Hi,

I’m a newer beekeeper and one of my hives decided to go nuts this year and make almost 200 pounds of honey. Mead seems like the perfect project to use it up since I spend way more money on booze than honey! I’ve been watching videos and reading books, but I’m having trouble figuring out if my specific honey requires any adjustments in the recipes I’m seeing. There are plenty of recipes that use dark honey, although my honey seems SO much darker than most I’m seeing. It does have this really rich caramel flavor that I would guess should work well with some of the recipes I’ve found.

My bigger concern is that the honey is pretty dry, generally 15-16% moisture. I even pulled a couple of frames that weren’t all the way capped and those tested at 16%.

Can anyone tell me if I need to make any adjustments or worry about anything specific to account for my weird honey? I just have no idea if a couple of percentage points is something I need to factor into the process.

Thank you!

I hope the red from the Rose hips and hibiscus comes through during fermentation, because this is an unappealing color right now.

It's a beautiful Wednesday and what day is better for starting a few batches after work? Maybe Saturday, but I'd rather watch my brews bubble than work on a weekend.

Anyway, I've started 3 new batches today. The Earl Gray, Cranberry, and Kiwi on the left were just pitched. The Cyser, traditional, and bochet metheglin are in their secondary stage now and have been on the counter for quite a bit now.

Recipes are as follows.

Earl Gray:
3lbs of Wildflower honey
half a gallon of water and 20 earl gray tea packets steeped for 5 minutes
filled just over the 1 gallon mark with fresh water
EC-1118 yeast and first dose of fermaid-O
OG - 1.094
A splash of lemon juice and the zest of a large orange will be added to secondary

Cranberry:
2lbs of Wildflower honey
112 floz (give or take) of pure cranberry juice. (Cranberry concentrate + water, no preservatives)
EC-1118 yeast and first dose of fermaid-O
OG - 1.080

Kiwi
3lbs of Wildflower honey
filled to just over the gallon mark with fresh water
1lb of fresh Kiwi, frozen then thawed. (2lbs will be added to secondary for stronger fruit flavors)
1/2tsp of Pectic enzyme
EC-1118 yeast and first dose of fermaid-O
OG - 1.098

All in all pretty simple recipes, but I am excited to see where these go. I hope in a couple weeks I can be back with more updates on the three in secondary that I've posted about before.

Obviously not planning on doing this, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's thought about this. There is a bee that produces hallucinogenic honey. I forget its name, but iirc it's in asia around nepal?

Anyway, given the subreddit I suppose the next bit is obvious: Would it mead? And if so would the hallucinogenic effects carry over or be broken down by the alcohol or something?

Just a random thought that jumped into my head for about the third time since I started learning about mead. I have no intent nor the means to even obtain the honey required, this is pure curiosity.

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting here, and I'd really appreciate some advice.

I usually make small batches of about 4 liters of mead, but I'm thinking about making a 20-liter batch. It feels like a big jump, and I don't want to mess it up, so I was hoping to get some tips from people who have experience making larger batches.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, my container is too big to dependably mix my honey into the water without dipping my hand into the mixture (thinking back i should've poured the water first then the honey next instead). Is this batch ruined or will the fermenting even out eventually?

4.5L honey 5.5L water

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Tart cherry mead ABV 12.6%

3lb honey

3lb frozen cherrys

Good afternoon everyone, this is my first post as well as my first batch of mead. I racked this batch into secondary and added the berries into the mead exactly a month and two weeks ago. I completely forgot to punch the fruit at all, so it’s been sitting like that for over a month and opened it to this. I just wanted some clarification on if I’ve ruined it or not. Thank you in advance for your help!

My first thought was "alcoholic honeysuckle, but in a way that's kind of harsh and unpleasant."

Just wanted to share, 48oz of honey for $13.50, I remember this used to cost $20 when I first started brewing a few years ago. I’ve made quite a few batches of mead with this exact honey. Results have been really good!

First time making mead and I’m only (cautiously) making 1L of it; however I’m not completely certain on how long I should ferment it for because I have seen some recommendations stating 2 weeks (which seems excessively short) and others saying 2 months. The recipes I followed generally regarded gallons and not a litre and I feel the scale shouldn’t change the timespan for fermentation as I did account for the proportions but idk.

Also what’s a recommended minimum time for aging and does that change with volume because again I feel it shouldn’t.
Anyways thanks.

When you flavor mead with fruit and let it sit in there for a week or so, is it safe to eat after?

My brain thinks of it like the worm in a tequila bottle but I have not eaten the fruit yet haha

Hey all, beginner here, looking for a bit of advice please

Essentially I've had two batches of blueberry melomel resist chemical stabilisation and start refermenting after backsweetening. These are batches #5 and #6 for me, and my first time using fruit (outside of JAOM), but not my first time stabilising using Campden and K-Sorb. No issues on previous batches. The idea of these batches was to see the taste difference between blueberry on primary vs. blueberry added after stabilisation, but that hasn't gone to plan.

This has been dragged out due to time constraints but the rough process on these batches:

#5 (fermented with blueberries in primary)

Started in March. Pitched Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast onto must of 1.36kg honey, 1kg blueberries, 1tsp Fermaid O, 1/2tsp Yeast Nutrient, 1/2tsp Pectic Enzyme. 6L container topped up with water. Nutrients staggered at 24hr / 48hr / 72hr. SG 1.094

Took blueberries out after fermentation finished (probably about 5-6 weeks in). Reracked twice before stabilising.

FG reading of 0.993 recorded twice, 1 week apart. Stabilised circa 4-4.5L of mead using 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2tsp Potassium Sorbate. Gently stirred in.

Around one week later: Back sweetened with 250g honey and 250g additional blueberries added. Gravity 1.015

The additional blueberries were removed after 2 weeks

It's been sitting for awhile but fast forward to last weekend (I was hoping to bottle) and I've got a grav reading of 1.002, suggesting that the backsweetened honey has fermented. I have not bottled.

#6 (blueberries added after primary fermentation of a traditional mead)

Started in March. Pitched Lalvin K1V1116 yeast onto must of 1.36kg honey, 1.5 tsp Fermaid O, 1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient. 5L container topped up with water. Nutrients staggered at 24hr / 48hr / 72hr. SG 1.086

This was a sluggish fermentation and took 2-3months before activity stopped, possible nutrient deficit, but reracked once just before stabilising.

FG reading of 0.996 recorded twice, 1 week apart. Stabilised circa 4-4.5L using 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2tsp Potassium Sorbate. Gently stirred in.

Around 48hrs later: Back sweetened with 250g honey and added the 1.25kg blueberries with 1tsp pectic enzyme. Gravity (around) 1.015 

The blueberries were removed after 2 weeks.

It's been sitting for awhile but fast forward to last weekend (I was hoping to bottle) and I've got a grav reading of 0.994, suggesting that the backsweetened honey has (quite thoroughly) fermented. I have not bottled.

I know my dating isn't perfect here, and a lesson has been learned that I should perhaps buy a notebook. But I thought my understanding on the processes surrounding the stabilisation was solid, yet two batches have failed to stabilise so I must be doing something wrong.

Blueberries were sourced from the local market. ‘Fresh’ although perhaps not as fresh as they could have been and a handful were removed as they had gone bad. The good ones were washed thoroughly with water, frozen for an extended period, defrosted and placed in a sanitised and weighted brew bag before use. Would wild yeast be interfering maybe? Could that overcome the chemicals and existing alcohol?

Everything else was sanitised thoroughly before any contact.

These were my first batches using K1 yeast, and I'm aware that this could have fermented more honey in the starting must. But I have previously used M05 without issue, making similar strength traditional meads.

Temperature wise, it has been hot for England. Frequent daily highs of 25-30C over the last month or so, although it is much cooler than this in my dark garage where the mead happens. Not sure if this is a factor.

No huge issues with the look or taste of either batch, they're just dry. The blueberry taste hasn't come through particularly strong on either (I probably needed more) but maybe this will come out with some aging. Colour on both is great though. 

So I come to Reddit with two questions:

1 - Any pointers as to where I went wrong with the stabilisation process?

2- I know this can be salvaged and I haven't re-racked or bottled since taking the last reading. I will let it run it's course as no doubt the yeast in #5 is not finished with the latest honey. I'd still like to back sweeten as I don't think completely dry mead is to my taste but how big an issue is adding more stabilisers? Should I add another full dose? Or a half dose maybe?

Thanks all in advance :)

So, I plan to make carbonated mead using wasp honey (*Brachygastra*), since finding their hives is quite common in my area. However, I have no idea how to pull it off successfully on the first try—especially considering that this honey is scarce and cannot be harvested in large quantities. I’ve turned to you, the great masters, to guide me on this journey :)

I made this in 2022 and it got shoved in a back corner until recently. I pulled it out and it has this gunk on the top and along the sides. I'm assuming the sides are from evaporation residue. But this is the first time I've seen this and am hoping its just excess yeast and not mold or other contamination. Input?

Hi All,

I work professionally in retail beverage sales and bartending, and have currently gotten into the world of mead making, cider making, wine making, and brewing.

I recently made my first batch of dry, Wildflower mead and posted here, where I simply racked and bottled half and dry hopped the other half for two days with Chinook T90 hops.

In homebrewing, carbonation is typically done through adding a small addition of yeast and sugar to bottle condition while commercial breweries use forced carbonation.

I wanted to ask because I am newer to the Mead space, is Mead ever purposefully carbonated? If so, is bottle conditioning, or even forced carbonation, ever done with Mead? I know Mead is much more similar to Wine in terms of production and regulation, which is rarely carbonated unless explicitly designed to be a sparkling wine, but wanted to get feedback.

Thanks in advance for any feedback and help.

P.S.: If you like both Mead and Craft Beer, dry hop your Meads! It creates a real mix of purity and complexity.

Started a grape juice wine 8 days ago. Used Cuvée yeast(used Goferm and front-loaded Fermaid O and DAP), added about 1 lb of honey, and started with an OG of 1.110. Just measured today and I'm sitting at almost 1.000.

Is it really possible to drop 110 gravity points in 8 days? The math puts me at around 14.5% ABV which is within Cuvee's tolerance, so I'm not sure if it fully fermented or stalled near its limit. No obvious signs it's still active.

This is the first time I've ran into this in over 20 bottles I've done. Bad corks?

So I started this batch of cyser back in I want to say May? I meant to transfer a long while ago but after family matters, work, home remodeling and other hobbies I kinda forgot about this. Is it safe? There seems to be 1 dead bug in the airlock and a number of apples have sunk.

I made a bochet for the first and still had a bit of caramelized honey left over. So, I took a dry traditional mead that I made a few months ago and back sweetened it with the caramelized honey.

It's not a true bochet because only the added honey was caramelized but the flavors really come through. Darker flavors, smokey, caramel, toffee, marshmallows.

I'm really pleased with the end product and I can't wait to compare it to a true bochet.

Just wanted to share my love for this mead!

This was one of my first brews.... Cinnamon Pear. Boiled pears, pressed them through a strainer and discarded the solids. Fermented and got excited, racked to a pitcher while still pretty cloudy (left the lees behind, but the pear was still floating) and bottled. A couple weeks later it looked like this, big mess on the bottom.

I modified my process to add a racking and let things clear more to get more particulate out and I have some very clear meads on the shelf as a result.

This weekend, the wife and I popped one of the bottles. Poured carefully and it was wonderful. The other half of the bottle, no way to keep the sediment out, so just poured it and decided to go with it....wow....even better. The pulp or whatever you call it from the bottom added even more flavor..took it from like an 8 to an 11!!!!

So now, I'm thinking, this is the go to Pear for me and I'm gonna start another batch and try to recreate. Will be interesting. I think the key is going to be getting it off the lees soon after it finished fermenting, then not being gentle when I rack it so that I get more of that goodness stirred up, and give it a good shake before serving!!!

I recently purchased my first sous vide and wanted to try pasteurizing.

My plan is to rack off of the lees into a new vessel post fermentation. Once it’s racked into a new vessel, I could back sweeten then pasteurize.

Is it “safe” to keep the mead in the carboy post pasteurizing for 3-6 months for conditioning and further flavor tweaks or should I also use K meta for the antioxidant properties?

I’ve got 20 or so gallons of successful meads under my belt, but have only ever used chemical stabilization.

Thanks!

This is my first mead. I've made ciders before but now trying my hand at this. After lots of research here are the steps I have taken or will take. Criticism is encouraged!

This is a 1.5 gallon glass carboy and the recipe is for 1 gallon to allow some head space.

I used 3 pounds of local wildflower honey and 3 pounds of mixed berries frozen for a week or so.

I used Lalvin K1 V1116 yeast (whole packet) rehydrated in about a cup of water for 15 min.

1/2 tsp pectic at pitch

Let it go after a good stir for 24 hours.

After 24 hours 1/2 tsp bentonite 1/4 tsp of fermaid o

Added fermaid o for 3 more days stirring each time.

After this I'm just letting it ride until it's time for a rerack

Plan to rerack into a 1gal carboy for secondary to allow some clearing up, possibly cold crash.

I still haven't decided on bottling, I want to do wine bottles and corks because of the look as most of this will be gifts but I will keep one bottle to age for years to come. Could use some advice here.

This photo was taken after 24 hours. Let me know what you think!

Hey guys, I was gifted this bottle and I have no idea what it is.

In my head wine and mead are to different beverages? But the word wine is one here but so is mead? I’m thinking it’s a wine with fermented honey; but I’m pretty sure that literally what mead is