First Time Making Mead...

[Ventazin]

Hi everyone,
I was hoping I might be able to receive a little advice, I am currently in the process of brewing my first ever mead and may have just jumped in without doing enough leg work. Initially I was told by a friend that you could produce a decent mead within 6 weeks, but the more I look into this the less that seems realistic, and I'm certainly in no rush. Secondly I believed that all yeast is created equal, though of course that too is incredibly inaccurate. I was just wondering if I could have a rough idea of what to expect from this batch, what and any tips on what might save it?
Thanks for any advice!

1.5 kg rowse pure natural honey
5g lalvin d47 yeast
1 teaspoon wilko yeast nutrient
And water in a 1 gallon demijohn

Currently just over a week into fermentation

 

[Dadux]

Hi there Ventazin and welcome to the forums

Well you can indeed produce good mead under 6 weeks but it does require to learn a lot of stuff (which takes a lot of time).
Its good you are in no rush. And no, not all the eyast is the same. that is why there are a lot of diferent strains. Different yeast are better in some or other conditions (temperature, acidity, % of alcohol...) and give a bit different flavours.
The batch is ok. A lot of honey for 1 gal, for starters.
Some things you did well, is you added nutrients and used raw honey. At what temperature is the mead fermenting? this is an important issue. You want to put it in a place between 15-20ºC with no direct sunlight.

From what i see and to answer your question you can probably expect a sweet or semisweet 12-15% ABV mead, that will take some time to age and get good, because you are not following the best practices. Dont worry about this, it will be good. But it will take longer (maybe a few months).

From there i can point you to some places where you will learn a lot of stuff. First, you'd do good in reading the newbee guide from this site. There is a tab up there. There you can learn a lot of stuff
Next, i recommend you buy a hydrometer, the most useful tool of a brewer. You can use it to see what is the density of the must, and that will tell you how sweet your meads are and how much ABV they have, and other important stuff.
Try reading about SNA (staggered nutrients additions, because we usually dont add all the nutrients in one go), and before making another batch, post your planned recipe so we can tell you what you can improve before you do something you should not.
Also, im assuming you got an airlock on the demijohn? you should be stirring the mead at least everyday so it releases more CO2 faster. This helps the yeast. You can do this starting today, once a day, until the fermentation is over (how to know when its over you ask? well, with a hydrometer of course!)

Dont worry, your mead is not gonna be horrible. But dont judge it until a few months have passd. mead is like wine, gets better with time. Your process was far from perfect, but that only means the mead will take longer to be good. Read the newbee guide and if you have questions, use the search tool on this forum. most of them are already answered. If you dont find the answers or something isnt clear, ask us here, no worries.

 

[caduseus]

read the newbie guide
buy a hydrometer and use it!
temps and FULL recipe incuslign nutrients?

You can make an Ok mead in 6 weeks using the BOMM protocol but even it tastes better with ageing.

 

[Squatchy]

The BOMM isn't any faster than wine yeast if your science and adjuncts are current.

 

[Ventazin]

Hi guys, thanks for getting back to me on this. Hydrometer ordered and I spent the best part of yesterday evening reading up on the guide as advised, feeling a lot more confident today! I'll certainly pitch my idea for batch 2 on here before starting. Thanks again