Beginner Mead Tasting - Simple Mead Taste Test
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Beginner Mead Tasting - Simple Mead Taste Test
How to Make your First Mead - The Tasting! Honestly this mead is about as easy as they come to make. It's a simple traditional mead, but is much more complex and deep than it's simple beginnings would suggest. Today we taste our "First Mead" and give our thoughts on it. Fun fact: This mead was made with Bread Yeast!
If you didn't see the videos on how to make this traditional mead, here's the links to the videos:
How to Make Mead, Make your FIRST Mead: • How to Make Mead at HO...
How to Make your FIRST Mead - Racking and Bottling: • Easy Beginner Mead - R...
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So how does this Beginner Mead taste after a WHOLE YEAR of aging? See the One Year Tasting Video: ua-cam.com/video/HA-dmvi0iGM/v-deo.html
Made a gallon of this at the start of the pandemic. Didn't de-gas. Might have bottled to early. Either way it bottle carbonated. What dipped down from the ceiling after the geyser eruption was delicious.
Haha. I am so terrified when I can start bottling and hope I dont have bottle bombs
@@crispydollaz1 I've never had a bottle explode.. yet, but when I popped the swing top off this wine bottle it shot foaming mead 10 feet into the air. It was from what people watching tell me- awesome.
I was not amused.
My 1st mead (2018) was also bottles just a bit early. Nothing like you explained but it was fizzy, quite pleasant. I wasn’t unhappy with it.
@@michaelstowers101 Mine was supper tasty. As long as I bled the Co2 off. It was just that first bottle that blew.
@@bigangryalf Sounds like you were right on the edge of a bottle bomb
"I took a longer sip when Brian was talking......." must have been a very long sip 🤣
Oh 100%
I used your first mead recipe not only for my first mead, but my first homemade alcohol. I simply let it sit in the original vessel for over five months and tried it today. Fantastic! Thank you so much for giving me the confidence to take the leap.
I just bottled my first mead last weekend. Thank you for these informative videos. I am now hooked on making wine/mead at home.
@Jennifer Sargent I just ordered gallon fermentation bottles after getting inspired here last week. 🤪
After watching the my first mead I was intrigued. So I went and got the ingredients and just now finished mixed the mead. Thanks to you I’ve been inspired to invest in my own brewery.
Your enthusiasm is very infectious!
I’m honestly learning a lot from you guys, so thank you so very much!
My first batch of mixed berries and spice wine was a hit, so I’m making a new batch of passionfruit & mango wine- the fermentation is still going strong even after 3 weeks now
I’m looking forward to tasting it after allowing it to age for a few weeks
Samhain blessings to you two!
That is awesome!
@GaaraJunkie if you don’t mind me asking what kind of berries and spices did you use?!
I love you guys! our government in South Africa banned alcohol for about five months during lockdown and you guys saved our souls! it was the excuse we needed to start making our own mead which we'd wanted to do for a while, but you made it easy and it is every bit as delish as the stuff we wolfed down in france! 💛
btw, for any other South Africans here, Anchor yeast (the purple bag) is the best bread yeast available (I'm a former professional Boulanger, so i know yeast! 😂) don't use the stuff in the green bag ever for anything!
I was sitting here feeling sad wondering how life changing it would be if the Friday uploads stopped. Maaaan I don't know what I'd do with my life. Thanks guys! Love from South Africa.
Exchange rate not in my favor but I'm gonna support on Patreon
Wow, thank you!
We don't actually use Patreon, we use this: www.city-steading.com/vip-club
Eyy South Africa squad :D
I have no idea how youtube entered into my subconscious and recommended this video to me. But thank you. New subscriber here. My grandparents "surprise" me with a blackberry mead every christmas with honey from their bee hives and blackberries from their back yard.
Gotta tell ya bro, I'm a tad jealous lol.
I now have 10 gallons going strong after finding you guys just 7 or 8 weeks ago. Love the stuff, but never thought of making my own mead before stumbling across your channel. Thanks!
That is awesome!
Two days before watching this friends and I had talked about doing something like this. Bought some simple supplies and will be getting ready to put your simple mead recipe to the test. I just hope it can set long enough to see how the taste will be enhanced. With this bunch I definitely know it won’t make it a year, not unless I can hide a bottle or two. Again thank you. Your video’s are great, informative simple and to the point. Not a ten minute video for a two minute project. Will let you know how everything goes.
Just bottled my first mead made from the kit I got for Christmas using D47.
I started this recipe on February 5th using bread yeast. I'm eager to compare it to the D47 mead. It smells wonderful already a month later.
My wife will give me the side eye if another fermenter appears, but I may just have to try this one. I did just finish my first real ‘traditional’ mead. It came out dry, at 16%. You’d think it would be really hot, and burn....but, no. It’s absolutely delicious. Keep it up, y’all.
I made this mead on my channel as a comparison to What i was doing vs what an established mead Maker was doing. And i did of course credit you guys with the Recipe. My lady absolutely loves it. We are now making a larger batch next show for Christmas. It will not be 100% ready but will have a Month needed and people are going to love it. So thank you for this.
This Mead works heavenly with Brie De Meaux, au le crux on fresh soda bread. I love this recipe to bits!
My friend makes honey that is so unique in flavor!! A little expensive but needed to make my first Mead with it. Drank one bottle and three are going to sit for about six months before I try again. Love your videos!!!
That is awesome!
my birthdays coming up so im gonna spend the day making some and ill drink it the following birthday.
I've only just started brewing about 4 weeks ago as of yesterday, and so far my mead is going really well! I've been trying to follow a lot of your advice to make it properly, and my recipe was as simple as possible (5lbs of honey, D47 wine yeast, and ~4oz of finely chopped raisins in just shy of 2 gallons of must (got a wine making kit from a local homebrew place nearby, came with all the tools!)). So far, I -think- it's turning out great! Although, if anyone wouldn't mind double-checking my homework, it would probably give me just a little more peace of mind and/or teach me what I might have done right or wrong.
Initial gravity reading: 1.105
Specific gravity at 2 weeks: 1.081 (-0.024 from previous)
Specific gravity at 4 weeks: 1.060 (-0.021 from previous)
I did some smell/clarity/taste tests during the 2- and 4-week tests, and so far I think it tastes great, the smell is a little ferment-y (which is to be expected, still in stage 1), and while it's still very cloudy, there's not a lot of little bits floating about. When I opened it earlier this morning for the readings, I did see some white bits at the top, but I suspect those were just yeast colonies and I have nothing to really worry about.
I would definitely just leave it to sit and ferment rather than opening it up and testing it at regular intervals if I just had it brewing in a carboy, but I didn't want to just not use the bucket. Upside with the bucket, I'm brewing twice as much mead! The downside is that I can't see through it (it's opaque white plastic). I've done a little math to predict where it'll end up, and it looks like 1.027 (~10.5-11.0%ABV) is what it should stop at in another 4 weeks.
Although this batch is literally just raisins in honey, my wife and I did just dry out a couple jars' worth of orange peels and stuck them in the fridge! I'll give your recipe a shot next time and see how it compares to my plain mead :)
You did pretty much what we showed to do.... give it time is the best thing I can say.
I've been searching on and off for a while for a homemade mead recipe and after following your three part series with this, I find that this is a very nice and easy recipe that I will most definitely try. I have favorited these videos for future use as I do not have the means to do this at the moment, but definitely will. Obviously when I do make it, I will most likely make a couple changes based off my personal tastes, but who doesn't do that when sharing recipes with other people. Its all about personal taste and creative expression in hobbies. Thanks for posting these videos!
After brewing home cider for around 6 months, I started out my mead journey by making this recipe into one carboy with the tea (3months old) and one without the tea (4months old). The result is totally delicious and thank you both so much for this awesome channel! As a Scotsman who enjoys his whisky, I salute you both! 🥃
Sounds great!
We find the tea just adds a bit of mouthfeel due to tannins. It's not a huge difference in that quantity, but you do notice when it's not there.
I started 2 meads 1 month ago. 1 control nearly identical to this and 1 experamental recipe. The control is 0.002 off from yours. So I would say it will probably come out well. The second I made with just the info from maybe 3 additional videos and it has been going a slightly stronger, but working out just fine as well.
Homemade Mead is an excellent present for Newlyweds.....I gave my Daughter a couple bottles of Blueberry Melomel I learned to make from your UA-cam, man what a hit it was.....Left it age for 18 mos..... Hard to give it away tho.
i used this recipe and its been in the fermenter for a couple weeks. Cant wait to try it!
My favourite new YT channel. 💯💯
Woohoo! Welcome!
I told my buddy who got me into home brewing back in the late 1980s. He and I have brewed together for decades (until I started brewing Kombucha - Now, he mostly leaves me to brew on my own). Anyway, I told him about these three videos. He grumbled just like you expected, "How can you brew in a gallon jug?" and "Bread yeast won't work." After watching these three videos, I told him to "bite me."
Thanks for the great videos. I've got me a gallon jug, and I'm copying your recipe.
Cheers!
Made mead for the first time following this recipe, I racked it after 8 weeks and on the 9th just enjoyed my first bottle with a friend, it was great. Thank you!
I still have some more aging and waiting to be bottled in a couple of weeks.
When we get all of our things and are ready to dive in I’ll have to try this one but probably with the yeast that my husband bought cause might as well. I’ve gotta double check and see if we got a bottling wand cause I could see that causing a mess of we don’t.
I love that you do your videos together, can’t believe I haven’t found this channel earlier.
Glad you like them!
@@CitySteadingBrews now I’ve made my first gallon. I followed your recepie spot on, the only tweak I did was to add some fresh blueberries to add some Viking feeling to it!
I hope I made it. 🥴
I have been watching your videos for the last couple months. They are great! I am getting ready to rack my cider following your cider from store bought apple juice recipe :)
Pairs great with brawtwurst, bugers and other grilling staples
Just wanted to say i have wanted to make my own mead for so long, i loved your video and will be giving this a shot. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and i hope my product turns out drinkable !
I am so glad that I found this channel, and THANK YOU for making this mead using bread yeast! I can't wait to rewatch your earlier "First Mead" videos while making my first batch of mead. I've learned so much from you two, and will definitely be tuning in more often to your channel.
You are so welcome!
Did one very similar to this last summer. Honey, raisins and orange peel. And it was one of the best I made so far.
Good food doesn't have to be complicated.
Sounds great!
2 more weeks and my first mead will be coming to an end of its primary fermentation and ill get to taste my first mead ever im so excited it smells soo good
Might go well with a fish taco (pan fried catfish with light breading or pecan breading) with a kimchi style coleslaw,. Would the mead work well as a champagne mead cocktail? Or mixed with Not Your Dad's Ginger Ale or just keep simple edjit and drink the mead as is...???
Kimchi style coleslaw
14oz bag of coleslaw kit (without dressing)
10oz bag of carrots cut into match sticks
1/4 cup of sriracha hot sauce and rice wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of fish sauce
Add graduated ginger or diced crystallized ginger to taste
Optional crushed red chili flakes to taste if you want it hotter
I have some of this brewing under my stairs...can't wait to try.
I still have never had mead I would love to try it sooner then later
I did my first mead almost the same as yours but it’s not ready yet. It’s been getting progressively colder where I live and all 3 of the brews I have going are struggling. The drafty Victorian house we live in (built circa 1880) doesn’t keep outside temps outside very well. But the only difference is I didn’t use tea. It smells amazing and tastes really good but this mornings gravity reading dropped a couple points from about 5 days ago. I’m hoping I get something really good by Christmas. It’s about 2 weeks older than my other two that I started Sunday last. Hearing you guys say such good things about yours makes me even more optimistic.
Cheers 🍻
I’ve always been interested in fermentation processes then I found mead and since then I’ve been in love
I’ve been watching your videos and enjoy them immensely. Yes, immensely! Just did this recipe as my first mead today. I can’t wait.
Thank you for watching and we hope you enjoy your mead!
Sound's so good can't wait to try to do my own Mead. Love the vids &the T-shirt 🍀🇮🇪🍀
I’ve made several brews after listening to a bunch of your videos. The cyser that was ready back in March was one of the best fermented beverages I’ve ever had. I have some more bubbling away in the pantry.
Awesome! Glad to help!
man, i wish i knew how to do blacksmithing and making these kinds of beverages. if i am not in the court lawyering, i'd choose to make knives and weapons and then mead and just smoke a pipe after! thanks for the informative video!
I made my first mead using a recipe that included raisins. It was really...pretty bad, to be honest. Smelled like distilled horse sweat or something similarly disgusting when it was done (maybe a hint of nail polish?), and tasted much the same. Not sure where I went wrong with it, as I'd done all the sanitation, etc., but something had definitely gone wrong. Used Lalvin D47, which I later learned can be pretty hit and miss with regard to flavors and finishes, but I digress and I'm sure that yeast strain wasn't entirely to blame anyway.
After messing around with things and deciding to get rid of some of the additives (yeast nutrient, etc.) in favor of a "simpler" recipe, I finally got a decent result. Probably my best ever was when I did a double-dose (ferment and secondary) of cherries and blueberries in a 3-gallon batch with orange blossom honey. Then I went back to the simple recipe again, but this time switched the raisins for Medjool dates (from Publix). The dates imparted the same sort of flavors and coloring as the raisins, but stronger and deeper. If I had to put it down to one word, I'd say "caramel."
It made me me remember that batch while watching this episode and you were talking about that can't-quite-put-your-finger-on-it flavor that comes with adding the raisins. I think it's in the realm of caramel. Definitely not what one would expect from a former grape, but given the process it goes through to become a raisin, it's not altogether unreasonable. Anyway, just thought I'd share that. Haven't made a simple batch like this in a while, and definitely never with Fleischmann's yeast or black tea, so now I'm intrigued.
You're right about the mead making hobby being kind of elitist. Isn't that strange? At the end of the day, I just want to make something that tastes nice and that I can unashamedly share with friends and family. Shouldn't ever be more posh than that. Thanks for sharing this "beginner mead" series. Really enjoyed it.
OMG! it looks like whiskey and looks beautiful! Good job!
I started my first Mead July 24. Racked after 30 days, blew og reading have no idea what I did. Sg at racking was 1.033 ,left in secondary 7 days, checked gravity 1.032, let it go another 6 days fg 1.032 it was good at this point so bottled. Started drinking it at 2 weeks in bottle, tomorrow is 8 weeks in bottle, only 16 ozs left. This stuff is really good, thanks guys.
Great job!
Started a batch with this recipe just a few days ago, cant wait for it to be done! Im using a 6 gallon carboy so I basically multiplied all the ingredients by 6, hopefully it turns out well! I was amazed at how quickly the airlock started bubbling, in just a few hours it was going crazy!
My first mead was started back in October 5th. My first racking should be coming up soon
I started my first batch on the 20th!
Started mine in the 5th as well! Still has a pretty steady bubbling in the lock, slow but steady.
Brian says all the time not to judge doneness by how the airlock bubbles. I usually look at the bubbles coming up the side of the carboy. When you have baby bubbles you can barely see that's about finished/degassing. Take a reading to be sure (calculate your ABV) if ABV is at yeast tolerance, rack to conditioning/secondary. Don't make the mistake of racking too soon (doesn't sound like that's the case) especially if you back-sweeten, don't want to remove the colony and have them rebuild to ferment the new sugars.
Good Luck to all your first batches, I know I was hooked and I hope you loves yours as much as I did!
Fawn, you make me so proud sometimes!
@@CitySteadingBrews TY Brian, I'm learning and I tend to only say thoughtless/mistaken statements after midnight. LoL
I'm sure I have much more to learn but I'm confident in my knowledge (mostly from your advice and gaining personal experience for the rest)
I replicated this recipe and I’m currently in the conditioning phase. I’m sitting at 11.5 abv. I didn’t love the smell - it was a little musty. And the taste was okay.. but the after taste was very good-I got the honey and citrus notes as well as the fullness from the raisin in the after bites. My hope is that the conditioning phase will clean it up and bring those after-notes to the forefront. I also hope the smell clears up and becomes more approachable (it won’t bother me but it did bother my brother).
I love these videos. I just found these. My friend will be deploying in January/February and he'll be gone for 6 months. We are going to make this together and enjoy it together when he returns. In Germany Fleischmann's costs $30 so I will use a Mead Yeast. Thank you so much. You earned a new subscriber
Good luck!!
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you
alright, im convinced, ill try making this
I wasn’t sure where to ask this question and thought I wasn’t the only one with it. I’m about 3 to 4 months into a 5 gal batch of mead. It was based on this recipe videos. Just did the first reading and tasting, with an interesting result. The aroma and the taste are good, but there was this subtle tingling sensation on my tongue? I can’t find this in my notes from other meads I have made and I don’t have as much experience so wanted to know your thoughts. Thanks for the help! And appreciate the channel! You two were the folks that convinced me to try brewing out.
First... you should ask questions on the videos they pertain to, and that's true on any channel. As a creator, we have a 'back end' system for comments where we see new ones no matter what video they're on, but it helps us to have context to what you're asking :)
As for a tingling on the tongue... could be alcohol, could be a touch of vinegar in the brew. Clove and allspice added to brews can do that too, but it doesn't sound like you added any. Shouldn't be a problem if it smells good and tastes good.
Thank you for the input, really appreciate it!
It would be great if you guys did this recipe again, but this time going all out using the recommended yeast etc. Like a level up version and then taste test compared to the basic version
Recommended yeast? I make it this way for me at home.
Thanks guys for the videos, I have watched and learned a heap, I have just finished up brewing my first gallon. now to test my patience waiting :) I followed this recipe with the exception of the yeast. My local brew shop had some Mead Yeast in stock which is good for up to 18%, started with an OG of 1.092. I will cross my fingers this turns out well.
Hi CS! Just sat 1 gallon of this beautyful mead a week ago and I cant take my eyes of the bubbly airlock ;) Looking forwark too the rest and I cant wait too taste it! Love your videos and I have learned so much from you 2! Keep it up! cheers from Norway! :D
I bet constant comment tea would be great in this because of the orange peal and black tea taste. It would go great with orange blossum honey.
"But I ordered shrimp scampi!"
"IT'S MORE THAN YOU DESERVE!!"
Muppet Treasure Island reference aside, pretty sure this is the first time I've ever heard a mention of shrimp scampi on your channel. Mostly because if I had, I would have remembered, because my mind would have immediately gone to Muppet Treasure Island.
Hi, I love the content, it is always very informative , entertaining and makes me curious for more, I live in South Africa and I could build a backyard still no problem. That said, I'd like to know if one could cold (freeze) distill this mead like applejack? Thank you again for a awesome channel.
Doing that is technically illegal where we are so we don't discuss it on our channel or show how to do it, sorry.
I could see this with thanksgiving dinner
First racking of my first traditional Mead will happen this weekend. Excited about it.
Basically watched your beard grow while it aged from pt.1 to now. Great vid, gotta try this and u gained a sub for sure
heh, yeah, and thanks for the sub!
Man, you two are amazing, and your videos are great! I'm still pretty new to mead making (I have about 3 different batches under my belt), but I decided to try a 6 gallon batch of some maple oak mead, and I had a few questions. Those questions I had were answered maybe 6 or 7 videos ago by you two, and I just can't stop watching. Thank you so much for making this content!
You are welcome, thanks so much for watching!
Real excited to see this. I brewed this back on 9/12, racked it 10/16, and I'm going to check it for bottling today. If there's a partial bottle left, maybe there won't be :D
Love the comedy! Keep up the good work :) .... I'm working on my 7th gallon of mead. It's awesome that you guys do this together
Thank you! Happy to hear it!
I made this on the weekend, my first mead ever! (same ingredients minus the orange peels, and sub for ec1118 yeast). I check on it twice a day to watch the bubbles !! :)
Just so you know.... with that yeast, it will NOT taste anything like what we have. Also, taking out the orange will change the flavor too.
@@CitySteadingBrews good to know! i was going to add oranges in the 2nd ferment stage
You guys are awesome! Educational and Entertaining, I will definitely use this specific recipe and method for my first Mead. I believe my wife and I will be enjoying this as a fantastic hobby to get into together. I also appreciate your reactions and humor Brian, and that Derica, you also have your views and ways to express the tastings in a different manner than Brian which is also educational as well as entertainment. I can't wait to both get my glassware and prepare to make this myself as well as watch the rants on the Bunratty tasting.
Thanks!
5:13 That is the look of happiness on his face right there. XD
I'm going to make my first mead next week, I hope it looks as good as yours... I've been learning so much from your great videos... Thank you
Hope you enjoy
Came across this channel recently and went rooting around in the basement. In January 1980 I bottled 35 gallions of home made mead. That's 43 years ago. I used a method suggested in a book called Maning Mead by Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan. Copyright 1971. The book is available on vintage book sites. It runs about $15 US. I used 105 lbs of raw clover honey. I used tannic acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid to balance the must. I used sherry yeast because I was shooting for 14% alcohol. I got married November 1st of that year. By November 21st I had drank all but a hand full of beer bottles of the mead. I realized I needed to curtail my drinking. So the mead got packed away. What I found in the basement is 4 beer bottles full of 43 year old mead. I have no idea how it tastes or if it changed at all in 43 years in the bottle. Has anybody ever had really old mead?
If it doesn’t appear spoiled, I would try it!
@@CitySteadingBrews That's just it I don't drink anymore. There is no one in my circle of of friends that would appreciate the rarity of this mead. So what is the oldest mead you have ever had?
Four years I believe?
@@CitySteadingBrews Did it improve?
After three not a noticable amount.
I'm trying to make this for my first mead, but I used red star premier rouge yeast and lemon. I started it on 9/26 and today is 10/ 30 and it is still putting out the gas. On 10/4 I started some more but I added apple chips, banana chips, and strawberry.
Brian really reminds me of Altan Brown! does anyone else get that feeling?
Yup, get that a lot.
Well I just started a batch yesterday on Veterans Day. I learn that I didn’t have everything need. Mainly a test tube to use my hydrometer with nuts coming tomorrow.
The wife and I are excited and anxious to try the completed product.
I did vary the recipe, added clove and a cinnamon stick along with the dried orange peel.
The only question I have, is how much of the dried orange peel did you use Brian? I used the swag theory to which is a scientific wild ass guess.
Thank you for the video’s and the education.
I tried my hand at making my first mead. I had a specific gravity of 1.11. Let it ferment for almost a month. I decided to rack it into a glass car boy. Got a reading of 1.070. I used Lavin 71B about 2.5 grams.
Sounds like it's not done yet. ua-cam.com/video/hsOd9rWRcSU/v-deo.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
So I’ve added fresh strawberries and lemon to this recipe in substitute to the raisins and orange peel. It’s been in primary for three weeks now and I’ve read that it should be racked off the fresh fruit within two weeks. Now I know everything on the internet should be taken lightly but now I’m worried I’ve ruined my batch. I don’t see any worrisome spots or solids but I just wanted your input!
If this is one that you both like and keep going back to, have you thought about doing a 5 gallon batch to show people the process/differences between a 1 and 5 gallon?
Same thing just 5x everything
I've tried that recipe it was so good
Great to hear!
Can't wait to give this recipe a shot on sunday.
Going to re-mortgage the house this week so I can buy some honey then I'm into it. Cheers from NewZealand.
How much does honey cost by you? 😆
Had thought while enjoying you guys. What if you substituted dates for the raisins? Maybe you should do a video of that.
We did a date wine just recently.
I’ve really enjoyed this series, I will be trying this recipe very soon with my the honey from my own Bees, hope it works out well.
With that kind of quality honey, should be awesome.
I have made the mead a few times and love it. Im getting ready to start a 6.4 gal. Batch that I will be breaking down to 5. 1gal for conditioning where I want to add different fruits for flavor. Pluss a little over 1 gal to drink plain. Is there anything I should be aware of that may cause problems doing it this way?
Not really, you're just splitting it into smaller fermenters for conditioning and flavoring them differently. Just make sure you don't have too much headspace, don't rack til fermentation is done and use an airlock.
I'm looking forward to doing my first batch of mead, I have plans to make one with added flavours of nutmeg and cinnamon which is going to be a Christmas present to my parents next year.
I was thinking of doing the same thing. How much nutmeg and cinnamon you think you'd add to this recipe to get that festive holiday flavor? At what point in the process would you add it? from the start?
@@brandonporter4818 I was planning on adding one small cinammon stick, or half a big one, and two small cloves of nutmeg.
My plan is to wrap them in cheesecloth and add them while racking, letting the flavour mingle in until opened, if it's too strong on the test batch, I'll lessen the amount I use.
Was also gonna make licorice mead for a friend, plan to add 1-2 drops of licorice flavouring to it while racking
@@Raptorworld22 Wonderful! keep me posted if you do a test run in the near future. I'll do the same and let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the info!! Good Yule and Merry Christmas to you!
You should try a plain mead, water and champagne years. Then vary that with other yeasts, and try to taste the difference. I find it enjoyable, as a cold drink. Of course I like mine a bit stronger up to 18% abv, and letting it mature at least a year. Indeed I have a few bottles 5-6 years.
Indeed Mead does not need to be complex. That said I have always wanted to try a Mead from a Celtic Grave goods of a young teenage girl who may have been a shaman. But the ingredients are hard to come by.
My goto bevy for all Skyrim, ESOL and general viking duties.
Love your videos! I'm a beekeeper in western NY, and we get two harvests each year. Our spring honey is light in color with a fruity flavor and our fall honey is black as motor oil and has cinnamon and vanilla notes. I just started this recipe a couple days ago with our fall honey. If it turns out, i'd be curious to see what the difference is with our spring honey. I also tried your ginger mead recipe. It was a big hit and pairs really well with sushi. Keep up the great content.
Looking forward to trying mine when it's done!
I don't drink alcoholic beverages much, but this video and its predecessors were fun. I did not, and likely will not, make this, even though I have a brew shop I frequent as a supplier of CO2 for what I *do* drink. :-)
I wish there was a love react for UA-cam I just love your vids so much I can't get enough! And oh my I'm loving the beard Brian!!
:) Thanks!
Brian is going full circle and soon he will be busting out the hat like old times 😉 keep up the good work!
Keep the videos coming
My very first mead experience was... not like this. I used an empty wine bottle, a straw connected to a perforated cork and that came into a tall glass of water to make a makeshift airlock and a simple mixture of filtered water and not-so-honey from the grocery store.
The result was OK, it tasted very very sweet, I think it didn't fermented completely, but it was decent enough (that was the first mead I ever tasted, so I may have ended up with the finest mead in the world without knowing it)
I'm going to get some decent equipment, some proper ingredients, a bottle of mead to get a reference of what industrial mead tastes like and try to make something worthy of being called mead.
I'm a little over 1 month into aging my first couple of bottles and I'm struggling to not put one in the fridge and just drink it. After having an extra half bottle that I drank right away and loving it I wonder how this little bit of aging will turn out.
I'm thinking of making mead with what I grew and harvested. wild grapes, thyme, and elderberries.
Sounds good :)
Starting my 2nd brew in the next week or so. I think I made all the mistakes first time round. Can't wait to make less mistakes this time around!
You got this!
I would love to see some recipes on your cooks channel using some of the meads you make!
I did use one in Viking Chili!
@@CitySteadingBrews I need to see what's going on with my notifications for cooks, I haven't been getting any.
I found it but right now I need to watch gyoza recipe! Dumplings are my favorite!!!
@Jennifer Sargent your gravity started really high! Your yeast is going to be stressed. Take some baker's yeast and boil it when it cools add that, give your yeast some food to help them process all the sugar. It wouldn't hurt to add more live ones from the packet.
@Jennifer Sargent if you do something like that again, make it a step feed. That way you don't over stress in the beginning. Make sure you do some calculations too so you don't add more sugar than your ABV/yeast can take, so you get the sweetness or lack of that you want in the end.
Been watching some of these videos lately. You say time should not be a consideration but, for a first timer, we are really going to want to taste what we have created, soon. For sure mead will taste better the longer it ages but, is this the best, fastest mead to make for a beginner?
This is a hobby I really want to get into but I also want to be able to enjoy the product while I wait for some of the more complex meads to age.
Best is totally subjective but… this one is quite nice at 4-6 weeks.
Have you ever thought about making a lemon and black pepper mead?
No?
So I typical stick to the “brewers best” kits to make beer at home (which make 4.75 gallons of beer). Well I wanted to make mead because well...I had a 1 gallon class jar that came with some free cider...so why not. Well I did 2 tea back of black tea(so slight adjustment from your recipe), because I like more earthy flavors. I also did a zest of a medium orange(dried).....sooo hopefully it turns out earthy but also Citrusy 🤞
The tea isn't so much a flavor than a flavor enhancer, adding whole teabags might overextract though... I'd keep an eye on that.
@@CitySteadingBrews i didnt add it to the mead itself, just steeped 2 bags and put it water from that in.
I can imagine it would go well with a pork roast or duck.