5lbs honey for 2 gallons of mead

[tradowsk]

I managed to score a cheap 5lb jar of raw honey from a local apiary that was trying to get rid of some of their stock.

I've been making wine for a while but this will be my first foray into mead. I've read a lot of threads here so I have an idea what I want to do, but I wanted to run this by the experts as a sanity check.

I was hoping to get 2 1-gallon batches of mead out of this 5lb jar of honey. The first will be a semi-sweet traditional mead with nothing added besides energizer, nutrients (TOSNA), and sulfites (and backsweetened with filtered honey at the end). The second batch I want to add the juice and zest of 2-3 limes to make a more refreshing sweet porch sipper (following Waldo's recipe for this).

Can I get a good 1-gallon batch with only 2.5lb honey? I see most recipes use 3lb. Is there a minimum ABV I should shoot for?

I also plan on not heating the honey at all beyond uncrystalizing it in order to preserve the subtle flavors and compounds.

I'm not looking to make anything mind-blowing or have to age this for years, just something I can hone my skills with and drink towards the end of summer. Any help/advice/suggestion is appreciated!

 

[dralarms]

I was told 12 lbs for 5 gallons. I just started my first mead also

 

[1d10t]

It's all about choice and understanding the consequences of those choices.

http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

 

[dralarms]

It's all about choice and understanding the consequences of those choices.

http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

Thanks that’s a cool site. And shows I was pretty close to right on the money.

 

[BernardSmith]

The secret, I think, is all about balance. You can make an excellent mead using 1 lb of honey /gallon but the ABV will be about 4.5% and you might want this to be either sweetened or primed (carbonated)... and you can make an excellent mead using 2.5 lbs of honey and any amount in-between and even an excellent mead using 3 lbs or more. Wild flower or clover honey tends to be better as vehicles for other flavors (but sometimes the blend of wild flowers can create a honey perfect to be a one man show). What you might want to do here is make a mead using 2.25 lbs of honey and use the .25 pounds to back sweeten . Your starting gravity should be about 1.078 and so the potential ABV will be about 10%.

 

[tradowsk]

It's all about choice and understanding the consequences of those choices.

http://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

Thanks, this is a very useful tool! Looks like 2.5lbs per gallon fermented dry will be about 12.5% ABV, which was right where I was shooting.

Like I said, I was mainly looking for a sanity check so I guess I'll get started and see what happens.

Thanks everyone!