorry for the long comment, and thanks again for the videos!
If it's food grade plastic it "should" be fine, but I much prefer glass if you can manage it.
I have been wondering about bread yeas
What is recommended instead of raisins ?
I am looking at doing this recipe as one of my first batches. I am also thinking about making some changes to a second batch. Looking at this video you talk about using different yeasts and adding Fermaid O. I was thinking about using Red Star Cuvee (from Man Made Mead's, Ultimate Yeast Test video). I am planning on scaling it up for the 1.4 Gallon fermenter. Do you have any suggestions on how much Red Star Cuvee and Fermaid O I should use?
We tend to just use a whole packet up to 5 gallons.
Love your channel, been a follower for a while. My question is this... I understand that different honeys give different characteristics to mead. I just recently found out about this honey from New Zealand called Manuka. I was just wondering if you guys had heard of it...and if so... is it a good honey to make mead with? I'm asking because I want to try making darker meads using honey like Buckwheat, and I discovered Manuka just a bit ago and was just curious. Thing is, Manuka is very spendy, and I thought before I go and put out a ton of money on this honey, I wanted to know if it would be any good to make mead with. Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I'm sure Manuka would make a fine mead but we haven't used it as it is prohibitively expensive for many of our viewers.
Thank you so much for these really nice guides. I am currently looking into getting stuff to start my own first batch, but was wondering one thing: how much volume difference is there usually taken up by the lease after the first fermentation?
to clarify: about how big should my first vessel be if I want to use a 5L vessel for secondary fermentation? the difference between your 1 gallon and 3L is +-0,8 L but is that the true number? I want to prevent buying a to small 1st vessel.
edit: corrected to US gallon
regards, a new brewer
This varies greatly from batch to batch. If you are not utilizing any solids in your brews then the lees shouldn't take up much space at all. If you are utilizing solids then you will find that your final volume will be significantly less than your original.
when you ferment in a glass jug like that, what do you rack into?
My understanding is:
(1) Primary fermentation in your main jug;
(2) Rack to secondary for clearing;
(3) Bottle.
Am I missing or adding something?
No, that is correct. We even show that in the video.
@@CitySteadingBrews oh okay I'm sorry; I'll rewatch without skipping around lol
Is the second fermentation absolutely necessary before bottling?
Secondary is primarily for clearing and allowing the unwanted gasses made during fermentation to escape. I suppose it isn't absolutely necessary as long as you are absolutely certain your beverage is done fermenting. In our experience, giving brews time nearly always leads to a better end result.
I recently decided to take a class on brewing alcoholic beverages including wine, beer, cider, mead and low alcohol "healthy"fermented beverages. and I came across a mead called a braggot or Bracket mead which is made from honey and malt or hops. have you ever heard of or had a chance of trying this?
Yep! th-cam.com/video/2i3_oQXqyI8/w-d-xo.html
@@CitySteadingBrews cool beans! thanks for the link watching it now. 😀
I've done this but I used 2 kg of honey as I wanted it to be sweeter and it is, lemon peel and currents but it's turned brown? Can I get an answer as to why, it smells really good.
That is a lot of honey. Likely why it changed color.
Hello from Alaska! I saw your video and thought it would be fun to try making some mead! However I did everything else right and I even bought some yeast nutrient too, but I completely forgot to put it in. I started it on Mo day the 13th, is it too late to put in the yeast nutrient?
I don't believe we even used yeast nutrient in this particular brew so you should be fine. If it is fermenting without issue I wouldn't worry about adding the nutrient at all.
I have a question as I plan to make this. Do you sanitize the raisins in some way? Like, do you put them in the starsan with everything else?
We don't. They are dried, so should be free from pathogens.
What about using craisins. We have ocean spray craisins and I was curious to see if it would be ok...lil worried on introducing mold.
th-cam.com/video/iGVBp_xM9yc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=UOh3JwCrnN1OwK2Q
Just getting into home mead brewing, and saw this video. Great information! In another comment you mentioned commercial yeast…which would you suggest for this mead in particular? Also, do you do anything to make sure residual yeast doesn’t start up again after bottling?
Update: never mind, just had to binge watch your videos. Thanks for the great information!
Couple of quick questions... When you rack it, does the bottle you're racking into and the siphon need to be sanitized as well? also, do the bottles that you put it in to sit need to be sanitized as well? Thanks!
Yes, everything is sanitized.
Hey guys, I have tried to make my first simple mead. It's 2 months old now but it's still bitter. Is it normal and how do you back sweeten it? Good videos as always 🍺❤
Tried recipe in video, tasted when I racked it and it's not sweet at all...tastes like yeasty alcohol, will it get sweeter or did I do something wrong? I put 3lb of honey? Also other bottle has clumps of white mold like stuff floating on top, it's like a skin but it smells like yeast when I fished it out.
Quick question... When you initially pour liquid and introduce oxygen..... Would it be smart to use a mixer or something to introduce more oxygen?
You ‘can’ but it’s kind of overkill imo :)
@@CitySteadingBrews I don't know why that question has been bothering me ... But thanks for clearing that up
Nice all in one video! This is easier to share with friends as a howto video.
I've started my mead following this recipe (excluding the orange) november 25. gravity 1086.
6 weeks later, gravity 1010. Crystal clear. And no foam at all for all that time... (weird)
Racked January 20 with the same gravity (1010). Soon I'll have my first taste I hope.
The fact that i did not see any foam, is that indication of something I need to be aware of?
Nope, as we said, it sometimes happens, sometimes not. Nothing to worry about.
@@CitySteadingBrews awesome thanks thanks for the reply!
I see you use screw top bottles. My question is would you only use glass or plastic bottles work as well?
We like glass, but you could use what you like. Just be certain that the plastic won't leach into your brew as alcohol is a solvent.
@@CitySteadingBrews thanks for the fast response! So do you think black tea is the wiser choice for the tannins as opposed to using say, oak chips? I am new to mead making and have been just reading so much information
Have you used any natural yeast flakes?
If you are referring to Nutritional Yeast then no. They are not active and will not ferment sugars.
Bom dia gostei muito do vídeo mas poderia dizer os ingredientes eu ficaria muito contente
Everything is listed in the description of the video.
What happens if you put in in a small wooden cask the second time around instead of a bottle
Are the raisins like the tea as far as it's not about the flavor it about the tannins? I'm not much for raisins. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks guys
They add some tannins, but mostly flavor and color. It doesn't taste like raisins they just add depth and complexity.
@@CitySteadingBrews ok, thanks. I'll give it a try. I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. I'm about to start my first ever meads . You guys have been such an inspiration. I'll let ya know how it goes
Also I think I missed it. But what is the flavor profile dry or semi-sweet ?
Sweet.
How much honey should I use for a 5 gallon fermentator??
You can simply scale our recipes to any size. Use 5x everything but yeast. Just double the yeast.
I have a question: can I just scale the recipe if I have a really big vessel? My father makes wine so I have a 1000 liters amphora
Yep, everything scales up or down except the yeast as we don't use specific amounts of yeast. Most yeast packets will do up to five US gallons.
Hello! I tried this recipe and I am in 2nd fermentation rn and the mead is really dry. (I think my scale is off so I didn’t put in a full 3 pounds). I forgot to write down starting gravity but I think it was 1.2ish and now it’s 1.00. I want to back sweeten but I’m not sure how much honey I should put in and how to mix it? Should I shake again. I used everything off your Amazon links. Thank you
I would stir rather than shake to avoid oxygenation. We just released a video today on back sweetening that might help: th-cam.com/video/xHbo1LnZnXw/w-d-xo.html
Would you recommend a Brew Demon fermenter for any brewing??
You can use whatever brewing device you like. We have no personal experience with a Brew Demon though we have used a similarly designed brewer and preferred our Glass carboys. Use what works best for you!
have you ever used a blender to mix the honey and water and add oxygen?
No, doesn’t really hold enough… and hadn’t thought of it :)
@@CitySteadingBrews i'm a week into a 7 gallon batch. I was having such a tough time dealing with a gallon of honey that I just said screw it and started trying to do a few ladels into the blender. had to do that like 20 times before I remembered I actually have an emersion blender, both worked really well, i just hope it ends up good. I was considering either oak aging it in a 6 gallon carboy or adding various fruit and or spices to six 1 gallon carboys for aging... not sure yet
You steeped the teabag for 10 minutes? They say after 6 minutes it goes bitter
May have misspoken? Not sure, but now we do 3-4 minutes.
How long can you keep these bottles of mead, my family aren't big drinkers, but we like to experiment and make stuff to try
If bottled and finished properly… 3 years is a safe bet. More is very possible.
This mead turned out amazing for me. I would like to scale it up to a 5 gallon batch. Would you scale up the yeast as well? I used a packet of the active dry bread yeast in mine because that’s what I had. Would the 7g packet be enough for 5 gallons as well?
That should be fine for a 5 gallon batch. In most instances you want 1 gram of yeast per gallon. We like to err on the side of caution and overpitch slightly as with dry yeast in particular you don't know how many of them are viable.
@@CitySteadingBrews beautiful! Thank you so much! This channel has helped me out so much and I’ve finally got one of my friends on board as well. They sent me a picture yesterday where they started a dandelion mead.
Were the bottles pasteurized ?
No, we didn't need to. The brew had surpassed the alcohol tolerance of the yeast.
I do have a question.
I know you've made videos on racking and clarity of the mead. I just commented I think a day or so ago that I just racked for the first time.
I had quite a bit of fruit in this first batch so of course it's cloudy.
Would it work also if you racked it through a cheese cloth? Would that take anything out of the brew itself?
It's helpful for large chunks, but not for sediment.
Hope you're proud of me! Finally got a Hydrometer and everything else needed for taking readings and starting my next brew way right way. Now I just need to learn how to calculate that which I think you said you have a video on. Unless the instructions are accurate that come with the Hydrometer
@@CitySteadingBrews soooo I just racked to start secondary. I took a reading and it's reading 1.000. I'm not understanding what happened. The fermentation started off great and strong. I didn't mess with it much and I used basic ingredients.... I'm not sure what happened. I tasted it and it doesn't taste good at all. Any insight as to what happened?
This happened to my last brew. I used mead yeast this time around. Like I said it started it great so I'm wondering at what point it went wrong.
If it makes sense, it's almost like the alcohol went sour? Or tasted sour?
Have u made a Mead with just honny and raisins been doing some research I found a recipe with just honey and raisins wondering if you guys have made one of like that
This is pretty much that.
@@CitySteadingBrews ty iam starting out found ur channel love it iam making my 1st batch this week I just don't have the orange peal and not using tea those r the 2 things I've noticed that were different in the 2 but I will be trying another batch with those aswell ty so much love ur channel
Im making my first mead ever. But its been bubbling for over a month. Im using lalvin 74b. When does it start to clear for racking.
Its a 3 gallon btw
I started a mead about a week ago but there isnt any foam forming. It is definitely active. I can see the bubbles come through the air lock. Is it normal not to have foam?
It's fine.
Serious question here. After brewing a batch of mead, the inside of my airlock stinks and the smell is just rank. It's one of the plastic S shaped airlocks. What's the best way to go about getting the stink out of your airlock once you're done brewing and are cleaning your equipment? Also, is there any particular special way to do the same with the bung? It's rubber so I'm not sure what the best way to clean it to get the smell off of it is... any info would be GREATLY appreciated.
Many times I have simply soaked them in warm soapy water. You will need to make sure they are filled with said soapy water, otherwise they will float. Might take a day or two. If there are proteins stuck inside you might need a pipe cleaner to get that out as well.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the info. Very much appreciated.
@@CitySteadingBrews Another good method I found for cleaning out your airlock and your bung is to create a solution of baking soda and warm water with a generous squirt of antibacterial dish soap. Let your bung and airlock soak, submerged in the solution for a couple of hours and it takes the stink away.
You know how it smells when you walk into a salon, or are sitting next to someone getting a perm? Is that a normal smell? My brew is only since Sunday, so I wouldn’t think that’s long enough to have it go bad…but…it smells like a perm. Maybe because I used whiskey in the airlock? (From your “if you have a scotch you don’t like” comment…)
Hmm... no it shouldn't smell like a perm. Do you have any other clues that something might be wrong? Any odd formations or colors?
@@CitySteadingBrews No odd colors or looks. I found on a forum this morning what it most likely is. Apparently, when I was supposed to shake the bejesus out of it, I only shook the bejes out of it. I thought I was done, so I shook it for an extra minute. I'm going to try and splash rack it, then add some copper wire, some nutrients and some other goodies to get the hydrogen sulfides out of it. It's my own fault. I was bragging to friends about how easy it is to make, and there are no issues WHAT SO EVER. That'll teach me. lol. Thank you again for taking the time to reply!! I'll update after it either gets fixed...or I start over.
Ok. I’m not freaking out anymore. I took a sample, and it smelled like a cider. Tasted like a sickeningly sweet, carbonated juice. In four days it’s gone from 1.140 to 1.098. I changed the airlock from whiskey to sanitizer liquid.
Didnt mention pasteurizing. Is that essential?
Not necessary if you follow this recipe and method.
@@CitySteadingBrews awesome thanks...watching the spiced metheglin looks really good.