My first mead attempt

[timmy]

Hey all,

I've been watching an old edition of Basic Brewing video where the guys make a mead and was inspired to have a shot at it myself. I had some ingredients lying about - 1kg of messmate honey (that had crystallised) and some white wine yeast and nutrient. So I made the following:

1kg messmate honey
2 L warm water to dissolve the honey
5g yeast nutrient
5g white wine yeast
Made up to 4L in my gallon demijohn.

This should end up about 7% and quite dry (I've used the yeast before in a lemonade)

It's been bubbling away for a couple of days now and is smelling quite nice. I'll rack after a month or so and then probably leave it in secondary for a couple of months before bottling.

Will post back with results...

Cheers,

Tim

[Lachy]

I'm keeping an eye on this one... I've also seen the basic brewing guys do meads before, and it's really got my attention. It's something I want to try in a carboy myself before upping to a 20l + production in my main fermenter.

[James L]

are you going to add your own secret gruit?

gruit being a herbal mixture added to the brew to make metheglins (a style of mead).

Charlie Papazian talked alot about it in his Microbrewed Adventures book. very entertaining book.

[timmy]

Since it's only a 4L batch I thought I'd keep it simple and perhaps experiment later with fruits and/or spices. I was tempted to chuck in a bit of cascade, though.

Cheers,

Tim

[rwh]

Sounds good. How long was the honey crystallised for? You might get a few subtle off flavours if you use honey that's been crystallised for too long (as the area around the crystals has less sugar and more water than the rest of the honey, sometimes the sugar level can drop low enough for bacteria to grow).

[timmy]

I don't know how long it's been crystallised for - I've probably had it sitting in the cupboard for 6 months.

Am I right in saying that you should let the mead clear before bottling?

[Bizier]

Messmate honey sounds good, I don't think I have ever seen this commercially available.

My old boy has some honey going at the moment that is from some bush hives he resuscitated, it is really dark and hugely flavoursome. It has been sitting in Wollemi Hawkesbury sandstone bush for maybe 11 years or something without being touched by humans. I would love to brew with it but there is simply not enough.

I am interested to know how your mead goes Timmy. When the honey is back on later in the year, I would like to do some myself.

[rwh]

If it's very flavoursome you might find it doesn't make good mead. The best honeys for mead are lightly flavoured, like white clover, orange blossom or yellow box.

As for waiting for the mead to clear before bottling, I presume that's right. Mine's been sitting in secondary in a glass carboy (23L of the stuff!) for nearly six months now, so I guess I should bottle it. Mind you, it hasn't cleared, so I might have to start thinking about fining it.

[KEG]

rack it again and chill it maybe?

of course, you'll have to have a taste when you do

[rwh]

Good idea, I didn't think of chilling it even though I regularly do that for beers (duh). I think I'll pump some CO2 from my kegging system into the fermenter before I rack as I'd hate to oxidise it now. I'll let you know how it tastes.

[Chris]

I know most people seem to go the light honey, but Leatherwood is phenomenal in mead. I did a Leatherwood raspberry mead. That was tasty.

[Chris]

BTW, anyone add vegemite?

[rwh]

Racked mine yesterday, it's now in the fermentation fridge at 2°C. Taste and aroma are pretty yeasty (but I think that was just the yeasty sample that I got from the end of the racking), but otherwise really great, kind of like a sweet, complex white wine, but with extra eucalypt spiciness (but not overpowering). I guess six months in the fermenter really does really work.