I started a melomel batch two weeks ago. Below are a list of batch details: 5 gallon batch frozen blueberries (roughly 4-5lbs per gallon) 18.5 lbs of honey (raw, unpasteurized honey from my fathers farm) 10 grams of Red Star Cote De Blanc yeast pitched with 12.5 grams of Go-ferm Staggered yeast nutrient addition (fermaid O) 0 hours : 10.9 grams 24 hours : 10.9 grams 48 hours : 10.9 grams 1/3 sugar break (roughly 96 hours) : 10.9 grams …

I read several recipes and talked with people at my local brew shop and thought I had a pretty good idea of how to make my first batch of mead but after I've already got it going I'm now over thinking and wondering if I did it wrong. Currently I'm making 1 gallon and have mixed 3 pounds of honey with the water to make up a gallon as I want it on the sweeter side. I was instructed to …

My son and I tried our hand at mead for the first time... I didn't notice a lot of bubbling I thought that it wasn't fermenting correctly but my son thought differently, he's 17. Lol But when we went to bottle it after the normal 2-week. We tasted it and it tasted sour kind of musty It wasn't a good flavor. Does anybody possibly know what we could have done wrong? Thank you. On a side note he decided to …

I am relatively new to the world of personal home brewing. I have always gravitated towards mead and my next venture ought to be distilling some. I've read through lots of articles and threads on the topic and to no end have I found something agreed upon on the issue. Every other spirit has its own category based on its original ingredient, the process, or a slice of historical origin. Why on earth has distilled honey ferment not have a …

There is floating debris in my mead—Is this a cause for concern? Some context: I fermented honey water with Red Star Premier Blanc wine yeast, nearly 4 weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I transferred the mead into another carboy for secondary fermentation, added in toasted oak chips, and a Campden tablet. 1 week ago, I removed the oak chips, and transferred the mead into a new carboy. The mead still has not cleared up, and I just noticed some floating …

fermenting a bochet, I dropped a bluetooth hydrometer in the must and started with a gravity reading of 1.128. Pitched lalvin EC-1118, and over a day the gravity has gone up to 1.144. I've heard that if your yeast is active enough, it can physically push your hydrometer up, and throw your reading off. However, would that not mean that I should have some visible airlock activity? I'm also quite sure my airlock is working properly - the fermenter is …

Does distilling mead produce methanol/how much comes off in the first run? So much conflicting info! 18l (ish) of mead started through a pot still & thumper keg until 1.8l (ish) distillate collected, then stopped the still. Distillate collected in 5 batches: 250ml then 400ml X 4 Plans for making a blend with some of the remains in the still, and some of the collected batches. Batches all look/smell/taste similar, safe to assume discarding the 250ml leaves the remaining 1.6l …

After 4 days my mead started to sparkle and I can see Co2 bubbles forming pretty fast but it's the second week now and there is no bubbling in my airlock or even a pressure build up. I know it's completely air tight and I'm a little bit confused about that as I'm a novice brewer. Can anyone help? I opened my batch and it was self carbonated but not fermented. The starting SG was 1100 and final SG was …

I brewed a sweet mead on February 24th, 2013, racked it to secondary on April 4th, 2013, and was getting ready to bottle it now (end of July). I had been out of town for a few weeks and when I came back the top of the brew looked like this: Is that likely to be contamination, or just something normal for a mead? It smells like mead, and a quick taste doesn't alert me to anything odd... but it …

To preface, I have zero experience with homebrewing. I mainly am interested in these recipes specifically because they seem super simple and don't require any specialty equipment. I enjoy watching youtube channels such as Tasting History or Townsends, where they explore recipes from history. Occasionally they will do an episode on meads or ginger beers or other various alcoholic beverages in history. Example 1 Example 2 For obvious reasons, these recipes often have a distinct lack of sanitation. Or it …

I started making my very first mead. I took 1kg of pure single-flower honey and 2.5L of water (actually, not tap water but a bottled one). According to the suggestions, I did: Warm 1L up to almost 50 Celsius. Add the honey, mix, and avoid the whole mix to pass 50 Celsius. Take it out, mix another 1.5L of water, and put everything in the end flask (I use a flask with an airlock to do the fermentation process). Temperature …

Campden was really hard to find in the country I am currently in. Thus a friend arranged it from a lab supplier. As it shows 10ppm max lead on the label, would it be toxic to use? Also could you suggest me an alternative to Campden to prevent bacteria? My wines and kimchi get flowering every second day of fermentation. Would be very grateful for your guidance.

I'm looking into brewing a mead in the near future. I have exactly 0 experience brewing anything. I'm going to buy a store-bought brewing kit in the next few weeks if everything lines up. I'm wondering if anyone's ever made a Caramel Coffee Mead, and if so do you have a recipe, or any tips on how to make it work. I want at least an 8% ABV, but no more than 16%. I'm looking for it to be a …

I never made a beverage with meat in it so I'm a little scared. I think I can bake the bacon to make it crispy, then crumble it into the mead. Will it be safe to sit for a month of fermenting? Is that the best way to make a bacon flavor mead? (I will also put a quart of maple syrup in it.)

I have made mead a few times with perfect results. This time I tried a Cyser in a 1 gal batch. I followed a recipe that, based on the notes, had good results from others. 1 Gal of 100% apple juice, 2lbs honey, nutrient, and energizer, and using Lalvin 71B yeast. I did everything as he said, half of the nutrient and energizer day 1, then the other half day 2. It bubbled great for about a week, then it …

Can you use bentonite before fermentation, or must it be used after fermentation? This source says you can use it before pitching yeast. https://winemakersacademy.com/bentonite-clarify-wine/ Some kit manufacturers (such as Winexpert) have you add bentonite in the very beginning of the wine making process, right before the yeast. That is so the bentonite will start clarifying the wine as it’s fermented. This is one of the only fining/clearing agents that can be added pre-fermentation. It sits on the bottom of the …

I forgot to add nutrient to my must when I put it in my carboy the other day (first time brewing mead). I fear I won't be able to get to my homebrew store before it's too late, so I'm wondering if I can create nutrient at home. Is this possible?

I recently received a refractometer and tried it out on a batch of mead that has been in secondary for about 3 months. I took a reading of some distilled water, both read 1.00. I then dissolved 30g of sugar into 250ml of water and took a reading; both showed around 1.045. However, when I measure my mead, I get pretty much exactly 1.00 on the hydrometer but 10 brix (1.040 sg) on the refractometer. Interestingly, the mead tastes quite …

The health food store near me has a sale on dark Agave nectar such that 1 kg costs less than their average 1 kg of honey (usually it costs slightly more than honey). I noticed on the nutritional info on the label that it's got roughly the same sugar content as honey, so in theory, I could use agave nectar to make mead, using the same proportions! Before I attempt this though, I was wondering if anyone out there has …

This is just out of curiosity... I mean if you distill beer, you get whiskey... if you distill wine, you get cognac/brandy... if you distill fermented molasses, you get rum... if you distill fermented agave, you get tequila... if you distill apple-cider, you get calvados (if you happen to live in Calvados, France)... if you distill fermented horse-milk (kumiss), you'll probably regret it... But what do you get if you distill (honey-) mead? Does it even have a specific name? …