First batch

Welcome to Got Mead!

For us to help, please post your recipe in tabular format with the process you followed directly below it, for example:

10 lbs Costco Sue Bee Clover Honey
3.5 gallons water
5 gr some kind of yeast
5 gr some kind of other ingredients


1. Mixed it up real good
2. Rehydrated my yeast and pitched it in after 15 minutes of rehydration
3. WTC out of the must for aeration
4. Checked gravity with my hydrometer (if you don't have one, get one, this is one of the most important tools you'll use, NO EXCUSES!)
5. When fermentation was done the mead was racked into a glass carboy (plastic won't do since the alcohol will react with the plastic and taint your mead, again, NO EXCUSES!)

Cheers,

Oskaar

OK, thanks for posting your recipe. This makes things much easier and I can tell you what's going on with your mead with relative confidence at this point.

Based on what I'm seeing, your mead will be dry, tannic (bitter) and acidic (tart). This is not necessarily a bad thing if you like white wines like Chablis.

If you were looking for sweet mead do this with your next batch.

1. Buy a hydrometer

2. Get a glass secondary (if you already haven't. the plastic isn't the culprit here, but down the road it would be if you use it as a secondary vessel)

3. Use more honey and measure with your hydrometer.

4. Go here to learn about which yeast you are using. This is important because you absolutely need to know what the alcohol tolerance of your yeast is in order to formulate your must correctly so that it will end up sweet, medium or dry. Your yeast (K1-V1116) will ferment to 18 percent ABV (Alcohol By Volume). Your must will only support fermentation to 14% ABV which means that your must does not have enough fermentable sugars in it to ferment to completion with enough residual sugar for sweetness. That is, unless you plan to stop the fermentation. You may also backsweeten in order to bring some sweetness to your mead, but that's down the road.

5. I don't recommend heating your must, it's not necessary and it drives off the enzymes, protiens, and most of the floral aromas and subtle nuances of the honey you use. If you do heat your must I feel that you might as well use a generic honey from Costco or Sam's since that in my opinion is what you're pretty much doing to your honey with heat. YMMV

6. In your next batch lose the acid addition up front. This is a carry over from period meadmaking, along with some brewing recipes. You don't need acid up front. You also don't need Irish Moss, Gypsum, etc., etc. These are not necessary and do not really add anything beneficial to your mead's final flavor.

7. I'm also a strong proponent of using the nutrients made by Lallemand specifically for their yeast. Yes you may use other nutrient, but to me it makes better sense to use the nutrient designed specifically for the yeast made by the manufacturer. Use GO-Ferm to rehydrate your yeast, and Fermaid-K for additions once the fermentation has started.

8. Get a lees stirrer (do a forums search) it is an invaluable tool and takes any guesswork out of whether or not your honey is completely dissolved, thus eliminating the need for any heating of your must. Again, you don't see winemakers boiling or heating their must (except in Beajolais Nouveau to pasteurize it when it is done fermenting to prevent Malo-lactic fermentation and prior to bottling and shipping)

9. Going forward please feel free to post your recipe before you actually whip it up. You can get comments from us board denizens and decide for yourself in a more informed fashion on how you want to proceed, as well as being forwarned about the possible consequences.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

The waiting is the hardest part as always.

Sounds like you're on your way to a lot of good mead. Post up that next recipe and we'll see if we can help you make an outstanding mead!

cheers,

Oskaar

I made a lot of those same sort-of-mistakes with my first batch. The problem is that there are so many old recipes out there that use old techniques that are either unnecessary (like heating) or just wrong (like adding acid up front) and don't really have a lot of information about how the mead will turn out.

But you have found the mecca of all mead info, GotMead! Welcome

1) Can I use the same bucket for secondary fermentation if I minimize oxygen exposure while cleaning it out? (hard to justify the expense of a carboy to my wife without her know what the big deal is)
I dont see how you will be able to minimize oxygen exposure enough by transfering out of a bucket, cleaning it, then putting it back in. Definately get that second carboy. Hopefully when your wife tastes the mead she will change her mind about the expenses

2) Does shaking during 1st fermentation mess up the process?
You can shake it during the first couple days to get oxygen in there. If by shake you mean moving the fermenter around and it sloshes a little bit thats no problem at all.

3) Is the smell a good sign?
Not during the primary fermentation no. Its going to be honey and yeast smelling. If there is something bad in there it wont become noticeable by smell until after fermentation.

4) Are first batches doomed to failure?
Not always but first batches of mead like this are more often then not learning experiences. I think though you will still get something good to drink when you are done. You did come to gotmead after all to post at

5) Was using a commercial honey a mistake?
No they are fine. It really depends on what they did to it during their processing. The quality of ingredients you use will make a quality end product. If a person wont be disappointed by less then perfection I would advise a first batch to be a cheap honey.

6) What is a good way to bottle after secondary fermentation?( I have 9 more weeks min. per the recipe)
Get a bucket with a spiggot and a bottling cane. Hopefully you will have some more funds after the 9 weeks. Its possible I suppose to bottle with just a syphon hose but the amount of work and quality of bottling is not worth it.

That is a bit high and sweet. Is it dramatically oversweet? If not you may be reading your hydrometer incorrectly. The rocket fuel taste will go away over time. I'd suggest taking another reading and verifying that gravity. If it is that high, you'll need to do a couple of things, but we can burn that bridge when we come to it.

The book should be Ken Schramm's book The Compleat Meadmaker which is the current bible of meadmaking.

Cheers,

Oskaar

It's better to siphon out a sample than to tip and pour, since you'll introduce less O2 that way.

If your LHBS has one, consider investing in a device called a "wine thief." It is a long plastic or glass tube that allows you to draw out a small sample from your carboy that you can then use to check SG, or just taste-test. A very handy device! There is even a version that supports a standard hydrometer in the glass tube, so you can check your SG and then allow the sample to flow back into the carboy, with a minimal introduction of oxygen in the process.

Though why anyone would take an SG reading and NOT want to taste how the mead is progressing is a bit of a mystery to me! :drunken_smilie:

You can take a sample, let *most* of it back in, and then taste the last bit .

AsharaLyn said:

You can take a sample, let *most* of it back in, and then taste the last bit .

Click to expand...

Ahh - Waste not AND want not! I like that!! :icon_thumleft:

AsharaLyn said:

You can take a sample, let *most* of it back in, and then taste the last bit .

Click to expand...

I don't put anything back into the vessel that I thieve off. Don't want to take the chance on a hitchhiking bug. Get one of these devices for theiving off samples. You won't be sorry.

Cheers,

Oskaar

:wave:

the only thing about not putting back is you loose so much of the mead on reading of
small batches ...

say one to two gallons

the larger batches leave more for ageing

:cheers:

wolf

wolf_tracker said:

:wave:

the only thing about not putting back is you loose so much of the mead on reading of
small batches ...

say one to two gallons

the larger batches leave more for ageing

:cheers:

wolf

Click to expand...

That's why you make six gallon batches! LOL

Oh, agreed! I figger if I'm going to try it, I might as well do a full batch. If I end up with a bunch of bottles of something so-so, c'est le vie. It's still gonna be better that what I can buy!

I dunno. From brewing beers, I've seen some definite differences in recipe between 1-2 gallon batches vs. 5-6 gallon batches. It's not a linear translation.

I've never tried 1 gallon batches of mead so I can't say for sure things won't translate. I definitely understand the appeal of taking a low risk$ try at something. This obsession ain't cheap! I just have my doubts based on other fermentation experience. And I don't mean to thread-jack here but can anybody tell me their differences between 1 and 5 gallon batches of mead?