Im planning to make a mango spice mead. I was thinking about using red pepper. But there are a few questions coning up.

1. Should i use blended mango, heated and mashed or whole fruit? (Maybe even dried)

2. Primary, secondary or both?

3. How many red peppers for 5 liters?

4. Side question: what part of your batch is normally fruit (juice)?. I normally use 1.5-2kg for a 5 Liter batch.

Hi, i just did my first batch, followed instructions like a good student and so on... But i cannot for the life of me understand any of those sites to calculate mead ABV or nutrients etc

So i simply followed my heart until now, i would like to know how much alcohol is in my batch!

I did measure it during fermentation, but while i was bottling then the hydrometer would just sink to the bottom, like with water?? Did i lose all my alcohol?

FIRST MEASURE: 110°

SECOND: 90°

THIRD: 50°

FOURTH: 20°

FIFTH:20°

It would not go past and ferment anymore so i stopped fermentation anyway to be sure

STOPPER FERMENT AND ALSO WHILE BOTTLING: SINK

Recipe was 3.75 water, 2kgs honey and 3gr yeast, 5gr stop fermenter and bentonite

It’s about 10 days into fermentation.

I bottled my cranberry mead (used bottled cranberry juice not sure which brand) and found these dark specks floating once I got to the end. It was aging for a year at this point and the air lock never went dry and I never had to refill it. It looks great in the bottles but I don't want anything to be wrong with it before I give it as a gift.

Lubéron Honey, ginger, cloves, maniguette ( grain of paradise). 11,3%

Apéritif is a small snacks and drinks before the actual dinner in France . Is there a similar tradition where you live ?

There is some foam going to my airlock. Is this normal. Is there anything I can do?

So I started this batch over 13 years ago that resulted in my Reddit namesake after stalls and slow fermentation. Then depression, then divorce (the result of that depression). About a month ago (after 7 years apart) my ex-wife told me to finally get my shit out of her garage. I thought “oh, yeah. I still have that carboy of mead.” No signs of mold, no bad smell, so after a brief stint in storage (pic 1), I jarred it up, carbonated a couple, and gave it a try. I’m a big fan of wine too, and the oxidative qualities reminds me of a dry sherry.

I brewed my first (and last) batch of mead in 2022 before losing my job and struggling for a bit. I recall that there may have been some bubbles at the time, but I don’t know if it fermented and produced alcohol because I didn’t check with one of those things. Brew yielded exactly one bottle. I still have it in the garage.

Questions - if it did not ferment, is it safe to imbibe? If it did not ferment, I will be sad that I held it for so long. Would you check it if you are brave?

Traditional then added dry orange and limonin secondary 11.8%

Traditional then added hibiscus and Cardamon 12%

Tasted good, enjoyed making them and drinking them.

Made a cyser at 26bx pitched, going ham in about 4 hours.

Yee-haw!

Hey all.

I’m fairly new to mead brewing (just bottled my first batch of raspberry mead a day ago) and i’m considering starting a new batch. Been wanting to make juniper berry mead for a while not but i want to add something else to it to spice it up a bit. I’m aiming for an earthy or autumny flavour profile and i was thinking of pine/spruce needles.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of flavouring? Would it be best to add whole needles during primary or secondary fermentation or try and brew some type of tea and have that as a part of the base? Anything to consider? thanks!

Yeast is mostly dropped and bubbling stopped, Should i wait if it clears bit more and fruits drop too or would you bottle it already?

Hello everyone.

Bottled my first mead today.

Used 3.5L-4L of Pureau Spring water.
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/94005/pureau-pure-water-water
1.5kg of honey.
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/250371/beechworth-100-pure-australian-honey-tub
Mangrove Jacks M12 Kveik Yeast. (I was suggested this by the local homebrew shop)
https://mangrovejacks.com/products/kveik-yeast-10g

I don't know how to read the hydrometer yet so i'm not sure what % it is.
Started it on the 14/08 with the first reading, took a reading on the 07/09, Last reading on the 29/09.
I racked it into another bottle on the 29/09 and it got a little more lees at the bottom between then and bottling.
I didn't take another reading today however i'm confident it stopped. There has been no activity on the bubbler for a while now.

It tastes fairly decent. Starts off fruity, then turns hoppy but has a strong yeast after taste which I do not like.
The yeast aftertaste could be because the bottle i'm drinking was the end bottle and unfortunately the siphon wasn't very good. Probably has some lees in it affecting the taste? It still looks pretty clear.

Can anyone suggest a easy beginner mead recipe for me to follow for my next batch?
Going to use the same honey, yeast and water. What else should I add?

Also any tips on syphoning and racking would be greatly appreciated.

Alright so I did a peach passion by everyones favorite brewing channel. Now I wasnt that smart and used a gallon carboy and forgot the amount of space left after racking. So I moved it over and added more must. Now im pretty sure fermentation is going to kick back up again. Mead went to 1.002 15.6%abv using k1v1116. Added about 750ml of must back up to 1.012. Did i just screw myself or is this a common practice. According to AI everyone does it! But I dont fully trust AI. Im guessing this is going to taste like jet fuel and ill have to age it until I retire. And can anyone help my figure out the calculations for final abv? Can't seem to figure how to log it in fermolog.

Edit: also this is my 2nd batch ever made.

Edit 10/18: even with the added must it hasnt kick started fermentation and actually its clearing up really quick temp has been around 64. Ill probably give it a week and if nothing happens then ill stabilize.

1 gallon batch, 3 lbs honey, 1 quart blueberry juice and the rest water. Started 13 September at roughly 1.12 (I might have misread it, and I didn’t take a photo). Tested again 5 October (first pic) and looked like 1.02. Tested again today 16 October (second pic) and it lowered a hair to 1.015? Not sure where to go from here.

Could I rack into secondary and restart fermentation, or should I call it? Taste is pretty strong of alcohol without much sweetness. And there are still bits of yeast floating on top.

I missed the part in the wiki where it mentioned adding potassium sorbate to water. I’ve done several batches before where I added it and it dissolved fine, even at a higher abv than this 18L hydromel I have at 6.17% right now (added 5.9g per mead tools and the ph reading I took). I got new sorbate yesterday and it won’t all dissolve. It’s got these remaining bits on the surface.

What would you do in this situation? Do a second dose having dissolved in water? Wait until tomorrow to see if it dissolves? I plan to backsweeten Sunday. Let me know!

Following my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/mead/s/Lz51sC0O9r

I decided to measure my mead with a hydrometer and the "final gravity" says its 1.000. I made this batch on sept 28th so its been almost 3 weeks. I decided to taste it and the alcohol completely banished the honey taste. It tasted sort of like beer. I'm a noobie and is my first batch so i don't know a lot about this. Despite the hydrometer giving me 1.000 should i still wait 2 more weeks to make the second fermentation?

Also i wanted to add that at the bottom there's dead yeast with random holes

So recently I got my hands on a kilo of chestnut honey, and I started wondering if it would be a nice touch for some "early winter" mead. I already have one, that I make yearly, a dry one with blackberry, rosehips, cloves and cinnamon. I would like to make a different one, maybe even just a bit sweet (medium dry). Any ideas? I'm thinking about the roasted chestnuts and gingerbread tastes, but not sure how it would work with a mead.

Has anyone used this type of tool to siphon for racking mead?

I have an auto siphon but i cant get it to work properly, potential user error. So im searching for other methods of transferring liquid.

Recently for my birthday i got a kit to make a fruit mead. Sadly, the kit comes with very limited instructions on making a fruit mead, and instead mostly explains how to make a regular mead instead...

I have since found clearer instructions which says to add fruit juice, but online im mostly finding recipes that use actual fruit, or a combination of the two instead.

My questions now are:

Is it fine to just use pure fruit juice, or do i need to ferment it a second time with fruit?

What fruit juice would you recommend. Apple and pear juice seems easy cheap to come by, and ive read they work, but blackberry or cherry sound much more appealing.

Would love any tips you might have, ive brewed beer once before and have been following some mead brewing channels for a while, but am open to any good beginner's advice in general

Interesting paper from a research team based in the Czech Republic and Serbia, comparing two non-Sacc strains against our ol' pal EC-1118.

According to this article, M. pulcherrima has extremely low nitrogen requirements.

And apparently H. uvarum is known for being lemon-shaped!

But it's also worth noting how each of these strains tends to go dormant around 4% to 6% ABV, after which Sacc strains will likely pick up the fermentation activity torch if present in the must.

What temperature do you fellow Mead makers enjoy your Mead in ? From the refrigerator or at room temperature ?

I have been making mead for a few years now. I have done this same recipe before (apple cider) and expected no issues. However- I am on day 5, and my mead has yet to start visible fermentation.

Recipe:
4 gallons of local apple cider
2 packets of EC-1118 yeast
~9 lbs of wildflower honey
Usual additions of Fermaid O and DAP
Some pectic enzyme for clarity

What is going on? I have been aerating twice a day and have yet to see any bubbles!

EDIT: I learned that there is a small amount of sodium benzoate (0.01%) in the cider. Am I screwed?