# Mead



## wingnutooa (Jan 5, 2009)

so i'm not sure what my fixation with mead is all about but its rather disturbing that after a long hunt to find some locally...i dont really like it.

however its still intriguing for some reason.

i will end up making some because after what i've tasted i know there's no way i can make anything that tastes worse than that. its like drinking syrup only thinner. nauseatingly sweet.

i was drinking some last night trying to get it gone and i started wondering,

is there anything you can add to a wine AFTER the fact, to take away some of the sweetness.


and also what can i do to a mead while making it (different fruits/vegetables, spices, plants, flowers) that will draw away from the strong honey flavor. 

i love honey, growing up our neighbors across the street kept bees and we were always stocked with mason jars of pure un molested honey.

but the strong strong presense of it in mead is like drinking Koolaide with double the sugar....like my brother used to make...... *blechk*


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## TheTooth (Jan 5, 2009)

Did you get Chaucer's mead, by chance? If so, you got white wine with honey added into it. You can easily make a dry or semi-dry mead, which will not be sickeningly sweet.

I would suggest the book "The Compleat Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381802/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## Wade E (Jan 5, 2009)

I drank just the opposite of what you drank my first time! It was named Meade and it was so nasty that I poured it down the drain and and never thought of it again until 1 month later when I was at a LHBS and they had some samples of what everyone brings in and it was awesome. It was a Cantelope Melomel and then and there I decided I was going to make a mead for myself. I have made a few so far and they have been great. You can make a mead just as you make a wine by making it dry and sweetening back when it is done to your taste. You can also adjust the level of honey you use but Im pretty sure what The Tooth has posted was on the money cause the honey is typically used for a different level of body and smoothness and not a WHAM, ITS HONEY IN YOUR FACE THING!


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## Conquistadude (Jan 5, 2009)

My understanding is that mead is one of the most adaptable wine out there. It makes sense seeing as how Honey itself is a versatile substance. When My friend and I make our mead we were thinking of add cinnamon to it.


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## jbullard1 (Jan 6, 2009)

I started an Orange Spiced Mead on Dec. 1 
The instructions from my tutor said do not touch for 60 days so I have not racked or done anything other than steal about 3 ounces for a sample. At 36 days old the aroma is great and the flavor is good except for the sweetness OH is it sweet! The recipe called for bread yeast so I may never get rid of the sweetness


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## TheTooth (Jan 6, 2009)

jbullard1 said:


> I started an Orange Spiced Mead on Dec. 1
> The instructions from my tutor said do not touch for 60 days so I have not racked or done anything other than steal about 3 ounces for a sample. At 36 days old the aroma is great and the flavor is good except for the sweetness OH is it sweet! The recipe called for bread yeast so I may never get rid of the sweetness



Yeah... that recipe is designed to be sweet. Dry meads take a lot of aging time (think a year or two) before they are ready to drink, so easy beginner recipes are sweet so they can be drank early.

The first mead I made was sickeningly sweet, but I had enough people that liked it that it was worth making a drier one. We had the semi-dry mead I made in June at Thanksgiving and it was still a bit hot and needed more aging before it'll be ready to drink. You can still get some honey on the nose, but it's definitely not going to be too sweet or syrupy like the first one.


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## jbullard1 (Jan 6, 2009)

TheTooth said:


> Yeah... that recipe is designed to be sweet. Dry meads take a lot of aging time (think a year or two) before they are ready to drink, so easy beginner recipes are sweet so they can be drank early.
> 
> The first mead I made was sickeningly sweet, but I had enough people that liked it that it was worth making a drier one. We had the semi-dry mead I made in June at Thanksgiving and it was still a bit hot and needed more aging before it'll be ready to drink. You can still get some honey on the nose, but it's definitely not going to be too sweet or syrupy like the first one.



I have also discovered that I made a mistake in my honey measurement, the recipe called for 3 1/2 pounds and I added slightly over 4 1/2 pounds.
Any thoughts on correcting this?


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## wingnutooa (Jan 6, 2009)

> I have also discovered that I made a mistake in my honey measurement, the recipe called for 3 1/2 pounds and I added slightly over 4 1/2 pounds.
> Any thoughts on correcting this?



eat it with a spoon? 4.5 pounds.....wow.....


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## TheTooth (Jan 6, 2009)

jbullard1 said:


> I have also discovered that I made a mistake in my honey measurement, the recipe called for 3 1/2 pounds and I added slightly over 4 1/2 pounds.
> Any thoughts on correcting this?



Wow... at this point I'm not sure what you could do. The only thing I can think of trying at this point is making another batch with 2 1/2 pounds of honey and blending the two batches together. You could also try pitching a drier wine/mead yeast.

Honestly, I don't think those are good ideas, though, as that recipe is pretty specific. You could end up with something really awful by mucking with it at this point. I think you're probably best off just trying this batch sweet and moving on.


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## Wade E (Jan 6, 2009)

jb ullard, Im guessing that you did Joe Mattoli's Ancient Orange Mead with bread yeast and yes it is desined yo be sweet and thats why you use the bread yeast as it has a low threshold for alc. The only way to rid this of its sweeteness is to mix this with a drier version.


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## jbullard1 (Jan 19, 2009)

jbullard1 said:


> I started an Orange Spiced Mead on Dec. 1
> The instructions from my tutor said do not touch for 60 days so I have not racked or done anything other than steal about 3 ounces for a sample. At 36 days old the aroma is great and the flavor is good except for the sweetness OH is it sweet! The recipe called for bread yeast so I may never get rid of the sweetness




Well I am about ready to call this batch a loss and use it for pancake syrup 
I just racked it off the bread yeast lees and checked the sg 1.090 at72* and no evidence of any fermentation

Any suggestions before I give up on it


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## Manimal (Jan 19, 2009)

Try to get a yeast starter going with a hardy yeast strain like EC-1118 and gradually increase the volume of the starter by adding increasingly larger amounts of your stuck must until the entire batch has been added and is going strong. A bit of yeast nutrient in the starter would probably help as well. Very high sugar musts cause stress on the yeast, so you need to use a yeast strain that is tolerant of difficult fermentation conditions. I'm surprised you got much fermentation happening at all with bread yeast.


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## WildSeedGrrrl (Apr 13, 2009)

*Anyone doing meads?*

I saw that this thread has been pretty quiet and I was wondering if folks who had started meads had checked on their progress and how things were going. I came into this wine making thing with an eye to making meads, metheglins, and melomels (late summers) and braggots which don't seem to be made as much as meads. I would think that the beer brewers would have jumped on this. 

I posted a picture of my braggot in the fermenter and a picture of my Ancient Orange in my album. 

WSG


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## smurfe (Apr 13, 2009)

The only Mead's I ever do are the Ancient Orange. I will do variations of it. Kumquat was the best I ever made. I have had it come out sweet normally but a few times it was semi sweet. I have never had the bread yeast fail me though and I always used the bread yeast.


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## jbullard1 (Apr 13, 2009)

jbullard1 said:


> Well I am about ready to call this batch a loss and use it for pancake syrup
> I just racked it off the bread yeast lees and checked the sg 1.090 at72* and no evidence of any fermentation
> 
> Any suggestions before I give up on it


I got this restarted and also added water to lower the sg to 1.070
The fermentation is stopped with just a hint of sweetness it's been racked 2 times and is becoming very clear, but it do have a high octane rating ::
and is pretty rough around the edges
Patiently waiting on time to cure the roughness

Jerry 

This stuff will probably make me run nekkid through the woods screaming to the Viking gods


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## Wade E (Apr 13, 2009)

I havent made a Mead (Melomel) this year but an due soon, just waiting for the fresh fruit to grow.


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## jbullard1 (Apr 13, 2009)

Wade E said:


> I havent made a Mead (Melomel) this year but an due soon, just waiting for the fresh fruit to grow.




What fruit do you use?


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## Wade E (Apr 13, 2009)

I love to make Blueberry and Raspberry Melomel. I have also tried Honey Dew melon made by a person who runs a LHBS and that too was awesome. i will make a Cyser this year with the crab apples that I get every year, I have a decent supply of Crab apple wine now so will have to try this out!


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## WildSeedGrrrl (Apr 13, 2009)

Blueberry and raspberry sound like they would be delicious. Do you find that the fruit help with the lessening time of the aging of the mead? OI know a minimum of 1 year with mead? Unless it's the JAO.


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## Wade E (Apr 13, 2009)

Definetely! Sweetening also reduces the need to age but time still surely makes it even better.


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## vuarra (Apr 22, 2009)

Manimal said:


> Try to get a yeast starter going with ... EC-1118. (snip) I'm surprised you got much fermentation happening at all with bread yeast.



As much as I agree, I also have to state that I had a 1.120 OG finish out at about 0.999 FG. That took EC-1118, yeast nutrient, and about 18 months of patience.

It was also the best drink I had ever quaffed, so don't despair!


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## Malkore (Apr 23, 2009)

The lighter the honey and the lower the total ABV, typically means less aging is required.
And as already stated, if you lean to sweeter side vs. dry, it usually is drinkable sooner as that sweetness helps hide the harshness of 'immature' mead.


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## WildSeedGrrrl (May 9, 2009)

*Joe Ancient Orange with a Bite*

Ok so the very first mead I made was that Ancient orange one. And I'll be bottling that bad boy later this week, but I'll admit I was a bad grrrl and sneaked a taste on thursday. I am glad I added like 4 sticks of cinnamon and nice handful of cloves because otherwise that would have been way to sweet to drink. The extra spices give it a spicy kick that mellow that drink out considerably.

I wonder how well that would work if I added cardamon?

Anyone else modified this recipe? Don't worry Wade, I'll look over in the recipe section I was just throwing the question out there.

::


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## Wade E (May 9, 2009)

I usedwine yeast and was not very happy about doing so. Should have stuck to the recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## WildSeedGrrrl (May 9, 2009)

LOL! well he did warn folks not to mess with a sure thing. I was considering doing it again and using a champagne yeast.


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## Wade E (May 9, 2009)

Dont do it uless you want it dry and still then it took a strange taste or maybe I wouldnt like it either way!


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## smurfe (May 9, 2009)

I have modified the Ancient Mead recipe all different kinds of ways. I have made it with different fruits. Added vanilla beans. Added mint. Etc. I always use the bread yeast though.


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## Malkore (May 11, 2009)

I've modified it.
Mostly I swapped whole oranges for the juice of 1 orange and a bunch of zest. This reduced the pithy flavor and thus shortens aging times.

I also use Wyeast sweet mead yeast, as bread yeast does work but tends to throw more phenols and esters...again a step to reduce aging requirements.


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## Ian_Scott (Jun 4, 2009)

WildSeedGrrrl said:


> I saw that this thread has been pretty quiet and I was wondering if folks who had started meads had checked on their progress and how things were going. I came into this wine making thing with an eye to making meads, metheglins, and melomels (late summers) and braggots which don't seem to be made as much as meads.
> WSG



I made a Kiwi Melomel which turned out wonderful! Everyone who has tried it - it's interesting to see the look on their face when I tell them what it is.. and then the look after their first sip - have raved about it.

I bulk aged it for about 2 1/2 years in the carboy before bottling. The recipe is here and my blog post about it is here (hopefully such self promotional links are ok when they are relevant?).


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## WildSeedGrrrl (Jun 10, 2009)

*Adding bentonite or other fining agents to mead*

Has anyone had experience (good or bad) with adding a fining agent to their mead to help it clear. The sack mead I have going has fermented to dry and there's hardly any sediment on the bottom and it looks cloudy. I think it might be the nature of the honey, i used a light clover honey. 

I have some bentonite but figure I'd rack and let sit for another month or so to see if racking would help. This was the mead that I had added energizer like a month ago and the fermentation just flared up and has been going ever since. It wasn't suppose to be dry but oh well.

WSG


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## smurfe (Jun 10, 2009)

I have used Isinglass before with good results. Never tried Bentonite.


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## Ian_Scott (Jun 10, 2009)

WildSeedGrrrl said:


> Has anyone had experience (good or bad) with adding a fining agent to their mead to help it clear. The sack mead I have going has fermented to dry and there's hardly any sediment on the bottom and it looks cloudy. I think it might be the nature of the honey, i used a light clover honey.
> 
> I have some bentonite but figure I'd rack and let sit for another month or so to see if racking would help. This was the mead that I had added energizer like a month ago and the fermentation just flared up and has been going ever since. It wasn't suppose to be dry but oh well.
> 
> WSG



Meads can take awhile to clear. I've decided that time is the best clarifying agent for mead - and to let it bulk age in the carboy rather than bottle.

My first mead remained cloudy after adding several fining agents. I did end up experimenting and used ground egg shell. That worked amazingly well! Unforutnately, I wasn't thinking though - egg shell contains calcium carbonate which neutralizes acidity. That mead turned out a bit flat.

When I make meads now, I let them sit for at least a year in the carboy and find they clear amazingly well on their own. I've been drinking a sweet mead and a dry mead - mmmmmm! And a kiwi melomel which is even "mmmmmmier!"

Ian


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## St Allie (Jun 10, 2009)

Ian?

Can we have the recipe for the kiwi melomel please? Kiwifruit are currently 19 cents a kg here. I was wondering what I could make with them, besides jam.

Cheers

Allie


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## Ian_Scott (Jun 11, 2009)

St Allie said:


> Ian?
> 
> Can we have the recipe for the kiwi melomel please? Kiwifruit are currently 19 cents a kg here. I was wondering what I could make with them, besides jam.
> 
> ...



Absolutely! It's here. 

Wish I could get them that inexpensive!!! 

My Kiwi Mel was aged for a good long time - almost three years in the carboy. Definitely time to make more - I'm thinking ten gallons.


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## vuarra (Jun 14, 2009)

Just a quick question to Ian Scott... why add three pounds of sugar, as opposed to more honey -- or more kiwi?


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## St Allie (Jun 14, 2009)

It was 3 cups of sugar?.. and my guess would be to help the yeast cells along.. yeast finds honey a bit more of an effort to ferment.. which is why energiser is often in the recipe along with nutrient. This recipe leaves out the energiser.


Allie

PS.. thanks for the recipe Ian.. I've got my ingredients together for a 4 gallon batch.


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## Ian_Scott (Jun 15, 2009)

vuara, Allie's response would be similar to mine, but Allie beat me to it


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