Hi Folks!
I'm a first time poster but I've started making mead over the past few months. I made one batch out of a plastic water bottle about a year ago which as far to sweet, took a break and started up again more 'serious' last September. I'm based in Ireland so forgive me if I keep to the metric system on this post
I've gotten myself a fair bit of kit and I'm enjoying the learning process and each time I make a new batch I'm trying to improve.
I've made it to my 6th attempt and I feel I'm competent enough that I'd benefit from a bit of encouragement, criticism, feedback etc.
My mission is to make some nice tasting sack meads of various guises. A couple of weeks ago I attempted my first cyser (batch no.5) and it seems to be bubbling away nicely. So with batch number 6 this was basically my process:
Equipment:
5 litre Glass Carboy with requisite airlock
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Funnel
Cheese Cloth
Degasser & drill
Ingredients:
6x340g jars or 2.04kg of Mileeven Organic Raw Honey (http://www.mileeven.com/pure-irish-honey)
Tesco Frozen Summer Fruits 500g
5 litres of Spring Water (classic Spring)
Lalvin 1118 yeast
1 Teaspoon of 'get er Brewed' Yeast Nutrient (https://www.geterbrewed.ie/yeast-nutrient-100g/)
My process was basically to boil the fruit in a pot and stir it plenty and let it settle for about 20mins. I then drained out the fruit juice through a cheese cloth and poured it into my carboy/demijon
With the honey I kept it in the jars and placed it in a pot with some warm water to loosen it up and added it in.
I then added water and filled it to approximately the 4 litre mark.
I thought i would be fancy this time and I used a degaser I'd just bought. The bung that was attached though was quite soft and when I was mixing everything together with the drill it ended up inside the carboy. I had to use a coat hanger and some plyers to wrench it out lol, being careful not to let it drop into the must haha!
I then dropped in a pack of the hydrated yeast that was at a healthy 35 degrees and mixed it a little by hand turning the carboy over a few times.
The starting gravity is at 1.134, must was 20 degrees Celsius I think!
My plan is to leave it be, rack it in about a month, leave it for another month and when the gravity gets to 1.01 which should give me a mead at a sweetness I find palatable and work out at about 16% alcohol.
When that's all done sometime in the next 2-3mths Id like to clarify the mead with some bentonite and add a campten tablet to stabilise it. Should it be ok to bottle it then?
Let me know what you think and if you've any advice it'd be much appreciated
I'm a first time poster but I've started making mead over the past few months. I made one batch out of a plastic water bottle about a year ago which as far to sweet, took a break and started up again more 'serious' last September. I'm based in Ireland so forgive me if I keep to the metric system on this post
I've gotten myself a fair bit of kit and I'm enjoying the learning process and each time I make a new batch I'm trying to improve.
I've made it to my 6th attempt and I feel I'm competent enough that I'd benefit from a bit of encouragement, criticism, feedback etc.
My mission is to make some nice tasting sack meads of various guises. A couple of weeks ago I attempted my first cyser (batch no.5) and it seems to be bubbling away nicely. So with batch number 6 this was basically my process:
Equipment:
5 litre Glass Carboy with requisite airlock
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Funnel
Cheese Cloth
Degasser & drill
Ingredients:
6x340g jars or 2.04kg of Mileeven Organic Raw Honey (http://www.mileeven.com/pure-irish-honey)
Tesco Frozen Summer Fruits 500g
5 litres of Spring Water (classic Spring)
Lalvin 1118 yeast
1 Teaspoon of 'get er Brewed' Yeast Nutrient (https://www.geterbrewed.ie/yeast-nutrient-100g/)
My process was basically to boil the fruit in a pot and stir it plenty and let it settle for about 20mins. I then drained out the fruit juice through a cheese cloth and poured it into my carboy/demijon
With the honey I kept it in the jars and placed it in a pot with some warm water to loosen it up and added it in.
I then added water and filled it to approximately the 4 litre mark.
I thought i would be fancy this time and I used a degaser I'd just bought. The bung that was attached though was quite soft and when I was mixing everything together with the drill it ended up inside the carboy. I had to use a coat hanger and some plyers to wrench it out lol, being careful not to let it drop into the must haha!
I then dropped in a pack of the hydrated yeast that was at a healthy 35 degrees and mixed it a little by hand turning the carboy over a few times.
The starting gravity is at 1.134, must was 20 degrees Celsius I think!
My plan is to leave it be, rack it in about a month, leave it for another month and when the gravity gets to 1.01 which should give me a mead at a sweetness I find palatable and work out at about 16% alcohol.
When that's all done sometime in the next 2-3mths Id like to clarify the mead with some bentonite and add a campten tablet to stabilise it. Should it be ok to bottle it then?
Let me know what you think and if you've any advice it'd be much appreciated
