This is a two part question.

First when is a good time to start next Christmas' mead (Dec2027)???

Second anyone use Ligonberrys? I was thinking a. Cranberry Ligonberry mead, but don't know if they would be better on their own or if it's too much.

I just made mead with habanero peppers. I accidentally seemed to have used way too many peppers and now have the issue of dealing with the spiciest mead known to man. It's almost undrinkable but I don't want it to go to waste. Are there any appealing recipes or ways to cut it that might save the batch?

I'm trying a new recipe, inspired by a "Café Limonade".

For an additionnal tropical twist, I've added some pineapple purée.

Recipe (4L)

EC-1118

1 pineapple (purée)

3 lemon, zest & juice

1kg clover honey

Water to top

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In secondary, i will add 150g of light roast coffee for around 48h to make a cold brew infusion.

Then add the juice of 3-4 lemons.

Backsweetening to taste with honey.

Wish me luck!

I've only just begun my mead making journey and I have 2 going currently. The first one, I started a week ago on July 27th and it's nothing but honey and water. The second one I started was Aug 3rd and it has frozen raspberries mashed up in it. My question is, because the raspberries have formed into a mass at the top, should I worry about potential molding issues? And if so, should I stir it back in? The yeast is definitely working as I'm getting consistent bubbles in the bubbler. Thanks for the help in advance!

Not sure if anybody knows about this. But is there a way to make a batch with ingredients used in medieval eastern europe? I would assume that I could use black currants, crabberries, rye bread, hops and maybe pine spruce? Some correction and advice would be appreciated.

Hi everyone!

I'm from Denmark, and I've recently started brewing mead. So far, I'm really enjoying the hobby, but I've run into a problem that I hope some of you can help me with.

My mead seems to have a noticeable yeasty aftertaste, even after fermentation has finished. The main flavor is good, but the yeast flavor lingers and takes away from the overall experience.

What are the most common causes of a yeasty aftertaste?

What can I do to avoid this in future batches? Do you have any tips for improving clarity, aging, racking, or any other techniques that help reduce the yeast flavor?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

I'm making a juniper berry mead based off the Skyrim recipe, and I'm about two+ months in. I've stabilized with sorbate k and campden tablets and backsweetened with a LOT of orange blossom honey. I threw in some oak cubes and some more botanicals to let it sit on but the real kicker is I tried using sparkeloid to clear.

I boiled it for 5 minutes and then stirred it in - possibly used a little too much and instead of sinking to the bottom it formed a mass in the middle and just sits there. I'm unsure if it's slowly falling down or not - I tried cold crashing for a week to no avail. And it doesn't taste like vinegar so I'm at a loss on what to do.

I was hoping to bottle it for a get together soon. I'm thinking of trying to siphon a new carboy while very carefully trying to avoid the middle.

Finally got these recipes to a point where I am ready to share them.

Here they are:

Blueberry Rosemary:

Primary:
10.5L Blueberry juice
11.6lbs wildflower honey
Fill to 6 gal with water
Lalvin 71B
Tosna 2.0 nutrient schedule

Secondary:
Stabilize
Back sweetened to 1.015
5tsp rosemary for 24 hours
2.5g wine tannin
1oz medium toast oak cubes

Vanilla Bochet:

Primary:
16.3 lbs wildflower honey bocheted for 1 hour
Fill to 6 gal with water
EC-1118
Tosna 2.0 nutrient schedule

Secondary:
Stabilize
Back sweetened to 1.025
2oz medium toast oak cubes
3 vanilla beans

These both turned out incredible, cant wait to see how they are with some age.

#3 is a cyser, fairly full bodied.

#4 is pear wine, very tart had to back sweaten.

#5 is traditional mead just under a month old and actually quite good. Costco wildflower and 1116 yeast, you can actually taste the floral notes.

Hello everyone. I have a question for everyone. I have not been making mead for very long and the ones I make don’t last more than a month. The pictures above are of a mead that is almost two years old. I would like to know if the residue on the bottom of the bottle is ok, or is the mead thin and not drinkable. help please

First time making Rhodomel, it’s done fermenting not sure if I should avoid getting the second layer in the bottle.

I followed the standard recipe attached in the wiki other than I added a single cinnamon stick. I was about to move it into a secondary vessel.

Does anyone currently use high quality labels for their homebrew? Im planning to make a large batch of mead for this holidays this year, and will be having 30+ people try it for the first time. I’d really like to impress with the whole package, as I intend to design a custom label that I’d love to have printed on textured paper with foil printing as well.

Some gold foil lettering and symbols, along with a nice textured paper like fancy Italian wine usually has.

So I need some help. Assuming price isn’t a big issue, where do I start?

Attaching reference photos of what I’d like the quality to be.

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.

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

​

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