I started this 1 gallon batch almost 3 months ago now and I've been fairly non-standard in its making so I'll just start from the beginning.
I am impatient and cheap so I watched a few videos and read a few recipes and just dove in. I bought 2 Kg of creamed honey because it was cheaper and put the containers in a hot water bath to liquefy it. I got impatient about that, so I threw it in a pot to apply some more heat to it and some water to get basically my mead mixture right there. Once it was 100% liquid I let it cool down most of the way (didn't use a thermometer) and then threw it into a jug I sterilized with boiling water. Here is where I made what I thing is the first BIG mistake. (the others have been bad but not like this) I used bread yeast because I'm cheap and I already had it. I weighed out 5 grams and just tossed it into the jug dry. I closed up the jug and sloshed everything around to make sure there were no dry pockets of yeast, then put it aside to ferment with an airlock in place.
Fast forward a month, and it's still bubbling slowly. I racked out a small taste (not the best method but it worked) and it tasted like mildly alcoholic honey. I figured the bread yeast just didn't have a high enough alcohol tolerance and it died off way too early. I went out and bought sanitizer, a second jug and wine yeast. (Lalvin L67 I want to say, but that's straight from my terrible memory) I sterilized all my equipment and racked the "mead" into the second jug. I lost a little bit avoiding the sediment at the bottom, so I topped it off with water. I followed the instructions on my yeast packet, repitched, sealed with an airlock and set it aside to ferment.
30 days later, I tasted it again and, while it was still somewhat too sweet, it was definitely more alcoholic. I considered racking it to age then, but it was still bubbling slowly and was still cloudy.
10 more days have passed and it is starting to get clearer, but there is sediment that seems to be sticking to the wall of the jug. At this point, I haven't tasted it, and I'm not sure if I should rack it and start aging it or if I should just keep waiting until I don't see it bubbling anymore.
To sum up:
2 Kg liquefied creamed honey
Filtered water to fill jug
Bread yeast
1 month of fermenting
Wine yeast
40 days of fermenting
I am impatient and cheap so I watched a few videos and read a few recipes and just dove in. I bought 2 Kg of creamed honey because it was cheaper and put the containers in a hot water bath to liquefy it. I got impatient about that, so I threw it in a pot to apply some more heat to it and some water to get basically my mead mixture right there. Once it was 100% liquid I let it cool down most of the way (didn't use a thermometer) and then threw it into a jug I sterilized with boiling water. Here is where I made what I thing is the first BIG mistake. (the others have been bad but not like this) I used bread yeast because I'm cheap and I already had it. I weighed out 5 grams and just tossed it into the jug dry. I closed up the jug and sloshed everything around to make sure there were no dry pockets of yeast, then put it aside to ferment with an airlock in place.
Fast forward a month, and it's still bubbling slowly. I racked out a small taste (not the best method but it worked) and it tasted like mildly alcoholic honey. I figured the bread yeast just didn't have a high enough alcohol tolerance and it died off way too early. I went out and bought sanitizer, a second jug and wine yeast. (Lalvin L67 I want to say, but that's straight from my terrible memory) I sterilized all my equipment and racked the "mead" into the second jug. I lost a little bit avoiding the sediment at the bottom, so I topped it off with water. I followed the instructions on my yeast packet, repitched, sealed with an airlock and set it aside to ferment.
30 days later, I tasted it again and, while it was still somewhat too sweet, it was definitely more alcoholic. I considered racking it to age then, but it was still bubbling slowly and was still cloudy.
10 more days have passed and it is starting to get clearer, but there is sediment that seems to be sticking to the wall of the jug. At this point, I haven't tasted it, and I'm not sure if I should rack it and start aging it or if I should just keep waiting until I don't see it bubbling anymore.
To sum up:
2 Kg liquefied creamed honey
Filtered water to fill jug
Bread yeast
1 month of fermenting
Wine yeast
40 days of fermenting