# Mead in stainless steel



## knot_gillty (5/5/17)

Complete noob here. Got one batch of mead on the go but it's my one and only so far. Curious as to why they would say do not ferment in metal? This is an excerpt out of a book I have titled "Mead Making" by Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan. Why can't you ferment in metal containers? I was thinking of getting a SS fermenter. 

Thoughts??


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## knot_gillty (5/5/17)

Title supposed to read mead IN stainless steel....


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## mr_wibble (5/5/17)

My 1st thought is that most (if not 99%) of commercial fermenters are 304 stainless steel or above.
My 2nd thought is perhaps the author once tried to ferment in an old olive oil tin.
My 3rd thought is that everything will be OK.


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## manticle (5/5/17)

knot_gillty said:


> Title supposed to read mead IN stainless steel....


Edited


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## knot_gillty (5/5/17)

Mr Wibble said:


> My 1st thought is that most (if not 99%) of commercial fermenters are 304 stainless steel or above.
> My 2nd thought is perhaps the author once tried to ferment in an old olive oil tin.
> My 3rd thought is that everything will be OK.


Yeah I can't see a reason as to why it would be frowned upon. But as I said, noob when it comes to this stuff so thought I'd ask. 

I was contemplating purchasing some sort of SS conical fermenter so thought I'd ask. Cheers for the reply. 



manticle said:


> Edited


Cheers manticle. Couldn't edit it on my phone..


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## manticle (6/5/17)

Mod only privilege.
And what a privilege it is.


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## Airgead (6/5/17)

Acton and Duncan is very, very dated. I bought it when I first started making mead nearly 30 years ago and it was old then. 

They didn't have nice stainless fermenters back in the early neolithic so by metal they mean things like an aluminium pot. 

Stainless will be fine. 

Cheers
Dave


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## knot_gillty (8/5/17)

Cheers Dave, as I'm only just getting into it it seemed like a good book to get with quite a few recipes. It was an ebay purchase so couldn't thumb through it first. When I got it I realized it was old but hopefully a recipe or three will sing to me. I've since bought (and are about a quarter of the way through) Ken Shramms Compleat Meadmaker. 

Thanks for replying, stainless it will he then. 

Cheers,

Gilly


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## Airgead (9/5/17)

Yeah, the recipes are pretty good. Their process though is again, pretty dated. In particular, they advise to rack the mead every few weeks multiple times. I find that once is enough for most meads maybe twice if there is a lot of fruit. Multiple rackings just create an oxygenation risk. 

If you do add fruit, add once the primary fermentation has settled down. If you add at the beginning the active fermentation strips out a lot of the flavour. I did a few exeriments some years back and the difference was quite noticeable. 

My standard process now is to makeup the base must (honey, water, nutrient), pitch the yeast and let it ferment until it's done. Once it's finished, add any fruit and let it re-ferment. Leave the fruit I the wine for around 7 days, maybe up to 14. Any longer and you risk the fruit floating on top starting to rot and add off flavours. Rack the wine off the fruit into another fermenter. Let it drop clear then bottle. If the fruit was very pulpy you may need to rack a second time. 

Have fun.


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## klangers (9/5/17)

Stainless steel is the benchmark.

The book is wrong.


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