# Mead kit



## DaniJ323 (Aug 27, 2010)

Hi all!
I'm pretty new to the whole wine making thing. So far I'm on my second kit (VR Mezza Luna Red and VR Piesporter) and all is going according to plan....so far ;o)

My question is this....I love Oliver's Honey Mead Wine. I would like to replicate that if I can. I found a kit online, Curt & Kathy's White Wine Pyment. Has anyone ever tried one these? Or any mead kit? I don't think I'm ready to make a wine or mead from scratch and would really prefer to use a kit. Any suggestions?


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## Wade E (Aug 27, 2010)

Have never heard of this kit so cant tell you anything about it. What I can tell you is that making a Mead from scratch as long as you have the chemicals like nutrient and ev=nergizer and yeast is as easy as making a kit pretty much and we could help you through anything here if you wanted to try.


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## UglyBhamGuy (Aug 27, 2010)

75$ will buy alot of honey.
Curt & Kathy's White Wine Pyment


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## Wade E (Aug 27, 2010)

Actually looking at that link its not that bad a price at all as that is a good honey for Mead and a decent amount also and I know that Northern Brewer is also among one of a few reputable places out there. It states that this kit is also designed for carbonating so if you are planning to do so know that wine bottles area a no-no!


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## fatbloke (Aug 28, 2010)

Wade E said:


> Actually looking at that link its not that bad a price at all as that is a good honey for Mead and a decent amount also and I know that Northern Brewer is also among one of a few reputable places out there. It states that this kit is also designed for carbonating so if you are planning to do so know that wine bottles area a no-no!


Hum? I'd have thought you'd get more for the money Wade.

After all, looking through the inventory/instructions, if someone already has the chems etc then it's pretty basic to replicate.

Me? for 75$ I'd want the bottles etc as well - it's a lot for just the honey, a can of "alexanders" and some yeast and bits.......

15lb of honey is enough for a 5 gallon (US, not imperial) batch so whats that, 25 or so bottles?

How much are the bottles likely to be ?

regards

fatbloke


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## Wade E (Aug 28, 2010)

You can almost always make it yourself cheaper but since its the only mead kit out there and isnt some buckwheat honey its not terrible. In the U.S. Honey is pretty expensive for stuff not bought at a big chain store where you have to buy gallon size jugs of very processed honey.


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## fatbloke (Aug 29, 2010)

Wade E said:


> You can almost always make it yourself cheaper but since its the only mead kit out there and isnt some buckwheat honey its not terrible. In the U.S. Honey is pretty expensive for stuff not bought at a big chain store where you have to buy gallon size jugs of very processed honey.


Hum? Yes, of course, honey does tend to be expensive (relatively) unless you get it from places like the major brands who hammer the hell out of the price to the producer and process it to death.......

I was thinking mainly along the lines of ideas like this as you can get all the various bits and bobs needed for something that isn't out of the realms of fantasy and could, quite easily, make some nice variations without the expense of large quantities of varietal honeys etc - though of course, the Bee Folks do those as well, plus it seems the more you buy the cheaper it gets.....

The only thing that stops me from using them is that the shipping (cheapest) would cost nearly as much as the honey (hence 5 gallons would work - just!).

Sure, if you hunt around there's cheaper and using the cheapest shipping would mean waiting etc, but my main point is that when you look at the inventory of the kit, it does seem that a saving in cost etc is there - I certainly don't like the idea of reducing mead making down to a commodity thing......

Wine kits are a little different, inasfaras getting the grape/juice/concentrate for a specific type for all the usual reasons negates my argument. Whereas with meads, it's rather different and pretty much as straight forward to get the parts of the kit as it is the kit itself.

Ha! semantics eh? If DaniJ323 is happy following that route, then hopefully it will be a nice hobby taken further.... that's what I'd hope to see......

regards

fatbloke

p.s. and the main reason why I don't really make grape wines is that there's plenty of others around the world who do a better job than I could ever hope to achieve and in my personal case, it's mainly France (Bordeaux and Burgundy - "heavier" reds) and a few Australian ones. Hence my preference for making meads and seasonal "country" wines......


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## DaniJ323 (Aug 29, 2010)

Thanks all for the replies )
I suppose I need to research the possibility of purchasing honey. Most the recipes I've seen only make a small amount of Mead and I'd like to make a 6 gallon batch. I just assumed to purchase that much honey it would be outrageously expensive. Not to mention I really have no clue where I would go to buy that much honey.

If any of you have a recipe to share for a 6 gal batch of sweet mead I'd appreciate it ;o)


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## pwrose (Aug 29, 2010)

If you go to your states website for agriculture there should be something there telling you who in the state are bee keepers. From that list you should also be able to find one local to you. You could also call your local ag department and they should be able to tell you who the local bee keepers are as well.

The one thing about local keepers is there honey might be but not always is more expensive than the larger chain packers of honey. There are reasons for this but if you are making a large amount of mead then find a local keeper that sells wholesale and just buy the 2 - 5 gallon bulk containers. That works out to 24 - 60 lbs of honey, If you don't use it all to start with it isn't like honey goes bad. If it sugars all you have to do is heat it up (not cook it) and it will return to the original honey form.

In case your wondering I am a bee keeper and my father has a commercial bee business. I can answer most questions about the honey but not about the mead, believe it or not I have only tried it once so far and it was more of an experiment that a success, LOL.


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## fatbloke (Aug 29, 2010)

DaniJ323 said:


> Thanks all for the replies )
> I suppose I need to research the possibility of purchasing honey. Most the recipes I've seen only make a small amount of Mead and I'd like to make a 6 gallon batch. I just assumed to purchase that much honey it would be outrageously expensive. Not to mention I really have no clue where I would go to buy that much honey.
> 
> If any of you have a recipe to share for a 6 gal batch of sweet mead I'd appreciate it ;o)


Well this is where I "fall down". Not having intimate knowledge of which is where, when it comes to the US. Of course, a basic knowledge of Coastal states and the "big names", but that's where it stops.

If you follow the link in my last post to "The Bee Folks" (I only know of them because they have a presence at Gotmead and that their website pops up in searches), then their prices have acted as a good guideline for me to work out how much it would cost to ship from the US - in practice, I try the local honey and apiary supplier (luckily about 10 miles up the road.....), but they don't stock anything like as varied a range as TBF do - then because shipping costs I look into Europe (recently managed to get 14kg of Buckwheat, with the help of one of the Polish members at Gotmead and another Polish chap who works with me - all for about £60/90$US) as the shipping cost/distance is less. Though I'd be more than happy to try something really mad, I can just imagine the faces of some of the wine makers I know taking a taste of "Killer Bee Honey" mead 

A good dig around the net might find you somewhere closer/cheaper etc.

As to preferring "sweet" mead, well I suggest that you might have a read of my blog post here. Because I always presumed that the meads I'd enjoy most would be the sweet ones (as I enjoy a good dollop of honey on some buttered toast:> ) but the ones I sampled were almost sickly/cloyingly sweet. I seem to recall my testing showed that they all had finished gravities in the 1.040 region........damn anything like that, I'd consider a stuck ferment......

I find that the ones I enjoy are in the "medium" range - about 1.010 finished. I don't worry too much about the alcohol levels as mine tend to be about the 14 to 16% range and if they taste like "Listerine" (to use Ken Schramms analogy of newly fermented mead having an "alcohol hot" taste) then I just put them away to age. That flavour ages out just nicely. There are some good light, dry, sparkling meads as well. Excellent chilled on a warm summer evening....

I find that it's often the case that darker honey makes "heavier" meads, more suited to Autumn/Fall and Winter, the lighter tasting ones to Spring and Summer. Though you can make a lighter one mulled for Autumn/Fall just like you can put soda water in a heavier one to make a "spritzer" for a warm summer evening.......

It's brilliant as you can forever be experimenting. A good dig round the internet will show you recipes that are "bog standard", but also some really "barking mad" one (look up bochet mead - you'll see what I mean....or here's a recipe......). What on earth that would taste like is anyones guess, but I've seen a number of forum posts that suggest there are people making it........

As for the potential cost ? well it's gonna cost you what it costs you, though if you make one or two batches a year of say 5 or 6 gallons, that's about 5 "bottles" (taking bottle to mean 750ml wine bottle size) per gallon. About 12lb in weight to a gallon of honey and using about 3lb of honey per gallon should give you some idea to estimate costs.

Of course, if you tried making melomels, cysers, pyments, etc etc and those type of meads, then the actual quality/type of honey is less critical and you can get away with cheaper "store bought" honey. Which is good if you can get the fruit for little or nothing (don't know how "agricultural" your state is or what's grown there). 

Have a good read around the net, you'll find that most of the forums have a section for meads, though it's only been Gotmead, that I've found that is specifically about mead making - their forums are excellent and as they're based in the US anyway, you should be able to find some excellent "local knowledge".

Hope that helps some.....

regards

fatbloke


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## Wade E (Aug 29, 2010)

Your finished SG Fatbloke is right about where I would want mine and thanks for the Bee Folk link. I dont go scouring the net for Links and really only make my meads from scratch like you. Dani, if yo find a recipe you like it can always be adjustted up by multiplying it by the quantity you want except for the yeast as that is good for up to 6 gallons before needing another packet. Please find a recipe you like and post it here any we can adjust it for you and tell you the goods or bads about it. That Bee folk place looks like a decent place to get honey if you dont have a place and Ive heard Tupelo honey is one of the best honeys for mead, I like the Orange Blossom but havent tried the Tupelo myself. I see that place also has Killer Bee honey, hmmmmm I wonder if that mead will make you Mad!


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## DaniJ323 (Aug 29, 2010)

You guys are awesome! I did find some local beekeepers on my states website; excellent suggestion, thank you. My first task will be to make some calls Monday to find out about how much honey will cost. That will influence as to which recipe I'd like to use )


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## fatbloke (Aug 29, 2010)

Wade E said:


> Your finished SG Fatbloke is right about where I would want mine and thanks for the Bee Folk link. I dont go scouring the net for Links and really only make my meads from scratch like you. Dani, if yo find a recipe you like it can always be adjustted up by multiplying it by the quantity you want except for the yeast as that is good for up to 6 gallons before needing another packet. Please find a recipe you like and post it here any we can adjust it for you and tell you the goods or bads about it. That Bee folk place looks like a decent place to get honey if you dont have a place and Ive heard Tupelo honey is one of the best honeys for mead, I like the Orange Blossom but havent tried the Tupelo myself. I see that place also has Killer Bee honey, hmmmmm I wonder if that mead will make you Mad!


The reports of tupelo honey I've read also suggest that it's excellent. It's on the list of "maybe's" if and when I can get some £££'s together and haven't got anything else that I want to try...:>


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## Wade E (Aug 29, 2010)

Glad *WE* could be of help. Thats what this forum is all about, many wine, beer, and mead makers getting together to help of further each other and promote this hobby for some and obsession to others progress and spread like a disease!


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## DaniJ323 (Sep 8, 2010)

Ok, update: I did some calling around and some internet searches and have decided to try a kit rather than purchase all the ingredients separately. I found a peach mead kit at www.homebrewery.com/beer/beer-kits-mead.shtml. Makes 5 gallons and it was only $54.00!! 

Thanks for all the advise and encouragement. I'll keep you posted and let you know how it turns out. If it does... the next one will be from 'scratch'.


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