+Robbaz It can be a challenge for the yeast with just honey and water. An additive nutrient can be used , works well. Or raisins can be used. They work well too.
Working on this right now. Done alot of research on mead, and found alot of vague recipes and instructions on melomel before seeing this. I added an extra step per some books on the subject and added the juice of 1 lemon during the intial fermentation stage to modify the ph
One of the most concise mead making videos I've ever seen. A lot of people say that yeast nutrients are in need of being added though because honey lacks a lot of what the yeastie beasties need but I see you already commented on that below somewhere. Excellent video, and I"m glad I saw it before taking on my blackberry mead thank you!
By adding the fruit in a second ferment and fermenting vessel, it makes this method like my kombucha brewing and makes it much easier to understand. Thank you! It's very confusing for a beginner, like me, with all the videos on UA-cam out there. Many thanks for making this video! ☺☺
Brotherman! Great tutorial, I can really tell you put your heart and soul into these videos. Thanks for being an original content creator on UA-cam and the internet in general!
I am so happy to see you making mead videos again. You've definitely gave me a healthy introduction to this and I've been addicted to making it ever since. I just did a peach ginger melomel batch and I have a ever so slightly different outlook on how to do this, because, well, you know how us meadmakers never do anything the same way and if we do, one of us sold out :-) Anyhow, I cut the peaches and put them in ziplock bags (didn't do anything with the ginger but slice it, use it sparingly as well to avoid overpowering), stick them in the deep freeze chest (a regular freezer would work just as well). I should note that this does nothing to really kill bacteria (not low enough), but what it does is cause the cell walls in the fruit to rupture by way of the ice crystals within it. Then, I run two pots for my must preparation, one is the honey/water, and the other is the fruit/water. The honey/water is just as how you've done it but I wrap the fruit in a grain steeping bag and bring it up to 170 degrees (monitor with a candy thermometer, temperature is critical), hold it there for 20 minutes, and then cool the whole pot down quickly in an ice bath. The reason you want to go up to 170, but don't want to go higher than 170 is because you're above the pasteurization temperature that kills bacteria, but your fruit will start releasing pectin and the melomel will haze if higher than that. Preheating also allows some of the juices within the fresh fruit that just ruptured from the freezer to homogenize into the must water which I've seen have somewhat of an impact on character notes in the final product. I combine the two of these together in my brew bucket, pitch my yeast, add some pectic enzyme to break the fruit down, and then add 1/3rd of the yeast/energizer combination as part of a staggered nutrient addition/off gasing/aeration ritual I do for 72 hours. Anyhow, all of that work for the first three days will drastically reduce pretty much every part of the process as far as I've encountered so far. It doesn't even feel like work. The only negative aspect of that is waking my wife when she hears the degassing paddle attached to the cordless drill in the middle of the night! Again, always enjoy seeing these!
I don't actually dislike this video, it just bothers me that you only had 99 dislikes so I evened you out. This is actually a great video. I have been making mead for about 10 years and metheglins and melomels (fruit and spices) then I ventured into grape wine...not much pleased with it myself, but friends loved it. Go figure. But I make my meads by the traditional method of fruit in prior to fermenting. I made a strawberry/mango mead, pineapple/apple mead, allspice/clove mead (glogg-ish flavor), ginger mead, and recently I've tried a few batches of beer (and IPA, a helles, and a lager). I will give this method of pitching the fruit after the fermentation a chance, it sounds like a great idea. Again, man this is a great video, thanks for taking time to put it together.
Great Video! Thank You for sharing.I just started 15 gallons of mead so I'm browsing the subject.I like the way that you presented this and the wax seal is a great touch.Thumbs Up!!!!
I loved this video and will be trying the recipes myself. A couple tips from wine making:(I would assume they still apply) after that primary fermentation be careful with the wine. Try not to add to much oxygen. You do this by having the siphon tube low in the carboy/wine glass. Try to have it not splash around to much. as they are in the secondary fermenter add marbles to it to get the head space high. Or make a little extra during the primary fermentation. Again just a couple friendly tips.
Will your videos are always just so great! I'm glad you're out there doing this because it brings me a lot of joy to watch these. I'm going to have to try making some of this mead! I used to buy it all the time, I may as well make my own! Keep up the videos I can't wait to see what's next.
Will I brew all of the time. I made my first mead about 6 months ago. I followed a similar method as you have presented here. However the only real difference was that I had created a yeast starter. Basically I bloomed the yeast ( I had use the same sort as you did in this video.) Then I pitched it into A tiny amount of must, and then I allowed that to sit for a week prior to my larger batch of mead. This helped speed up the process of fermentation. I still have mine aging as of now. I did two batches, a hibiscus and lemonade flavor. Be sure to try that out. I think that you'll really enjoy it. Thank you for the video. Take care ~Mike.
I currently have 3 gallons of mead in the first ferment (and my 1st attempt at mead making!) and am going to try your method of introducing fruit in the 2nd phase. Wish me luck!
I have some frozen apple peels from making all our fall pie filling applesauce, etc, can I use them along with regualr apples for the secondary fermentation?
Am enjoying these videos sir, what is the siphoning technique you use so that you don't have to use a pump or cane or contaminate by using your mouth to begin the siphon? I see that you have to hoses connected for you siphoning process but I don't understand that concept can you clarify how to do that and explain how it works? Thanks in advance
Greetings from Norway. I have just started out with mead and trying too make it good. Do you recommend putting the fruit in first or wait the 30 days before you add it when you pitch the mead over in a new container??
I tried my hand at mead for the first time adding the fruit right away, I think I did ok but it's still too early to tell. I think my biggest thing is I went from 1st fermentation to bottles, no second tracking so it may take a while to clear up & smooth out. I will definitely try it your way the next time!
So how long after the bottling is it ready to be consumed? From what I understand from the video there are roughly 3-4 racks and then bottling, but does that essentially mean 3-4 months and then its ready to drink? thanks for the help!
Question! Does the process change if you want to use fresh fruit juice as opposed to cut pieces of fruit? I have a TON of pears from my grandmother's fruit tree and not enough space in my freezer for them, figured if I juiced them and froze the juice for mead making it would save space
I quit drinking 15 months ago but all my buddies still do. This will be great for bdays and christmas. Just need to convince the wife the spare room is now the fermentation room lol.
Thanks for the video! I want to try this technique, but use wild hand picked blueberries that I have frozen in my freezer right now. I picked these in the woods last summer. Do you think I can use blueberries with the same technique/recipe you have here? Thanks again!
Thanks for the Tip, At his point I've already started experimenting with how to make mead, so far I've used the D47 and a EC - 1118 Yeast, the ec-1118 yeast was with my first batch and following your instructions (Minus the Raisins) in your tutorial videos I was able to get the batches going really fast and easy, however I did add in about 15 packs of Sugar in the Raw or about 5 tbs into each batch to help invigorate the yeast and give it something easy to eat at first. I also added in some concentrated Fruit juice though all of the flavor from those disappeared in the final product. I didn't take the specific gravity from before I started the batch so I had to use a vino-meter, yes I know it's inaccurate but it's better than nothing. The first batch made with the EC - 1118 Yeast turned out really well, I clarified it with a bit of Chitosan and then added in some Bentonite to get a really clear mead. The second batch I just used Bentonite to clarify the Mead. The two batches turned out very different though I have to say the Yeast is the primary factor between the two, the Vino-meter read close to 30% ABV for the first batch and on the second it read closer to 15% ABV I got high praises for my first batch so I think I'm going to stick with 1118 yeast for future batches. I also did something you and many others normally don't recommend and I do see why now after having done it. I was able to salvage some of the mead from the left-over junk at the bottom, how I did this was to pour it in tall skinny containers and allowing it to settle before adding what would normally be discarded back into the batch, this gave me roughly 120ml back in the long run, but it was very time consuming and if I didn't have access to the laboratory equipment I do it would have been a much lower volume as the sediment is difficult to separate out without something like a pipette as you progressively use smaller and smaller volume bottles. Would I recommend what I just said to others? No I wouldn't because it's really easy to contaminate what you get from doing this even if you know what you are doing. One thing I did adopt for both batches and will continue in the future is that I used what I call a test bottle, it's just a small bottle that I added some mead to to taste it, and then added in some Honey to sweeten the batch when fermentation was done, this was to make sure the cork did not pop out nor the bottle explode, I let the test bottle set for about two weeks just to be sure and I even made sure the cork was seated just enough to make it air tight then marked it. The second batch fermented a bit more after I sweetened it but only just enough to let you know the yeast was still alive after popping the cork however the first batch, well, the more aggressive yeast had already killed itself so nothing happened other than I made it a bit sweeter than I anticipated. Anyways, you asked me to tell you how my first batches turned out and do there you have it, outside of that I'm going to use unrefined honey for my third batch which looks a bit paler than traditional honey, so wish me luck!
EC-1118 is a poor choice. I made that mistake on my first 20 - 30 batches. It is a champagne yeast and is bomb-proof and can create a higher abv... *however* it also strips a ton of of the flavour notes. Try Lavins D-47 or a K1V-1116. Your will enjoy the richer flavours. 200+5 gal batches and counting.
Douglas Thew I noticed the flavor being stripped from the mead but have fixed it by not only sweetening with Honey at the end but also by providing some sugar at the beginning to speed up fermentation, once it reaches around 30% ABV the yeast stops fermenting. I tried D-47 and K1V-1116 yeasts in my second batch as well as in y third batch when I thought it had stalled. I don't like how the mead turns out with the 1116 yeast, it's flavor seems a bit off and I can't really fine tune the flavor at the end the way I live without starting fermentation, I do like D-47 yeast but at my elevation and climate region it does exactly the same thing as EC-1118 and strips the flavors so the only advantage is that it won't stall and can restart batches but it takes longer to ferment. Though I will keep it in mind when I move next, D-47 worked out really well when I made a batch with my girlfriend who lives about 2/3 of a Kilometer lower than I do and with a humidity of around 20% lower.
I've been really wanting to give this a try. Just more of an issue of finding a place to let it ferment in my little apartment. Question: You go back and forth between using glass jugs and a bucket. Is there a difference? Could you ferment it the whole way in buckets just fine up until you bottle it, or is there a reason to use glass for the other steps?
Thank you very much for the provided technique, i currently have a batch going and wait for about a month now til i drop the fruit into the fermentation container. I have a question though regarding pectic enzyme: would it have been of benefit to add it to the first fermentation phase with just the honey and water or does it make more sense when adding the fruit? I kinda lean on the latter, haven't added it in the first phase for now..
Great video! Just a couple of questions. For the 5-gallon bucket, does it have to be food grade? I have a brand new bucket that I purchased in the hardware department and it has a nice sealed lid. Can I use this or did you get a bucket specifically for mead? Also, I'm using some buckwheat honey that I purchased online. I'm not sure how the yeast will like it...should I go ahead and add some nutrients in the first fermentation? Thanks for all the tips...you rock!
+Steven Barger Some plastics are toxic. I wouldn't trust the container. Buckwheat honey is good quality for mead. But you still should add nutrients, every type of honey is poor in nutrients for yeast.
how long does this recipe take before bottling? i took notes, and got *2-4 weeks first ferment (rack away from dead yeast) *30 day ferment with fruit (rack away from fruit) *30 days ferment for clarity *Bottle so 3 months to bottle? does this sound about right? Thanks
Loved the video and am trying this out next week only because I'm having trouble finding the fermentation spout. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Thank You for your videos, you explain it very well and why you use the ingredients that you use. I found a recipe for the Desire mead using Black currant juice. trader Joe's has a Black currant beverage, the only difference in theirs and the Knudsen brand is cane sugar and the price about half, Would the sugar help in the fermentation process?
cane sugar is sucrose, which is a loosely connected glucose and fructose. Honey (and corn syrup) are similarly glucose and fructose. Except for all the flavoring and other organic molecules brought by the fruit, and the minerals and other things brought by bees harvesting from flowers, you could get almost the same beverage with just cane sugar or corn syrup. The yeasts will eat the sugars the same way in any case. Using the honey brings along the subtle aromas and flavors, using fruit and spices adds some stronger aromas and flavors. I imagine the difference is like the difference between brandy wine and vodka. If you want to call it mead, it has to be primarily fermented from honey.
Just for public knowledge, do you use a yeast additive? IE: Fermaid K. We've used it several times and it gratly improves the productivity of the yeast.
is this not considered a bit too much headspace on the bottles you bottled? if I look at commercial wine it is filled all the way up to the neck and then some, almost touching the cork.
By the way, I have to ask a question: the meads in this video are extremely clear. Do you use that combination of something-and-shrimp-shell juice to clarify it? Do you filter them? Do you do both?
Thanks for helpful video. I racked my orange melomel after 3 weeks to its secondary carboy (removed the oranges and as much pulp as possible), but there is a tiny bit of pulp stringy orange bits left sitting at the top of the secondary. Is it okay to leave this, or am I risking mold on these little bits? Just double checking I am okay leaving it like that. Also, when bottling, should I should potassium sorbate? Am hoping to bottle it in one month after its sat in secondary phase.
Now that the alcohol content is built up there is very little risk of mold. But feel free to sanitize some kind of tool and scoop out that pulp if you want to. Either way is quite ok. I would avoid the potassium sorbate. I go chemical free as much as possible.
@@epicfantasy that puts my mind to ease! It's Three weeks old now and it's stopped bubbling, so only few more weeks to go and I'll bottle. Good first attempt so far!
nice content on the mead. been interested in the stuff since seeing it in skyrim and various medieval movies. a couple of questions. in the vid and description you say the reason for this method is that when you add the fruit there is alcohol in the mead which prevents bacteria on the fruit to grow. are there any drawbacks to this method? and also are there any spice mixes for mead? i ask because in the 2 week mead video you added a few spices to that. is that to aid the fermentation of that particular mix or can you flavor mead with spices as well as fruits?
I have made several batches of mead melomel (Blueberries and peaches, and I did a Blueberry-Thyme one experimenting with herbs in the process)using this system. Recently I had the question of how much alcohol is in them, and after doing research I am unsure I am able to find out with this method. Most homebrewing systems of calculating Alcohol content involve taking an initial specific gravity measure before the yeast turns the sugar into alcohol, but where there is additional sugar added later in this process I'm not sure how to accommodate that in the calculations.
Hey!! Big fan and love the videos, I was wanting to brew some mead for my DnD sessions and I didn't want them to have a high alcohol content and I wanted less brewing time, could I use just red star activated dry yeast instead, and if so would I have to change the ratios? Please respond for the sake of my players!!
So I have a question. I plan on making my own mead eventually. I want to make it with blueberries and blackberries, and I was thinking about just boiling the berries, adding the honey, then the yeast, and so on. Would it be better if I just added the fruit during the secondary fermentation, or can I do it either way?
Karissa Christiansen im currently doing half and half, i slow heated half of my berries and added honey ect to start it off, after racking it i shall add the other half of the fruit depending on how my flavor comes out
Whenever you transfer to the bottles, aren't you supposed to add some kind of stabilizer that stops the fermentation process where there is not a chance that it will continue and blow up the bottles?
I love your stuff and I'd love to keep following. Is there any way you can do your measurements in Metric? The U.s. and one other obscure country still use Imperial measurements. I'm your neighbor here in Canada. :) I would love to see this stuff in Metric.! Thanks so much
+Daniel Nish I am in Canada as well. I don't know where you live but plenty of Canadians still use imperial units. Especially for cooking and minor measurements. I even had a teacher who used to tell joke about if we really were using the metric system. As for your request, he doesn't have to do anything. If you really have no clue on how to use imperial units, use google and convert the units yourself.
Do you know if you can substitute fruit that's been cooked down to a "juice" to add to the mead? I have some delicious juice from concord grapes that my neighbor gave me and is left over from making jelly. It is literally just grapes cooked down, nothing else added except a tiny bit of water to help the boiling down process. I held back about a qt to use for mead if applicable (I'm new to mead making). If so, would I substitute for some of the water? or just add it after the honey/water mix gets put into the carboy?
Dunno about epicfantasy, but I'd add it at the 'fruits' stage, or up-front if you want mead-wine, because you won't have the skins to flavor it as wine.
I just finished my first batch of maple-mead. It's pretty good, but has a very slight dry/bitterness at the back of the tongue. I've back-sweetened it but it has to be exposed to air for like 90 minutes before that partially disappears. Any thoughts on how I could soften the back-tongue (for lack of better words?) I've already back-sweetened it with minimal quantities (1.25 cups of real maple syrup in in 6 gallons). I don't want to pour a bunch of sugar in to cover the natural honey taste. I think that wines should please all parts of the palate to be considered "good," the stage before judging for the subtleties of excellence. Thoughts? Also: Can one do "umami" in a mead?
I am thinking that it is the maple syrup. It's a bit tricky and gives me trouble. And like honey it varies a lot. I would check the ph. Get some ph strips, cost a couple of dollars. Maybe it needs to be ph balanced.
@@epicfantasy OK. Looks like I've got to level up. Can you give me some general rules, if you know them? What does PH do to taste? My wine doesn't taste acidic. I could not say what base tastes like.
Wow, it's been a while since you've done any mead vids ;^> This is the same way I make Mel's, although I start with a no-heat method and use a little Pectic Enzyme with the fruit. Occasionally if the yeast strain is quite alcohol tolerant I often add a little more honey with the fruit too (but you need to watch you don't make it overly sweet though, I prefer my mead on the dry side).
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This 10 minute video taught me more then similar ones that are half an hour long. Thanks mate.
You are very kind. Thanks for watching! And good luck making mead!
This is the best mead video on UA-cam. The guy doesn't talk too much and he's straight to the point. Great job Mr white guy!!
Isn't it hard for the yeast survive in just honey and water? Or do you add some sort of yeast nourishment instead of fruit at the start?
+Robbaz It can be a challenge for the yeast with just honey and water. An additive nutrient can be used , works well. Or raisins can be used. They work well too.
+Robbaz I love you robbaz
+Robbaz I feel like a youtube detective now
+Robbaz haha i watch your video, and then i decide to go make mead
You are very welcome and good luck!
Working on this right now. Done alot of research on mead, and found alot of vague recipes and instructions on melomel before seeing this. I added an extra step per some books on the subject and added the juice of 1 lemon during the intial fermentation stage to modify the ph
One of the most concise mead making videos I've ever seen. A lot of people say that yeast nutrients are in need of being added though because honey lacks a lot of what the yeastie beasties need but I see you already commented on that below somewhere. Excellent video, and I"m glad I saw it before taking on my blackberry mead thank you!
By adding the fruit in a second ferment and fermenting vessel, it makes this method like my kombucha brewing and makes it much easier to understand. Thank you!
It's very confusing for a beginner, like me, with all the videos on UA-cam out there.
Many thanks for making this video! ☺☺
You are very welcome!
This video is brilliant, best resource I have found in the subject so far! Thanks heaps for this my man.
This makes getting all the fruit bits out of the 1 gallon bottle so much easier. Thanks!
This video is perfect, i'm working on some melomels of my own, thanks for the great content!
Brilliant! The wax sealing and stamp is a nice touch.
Brotherman! Great tutorial, I can really tell you put your heart and soul into these videos. Thanks for being an original content creator on UA-cam and the internet in general!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
This is like a modified back sweeting method. i like it. I would never have guess to add fruit during the second fermentation. Nice video
This a great to-the-point, not overly complicated mead video. Half of these on youtube are unnecessarily complicated and pretentious. Good job
I am so happy to see you making mead videos again. You've definitely gave me a healthy introduction to this and I've been addicted to making it ever since. I just did a peach ginger melomel batch and I have a ever so slightly different outlook on how to do this, because, well, you know how us meadmakers never do anything the same way and if we do, one of us sold out :-)
Anyhow, I cut the peaches and put them in ziplock bags (didn't do anything with the ginger but slice it, use it sparingly as well to avoid overpowering), stick them in the deep freeze chest (a regular freezer would work just as well). I should note that this does nothing to really kill bacteria (not low enough), but what it does is cause the cell walls in the fruit to rupture by way of the ice crystals within it. Then, I run two pots for my must preparation, one is the honey/water, and the other is the fruit/water. The honey/water is just as how you've done it but I wrap the fruit in a grain steeping bag and bring it up to 170 degrees (monitor with a candy thermometer, temperature is critical), hold it there for 20 minutes, and then cool the whole pot down quickly in an ice bath. The reason you want to go up to 170, but don't want to go higher than 170 is because you're above the pasteurization temperature that kills bacteria, but your fruit will start releasing pectin and the melomel will haze if higher than that. Preheating also allows some of the juices within the fresh fruit that just ruptured from the freezer to homogenize into the must water which I've seen have somewhat of an impact on character notes in the final product. I combine the two of these together in my brew bucket, pitch my yeast, add some pectic enzyme to break the fruit down, and then add 1/3rd of the yeast/energizer combination as part of a staggered nutrient addition/off gasing/aeration ritual I do for 72 hours. Anyhow, all of that work for the first three days will drastically reduce pretty much every part of the process as far as I've encountered so far. It doesn't even feel like work. The only negative aspect of that is waking my wife when she hears the degassing paddle attached to the cordless drill in the middle of the night!
Again, always enjoy seeing these!
NGinuity Great comment and excellent tips. You probably get amazing fruit flavors this way, yet don't have any problem with haze!
NGinuity it would be wonderful if you made a video on your process!
what's the alcohol content on this batch you made on this video?
I love the wax on the bottle. Very nice touch.
I don't actually dislike this video, it just bothers me that you only had 99 dislikes so I evened you out. This is actually a great video. I have been making mead for about 10 years and metheglins and melomels (fruit and spices) then I ventured into grape wine...not much pleased with it myself, but friends loved it. Go figure. But I make my meads by the traditional method of fruit in prior to fermenting. I made a strawberry/mango mead, pineapple/apple mead, allspice/clove mead (glogg-ish flavor), ginger mead, and recently I've tried a few batches of beer (and IPA, a helles, and a lager). I will give this method of pitching the fruit after the fermentation a chance, it sounds like a great idea. Again, man this is a great video, thanks for taking time to put it together.
Great Video! Thank You for sharing.I just started 15 gallons of mead so I'm browsing the subject.I like the way that you presented this and the wax seal is a great touch.Thumbs Up!!!!
loving the wax idea and stamp thanks
Awesome vid. I especially like the wax seal you placed on it. Adds a cool visual element to the bottle.
Suddenly very interested in all of this. Hope to learn a lot.
I loved this video and will be trying the recipes myself. A couple tips from wine making:(I would assume they still apply) after that primary fermentation be careful with the wine. Try not to add to much oxygen. You do this by having the siphon tube low in the carboy/wine glass. Try to have it not splash around to much. as they are in the secondary fermenter add marbles to it to get the head space high. Or make a little extra during the primary fermentation. Again just a couple friendly tips.
You did an amazing job showing this.
thanks for putting up these mead videos! my first batch is bubbling away and these have been very helpful!
irateyourvideo2 You are very welcome and congrats on the mead!
This is really awesome! Can't wait to give it a try!
Will your videos are always just so great! I'm glad you're out there doing this because it brings me a lot of joy to watch these. I'm going to have to try making some of this mead! I used to buy it all the time, I may as well make my own! Keep up the videos I can't wait to see what's next.
Easy Clean is not a sanitizer. It is an Oxygen based cleaner like Oxy Clean. You should still use a sanitizer like star san.
Will I brew all of the time. I made my first mead about 6 months ago. I followed a similar method as you have presented here. However the only real difference was that I had created a yeast starter. Basically I bloomed the yeast ( I had use the same sort as you did in this video.) Then I pitched it into A tiny amount of must, and then I allowed that to sit for a week prior to my larger batch of mead. This helped speed up the process of fermentation. I still have mine aging as of now.
I did two batches, a hibiscus and lemonade flavor. Be sure to try that out. I think that you'll really enjoy it.
Thank you for the video. Take care
~Mike.
how long do you age your mead ?
@@TheBhannah I aged mine for close to a year.
I currently have 3 gallons of mead in the first ferment (and my 1st attempt at mead making!) and am going to try your method of introducing fruit in the 2nd phase. Wish me luck!
Good luck! Feel free to email me if you have questions.
epicfantasy thanks so much, I will do that. Love your channel!
My roommate and I make mead. Pitch to bottle in 60 days. Wonderful.
This is gold! One of the best videos
Very intuitive. Thanks.
your a bloody ripper legend mate
I have some frozen apple peels from making all our fall pie filling applesauce, etc, can I use them along with regualr apples for the secondary fermentation?
Pretty sure it's not "starting" the yeast, but "blooming" the yeast, right? Either way - definitely going to give this a try this weekend!
Am enjoying these videos sir, what is the siphoning technique you use so that you don't have to use a pump or cane or contaminate by using your mouth to begin the siphon? I see that you have to hoses connected for you siphoning process but I don't understand that concept can you clarify how to do that and explain how it works? Thanks in advance
dear Mr. Epic sir, I Very like your video, very clear and simple. Thank you, pierre from New Mexico
Greetings from Norway. I have just started out with mead and trying too make it good. Do you recommend putting the fruit in first or wait the 30 days before you add it when you pitch the mead over in a new container??
Thank you so much. Being Im a novice Wine Maker lots of info I can utilize..My Mead is about a week old and going strong!
I tried my hand at mead for the first time adding the fruit right away, I think I did ok but it's still too early to tell. I think my biggest thing is I went from 1st fermentation to bottles, no second tracking so it may take a while to clear up & smooth out. I will definitely try it your way the next time!
So how long after the bottling is it ready to be consumed? From what I understand from the video there are roughly 3-4 racks and then bottling, but does that essentially mean 3-4 months and then its ready to drink? thanks for the help!
I mead to make this.
Very nice.. something new to learn
Mead making is wonderful. You will have fun :)
Good stuff. Thanks! I really like the wax stamping!
Question! Does the process change if you want to use fresh fruit juice as opposed to cut pieces of fruit? I have a TON of pears from my grandmother's fruit tree and not enough space in my freezer for them, figured if I juiced them and froze the juice for mead making it would save space
I quit drinking 15 months ago but all my buddies still do. This will be great for bdays and christmas. Just need to convince the wife the spare room is now the fermentation room lol.
Thanks for the video! I want to try this technique, but use wild hand picked blueberries that I have frozen in my freezer right now. I picked these in the woods last summer. Do you think I can use blueberries with the same technique/recipe you have here? Thanks again!
Really nice video I learned and will do.
Good timing. I have my honey ready and I trying to decide what to make next.
Thanks for the Tip, At his point I've already started experimenting with how to make mead, so far I've used the D47 and a EC - 1118 Yeast, the ec-1118 yeast was with my first batch and following your instructions (Minus the Raisins) in your tutorial videos I was able to get the batches going really fast and easy, however I did add in about 15 packs of Sugar in the Raw or about 5 tbs into each batch to help invigorate the yeast and give it something easy to eat at first. I also added in some concentrated Fruit juice though all of the flavor from those disappeared in the final product. I didn't take the specific gravity from before I started the batch so I had to use a vino-meter, yes I know it's inaccurate but it's better than nothing. The first batch made with the EC - 1118 Yeast turned out really well, I clarified it with a bit of Chitosan and then added in some Bentonite to get a really clear mead. The second batch I just used Bentonite to clarify the Mead. The two batches turned out very different though I have to say the Yeast is the primary factor between the two, the Vino-meter read close to 30% ABV for the first batch and on the second it read closer to 15% ABV I got high praises for my first batch so I think I'm going to stick with 1118 yeast for future batches.
I also did something you and many others normally don't recommend and I do see why now after having done it. I was able to salvage some of the mead from the left-over junk at the bottom, how I did this was to pour it in tall skinny containers and allowing it to settle before adding what would normally be discarded back into the batch, this gave me roughly 120ml back in the long run, but it was very time consuming and if I didn't have access to the laboratory equipment I do it would have been a much lower volume as the sediment is difficult to separate out without something like a pipette as you progressively use smaller and smaller volume bottles. Would I recommend what I just said to others? No I wouldn't because it's really easy to contaminate what you get from doing this even if you know what you are doing.
One thing I did adopt for both batches and will continue in the future is that I used what I call a test bottle, it's just a small bottle that I added some mead to to taste it, and then added in some Honey to sweeten the batch when fermentation was done, this was to make sure the cork did not pop out nor the bottle explode, I let the test bottle set for about two weeks just to be sure and I even made sure the cork was seated just enough to make it air tight then marked it. The second batch fermented a bit more after I sweetened it but only just enough to let you know the yeast was still alive after popping the cork however the first batch, well, the more aggressive yeast had already killed itself so nothing happened other than I made it a bit sweeter than I anticipated.
Anyways, you asked me to tell you how my first batches turned out and do there you have it, outside of that I'm going to use unrefined honey for my third batch which looks a bit paler than traditional honey, so wish me luck!
EC-1118 is a poor choice. I made that mistake on my first 20 - 30 batches. It is a champagne yeast and is bomb-proof and can create a higher abv... *however* it also strips a ton of of the flavour notes. Try Lavins D-47 or a K1V-1116. Your will enjoy the richer flavours. 200+5 gal batches and counting.
Douglas Thew
I noticed the flavor being stripped from the mead but have fixed it by not only sweetening with Honey at the end but also by providing some sugar at the beginning to speed up fermentation, once it reaches around 30% ABV the yeast stops fermenting.
I tried D-47 and K1V-1116 yeasts in my second batch as well as in y third batch when I thought it had stalled. I don't like how the mead turns out with the 1116 yeast, it's flavor seems a bit off and I can't really fine tune the flavor at the end the way I live without starting fermentation, I do like D-47 yeast but at my elevation and climate region it does exactly the same thing as EC-1118 and strips the flavors so the only advantage is that it won't stall and can restart batches but it takes longer to ferment. Though I will keep it in mind when I move next, D-47 worked out really well when I made a batch with my girlfriend who lives about 2/3 of a Kilometer lower than I do and with a humidity of around 20% lower.
Really great video, very informative 🙏🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻
looks great, I use fruit juice instead, like idea of fermenting honey the adding fruit , thanks
Very interesting video . something new.I like it .
Wow. Looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.
I've been really wanting to give this a try. Just more of an issue of finding a place to let it ferment in my little apartment.
Question: You go back and forth between using glass jugs and a bucket. Is there a difference? Could you ferment it the whole way in buckets just fine up until you bottle it, or is there a reason to use glass for the other steps?
Buckets all the way would be ok. But... using the glass shows off how beautiful the mead is.
Also it is easier to add stuff into the bucket (i.e. fruit chunks) rather than trying to fit it in the narrow opening of the jug.
Thank you very much for the provided technique, i currently have a batch going and wait for about a month now til i drop the fruit into the fermentation container.
I have a question though regarding pectic enzyme: would it have been of benefit to add it to the first fermentation phase with just the honey and water or does it make more sense when adding the fruit? I kinda lean on the latter, haven't added it in the first phase for now..
I wouldn't add the pectic enzyme until you add the fruit as the enzyme needs pectin to be active and there isn't any pectin prior to adding the fruit.
Great video! Just a couple of questions. For the 5-gallon bucket, does it have to be food grade? I have a brand new bucket that I purchased in the hardware department and it has a nice sealed lid. Can I use this or did you get a bucket specifically for mead? Also, I'm using some buckwheat honey that I purchased online. I'm not sure how the yeast will like it...should I go ahead and add some nutrients in the first fermentation? Thanks for all the tips...you rock!
+Steven Barger Some plastics are toxic. I wouldn't trust the container. Buckwheat honey is good quality for mead. But you still should add nutrients, every type of honey is poor in nutrients for yeast.
how long does this recipe take before bottling? i took notes, and got
*2-4 weeks first ferment
(rack away from dead yeast)
*30 day ferment with fruit
(rack away from fruit)
*30 days ferment for clarity
*Bottle
so 3 months to bottle? does this sound about right?
Thanks
Only after the end of fermentation! Otherwise, it may explode!
Loved the video and am trying this out next week only because I'm having trouble finding the fermentation spout. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Thank You for your videos, you explain it very well and why you use the ingredients that you use. I found a recipe for the Desire mead using Black currant juice. trader Joe's has a Black currant beverage, the only difference in theirs and the Knudsen brand is cane sugar and the price about half, Would the sugar help in the fermentation process?
cane sugar is sucrose, which is a loosely connected glucose and fructose. Honey (and corn syrup) are similarly glucose and fructose. Except for all the flavoring and other organic molecules brought by the fruit, and the minerals and other things brought by bees harvesting from flowers, you could get almost the same beverage with just cane sugar or corn syrup. The yeasts will eat the sugars the same way in any case. Using the honey brings along the subtle aromas and flavors, using fruit and spices adds some stronger aromas and flavors. I imagine the difference is like the difference between brandy wine and vodka.
If you want to call it mead, it has to be primarily fermented from honey.
Keep Austin Weird!! Thanks for the vid. That's one of my fave coffee cups. I recognized it instantly! Lived in ATX 10 years, now in PNW.
Just for public knowledge, do you use a yeast additive? IE: Fermaid K. We've used it several times and it gratly improves the productivity of the yeast.
What about filtering? Would it speed up the process by negating the extra clearing months? Does mead filter well?
Great video! I'm going to make some Pineapple Mead now!
is this not considered a bit too much headspace on the bottles you bottled?
if I look at commercial wine it is filled all the way up to the neck and then some, almost touching the cork.
This video is really helpful thanks!
Great video, thanks.
By the way, I have to ask a question: the meads in this video are extremely clear. Do you use that combination of something-and-shrimp-shell juice to clarify it? Do you filter them? Do you do both?
Thanks for helpful video. I racked my orange melomel after 3 weeks to its secondary carboy (removed the oranges and as much pulp as possible), but there is a tiny bit of pulp stringy orange bits left sitting at the top of the secondary. Is it okay to leave this, or am I risking mold on these little bits? Just double checking I am okay leaving it like that. Also, when bottling, should I should potassium sorbate? Am hoping to bottle it in one month after its sat in secondary phase.
Now that the alcohol content is built up there is very little risk of mold. But feel free to sanitize some kind of tool and scoop out that pulp if you want to. Either way is quite ok. I would avoid the potassium sorbate. I go chemical free as much as possible.
@@epicfantasy that puts my mind to ease! It's Three weeks old now and it's stopped bubbling, so only few more weeks to go and I'll bottle. Good first attempt so far!
that was so satisfying
nice content on the mead. been interested in the stuff since seeing it in skyrim and various medieval movies. a couple of questions. in the vid and description you say the reason for this method is that when you add the fruit there is alcohol in the mead which prevents bacteria on the fruit to grow. are there any drawbacks to this method? and also are there any spice mixes for mead? i ask because in the 2 week mead video you added a few spices to that. is that to aid the fermentation of that particular mix or can you flavor mead with spices as well as fruits?
Very good. I use watermelons or oranges. Give it a try if you haven't already.
I have made several batches of mead melomel (Blueberries and peaches, and I did a Blueberry-Thyme one experimenting with herbs in the process)using this system. Recently I had the question of how much alcohol is in them, and after doing research I am unsure I am able to find out with this method. Most homebrewing systems of calculating Alcohol content involve taking an initial specific gravity measure before the yeast turns the sugar into alcohol, but where there is additional sugar added later in this process I'm not sure how to accommodate that in the calculations.
My favorite drink buddy!
Hey!! Big fan and love the videos, I was wanting to brew some mead for my DnD sessions and I didn't want them to have a high alcohol content and I wanted less brewing time, could I use just red star activated dry yeast instead, and if so would I have to change the ratios? Please respond for the sake of my players!!
Yes, you can use it. No need to change the ratios. And, in a D&&D campaign you problaby should have the cleric make the mead )
Nerdy addition to D&D - I LOVE IT! Seeing as how your comment was 5 years ago, I assume you've had some drunken rampages, and character fights. Lol.
Nicely made video sir! :)
Thank you for sharing.
Great video, very simple and easy!!
Is it bad to leave this in the fermenter for a full month? It does not leach any chemicals?
Awesome video! 👍🏼👍🏼
best video I've seen yet! thank you sir!
I had been putting in fruit in primary fermenter and at the end could barely taste the fruit. Will try in secondary next time to see if any better.
what kind of alcohol percentage do you end up with. also how do you store it, and does it go bad?
So I have a question. I plan on making my own mead eventually. I want to make it with blueberries and blackberries, and I was thinking about just boiling the berries, adding the honey, then the yeast, and so on. Would it be better if I just added the fruit during the secondary fermentation, or can I do it either way?
Karissa Christiansen im currently doing half and half, i slow heated half of my berries and added honey ect to start it off, after racking it i shall add the other half of the fruit depending on how my flavor comes out
Whenever you transfer to the bottles, aren't you supposed to add some kind of stabilizer that stops the fermentation process where there is not a chance that it will continue and blow up the bottles?
very nicely explanation..... cheers I'm subscribing
That was sensational .. thanks so much for sharing :)
can you please tell me where do you get the bottles holding the mead itself? they are nice
I love your stuff and I'd love to keep following. Is there any way you can do your measurements in Metric? The U.s. and one other obscure country still use Imperial measurements. I'm your neighbor here in Canada. :) I would love to see this stuff in Metric.! Thanks so much
+Daniel Nish I am in Canada as well. I don't know where you live but plenty of Canadians still use imperial units. Especially for cooking and minor measurements. I even had a teacher who used to tell joke about if we really were using the metric system.
As for your request, he doesn't have to do anything. If you really have no clue on how to use imperial units, use google and convert the units yourself.
Do you know if you can substitute fruit that's been cooked down to a "juice" to add to the mead? I have some delicious juice from concord grapes that my neighbor gave me and is left over from making jelly. It is literally just grapes cooked down, nothing else added except a tiny bit of water to help the boiling down process. I held back about a qt to use for mead if applicable (I'm new to mead making). If so, would I substitute for some of the water? or just add it after the honey/water mix gets put into the carboy?
Dunno about epicfantasy, but I'd add it at the 'fruits' stage, or up-front if you want mead-wine, because you won't have the skins to flavor it as wine.
Does adding fruit to the secondary fermentation cause a lower ABV to the mead?
Good technique
Awesom buddy, I want to try this.
omfg was just looking at random mead making videos and your intro is the best!! bahahahahha
Was that 32oz by weight or volume for your honey per gal.. What kind of alcohol % did you end up with.
great video sir
I just finished my first batch of maple-mead. It's pretty good, but has a very slight dry/bitterness at the back of the tongue. I've back-sweetened it but it has to be exposed to air for like 90 minutes before that partially disappears. Any thoughts on how I could soften the back-tongue (for lack of better words?) I've already back-sweetened it with minimal quantities (1.25 cups of real maple syrup in in 6 gallons). I don't want to pour a bunch of sugar in to cover the natural honey taste.
I think that wines should please all parts of the palate to be considered "good," the stage before judging for the subtleties of excellence.
Thoughts?
Also: Can one do "umami" in a mead?
I am thinking that it is the maple syrup. It's a bit tricky and gives me trouble. And like honey it varies a lot. I would check the ph. Get some ph strips, cost a couple of dollars. Maybe it needs to be ph balanced.
Oh and about Umami, I am not sure. Seems to me not to be desirable in a drink!
@@epicfantasy OK. Looks like I've got to level up. Can you give me some general rules, if you know them? What does PH do to taste? My wine doesn't taste acidic. I could not say what base tastes like.
@@FrancisRoyCA It tastes like baking soda :)
So I’m using Julip tree honey and it’s still very dark and I’m about 3 weeks in should I wait to add raspberry fruit or do I need more yeast?
Great video. Always wanted to try it. Maybe for a future video you could make some kind of wooden tankard.
koen langeveld Pretty good idea!
Hey Will! I was wondering, for all the supplies you need to make mead how much would it cost?
Wow, it's been a while since you've done any mead vids ;^> This is the same way I make Mel's, although I start with a no-heat method and use a little Pectic Enzyme with the fruit. Occasionally if the yeast strain is quite alcohol tolerant I often add a little more honey with the fruit too (but you need to watch you don't make it overly sweet though, I prefer my mead on the dry side).