1 Gallon Batch, am I doing this right?

My thoughts - buy an hydrometer. It's really the only way you'll know. You can also remove the airlock, stick your sanitized hand over the hole, shake the carboy a bit and see if pressure escapes. If it does (makes a PSSSST noise when you remove your hand) then you know your bung/airlock is leaking somewhere. If there is lees forming, you probably do have fermentation.

Also, did you feed your yeast?

The fermentation may indeed be active, but a hydrometer is one of the must important pieces of equipment you can have for brewing (beer, wine, or mead).

Raisins aren't really nutrients. Read up on the TOSNA 2.0 protocol, and something called YAN (Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen). Also oxygen and the aerobic and anaerobic stages of yeast development.

And I have to add it again - get a hydrometer. If you ask me, a hydrometer is more important than an airlock.

Why even worry I have created many wines in the beginning with out a Hydrometer. If you followed the kit recipe it should get you in the ball park and use their ABV as a reference.

If you like the hobby then trust me a Hydrometer is not where it stops.

Now I'm not to sure if I should post this part as it is very back yard science......... But why not do a CO2 test with a flame (Take a sample cover with plastic wrap give it a hour or so and test) but to be honest too must work and less time drinking ;-)

I doubt people are brewing mead from kits. Hydrometers tell you what you have, where you are and what you can expect. It's crucial.

Toxxyc said:

I doubt people are brewing mead from kits. Hydrometers tell you what you have, where you are and what you can expect. It's crucial.

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https://www.northernbrewer.com/coll..._shop_by_category=cider_mead:Mead Recipe Kits

and OP said so

csuiss said:

I did feed my yeast with what came with the kit, I've seen that some people do raisins as well. I'll get the hydrometer but i've done a bit of research and it seems that there is fermentation, might just have to let it sit longer lol

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Ah. I figured it's just his brew kit, as in the first post. I'm still of the opinion that you need a hydrometer though.

I'm with you on a hydrometer. Just saying that if you are new to this and want to test the waters then following a kit is not a bad thing to do.

Yes, you'll find that this forum is full of some very knowledgeable people who are more than happy to help answer any questions that you might have. I should add that I am not one of those knowledgeable people myself. I am still very much a newbie by my standards, but I seem to learn something new almost every day.

As far as equipment/supplies goes, there is almost no limit to how much you could spend depending on how serious you are about this hobby. You take someone like Ryan (squatchy) for instance, he probably spends more in honey annually than I've spent for everything combined up to this point. Bottom line, if you're serious about it, there will always be something more that you could get to add to what you have, improve what you have, or increase the quantity of what you make. Even with a minimal seriousness using minimal equipment, this can be an extremely fun hobby to partake in.

csuiss said:

the honey at the bottom is slowly being eaten up!

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I just want to check that you did dissolve the honey into the water correct? There really should have been no boundary or separation between the water and honey prior to pitching your yeast. If not you'll want to sanitize a spoon/mixer and stir the crap out of your must until the honey is all dissolved into the water. This is much easier on the front end with warmer water but either way you'll want the honey fully dissolved or you are rather likely to end up with some pretty funky mead.

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Since you're new to all this I'm going to share my link blast with you... it's definitely my most popular post! I poured over gotmead and a few other sites when I first got into this about a year ago and kept notes on where I found things.

Here is a wealth of good information:

The GotMead Modern Mead Making Podcast series on the procedure of making mead right:


The primary - the period when the yeast are fermenting the honey

The secondary - the period when the mead has been racked off of the "gross lees" (sediment from primary) and the mead flavor is adjusted/augmented


Extra goodies I've found helpful:
A very help glossary: https://morewinemaking.com/articles/wine_terminology - fermenters talk weird sometimes!

https://morewinemaking.com/articles/SO2_management additional information on how to sulfite stabilize your mead

https://www.bjcp.org/mead/Mead_Study.pdf - basically a book on this stuff. Some seems out of date but you'll be able to spot it after understanding the podcasts. very helpful section on "balance" & mead faults.

YouTube video on Spirit indication test for determining the final ABV when additional sugars/liquids have been added or the original SG is unknown

TOSNA - Tailored Organic Staggered Nitrogen Additions calculator honey is nitrogen poor so mead needs nitrogen additions to support the yeast

https://morewinemaking.com/articles/Fining_finished_white_wine Information on agents used to help clear your mead. The BJCP "book" has information on this as well.

https://morewinemaking.com/articles/wine_bench_trials - how to perform a bench trial

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Since I update this often enough, and post it frequently, here is a link to my user notes where the most updated version will be: https://www.gotmead.com/forum/usernote.php?u=38558

It won't make a settlement at the bottom if it's dissolved completely. The honey at the bottom means a few things:

1. At the bottom, where the yeast lies down, you have a super-high concentration of sugars. This is not good for the yeast, as they're lying in a solution that's much higher in sugar than what they're happy to try and eat through.
2. Your gravity readings (with the hydrometer) would be all wrong. If all the sugar isn't properly dissolved, the hydrometer won't work, and your mead won't be as expected.

Shake up the fermenter and get all the honey dissolved immediately, if you ask me.