I have been watching your videos and "brewing with you" for over a year and I think this is one of your best videos so far. You call this a "beginners mead" but I learned much more than I expected to learn. I really like how comprehensive this video is. Thanks.
Likewise. I've been watching and brewing for around 4 years. I've made several ciders (Apple and pear) a couple meads, a couple ginger beers and a wine or two, mostly following Brian and Derica's recipes and advice. Sadly I have nothing bubbling right now but I just finished off last year's mead and need to get another going soon!
Just read my notes, apparently I started that mead 2 years ago... February of 2022! Bottled in May of 2022 at 1.040 and 10.5 ABV. Opened the last bottle about a month ago and it had great honey notes! Shared it at a party where it was a big hit.
I am a brand new mead person. I have started my mead on December 19 and was told that is installed so I add some more wine yeast wait of the week and was told to put in yeast helper 1 teaspoon and it has now been almost a week it is still cloudy, it has bubbles in it and the bubbles look white what else can I do it smells like sweet moonshine
Second! Grocery store mead can be good. My last one was clover honey. It was boring Mead. So after six months of aging and still not happy with the flavor profile, I added a vanilla bean for about a month. Brewers, that was awesome.
Ive been watching your videos for a long time. Just got my wife to start watching you about 2 months ago and 3 weeks ago she told me she wanted to make some mead! Now my wife and I share a hobby! Thanks for showing how approachable the hobby can be!
Alot of brews I make now are mostly bought at the grocery store. I had never made wine, Mead or rice wine before watching this channel and I have to say, Brian and Derica are extremely knowledgeable and I REALLY trust what they have to say. I'm now making pretty advanced stuff and I've found a lot of the basics really tend to be the best (like my first Mead). I suppose I just wanted to thank you both for your awesomeness and guidance.
I wanted to add one last thing. I've been watching your videos for a little over a year and really debated whether or not I wanted to get back into brewing (I used to make beer with my Dad but he passed ten years ago). I decided I'd retire from making beer and started with Mead, wines and rice wines with my first attempt being your "My first Mead". Since then I've made an Acai Mead (I may have gotten you to make yours hehe), a Chocolate Cherry Mead, what I can a "Christmas Mead" (which is really just a methoglen with raisins including all spice, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg), Raspberry Mead, a Carmel Apple Mead, 2 batches of Rice Wine (this came out amazingly with yellow koji) and my first wine (my gf and I did your sweet red). You have really inspired both myself and now my girlfriend to brew and I can't say thanks enough for all the amazing content. I look forward to all your videos, I really appreciate all you do. On an aside, I'm hoping the rhubarb got to you safely and I hope you are both safe after the bad weather. Be well friends!
Great recipe and content as always! Just an FYI on the NaCl addition, it mainly will neutralize or remove bitterness from the solution in my experience. I am sure all of your viewers including myself would really enjoy both of you experimenting with some addition of salt in a basic type of mead similar to this recipe. As always, love the great information, knowledge & antics you both exude and appreciate all of the videos too! I also live in Land O Lakes, FL and grew-up here neighbor. Cheers!
I may be talking out of school but salt/NaCl/sodium chloride can intensify the flavor of sweet because there are receptors on the tongue that only transmit sweetness in the presence of sodium I had to look up the name of the receptor it is the SGL1. it turns up the intensity of the sweet flavor that the brain perceives. I however not sure about the tolerance of yeast in the presence of sodium because it is a preservative after all, but what could be fun and I might try after reading this post is to make a say 5 or 10% saline solution and add it dropwise to the mead till you can taste it and see what it does to the flavors what also might be interesting is the effect of sodium on an aged product. prediction, it could go one of 3 ways be really good /really bad, or nothing at all It is a crazy science experiment in the making
You two have been the driving force behind me starting to brew mead. Carboy with airlock, Hydrometer, yeast and yeast nutrient is on its way, then to pick up honey etc. Just want to say thank you for the push to do something fun.
Thank you, thank you and thank you again 😁. I've been sharing my "fermentations" with my neighbors and when we had a new family move in down the street an easy friendship was started because of your channel. They've been watching you already and when I brought over a couple bottles of wine and cider, they brought out their own "brews". After a few drinks and discussing our next concoctions, we came to a conclusion, since we are both making recipes, we're gonna need to find more friends to share with so we don't run out of bottles after the wine is done fermenting 😂👍❤️
This video could not have come at a better time, started my first batch on Friday and followed your other beginners mead recipe, made a control (basic yeast water honey) one and an lemon&black tea one. This one is for sure what I'm trying next and it's really nice to have a whole video start to finish with some good notes on what to do at each step.
I just taste tested a year old bottle of a beginner mead I made last year, just as simple as you can get, yeast, honey, water... I am so glad I had a bottle that I left for a year. It was amazing the difference in fresh vs aged.
Great video! I started 2 bottles of metheglin back in July, one with 1.5lb of honey and one with 3.5lb. The first went dry, was racked, primed (for carbonation), and bottled. The other is going very slow. It was at 1.045 (started at 1.100) after 30 days, checked it again after a week and it was at 1.040. I kind of forgot about it and need to check it today, im hoping it is further along or done. The wife and I popped a bottle of the first one and it is VERY good. I had a couple of glasses and the wife polished the rest of the bottle off before I even noticed. lol Thanks for the great videos and wonderful recipes. I think the next one I do will be ginger, lemon, and lime for a ginger ale mead.
Recently found your channel and I'm hooked. I have never fermented anything before and now I have 8 separate brews going. I am having a blast doing this. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Looking forward to your next video.
@@CitySteadingBrews Yeah..when I start something I usually dive head first. But thanks to your channel I have the confidence that it'll all come out good. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.
made my first ever batch of Hard Cider: 2 1 gallon jugs of Tree Top Apple juice. Used Great Value Active Dry Yeast; Half packet per gallon jug. Fermented for 5 days with a few balloons as airlocks. racked today and used my roomies refractometer to test the abv: 6.5%abv, semi dry, back sweetened with brown sugar... currently chilling the racked jugs in the fridge and am gonna finally have some for regular use tomorrow. poured a glass for me and my mrs.... we LOVE IT!! it is DANGEROUS!!! thank you, Derica and Brian for inspiring us to do this :D
All my mead is made from cheap honey from lidl for 1.35 per lb, bread yeast for 10p per packet and 2 litre bottles of spring water for 35p, makes great mead with tea leaves and fruits.
Advice for using mandarin without bitterness, use a zester! Gives you only the best parts of the peel without any pith at all. Downside is, in my experience anyway, you have to use about 50% more than you expect to use based on using normal peels. Much cleaner flavor though, works for all citrus. This channel is great, you two have a great rapport.
Watched you guys for over a year and have made dozens of meads now, you guys are great! Plus I used to be a St Pete guy myself... What I found to be the best part in this summative and informative video is the pace and tempo of a “corporate” or “business” veteran team teaching a bunch of new hires... New hires who are smart and motivated and not completely out of touch. You hit the main points and are approachable without demanding strict adherence. And you two are not Corporate! Best part! Thanks again guys and keep up good work!
I started this one on the 14th Jan, and I've just bottled it. I used EC-1118 instead, and also added the rind of 2 lemons because I already know I'm uneducated (lol). The smell is amazing, and with minimal sweetening, it tastes wonderful! Thanks so much for helping me make my first batch a success!!
My partner and I have been making mead on and off for a year and a half or so thanks to channels like yours. Our deep dark secret is we only ever use grocery store honey, I can't not they keep giving me 40% off coupons. That's like 12 bucks for 3 pounds and that makes a 15 dollar or so gallon of your metheglin recipe.
Great job guys. I love the concept of a supermarket mead with bread yeast. I’m glad you guys made this video I’m sure it will bring more people on to the hobby
hey y'all - longtime viewer, fulltime lurker - until today. appreciate your channel. you helped answer many questions i had starting out brewing 3yrs ago. thank you. that being said, in regards to your debate about backsweetening and the levels you like around 40 minutes in: why not start your brew with more honey? start with 3lbs instead of 2lbs and then adding another 3/4 pound (or more) to backsweeten? i usually start my brews with 3lbs and just let the yeast run out. racking to secondary usually involves adding fruit and rarely involves adding more honey as it has retained a fair amount of sweetness and full range of flavors. just a thought. thanks again for doing what you do for the homebrew community.
I used raisens and bread yeast when I made my first batch of meade in the early 2000st, had some exploding bottles in an extraordinary Hot summer but that had nothing to do with the ingrediënts. The bread yeast in the Netherlands goes up to around 10% alcohol but gives a slight bitter taste. Also most honey sold in the Netherlands are, sadly enough, all or partly fake honey which can ruïne your brew because not al sugars are the same. I've put a video up on my TH-cam account about a batch of mead for one of my scouting friends who loves mead about how to make a simple brew with ingedients found in the Netherlands offcourse linking your channel. I also made a "prison cider" a few years ago showing the progress on insta. Really like this video because it gets people in the hobby.
I just popped open a bottle of white grape juice pyment I’ve had bulk aging for about a year and recently bottled last week. Chardonnay-esque and I love it.
Literally JUST made my first batch of Mead ever. I used the make a brew kit and I must say thank you for the help while i was going through the steps. Your little tips and knowledge really helped me out:)
This is so true. Make the mead you want. And shit for $5.95 a bottle. Cant beat that. And at the year it’s gonna be great. Love it. Keep up the great work.
I've been watching your channel for a couple months, just started my first brew yesterday! It is a blackberry mead, but I added some chopped raisins and tea to try to make it an extra bit better. Thank you so much for helping me discover and learn about this hobby. I plan on making your viking's blood next, because the name is too cool to not try.
It's the best darn honey I've ever had and wasn't very expensive either. 36 bucks for 6lbs of it. It's completely raw and local. However, I did forget to add the tea when putting it into primary fermentation. Do you think it would be alright to add a cup of black tea to it after racking it to a new bottle when it's done fermenting?
Love your channel, Been watching your video's for a couple of months and pretty much 3 or 4 a day still haven't made my first batch but almost got everything together to making my first batch, Keep making video's and I'll keep watching, THANK FOR ALL THE GREAT INFO
I added 2 oz of raisins to my city Steading brew and it’s been fermenting since September 5th. I used D47 instead of bread yeast because it’s what I had on hand. The aroma coming off the airlock smells delicious. I can definitely tel the raisins are contributing to the tannin smell.
My very first Mead was Kirkland honey and Walmart distilled water and champagne yeast from the local brewer. Split the honey visually into 2x 1gallon jugs and put a balloon on top of each, poke a few needle holes in the balloon and let it rip. Turned out decent for a first time try, could not tell you the ABV or anything, but 2 small glasses was enough to give me a good buzz.
I made my first Mead from one of your videos. On 11/29/2022. I racked it on 1/4/23 and then waited till march to bottle. It was great and got me hooked. I now have started my 5 batch. My 4th was a Vikings blood from one of your videos. Thank you for helping to get me started in this. It wasn’t something I thought I could do and know I am looking to expand and my wife loves it. She didn’t like any mead I bought. But she tried mine and wants more. Have to find a way to not run out. Thank you.
About a year ago I made this recipe (from your other video) less the mandarin. After aging for about 10 months one of my son's friends (who is somewhat of a "wine snob") tasted it and was vociferously surprised that it was a homemade brew. He thought it was very nice and had a subtle citrus undertone. I heartily endorse this as a first mead, and have repeated it twice since. Thanks for updating the recipe and presentation.
Smiling! Was on 999 comments, so I commented... Big Smile. I enjoy your videos, thinking about starting to make some, use to make kombucha and played with cider and wine but never liked the taste that much. Mead on the other hand sounds like I might like it.
Super happy you guys are still cranking stuff out, as I said in the last comment, I'm just starting out, but man, you guys really put a lot of my stress to bed. Sorry for the noob questions, lol, 1) I want to do up a mixed berry mead, is it better to put the fruit in primary or secondary? 2) I've read a bit of people saying too much head space in secondary isn't good... Just add water or something to put it up or doesn't it matter... I'm getting a great education from you guys, really appreciate it! And you two are an absolutely adorable couple 😊 Thanks again guys!
Answers: 1) th-cam.com/video/EzaMkTp5B_0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sEsrn9arIYPtThdR 2) adding water is diluting the product and in some situations could cause a redermentation to kick up. Try to use different sized vessels to make up the difference. We talk about this in tons of videos.
It really blows my mind that you two, the advocates of brewing and sweetening to personal taste, have not been doing that for yourselves, just to make the viewers happy. Stop trying to please us, and make your brews all for you. ❤
I've never made mead, but I have been watching your videos while working. You guys pack a lot of information into your videos. I wish you were beer people - I fell like your videos on brewing beer would be awesome as well!
I ve been able to Make the Best Quick(7day) Meade I ve ever had. Just a wee bit Bubbly and Bursting with flavor. I WILL try adding other ingredients after seeing yall😊
When I use mandarin peels (for syrups and such, haven't tried it in meads but it's a great idea!) I find that zesting is much easier and convenient in preventing the whole thing coming off and also avoiding any pith going in.
@@CitySteadingBrews first taste and rack and SG test of the Saffron mead.. Slight tinge of Saffron so added two more packets too see how that's received. Now pasterizing Beetroot Bloodmead on my new coal stove loving life. 🤠🤜🏻🤛🏻
I did make honey malt's years ago; microwaved the honey and dumped the honey in the mixer and the first time locked it all up in the mixer AHH ! Anyway got the timing and temperature down pat ! The greatest milkshake/malt of all time !
Hello from SWFL. I have tried making my first mead because of you guys! It went OK, very dry. But I plan to keep making more and more after watching your videos. Thank you!
I watched another channel do a blind test with 20 different yeasts with the same bread yeast. Through the line up of all the wine, beer, champagne, and in between the bread yeast in that blind study tested in the middle above some notable yeasts. The number 1 spot was a champagne yeast which they also say doesn't do good for it, but it ranked 1. That's what made me want to try the store bought method first of course.
Highly recommend experimenting with adding salt to brews, start very small of course, but oh baby it can bring so much to the table. Never done it to a mead because I've only ever done one batch of mead, many years ago, but we add salt to almost ever beer and wine we brew for years now! It was explained to me like adding salt to cookies and cakes, ever had a chocolate chip cookie that was made without any salt? Its astonishing how different, and how much worse they are without the salt!
I just wanted to thank you guys for all the videos and all the recipes. I currently have 4 different brews going on right now, one of them being the spiced metheglin for the 2nd time because I loved it so much. I even experimented with it using a different honey i have never heard or seen before it was called a spring locust honey and may be one of the best kinds I’ve tried so far. So just thank you guys again for showing me to this great hobby!
My favorite commercial meads range from 1.04 (cysers) to 1.088 (Polish Dwojniaks) so when I make my own meads, as long as it is above 1.02, I find that I like it. I make much drier meads because other members of my family prefer those. It is all personal preference and as you said, has nothing to do with brewing experience.
Started my first mead today after buying the Ohio homebrew kit. I am doing a regular honey water mead but the kit didn’t come with a long enough tube for my hydrometer to take a beginning test. Hoping I can find something that will work in a local store after the holidays, new subscriber here and I look forward to more videos!
I gotta comment on the use of salt. In beer and coffee brewing it is very normal for people to start with RO water then add back a specific amount of minerals to achieve a certain mouthfeel/crispness. Usually it’s the ratio of sulfates to chlorides that control this effect. Chlorides add crispness and sulfates are good for softness. I’m kind of over simplifying. Instead of adding sodium chloride I’d recommend adding calcium chloride
I'm doing this!!!! Oh yes!!!.. My equipment arrives Tuesday. I have 71 beast on the way...but I'll use my Fleischman yeast to stay true. Can't wait!!! Yay!!!
❤Thanks for the video. I'm one who likes dry much more than sweet ❤ So dry wines/meads for me. However... I don't mind a slightly sweeter meads over wine
Maybe you could show a picture of the brew from the top when your checking it so we could get an idea of what looks normal in the different stages? Love the videos looking forward to trying this out!!
I live in Ontario, Canada and for several of my meads (cyser, coffee and bochet especially) I buy an inexpensive wildflower honey (Aurora, 1kg = $8-10 CAD) and it makes great mead. Even very good honey here can be purchased for $12-15/kg.
All my mead batches so far have been made with Pure 'n Simple honey from Walmart. It was about $12 for 5lbs but now it is $18 for 5lb. I had great results and man do I need to make more, lol.
Just moved to a place with an apple tree in the backyard, with the help of your videos we pressed the apples and started a cider. So far so good in primary. Thank you for the tips and excitement! My favorite berry is Aronia melanocarpa, if you're up for a challenge it could be fun. I was thinking about trying it but it is big time astringent.
Thank you Brian for the Moscato comparison! I like moscato every once in a while but preffer a malbec both have decent sweetness. You definitely have a sweet tooth more power to ya, Cheers!! Love your videos you both are great!
Love the Firefly shirt Derica. My first mead is just about 1 year old and i cant wait to try it. In another couple of weeks im going to crack it. Wish me luck. I liked it after a couple of months so i should love it.
I made a batch of bread yeast mead 6 months ago. Started at 1.120, petered out at 1.030. I intended to split the gallon into 3 bottles; one I drank immediately, the second and 3rd were aged in my basement on oak for 3 months and...well...I just drank the last of the 1 year bottle...it was soo good, I couldn't wait (also there was a special occasion...so why not). Making a new batch now. Experimenting with Earl Grey Tea and I may even throw in a bit of ginger once fermentation is 99% done. Here's hoping.
Recommendation #6: Thou shalt TWACK thy packet! I actually was planning this very project this week but cider was calling my name so it ended up as a Peach Passionfruit cider instead.
Love the video, and also prefer home made, even though here in Denmark it's often cheaper to buy ready made mead.. But then you miss out of the experience and personalization of your own mead.. keep it up, love your videos.
12:07 Noooo, not raisins! {hisses} 17:37 ❤ persnickety ❤ I love that word! Ok, actual question. I had a mead fermenting. My second one ever. It was in the carboy for about two months, and wasn’t paid attention to for that time. When I remembered to take a look at it and see what was happening, it looked different from the first batch I made. There was lees on the bottom, clear in the top, and a kind of lighter and hazy looking center. I wasn’t sure if it was just me being rougher with moving the carboy around so I set it on a counter and let it sit. It didn’t change, didn’t try to crawl out of the jug and eat me as I slept. No other questionable floaty bits. Just the weird separate color thing. So I racked it and packed it. It didn’t smell off, and the teeny taste of it I took didn’t result in anything dire. Have you ever had a ferment do that to you, do the whole separation of color layers in the jug? I really wish I had taken a picture. 😂
YEARS ago when I made mead, I unintentionally boiled my honey and water. It did come out without any weird flavors, but it also came out very dry and very alcoholic. Friends who made mead from the same big batch of honey, came out with a rather sweet mead. Mixed together they were perfect.
Didn't see anyone that called out the model of the pen in the comments it is a Pilot G2 0.7mm. Enjoyed the video, between this and Chillichump"s fermented hot sauce videos one day I'll actually do it...maybe.
Long time viewer and also a Pinellas Local. I've got a peppermint mead thats been airlocked for about 8 months now in a 5gal carboy (ive got 60Gallons under my belt) but this one has sort of an interesting mead flavor up front that then peppermint takes over. Issue is, i think the last 2 or 3 weeks, the airlock has been dry... no growths or discoloration.
This is truly a blessing from Odin!! Thanks you for make easy to do this in your room in a assisted living room 😀 Thank you very much! I'm diabetic and was wondering if I added Allulose or stevia or Monkfuite or Erythritol, would it work well in bringing out the honey flavor and smell? Thank You guys and Godspeed with blessings.
Lol im probably with you guys on the sweetness 😂 also the taste as you go is very up my alley. My mom taught me to cook by taste so i'm very attuned to subtle changes and i think adding and tasting makes more sense for me in the long run
I actually have an air vacuum pump that I’ve used for resin work and pc water pump loops. I have to capability to hook it up to the top of a jar through a tube on the rubber stopper. And it would completely remove any co2 gas from the liquid short of perfect vacuum pressures. Do you think it would be helpful, or unnecessary?
Great videos, started my first Honey Mead with raisins and black tea. I have been told to also use a yeast nutrient on day 1 and day 3. Is this needed or not the nutrient? ty
We add nutrients to most brews now. We just frontload though, and don't bother with staggered additions. It's not likely to make a huge difference in your mead unless you are really pushing the limits of ABV and yeast tolerances.
If you are planning on putting fruits/peels and the like into a composting situation, is it okay to put the lees there as well? or should it just be tossed out complete? Thanks for all the assistance. You guys are great!
great video as always. I was just wondering why you don't reccomend bleech for sanitation? Like you I use star sans too but isn't bleech a viable option.
I have been watching your videos and "brewing with you" for over a year and I think this is one of your best videos so far. You call this a "beginners mead" but I learned much more than I expected to learn. I really like how comprehensive this video is. Thanks.
Wow, thank you!
Likewise. I've been watching and brewing for around 4 years.
I've made several ciders (Apple and pear) a couple meads, a couple ginger beers and a wine or two, mostly following Brian and Derica's recipes and advice.
Sadly I have nothing bubbling right now but I just finished off last year's mead and need to get another going soon!
Just read my notes, apparently I started that mead 2 years ago... February of 2022! Bottled in May of 2022 at 1.040 and 10.5 ABV.
Opened the last bottle about a month ago and it had great honey notes! Shared it at a party where it was a big hit.
I am a brand new mead person. I have started my mead on December 19 and was told that is installed so I add some more wine yeast wait of the week and was told to put in yeast helper 1 teaspoon and it has now been almost a week it is still cloudy, it has bubbles in it and the bubbles look white what else can I do it smells like sweet moonshine
Second! Grocery store mead can be good. My last one was clover honey. It was boring Mead. So after six months of aging and still not happy with the flavor profile, I added a vanilla bean for about a month. Brewers, that was awesome.
Ive been watching your videos for a long time. Just got my wife to start watching you about 2 months ago and 3 weeks ago she told me she wanted to make some mead! Now my wife and I share a hobby! Thanks for showing how approachable the hobby can be!
That is awesome!
Alot of brews I make now are mostly bought at the grocery store. I had never made wine, Mead or rice wine before watching this channel and I have to say, Brian and Derica are extremely knowledgeable and I REALLY trust what they have to say. I'm now making pretty advanced stuff and I've found a lot of the basics really tend to be the best (like my first Mead). I suppose I just wanted to thank you both for your awesomeness and guidance.
Thank YOU!
I wanted to add one last thing. I've been watching your videos for a little over a year and really debated whether or not I wanted to get back into brewing (I used to make beer with my Dad but he passed ten years ago). I decided I'd retire from making beer and started with Mead, wines and rice wines with my first attempt being your "My first Mead". Since then I've made an Acai Mead (I may have gotten you to make yours hehe), a Chocolate Cherry Mead, what I can a "Christmas Mead" (which is really just a methoglen with raisins including all spice, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg), Raspberry Mead, a Carmel Apple Mead, 2 batches of Rice Wine (this came out amazingly with yellow koji) and my first wine (my gf and I did your sweet red). You have really inspired both myself and now my girlfriend to brew and I can't say thanks enough for all the amazing content. I look forward to all your videos, I really appreciate all you do. On an aside, I'm hoping the rhubarb got to you safely and I hope you are both safe after the bad weather. Be well friends!
That bread yeast actually flocculated really well for you, the sediment looked nicely compacted after tilting the fermenter.
The mead looks great too!
It did. Bread yeast gets such a bad name, but it actually works quite well.
Great recipe and content as always! Just an FYI on the NaCl addition, it mainly will neutralize or remove bitterness from the solution in my experience. I am sure all of your viewers including myself would really enjoy both of you experimenting with some addition of salt in a basic type of mead similar to this recipe. As always, love the great information, knowledge & antics you both exude and appreciate all of the videos too! I also live in Land O Lakes, FL and grew-up here neighbor.
Cheers!
Guess we can try :)
I may be talking out of school but salt/NaCl/sodium chloride can intensify the flavor of sweet because there are receptors on the tongue that only transmit sweetness in the presence of sodium I had to look up the name of the receptor it is the SGL1. it turns up the intensity of the sweet flavor that the brain perceives. I however not sure about the tolerance of yeast in the presence of sodium because it is a preservative after all, but what could be fun and I might try after reading this post is to make a say 5 or 10% saline solution and add it dropwise to the mead till you can taste it and see what it does to the flavors what also might be interesting is the effect of sodium on an aged product. prediction, it could go one of 3 ways be really good /really bad, or nothing at all It is a crazy science experiment in the making
You two have been the driving force behind me starting to brew mead. Carboy with airlock, Hydrometer, yeast and yeast nutrient is on its way, then to pick up honey etc. Just want to say thank you for the push to do something fun.
Happy to help!
6 month old comment. how did your first brew go?
Thank you, thank you and thank you again 😁.
I've been sharing my "fermentations" with my neighbors and when we had a new family move in down the street an easy friendship was started because of your channel. They've been watching you already and when I brought over a couple bottles of wine and cider, they brought out their own "brews". After a few drinks and discussing our next concoctions, we came to a conclusion, since we are both making recipes, we're gonna need to find more friends to share with so we don't run out of bottles after the wine is done fermenting 😂👍❤️
This video could not have come at a better time, started my first batch on Friday and followed your other beginners mead recipe, made a control (basic yeast water honey) one and an lemon&black tea one.
This one is for sure what I'm trying next and it's really nice to have a whole video start to finish with some good notes on what to do at each step.
I just taste tested a year old bottle of a beginner mead I made last year, just as simple as you can get, yeast, honey, water... I am so glad I had a bottle that I left for a year. It was amazing the difference in fresh vs aged.
Thanks to you guys, I have my first mead fermenting right now, which I started just over a week ago. I'm looking forward to how it turns out.
Great video!
I started 2 bottles of metheglin back in July, one with 1.5lb of honey and one with 3.5lb. The first went dry, was racked, primed (for carbonation), and bottled. The other is going very slow. It was at 1.045 (started at 1.100) after 30 days, checked it again after a week and it was at 1.040. I kind of forgot about it and need to check it today, im hoping it is further along or done.
The wife and I popped a bottle of the first one and it is VERY good. I had a couple of glasses and the wife polished the rest of the bottle off before I even noticed. lol Thanks for the great videos and wonderful recipes.
I think the next one I do will be ginger, lemon, and lime for a ginger ale mead.
Recently found your channel and I'm hooked. I have never fermented anything before and now I have 8 separate brews going. I am having a blast doing this. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Looking forward to your next video.
8? Wow.
@@CitySteadingBrews
Yeah..when I start something I usually dive head first. But thanks to your channel I have the confidence that it'll all come out good. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.
made my first ever batch of Hard Cider: 2 1 gallon jugs of Tree Top Apple juice. Used Great Value Active Dry Yeast; Half packet per gallon jug. Fermented for 5 days with a few balloons as airlocks. racked today and used my roomies refractometer to test the abv: 6.5%abv, semi dry, back sweetened with brown sugar... currently chilling the racked jugs in the fridge and am gonna finally have some for regular use tomorrow. poured a glass for me and my mrs.... we LOVE IT!! it is DANGEROUS!!!
thank you, Derica and Brian for inspiring us to do this :D
All my mead is made from cheap honey from lidl for 1.35 per lb, bread yeast for 10p per packet and 2 litre bottles of spring water for 35p, makes great mead with tea leaves and fruits.
Hi what is your recipe Off the mead you made sound good was the abv high thanks
Advice for using mandarin without bitterness, use a zester! Gives you only the best parts of the peel without any pith at all. Downside is, in my experience anyway, you have to use about 50% more than you expect to use based on using normal peels. Much cleaner flavor though, works for all citrus. This channel is great, you two have a great rapport.
Thank you.
U guy should do like a grab bag mead take all those odds and ends of honey and make a mead with it I think it could be interesting
Watched you guys for over a year and have made dozens of meads now, you guys are great! Plus I used to be a St Pete guy myself...
What I found to be the best part in this summative and informative video is the pace and tempo of a “corporate” or “business” veteran team teaching a bunch of new hires... New hires who are smart and motivated and not completely out of touch. You hit the main points and are approachable without demanding strict adherence.
And you two are not Corporate! Best part! Thanks again guys and keep up good work!
Thanks. Definitely not Corporate, lol.
I started this one on the 14th Jan, and I've just bottled it. I used EC-1118 instead, and also added the rind of 2 lemons because I already know I'm uneducated (lol). The smell is amazing, and with minimal sweetening, it tastes wonderful! Thanks so much for helping me make my first batch a success!!
This is my first time watching your channel and I learned a lot about how to make mead. When I get the space and the money I'll give it a shot.
i love how you guys were getting “happier “ towards the end. great video!
My partner and I have been making mead on and off for a year and a half or so thanks to channels like yours. Our deep dark secret is we only ever use grocery store honey, I can't not they keep giving me 40% off coupons. That's like 12 bucks for 3 pounds and that makes a 15 dollar or so gallon of your metheglin recipe.
Nice! If you like it. It's not a problem.
Very nice! Love the intense step-by-step nature here, it's a nice reminder of all the things we need to be doing as brewers
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great job guys. I love the concept of a supermarket mead with bread yeast. I’m glad you guys made this video I’m sure it will bring more people on to the hobby
hey y'all - longtime viewer, fulltime lurker - until today. appreciate your channel. you helped answer many questions i had starting out brewing 3yrs ago. thank you.
that being said, in regards to your debate about backsweetening and the levels you like around 40 minutes in:
why not start your brew with more honey? start with 3lbs instead of 2lbs and then adding another 3/4 pound (or more) to backsweeten?
i usually start my brews with 3lbs and just let the yeast run out. racking to secondary usually involves adding fruit and rarely involves adding more honey as it has retained a fair amount of sweetness and full range of flavors.
just a thought. thanks again for doing what you do for the homebrew community.
Because that’s not as safe when you consider refermentation. Letting it go dry, sweetening then killing the yeast is safer and more repeatable.
I used raisens and bread yeast when I made my first batch of meade in the early 2000st, had some exploding bottles in an extraordinary Hot summer but that had nothing to do with the ingrediënts. The bread yeast in the Netherlands goes up to around 10% alcohol but gives a slight bitter taste. Also most honey sold in the Netherlands are, sadly enough, all or partly fake honey which can ruïne your brew because not al sugars are the same.
I've put a video up on my TH-cam account about a batch of mead for one of my scouting friends who loves mead about how to make a simple brew with ingedients found in the Netherlands offcourse linking your channel.
I also made a "prison cider" a few years ago showing the progress on insta.
Really like this video because it gets people in the hobby.
I just popped open a bottle of white grape juice pyment I’ve had bulk aging for about a year and recently bottled last week. Chardonnay-esque and I love it.
Literally JUST made my first batch of Mead ever. I used the make a brew kit and I must say thank you for the help while i was going through the steps. Your little tips and knowledge really helped me out:)
Happy to help :)
This is so true. Make the mead you want. And shit for $5.95 a bottle. Cant beat that. And at the year it’s gonna be great. Love it. Keep up the great work.
I've been watching your channel for a couple months, just started my first brew yesterday! It is a blackberry mead, but I added some chopped raisins and tea to try to make it an extra bit better. Thank you so much for helping me discover and learn about this hobby. I plan on making your viking's blood next, because the name is too cool to not try.
I had just started my very first batch of mead. I'm excited. For this mead I am using wildflower honey from a local bee farm owned by a small family
Nice!
It's the best darn honey I've ever had and wasn't very expensive either. 36 bucks for 6lbs of it. It's completely raw and local.
However, I did forget to add the tea when putting it into primary fermentation. Do you think it would be alright to add a cup of black tea to it after racking it to a new bottle when it's done fermenting?
You can add tannins anytime, yeah.
Love your channel, Been watching your video's for a couple of months and pretty much 3 or 4 a day still haven't made my first batch but almost got everything together to making my first batch, Keep making video's and I'll keep watching, THANK FOR ALL THE GREAT INFO
Thanks for watching!
I added 2 oz of raisins to my city Steading brew and it’s been fermenting since September 5th. I used D47 instead of bread yeast because it’s what I had on hand. The aroma coming off the airlock smells delicious. I can definitely tel the raisins are contributing to the tannin smell.
My very first Mead was Kirkland honey and Walmart distilled water and champagne yeast from the local brewer. Split the honey visually into 2x 1gallon jugs and put a balloon on top of each, poke a few needle holes in the balloon and let it rip. Turned out decent for a first time try, could not tell you the ABV or anything, but 2 small glasses was enough to give me a good buzz.
I made my first Mead from one of your videos. On 11/29/2022. I racked it on 1/4/23 and then waited till march to bottle. It was great and got me hooked. I now have started my 5 batch. My 4th was a Vikings blood from one of your videos. Thank you for helping to get me started in this. It wasn’t something I thought I could do and know I am looking to expand and my wife loves it. She didn’t like any mead I bought. But she tried mine and wants more. Have to find a way to not run out. Thank you.
How not to run out: make more :)
@@CitySteadingBrews working on that getting more containers to make more and working on planning to get bigger containers
Gonna start my first mead tonight! Got wildflower honey from a coworker.
You guys are my favorite channel!
Cheers from California
Awesome! Good luck!
About a year ago I made this recipe (from your other video) less the mandarin. After aging for about 10 months one of my son's friends (who is somewhat of a "wine snob") tasted it and was vociferously surprised that it was a homemade brew. He thought it was very nice and had a subtle citrus undertone. I heartily endorse this as a first mead, and have repeated it twice since. Thanks for updating the recipe and presentation.
That’s pretty cool!
Great refresher vid! Loved it!! 4 carboys on the go atm. Need to ask for a few more for my birthday. Favourite pens are important as a lefty!
Smiling!
Was on 999 comments, so I commented... Big Smile.
I enjoy your videos, thinking about starting to make some, use to make kombucha and played with cider and wine but never liked the taste that much. Mead on the other hand sounds like I might like it.
Super happy you guys are still cranking stuff out, as I said in the last comment, I'm just starting out, but man, you guys really put a lot of my stress to bed.
Sorry for the noob questions, lol,
1) I want to do up a mixed berry mead, is it better to put the fruit in primary or secondary?
2) I've read a bit of people saying too much head space in secondary isn't good... Just add water or something to put it up or doesn't it matter...
I'm getting a great education from you guys, really appreciate it!
And you two are an absolutely adorable couple 😊
Thanks again guys!
Answers:
1) th-cam.com/video/EzaMkTp5B_0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sEsrn9arIYPtThdR
2) adding water is diluting the product and in some situations could cause a redermentation to kick up. Try to use different sized vessels to make up the difference. We talk about this in tons of videos.
It really blows my mind that you two, the advocates of brewing and sweetening to personal taste, have not been doing that for yourselves, just to make the viewers happy. Stop trying to please us, and make your brews all for you. ❤
Love your content, im looking forward to make my first mead/cider soon
Awesome!
I've never made mead, but I have been watching your videos while working. You guys pack a lot of information into your videos. I wish you were beer people - I fell like your videos on brewing beer would be awesome as well!
We have beer videos :)
Just did my second take of this mead after back sweetening it. It is so good!! Thanks!
I ve been able to Make the Best Quick(7day) Meade I ve ever had. Just a wee bit Bubbly and Bursting with flavor. I WILL try adding other ingredients after seeing yall😊
You know, the time and effort involved in making these videos of yours, are absolutely commendable. Thank you so much for sharing. Great stuff!
Thank you. We really appreciate it!
@@CitySteadingBrews just keep doing what you are doing and I'm sure we'll all keep on enjoying it. X
When I use mandarin peels (for syrups and such, haven't tried it in meads but it's a great idea!) I find that zesting is much easier and convenient in preventing the whole thing coming off and also avoiding any pith going in.
I just came to hang out but questions I'd have in two weeks time have already been answered!! I'm 5mins in.
That's the idea!
@@CitySteadingBrews first taste and rack and SG test of the Saffron mead.. Slight tinge of Saffron so added two more packets too see how that's received. Now pasterizing Beetroot Bloodmead on my new coal stove loving life. 🤠🤜🏻🤛🏻
I did make honey malt's years ago; microwaved the honey and dumped the honey in the mixer and the first time locked it all up in the mixer AHH ! Anyway got the timing and temperature down pat ! The greatest milkshake/malt of all time !
Love the Firefly shirt, Derica!
Also thank you for your content. It has really encouraged me to me to start my own brew. I am starting off with a grocery store wine.
A fine choice!
Hello from SWFL. I have tried making my first mead because of you guys! It went OK, very dry. But I plan to keep making more and more after watching your videos. Thank you!
You can sweeten them afterward. Just be sure to pasteurize so it stops fermentation once you do.
I watched another channel do a blind test with 20 different yeasts with the same bread yeast. Through the line up of all the wine, beer, champagne, and in between the bread yeast in that blind study tested in the middle above some notable yeasts. The number 1 spot was a champagne yeast which they also say doesn't do good for it, but it ranked 1. That's what made me want to try the store bought method first of course.
Highly recommend experimenting with adding salt to brews, start very small of course, but oh baby it can bring so much to the table. Never done it to a mead because I've only ever done one batch of mead, many years ago, but we add salt to almost ever beer and wine we brew for years now!
It was explained to me like adding salt to cookies and cakes, ever had a chocolate chip cookie that was made without any salt? Its astonishing how different, and how much worse they are without the salt!
th-cam.com/video/exwdzt9NtYY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ugOGZAOEDt_zma20
Excellent content. You have made mead accessible to the huddled masses. Nicely done. Thank you.
Thank you!
I just wanted to thank you guys for all the videos and all the recipes. I currently have 4 different brews going on right now, one of them being the spiced metheglin for the 2nd time because I loved it so much. I even experimented with it using a different honey i have never heard or seen before it was called a spring locust honey and may be one of the best kinds I’ve tried so far. So just thank you guys again for showing me to this great hobby!
You are welcome! Glad to help!
My favorite commercial meads range from 1.04 (cysers) to 1.088 (Polish Dwojniaks) so when I make my own meads, as long as it is above 1.02, I find that I like it. I make much drier meads because other members of my family prefer those. It is all personal preference and as you said, has nothing to do with brewing experience.
Just add the cinnamon stick and you have JAOM.
Great job on your explanations of everything.
You guys are amazing!
Not exactly. We don’t use whole oranges. I forget if there’s other differences too.
Had pretty good results with frozen concentrate apple juice with very little sugar. At 3 years in cellar... Excellent 👍
Imma save this one for my first batch of mead. For now I'm just on beer brewing
Started my first mead today after buying the Ohio homebrew kit. I am doing a regular honey water mead but the kit didn’t come with a long enough tube for my hydrometer to take a beginning test.
Hoping I can find something that will work in a local store after the holidays, new subscriber here and I look forward to more videos!
We use this: amzn.to/4aBbWAE
I gotta comment on the use of salt. In beer and coffee brewing it is very normal for people to start with RO water then add back a specific amount of minerals to achieve a certain mouthfeel/crispness. Usually it’s the ratio of sulfates to chlorides that control this effect. Chlorides add crispness and sulfates are good for softness. I’m kind of over simplifying. Instead of adding sodium chloride I’d recommend adding calcium chloride
I'm doing this!!!! Oh yes!!!.. My equipment arrives Tuesday. I have 71 beast on the way...but I'll use my Fleischman yeast to stay true. Can't wait!!! Yay!!!
The closer you follow it, the more it will be like ours. :)
This is exactly the time to try salt. In one glass try a little pinch of salt and see if it gets rid of that bitter edge of the Mandarin orange.
I guess we will have to try it. Several have said this.
Fully inspired to take up this craft, thanks so much for your friendly approach.
Welcome! Happy to help!
❤Thanks for the video. I'm one who likes dry much more than sweet ❤ So dry wines/meads for me. However... I don't mind a slightly sweeter meads over wine
Maybe you could show a picture of the brew from the top when your checking it so we could get an idea of what looks normal in the different stages? Love the videos looking forward to trying this out!!
I live in Ontario, Canada and for several of my meads (cyser, coffee and bochet especially) I buy an inexpensive wildflower honey (Aurora, 1kg = $8-10 CAD) and it makes great mead. Even very good honey here can be purchased for $12-15/kg.
Excellent video, also love the 1 year update! Inspired to start a small batch with grocery yeast, hope it turns out ok :)
All my mead batches so far have been made with Pure 'n Simple honey from Walmart. It was about $12 for 5lbs but now it is $18 for 5lb. I had great results and man do I need to make more, lol.
Just moved to a place with an apple tree in the backyard, with the help of your videos we pressed the apples and started a cider. So far so good in primary. Thank you for the tips and excitement!
My favorite berry is Aronia melanocarpa, if you're up for a challenge it could be fun. I was thinking about trying it but it is big time astringent.
I don’t know if we can get aronia berries…
Thank you Brian for the Moscato comparison! I like moscato every once in a while but preffer a malbec both have decent sweetness. You definitely have a sweet tooth more power to ya, Cheers!! Love your videos you both are great!
Mead with mandarin and lemon peel - very appealing!
I see what you did there…
I love this video! I always learn something new from you guys--thank you!
Love the recipes!! But your shirts always also make me smile 😁
We try!
Love the Firefly shirt Derica. My first mead is just about 1 year old and i cant wait to try it. In another couple of weeks im going to crack it. Wish me luck. I liked it after a couple of months so i should love it.
I made a batch of bread yeast mead 6 months ago. Started at 1.120, petered out at 1.030. I intended to split the gallon into 3 bottles; one I drank immediately, the second and 3rd were aged in my basement on oak for 3 months and...well...I just drank the last of the 1 year bottle...it was soo good, I couldn't wait (also there was a special occasion...so why not). Making a new batch now. Experimenting with Earl Grey Tea and I may even throw in a bit of ginger once fermentation is 99% done. Here's hoping.
Recommendation #6: Thou shalt TWACK thy packet!
I actually was planning this very project this week but cider was calling my name so it ended up as a Peach Passionfruit cider instead.
Just a note on sanitiser. Here in the UK we have a product called sterident it's for cleaning dentures this works really well too
I'm glad to learn you can use bread yeast
There are better options but it works well enough.
My favorite pens are the click ballpoint pens. Thanks for great information 💚
Love the video, and also prefer home made, even though here in Denmark it's often cheaper to buy ready made mead.. But then you miss out of the experience and personalization of your own mead.. keep it up, love your videos.
12:07 Noooo, not raisins! {hisses}
17:37 ❤ persnickety ❤ I love that word!
Ok, actual question. I had a mead fermenting. My second one ever. It was in the carboy for about two months, and wasn’t paid attention to for that time. When I remembered to take a look at it and see what was happening, it looked different from the first batch I made. There was lees on the bottom, clear in the top, and a kind of lighter and hazy looking center.
I wasn’t sure if it was just me being rougher with moving the carboy around so I set it on a counter and let it sit. It didn’t change, didn’t try to crawl out of the jug and eat me as I slept. No other questionable floaty bits. Just the weird separate color thing. So I racked it and packed it. It didn’t smell off, and the teeny taste of it I took didn’t result in anything dire.
Have you ever had a ferment do that to you, do the whole separation of color layers in the jug?
I really wish I had taken a picture. 😂
It happens. Nothing to worry about.
YEARS ago when I made mead, I unintentionally boiled my honey and water. It did come out without any weird flavors, but it also came out very dry and very alcoholic.
Friends who made mead from the same big batch of honey, came out with a rather sweet mead. Mixed together they were perfect.
That's down to volume and yeast choice. Boiling it won't change the fermentability in any meaningful way.
Its like if Alton Brown made this! Super cool!
Heh, thanks.
Didn't see anyone that called out the model of the pen in the comments it is a Pilot G2 0.7mm. Enjoyed the video, between this and Chillichump"s fermented hot sauce videos one day I'll actually do it...maybe.
Long time viewer and also a Pinellas Local. I've got a peppermint mead thats been airlocked for about 8 months now in a 5gal carboy (ive got 60Gallons under my belt) but this one has sort of an interesting mead flavor up front that then peppermint takes over. Issue is, i think the last 2 or 3 weeks, the airlock has been dry... no growths or discoloration.
Most likely fine. Use your senses and test it :)
You two make me smile. For sec I thought hubby was Alton Brown😊 Love the vids.
I get that a lot. :)
Pilot G-2, 0.7mm ball size. One of the best gel ink pens ever. Nice archival ink as well
This is truly a blessing from Odin!! Thanks you for make easy to do this in your room in a assisted living room 😀 Thank you very much!
I'm diabetic and was wondering if I added Allulose or stevia or Monkfuite or Erythritol, would it work well in bringing out the honey flavor and smell?
Thank You guys and Godspeed with blessings.
Sweetening with anything but honey will not add more honey character.
Love your show. I had to subscribe. Keep up the good work
Awesome! Thanks for watching!
Lol im probably with you guys on the sweetness 😂 also the taste as you go is very up my alley. My mom taught me to cook by taste so i'm very attuned to subtle changes and i think adding and tasting makes more sense for me in the long run
I actually have an air vacuum pump that I’ve used for resin work and pc water pump loops.
I have to capability to hook it up to the top of a jar through a tube on the rubber stopper. And it would completely remove any co2 gas from the liquid short of perfect vacuum pressures.
Do you think it would be helpful, or unnecessary?
If you want, but it's not necessary.
This is actually about the same recipe I have called Ancient Orange Mead. It has never failed and is a major crowd pleaser.
Erm, not really. That is quite different to this. This one isn't so much an orange mead.
I give left over fruit to the chickens. They love it😊
Not sure the alcohol is good for them…
Technically, alcohol isn't good for humans either. But animals do enjoy catching a good buzz too.
But humans know it's not good. Chickens eat what they are given :)
Great videos, started my first Honey Mead with raisins and black tea. I have been told to also use a yeast nutrient on day 1 and day 3. Is this needed or not the nutrient? ty
We add nutrients to most brews now. We just frontload though, and don't bother with staggered additions. It's not likely to make a huge difference in your mead unless you are really pushing the limits of ABV and yeast tolerances.
Derika said rando-honey everywhere. That would be a great idea for the next brew. Kinda like the SWHLA wine. 35:23
Comma, however...
If you are planning on putting fruits/peels and the like into a composting situation, is it okay to put the lees there as well? or should it just be tossed out complete? Thanks for all the assistance. You guys are great!
We just put lees right into compost.
It didn't happen in this video but I smile when he goes "I'll see you in a couple weeks... so here we are a year later"
I started saying see you in two seconds!
great video as always. I was just wondering why you don't reccomend bleech for sanitation? Like you I use star sans too but isn't bleech a viable option.
Bleach kills yeast.