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!
Years ago my brother and dad got into beer making and I wanted to try mead. So I used what ever yeast they had. I did just honey. Long and short of it after we bottled it we lost a one of them in the basement and it sat down there for some two and half years and it was better then any store bought I've tried.
You guys are that cool aunt and uncle that bring homemade pastries and sautéed wild edible mushrooms to the potluck. Thanks for the videos I’m staring my mead today 🤙
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.
Tried my first mead after aging it in a bottle for 2 1/2 months. OMG, better than I was hoping! It has hints of honey and citris in the aroma, and a smooth and subtle flavor of citris and raisins on the tongue. A shout out to City Steading! I scaled their 1 gallon recipe up to 5 gallons.
Last week I took a mason jar, and some condorde grapes i bought at a local farm, crushed them up and put them with an airlock. The berries already had some natural yeast on them so i let it ferment for a week. It tasted like vinegar but had an ok grape taste afterwards as long as i took small sips. Definitely gonna try this next time.
I took the plunge with my first mead today. Followed your recipe, in principle anyway. I used chopped sultanas instead of raisins, about 1.25kg of honey (all I had), black tea, lemon peel, and Fermipan Brown Instant Bread Yeast. My fermentation vessel is a 6-litre water bottle with three litres of water put in the large jug and all the ingredients apart from the yeast placed into the bottle with the remaining 3 litres. A good shake of the bejesus followed by a two-minute to-be-sure-to-be-sure shake and then topped up the musk to about 5 litres, gave it a good swirl and added 1.5 teaspoons of the yeast and placed the lid on PawPaw style. Just checked it now a couple of hours later and it's bubbling away like a beauty. I blew her a kiss, said to her "Be lucky!" and I'll look in again over the weekend. The excess water I just put into an empty coke bottle. I like the ease of your method. Get it all together, chuck it all in except maybe 2 litres of water and the yeast, shake it all about, top up with water leaving a gap of say four fingers to the top, give another shake and add the yeast. Loosen the lid and you are done. What I am hoping is that it doesn't need carbonation. Thank you both for your no-nonsense approach to brewing. I like how Derica tries to hold you back Brian, but somehow you always get the nod. I look forward to tasting this in a month's time. Thanks again 🙏
I think a better thing to say is that it *can* be complicated depending on the flavors, abv, and equipment used. It doesn’t have to be complicated though
Never stop giving information with as much passion that you do. I enjoy hearing the love you have for this. That's why I come here for my information and entertainment.
It's been since 25th of November 2021 since I've made my first 2 gallons of basic mead. Drank most of it with a buddy about 2 weeks ago and it was unlike anything I've ever drank before! Thanks for all of the great info you two marvelous wonders!
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.
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.
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.
I’m finally commenting, I just started my second batch of mead. I made my first one aug 2022. It turned out beautifully. I always come back to this video to get the order right. Thanks!!
Watched your video this morning . When it was a few Seconds Old . Noticed your Older Glasses 🕶️ style . And other stuff . Plus the sweetness of your Brew . 🤔😉🤠 Another GREAT VIDEO !
Did this recipe last year for the first time and as a note, it bubbled for like 3 months. Mead came out really good and I've got 1 bottle left. I used an ale yeast and it came out to around 16% abv. I'm about to start my 2nd batch and am planning on adding vanilla and cinnamon to the recipe just to try it out. Looking forward to the next batch!
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: 💖
Newbie here. So I made this recipe, except for the yeast because I had wine yeast on hand and today racked it to a new Carboy since I believed fermentation was done. Took a reading and it was 18% ABV. Took a small taste and it was very strong but I could taste the potential. Found a website that told you how much water to add based off certain measurements to lower ABV. I added bottled water to get it down to 14%. Now it’s sitting in a new Carboy with airlock. How bad did I mess this up and what can I expect after “watering it down?” Added about 16oz of water. Thanks. You two have budded a new hobby that I didn’t know I needed.
I got my first batch of mead going right now. I looked at a lot of channels for research and this was one of them. My first brew is a traditional and I’m planning on adding in oak chips and lemon peels for some extra flavors. I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll come out
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 wanted I give you an update on my mead so far since you've helped me through my first batch. I racked it for the first time today. I don't have a fancy siphon but I do have a clear tube that I used the old method. I got to taste it doing that. It tasted incredible! I know the alcohol is still young so it doesn't quite have that full body flavor but I know when it's aged a bit it'll taste great. The only thing I had any real trouble with was my air lock kept popping out. I tied it down so it'll stay in. So far it's going great since I did that Thank you for all your help!
Tasted my first bochet mead yesterday. Followed your receipe for it. It's only been 3 months since I started it but it's the best tasting brew I have done so far. Can't wait to taste it in 9 months when it's actually ready! Thanks for all your videos!
You know, I've been a homebrewer for years and I've made Beer, wine, cider and jack of all kinds, but I have never been able to make mead. Weird right? It's been years since I've tried to brew anything since our move but I found my notes the other day, after watching several of yours and "Man Made Mead" videos, I re-read my notes and I think I may have found my mistakes.....not enough honey in the batch (it was lower than a session) and no nutrient....it lost too much of it's antibacterial properties being too thin and nothing extra for the yeasties to stay healthy. So, now with your helpful videos (and they are REALLY good) I've got the itch to give it another try. I'd sold off a lot of my equipment before the move to our much smaller place so I decided to start doing 1 gal batches, cheaper and I can brew more often, but this time I'm getting Fermaid O, diammonium phosphate and Go Ferm. Hopefully this time i can keep it for getting infected. Thank you for the great videos, keep them coming and I'll keep brewing.
Discovered your Page a few days ago. Very impressed with your straight forward approach and the fact that you are not trying to force your Own Brands of goods onto the viewer. Looking forward to learning the Fine Art of Home Brewing. I want to share one small trick I was shown many years ago. I make my own Non-alcoholic Ginger Beer. I had a great Recipe that produced a great drink on a hot day. Then I tried another recipe. It produced a better brew but I had the Dreaded Bottle Explosion Problem. And I do mean Explosions! Under my House I have 12 Feet 6 Inches to the Upstairs Floorboards. The Glass necks of bottles and other Glass was embedded into the Floorboards. Ticking Bombs that Exploded at random with impressive force The solution I was shown was simple. Before Capping use fine Fishing Line to tie a Standard Party Balloon over the Neck of the Bottle. It will fill with the Excess Gas. After Approximately Two Weeks you can remove the Balloon and use your Capping Press to seal the bottle as usual. I now have a superior brew without the Explosions. I did try fiddling with the recipe but it never tasted the same. This trick works a treat!
Fleischmann Dry has yielded spectacular results here. One thing I do is follow the viability confirmation step on the bottle, plus add Fermaid-O. separately. Adding hot tea to must and stirring right before pitching yeast seemed to help things get started. BLOOP! BLOOP! Hey that might make a good T-shirt 😂
I'm so excited! I just got some gear ready to start making some mead. I've been watching a lot of your videos to give me more rounded ideas on what to do. Thank you, folks!
I followed this video to make my first mead. It came out fantastic. I messed up the recipe a little bit, but it still tasted great. I've already started my second batch, with a few modifications made. Thank you guys so much for making this simple to get into.
Just racked mine off the lees and raisins at 5 weeks. Followed your instructions, with the exception of ec1118 yeast instead of bread yeast. If I read my hydrometer correctly, sitting at 14.3% abv. Quite hazy still, tastes incredibly good. Going to let it sit and clear out some more but so far I'm very impressed. Looking forward to sharing a bottle with some friends in a couple months
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.
I came across your channel recently and really enjoyed it although I thought there was no way I could do it. Then I found this video, now I think I’ll give it a go. Thank You
for better or worse i went more creative with my first mead (blueberry lavender) but this video really helped me start, so thank you for all the info!!
I tasted a bottle of this last night. Been in the bottle about a week. Very alcohol forward but can't wait to see what aging does to improve it! My wife is not a mead fan I guess..."tastes like Orange flavored cough syrup". Oh well,more for me I guess. Keep up the good work.
My father homebrewed for many years and got into making mead. He once bought a 50lb pail of orange blossom honey, and invited me to make a 5 gal batch. After primary fermentation, it fermented to a semisweet at about 11.5%. I then racked it into two containers, one I left plain, the other I used blueberries. I don't remember how much, but I think it was about 4-5 lbs of blueberries. That mead continued to ferment out to around 13.5-14%, became more semi-dry, and had a beautiful dark red hue. After bottling, the last few wound up becoming wonderfully effervescent. I haven't made a mead since, but this is definitely starting to give me the itch.
Newbie here. I've been making what I call closet mead (or sometimes backpack mead 🤫) for years now. Only new I needed yeast( which I made from potatoes or fruit or flour) honey and water. Burped my bottles as a goblin would. I know now that I've been making trash can mead. And your videos have inspired me to try a "less raw" approach now. Thank you. Gonna start with what you have done here to the letter. Time to binge your other vids now.
I had to come back to this video just for this comment. I dug my old box of brewing stuff out of the garage, gave it a wash, and ordered some new stuff (gal jugs and starsan). Just to give this a try. While I did follow this recipe I modified it a little by adding a cinnamon stick, a clove, and 8 to 10 allspice berries. Yes Im making it a metheglin. I figured it would be best because I do enjoy spiced rum and south american/mexican spiced coffee. I also did 2x 1gal jars with the first at 1.100sg and the second at 1.050sg. Figure Ill back sweeten the 1.050sg and carbonate to see how that does. Put them down on the 4th and they were fermenting away this morning. Thanks for the videos and the inspiration.
I agree 100% that home made Mead is far better than anything you can buy from a Bottle Shop, I tried a few different commercial versions and nearly didn't bother to make my own Mead as I was not impressed at all, I wouldn't even have served people i didn't like that much a commercial version as I am not that cruel ;) My Wife said don't bother if that's what we will end up with. I thought after watching near 100 videos on Mead making that surely not everyone has no taste buds :) I am glad I tried a one gallon batch as my first attempt, it has now lead to a great hobby and I seem to have gotten more friends and people that didn't come over that often seem to ask are we home a lot more ? Must be my great wit and conversations skills ;). The one great thing I love about making my own Meads is the fact that I can experiment and make a Mead no one else may ever have made. I follow recipes to the letter normally, but with a Mead, there is a lot of things possible, we have some Banana trees in the backyard a week into flowering so will be trying out a Banana Mead in about four months, Banana Rum is great so have high hopes for a Banana Mead :)
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
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
I just found you because I just started brewing beer and wanted to try mead. Such good videos. I love your style. So I am going to make this recipe today. Also my wife and I have been throwing around the idea of starting a TH-cam channel and you’ve inspired me to go ahead and do it.
I like when you talk on every thing you do. the more you do the more i learn every time..so i dont mind one bit if you you do.. like i said before you two are the ones who made this look easy and got me into making mead
The algorithm blessed me back in December. I have successfully made my first mead. I can not read a hydrometer to save me life. I used a Refractometer instead because its easier for me to read. I'm currently fermenting a 2 gallon batch because I liked it so much. Better than the mead I had at a medieval fair festival. Thanks guys! My reading on my 2 gal, doubling your ingredients, was 1.122 specific gravity. I hope that isn't too high.
It's happening!... It's finally happening. I've been back and forth on making mead for a few years now. Stumbled across your videos, and the need to make some returned. So the online orders began: 4x gallon fermenters, 4x airlocks, funnel, hydrometer, yeast, wine thief, 24x swing tops, auto syphon, honey, etc... then today the Star San finally came in. Tomorrow we start our sweet, sweet experiment.
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 😁👍🙏
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.
At around 25:13 at the start of your secondary phase you filled the bottle pretty high. Is that important to do? What if you racked it to a wide mouth gallon fermenter and left a lot of head room? Would that cause any problems?
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 👍
Just started brewing a few months ago and started searching YT for education and inspiration. You guys are amazing love the content, thank you so much 🍻
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.
Hello from Thailand. I just recently got interest in mead. And all I can say is this is the best mead video I found yet. Your video is very educational and also very fun to watch. Definitely gonna try your recipe.
Hi guys just found your channel. iv been brewing for a few years now and one way i de chlorinate my water is to add a campden tablet to the water and leave it for an hour. iv only tried mead once but will be trying it again now iv found you guys. thanks for the vids 😁
Great, timely choice for a reply! I have a gallon of this recipe from this video about 6 weeks along right now and a 1.4 of your vikings blood going on about the same 6 weeks. Such good mentors, Thank you! I wish I could upload a picture here. Blessings!
I’ve been watching your videos for the past couple weeks and my supplies are coming soon! I’m super excited to start making mead, and I can’t thank you guys enough for your help! Thanks for sharing all the knowledge you guys have about the subject! You really break it down and make everything easy to understand!
Really like this video, and the format, showing whole process. Decided to give this mead thing a go. As an English man, my ancestors probably demand it. Salutations to you both. 🍻
I'm literally putting my first mead together as I watch this being careful to follow these instructions as I go!!! My version will be using Saw Palmetto honey (another Florida variety of honey--I have about 50# left over from awhile ago) Also have Viking music playing in the background! Can't wait to taste this one for myself!!
love this channel. for the new people who buy a hydrometer buy one which goes to at least 1.14 specific gravity.( so when u do buy a yeast with a 18% tolerance u can measure to a little bit higher than 18%) the one they link goes to 1.16 that's a great one.
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!!!!
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!!!
Just started brewing meads and juice wines. Thank you for your content. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Big bonus seeing MTG on the shelfs!
For my one gallon batches I have a one Imperial gallon jug that I use as a primary fermenter and I then rack into a US one gallon jug and it takes care of the head space perfectly. Likewise with my 5 gal. batches I have a 6.5 gal. carboy that is my primary fermenter and five gallon carboys to age in.
Mead is super easy - famous last words? My first batch is going great. I don't want to give recommendations though, since I'm a newbie at it and am probably rounding off some of the corners of the best practices. I'm just here to cross my Is and dot my Ts... XD Cheers!
We are making our first batch of "simple" mead tomorrow...hope we can wait for it to go from good to GREAT! Thanks for all of the detailed information.
adding raisins main purpose for me is to prevent it foaming up into the airlock in a vigorous fermentation. Having that layer of raisins at the top really helps.
Hello and thank you for your videos, I started my first Mead yesterday. It's active and smells great thru the air lock but the one thing I didn't expect is most of the raisins are floating on top. Is this normal and will they settle to the bottom on their own or should I begin steering? Thanks again.
Thank you for this video. Been struggling with my brews. Only had one successful batch and it was very lacking. It was a cyzer. I will try your recipe. I have not used the tea or raisins. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Thank you so much for this video, I finished making my first mead yesterday, and it is delicious, my friends and family really liked it and all just said, "More please." Again thank you for this because it really shows how easy it is to make!
I will have to try raisins again one of these days. I didn't have a very good experience last couple times I used them. The fermentation went way too fast and I want to blame it on the raisins but it could have been other reasons I suppose.
29:35 holy cow , in the UK I can get a 750ml bottle of commercial mead for £5 ($6.55 as of today -28th march 2022) , but I'm making my own , following your guide , 'cause it's more about the journey ✌️ Thanks guys❤️
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!
Years ago my brother and dad got into beer making and I wanted to try mead. So I used what ever yeast they had. I did just honey. Long and short of it after we bottled it we lost a one of them in the basement and it sat down there for some two and half years and it was better then any store bought I've tried.
Definition of a happy accident
You guys are that cool aunt and uncle that bring homemade pastries and sautéed wild edible mushrooms to the potluck. Thanks for the videos I’m staring my mead today 🤙
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.
Tried my first mead after aging it in a bottle for 2 1/2 months. OMG, better than I was hoping! It has hints of honey and citris in the aroma, and a smooth and subtle flavor of citris and raisins on the tongue. A shout out to City Steading! I scaled their 1 gallon recipe up to 5 gallons.
Last week I took a mason jar, and some condorde grapes i bought at a local farm, crushed them up and put them with an airlock. The berries already had some natural yeast on them so i let it ferment for a week. It tasted like vinegar but had an ok grape taste afterwards as long as i took small sips. Definitely gonna try this next time.
I took the plunge with my first mead today. Followed your recipe, in principle anyway. I used chopped sultanas instead of raisins, about 1.25kg of honey (all I had), black tea, lemon peel, and Fermipan Brown Instant Bread Yeast. My fermentation vessel is a 6-litre water bottle with three litres of water put in the large jug and all the ingredients apart from the yeast placed into the bottle with the remaining 3 litres. A good shake of the bejesus followed by a two-minute to-be-sure-to-be-sure shake and then topped up the musk to about 5 litres, gave it a good swirl and added 1.5 teaspoons of the yeast and placed the lid on PawPaw style. Just checked it now a couple of hours later and it's bubbling away like a beauty. I blew her a kiss, said to her "Be lucky!" and I'll look in again over the weekend. The excess water I just put into an empty coke bottle. I like the ease of your method. Get it all together, chuck it all in except maybe 2 litres of water and the yeast, shake it all about, top up with water leaving a gap of say four fingers to the top, give another shake and add the yeast. Loosen the lid and you are done. What I am hoping is that it doesn't need carbonation. Thank you both for your no-nonsense approach to brewing. I like how Derica tries to hold you back Brian, but somehow you always get the nod. I look forward to tasting this in a month's time. Thanks again 🙏
How did it turn out? How many other variations have you created since then?
Not sure how many time I watched this series last year when you convinced me to try to homebrew mead ❤
I had two people tell me recently that mead making is complicated. I just sent them to your channel :)
I think a better thing to say is that it *can* be complicated depending on the flavors, abv, and equipment used. It doesn’t have to be complicated though
Never stop giving information with as much passion that you do. I enjoy hearing the love you have for this. That's why I come here for my information and entertainment.
It's been since 25th of November 2021 since I've made my first 2 gallons of basic mead. Drank most of it with a buddy about 2 weeks ago and it was unlike anything I've ever drank before! Thanks for all of the great info you two marvelous wonders!
What did you use for the mead?
It was the very same basic mead recipie you see here only I forgot the tea and orange zest 😬 was still quite delicious as far as first home brews go.
Would fermenting mead indoors make a noticeable smell?
@@kullijuusto I've only fermented indoors as I live in ontario. Never had any kind of odor besides alcohol after about 2 weeks.
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.
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.
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’m finally commenting, I just started my second batch of mead. I made my first one aug 2022. It turned out beautifully. I always come back to this video to get the order right. Thanks!!
Happy to help!
Watched your video this morning . When it was a few Seconds Old . Noticed your Older Glasses 🕶️ style . And other stuff . Plus the sweetness of your Brew . 🤔😉🤠 Another GREAT VIDEO !
Did this recipe last year for the first time and as a note, it bubbled for like 3 months. Mead came out really good and I've got 1 bottle left. I used an ale yeast and it came out to around 16% abv. I'm about to start my 2nd batch and am planning on adding vanilla and cinnamon to the recipe just to try it out. Looking forward to the next batch!
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: 💖
Newbie here. So I made this recipe, except for the yeast because I had wine yeast on hand and today racked it to a new Carboy since I believed fermentation was done. Took a reading and it was 18% ABV. Took a small taste and it was very strong but I could taste the potential. Found a website that told you how much water to add based off certain measurements to lower ABV. I added bottled water to get it down to 14%. Now it’s sitting in a new Carboy with airlock. How bad did I mess this up and what can I expect after “watering it down?” Added about 16oz of water. Thanks. You two have budded a new hobby that I didn’t know I needed.
Not sure you did anything wrong per se. I am a bit surprised at 18% with this recipe though.
@@CitySteadingBrews I’m sorry it wasn’t 18 it was 16.2. Started with a 1.120 and it ended at .996
No worries :) Sounded a bit high is all.
Just started this today. I’m very excited 😊
I got my first batch of mead going right now. I looked at a lot of channels for research and this was one of them. My first brew is a traditional and I’m planning on adding in oak chips and lemon peels for some extra flavors. I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll come out
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?
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 wanted I give you an update on my mead so far since you've helped me through my first batch.
I racked it for the first time today. I don't have a fancy siphon but I do have a clear tube that I used the old method. I got to taste it doing that.
It tasted incredible! I know the alcohol is still young so it doesn't quite have that full body flavor but I know when it's aged a bit it'll taste great.
The only thing I had any real trouble with was my air lock kept popping out. I tied it down so it'll stay in. So far it's going great since I did that
Thank you for all your help!
Tasted my first bochet mead yesterday. Followed your receipe for it. It's only been 3 months since I started it but it's the best tasting brew I have done so far. Can't wait to taste it in 9 months when it's actually ready! Thanks for all your videos!
You know, I've been a homebrewer for years and I've made Beer, wine, cider and jack of all kinds, but I have never been able to make mead. Weird right? It's been years since I've tried to brew anything since our move but I found my notes the other day, after watching several of yours and "Man Made Mead" videos, I re-read my notes and I think I may have found my mistakes.....not enough honey in the batch (it was lower than a session) and no nutrient....it lost too much of it's antibacterial properties being too thin and nothing extra for the yeasties to stay healthy.
So, now with your helpful videos (and they are REALLY good) I've got the itch to give it another try. I'd sold off a lot of my equipment before the move to our much smaller place so I decided to start doing 1 gal batches, cheaper and I can brew more often, but this time I'm getting Fermaid O, diammonium phosphate and Go Ferm. Hopefully this time i can keep it for getting infected.
Thank you for the great videos, keep them coming and I'll keep brewing.
Discovered your Page a few days ago. Very impressed with your straight forward approach and the fact that you are not trying to force your Own Brands of goods onto the viewer. Looking forward to learning the Fine Art of Home Brewing. I want to share one small trick I was shown many years ago. I make my own Non-alcoholic Ginger Beer.
I had a great Recipe that produced a great drink on a hot day.
Then I tried another recipe. It produced a better brew but I had the Dreaded Bottle Explosion Problem. And I do mean Explosions! Under my House I have 12 Feet 6 Inches to the Upstairs Floorboards. The Glass necks of bottles and other Glass was embedded into the Floorboards. Ticking Bombs that Exploded at random with impressive force
The solution I was shown was simple. Before Capping use fine Fishing Line to tie a Standard Party Balloon over the Neck of the Bottle. It will fill with the Excess Gas. After Approximately Two Weeks you can remove the Balloon and use your Capping Press to seal the bottle as usual. I now have a superior brew without the Explosions.
I did try fiddling with the recipe but it never tasted the same. This trick works a treat!
Fleischmann Dry has yielded spectacular results here. One thing I do is follow the viability confirmation step on the bottle, plus add Fermaid-O. separately. Adding hot tea to must and stirring right before pitching yeast seemed to help things get started. BLOOP! BLOOP! Hey that might make a good T-shirt 😂
I'm so excited! I just got some gear ready to start making some mead. I've been watching a lot of your videos to give me more rounded ideas on what to do. Thank you, folks!
Glad we could help.
I followed this video to make my first mead. It came out fantastic. I messed up the recipe a little bit, but it still tasted great. I've already started my second batch, with a few modifications made. Thank you guys so much for making this simple to get into.
Just racked mine off the lees and raisins at 5 weeks. Followed your instructions, with the exception of ec1118 yeast instead of bread yeast. If I read my hydrometer correctly, sitting at 14.3% abv. Quite hazy still, tastes incredibly good. Going to let it sit and clear out some more but so far I'm very impressed. Looking forward to sharing a bottle with some friends in a couple months
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.
I came across your channel recently and really enjoyed it although I thought there was no way I could do it. Then I found this video, now I think I’ll give it a go. Thank You
for better or worse i went more creative with my first mead (blueberry lavender) but this video really helped me start, so thank you for all the info!!
I’m just starting out brewing and I love your channel I’ve been binge watching all your videos!! I mead them!!
Welcome aboard!
Started mine last night Thank you guys
I'm absolutely enthralled!!! I've totally found a new hobby!! Subscribed. I'm already in love with this process, and this channel! Thank you so much!!
Welcome aboard!
I tasted a bottle of this last night. Been in the bottle about a week. Very alcohol forward but can't wait to see what aging does to improve it! My wife is not a mead fan I guess..."tastes like Orange flavored cough syrup". Oh well,more for me I guess. Keep up the good work.
My father homebrewed for many years and got into making mead. He once bought a 50lb pail of orange blossom honey, and invited me to make a 5 gal batch.
After primary fermentation, it fermented to a semisweet at about 11.5%. I then racked it into two containers, one I left plain, the other I used blueberries. I don't remember how much, but I think it was about 4-5 lbs of blueberries. That mead continued to ferment out to around 13.5-14%, became more semi-dry, and had a beautiful dark red hue. After bottling, the last few wound up becoming wonderfully effervescent.
I haven't made a mead since, but this is definitely starting to give me the itch.
Hope you read this on Sat. MERRY CHRISTMAS AN HAPPY NEW YEAR 😊. LOOK FORward to all your new videos. Love you guys!!!!!!
And to you as well Jim! Thanks for watching!
Newbie here.
I've been making what I call closet mead (or sometimes backpack mead 🤫) for years now. Only new I needed yeast( which I made from potatoes or fruit or flour) honey and water. Burped my bottles as a goblin would. I know now that I've been making trash can mead. And your videos have inspired me to try a "less raw" approach now. Thank you. Gonna start with what you have done here to the letter.
Time to binge your other vids now.
Gonna make a batch of this! Thanks for sharing.
great vid, wonderful simple brew, and clear walk-through. thank you guys. 10/10
Happy to help!
I had to come back to this video just for this comment. I dug my old box of brewing stuff out of the garage, gave it a wash, and ordered some new stuff (gal jugs and starsan). Just to give this a try. While I did follow this recipe I modified it a little by adding a cinnamon stick, a clove, and 8 to 10 allspice berries. Yes Im making it a metheglin. I figured it would be best because I do enjoy spiced rum and south american/mexican spiced coffee. I also did 2x 1gal jars with the first at 1.100sg and the second at 1.050sg. Figure Ill back sweeten the 1.050sg and carbonate to see how that does. Put them down on the 4th and they were fermenting away this morning.
Thanks for the videos and the inspiration.
Sounds good to me!
A big thanks for also putting metric measurements
Really good to watch this over again. First batch starting in a couple of weeks.
I agree 100% that home made Mead is far better than anything you can buy from a Bottle Shop, I tried a few different commercial versions and nearly didn't bother to make my own Mead as I was not impressed at all, I wouldn't even have served people i didn't like that much a commercial version as I am not that cruel ;)
My Wife said don't bother if that's what we will end up with.
I thought after watching near 100 videos on Mead making that surely not everyone has no taste buds :) I am glad I tried a one gallon batch as my first attempt, it has now lead to a great hobby and I seem to have gotten more friends and people that didn't come over that often seem to ask are we home a lot more ? Must be my great wit and conversations skills ;).
The one great thing I love about making my own Meads is the fact that I can experiment and make a Mead no one else may ever have made.
I follow recipes to the letter normally, but with a Mead, there is a lot of things possible, we have some Banana trees in the backyard a week into flowering so will be trying out a Banana Mead in about four months, Banana Rum is great so have high hopes for a Banana Mead :)
did this as my first minus the orange zest. was amazing.
I made my first mead recently with just honey, water, and bread yeast. It was great.
I can't wait to get started you guys are awesome thanks
Happy to help!
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?
Love the videos you guys put out. Gotta try this and the ginger beer.
Cheers from the uk 🍻🥂
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
You two are perfect for videos
Just started my first mead today and used this recipe. IG of 1.111. Thank you for all the advice! I’ll check back in a month or so.
I just found you because I just started brewing beer and wanted to try mead. Such good videos. I love your style. So I am going to make this recipe today. Also my wife and I have been throwing around the idea of starting a TH-cam channel and you’ve inspired me to go ahead and do it.
I like when you talk on every thing you do. the more you do the more i learn every time..so i dont mind one bit if you you do.. like i said before you two are the ones who made this look easy and got me into making mead
The algorithm blessed me back in December. I have successfully made my first mead. I can not read a hydrometer to save me life. I used a Refractometer instead because its easier for me to read. I'm currently fermenting a 2 gallon batch because I liked it so much. Better than the mead I had at a medieval fair festival. Thanks guys!
My reading on my 2 gal, doubling your ingredients, was 1.122 specific gravity. I hope that isn't too high.
1.122 is on the high side of my comfort zone, but it's doable.
It's happening!... It's finally happening. I've been back and forth on making mead for a few years now. Stumbled across your videos, and the need to make some returned. So the online orders began: 4x gallon fermenters, 4x airlocks, funnel, hydrometer, yeast, wine thief, 24x swing tops, auto syphon, honey, etc... then today the Star San finally came in. Tomorrow we start our sweet, sweet experiment.
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!
Our first batch! We just racked. Thanks for your help!
Woohoo!
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.
At around 25:13 at the start of your secondary phase you filled the bottle pretty high. Is that important to do? What if you racked it to a wide mouth gallon fermenter and left a lot of head room? Would that cause any problems?
Started my first basic cider after watching your channel for a bit. Wanted to say thanks for motivating me! I'll try mead next.
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. 👏
Just started brewing a few months ago and started searching YT for education and inspiration.
You guys are amazing love the content, thank you so much 🍻
Our pleasure!
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.
Hello from Thailand. I just recently got interest in mead. And all I can say is this is the best mead video I found yet. Your video is very educational and also very fun to watch. Definitely gonna try your recipe.
Wow, thank you 😍
Hi guys just found your channel. iv been brewing for a few years now and one way i de chlorinate my water is to add a campden tablet to the water and leave it for an hour. iv only tried mead once but will be trying it again now iv found you guys. thanks for the vids 😁
Great, timely choice for a reply! I have a gallon of this recipe from this video about 6 weeks along right now and a 1.4 of your vikings blood going on about the same 6 weeks. Such good mentors, Thank you! I wish I could upload a picture here. Blessings!
I’ve been watching your videos for the past couple weeks and my supplies are coming soon! I’m super excited to start making mead, and I can’t thank you guys enough for your help! Thanks for sharing all the knowledge you guys have about the subject! You really break it down and make everything easy to understand!
Happy to help!
Really like this video, and the format, showing whole process.
Decided to give this mead thing a go. As an English man, my ancestors probably demand it.
Salutations to you both. 🍻
I'm literally putting my first mead together as I watch this being careful to follow these instructions as I go!!! My version will be using Saw Palmetto honey (another Florida variety of honey--I have about 50# left over from awhile ago) Also have Viking music playing in the background! Can't wait to taste this one for myself!!
I’m currently 5 weeks through primary with this recipe.
love this channel. for the new people who buy a hydrometer buy one which goes to at least 1.14 specific gravity.( so when u do buy a yeast with a 18% tolerance u can measure to a little bit higher than 18%) the one they link goes to 1.16 that's a great one.
they do make in line filter that will help you with racking and they do sell them on amazon.
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!
It is complicated, but your vid help me to make my 1st mead along the way
And you both help me a lot very very very lot
Glad we can help.
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!!
My first mead is bubbling away thanks to you two.
Congrats!
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!!!
Just started brewing meads and juice wines. Thank you for your content. Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Big bonus seeing MTG on the shelfs!
I still love this video from years ago :) it's amazing to see how much your channel has grown :) original is best :)
Hey! I have that same black/red square bowl and dish set!!
For my one gallon batches I have a one Imperial gallon jug that I use as a primary fermenter and I then rack into a US one gallon jug and it takes care of the head space perfectly. Likewise with my 5 gal. batches I have a 6.5 gal. carboy that is my primary fermenter and five gallon carboys to age in.
Mead is super easy - famous last words? My first batch is going great. I don't want to give recommendations though, since I'm a newbie at it and am probably rounding off some of the corners of the best practices. I'm just here to cross my Is and dot my Ts... XD Cheers!
I love Mead. Going to make a pumpkin Mead next September
So, at about 19:54 the sound cuts out, comes back at 39:54... I appreciate your videos. They have been very helpful.
It was a flaw in the original recording. It doesn’t cut out, it goes mono so it’s in one channel, either left or right. Sorry about that.
Thanks for this guys!
We are making our first batch of "simple" mead tomorrow...hope we can wait for it to go from good to GREAT! Thanks for all of the detailed information.
adding raisins main purpose for me is to prevent it foaming up into the airlock in a vigorous fermentation. Having that layer of raisins at the top really helps.
Got this recipe going under my desk right now... trying to be patient. Thanks so much for the knowledge to get started :)
Hello and thank you for your videos, I started my first Mead yesterday. It's active and smells great thru the air lock but the one thing I didn't expect is most of the raisins are floating on top. Is this normal and will they settle to the bottom on their own or should I begin steering? Thanks again.
It's fine. Raisins often float.
We're sitting here enjoying the 1 year tasting of our Mead made based on this video and it's great. Thanks again for your guidance.
Thank you for this video. Been struggling with my brews. Only had one successful batch and it was very lacking. It was a cyzer. I will try your recipe. I have not used the tea or raisins. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Best of luck. Sometimes it's a tiny thing that makes a difference.
Did anyone mention that from 19:49 on, until 40:20 the sound is like you guys sit in a bucket with the lid on top. Still another great video!
Thank you so much for this video, I finished making my first mead yesterday, and it is delicious, my friends and family really liked it and all just said, "More please." Again thank you for this because it really shows how easy it is to make!
You are so welcome!
I will have to try raisins again one of these days. I didn't have a very good experience last couple times I used them. The fermentation went way too fast and I want to blame it on the raisins but it could have been other reasons I suppose.
29:35 holy cow , in the UK I can get a 750ml bottle of commercial mead for £5 ($6.55 as of today -28th march 2022) , but I'm making my own , following your guide , 'cause it's more about the journey ✌️
Thanks guys❤️
It’s bubbling at a fair old rate now. Every three seconds , can hardly wait ..
You've sparked my interest in Mead. So with good fungus, I will make something worth doing. Cheers
Just started this recipe a week ago! I'm excited to see how it turns out! Thank you for your videos!