My First Mead!

[BrewinWalruss]

So here it is folks, My First Mead!
It's a little basic recipe culminated from a few places.... ingredients are as follows:
2kg Yellowbox Honey
1 cinnamon stick
a pinch nutmeg
1 whole orange, in 8 pieces
some yeast nutrient
White wine yeast (15.5% ABV resistance, packet says it's good at dominating wild yeasts)
And a clove

It's a 5 liter batch, and it started bubbling away only 10 minutes after it wound up in the demijohn

How many people pasteurize their honey? because I really didn't.... I heated it up to melt it in and skim the white stuff off the top.... that was about it

Here's hoping it's drinkable by christmas!

 

[KudaPucat]

[quote name='Brewin' Walruss' post='826475' date='Oct 12 2011, 10:57 AM']So here it is folks, My First Mead!
It's a little basic recipe culminated from a few places.... ingredients are as follows:
2kg Yellowbox Honey
1 cinnamon stick
a pinch nutmeg
1 whole orange, in 8 pieces
some yeast nutrient
White wine yeast (15.5% ABV resistance, packet says it's good at dominating wild yeasts)
And a clove

It's a 5 liter batch, and it started bubbling away only 10 minutes after it wound up in the demijohn

How many people pasteurize their honey? because I really didn't.... I heated it up to melt it in and skim the white stuff off the top.... that was about it

Here's hoping it's drinkable by christmas![/quote]

Pasteurising honey is not advised. It blows off much aromatics. Also honey is a natural antibacterial, so until you water it down, it's clean, there's no risk.
What yeast was it? Do you know the brand?
What was the OG? My guesstimate is 1120
as such, 15.5% tolerance yeast will eat most of the yeast (114 point drop) leaving you with a residual 6 points.
This will not be enough sweetness imho to balance the bitterness imparted by the orange.
I'd cold crash and stop it about 1030-1040. Otherwise there's NO way this will be ready by Christmas.
Good luck.

 

[BrewinWalruss]

Pasteurising honey is not advised. It blows off much aromatics. Also honey is a natural antibacterial, so until you water it down, it's clean, there's no risk.
What yeast was it? Do you know the brand?
What was the OG? My guesstimate is 1120
as such, 15.5% tolerance yeast will eat most of the yeast (114 point drop) leaving you with a residual 6 points.
This will not be enough sweetness imho to balance the bitterness imparted by the orange.
I'd cold crash and stop it about 1030-1040. Otherwise there's NO way this will be ready by Christmas.
Good luck.

Wow... can you believe I forgot to take an OG reading? Such a silly mistake.... What I reckon I'll do is take a poke in a month and see how she's going, and work it from there, be it work in an ice bucket treatment or leave it be and just bottle it 2 weeks before chrissy perhaps...? Or bottle it the day before the drink??

 

[Tanga]

Another way to work it is to pasturise once it's bottled. Much safer in my opinion if you're going to bottle. What I did with mine, was kept trying little nips to see when it got to the 'right' sweetness. When it was there I bottled into clean and sterile 330mL bottles, and then I brought some water in a large pot up to around 75 degrees, and put the bottles in (on top of a teatowel which I sunk so the glass wouldn't be in contact with the hot base). Worked a treat, and my mead was well and truely drinkable by 3 months (though it was at its best at 6 months. Hope this helps =)
PS Make sure you put the lid on and leave the mead in there for at least 20 minutes.

[quote name='Brewin' Walruss' post='826596' date='Oct 12 2011, 01:46 PM']Wow... can you believe I forgot to take an OG reading? Such a silly mistake.... What I reckon I'll do is take a poke in a month and see how she's going, and work it from there, be it work in an ice bucket treatment or leave it be and just bottle it 2 weeks before chrissy perhaps...? Or bottle it the day before the drink??[/quote]

 

[KudaPucat]

Another way to work it is to pasturise once it's bottled. Much safer in my opinion if you're going to bottle. What I did with mine, was kept trying little nips to see when it got to the 'right' sweetness. When it was there I bottled into clean and sterile 330mL bottles, and then I brought some water in a large pot up to around 75 degrees, and put the bottles in (on top of a teatowel which I sunk so the glass wouldn't be in contact with the hot base). Worked a treat, and my mead was well and truely drinkable by 3 months (though it was at its best at 6 months. Hope this helps =)
PS Make sure you put the lid on and leave the mead in there for at least 20 minutes.

yeah this works, I've never tried it though...
Have you ever tried it with carbonated brews Tanga? I'm worried of pasteurising a sealed pressurised bottle...

 

[Airgead]

yeah this works, I've never tried it though...
Have you ever tried it with carbonated brews Tanga? I'm worried of pasteurising a sealed pressurised bottle...

Of unknown quality and strength containing a liquid with a gas pressure for which you only have a guestimate in a pot where you only have a rough idea of the temperature...

They use bottle pasturisation in an industrial setting where they know all those factors with some accuracy. At a domestic level, all I can see is explosions.

Cheers
Dave

 

[KudaPucat]

Of unknown quality and strength containing a liquid with a gas pressure for which you only have a guestimate in a pot where you only have a rough idea of the temperature...

They use bottle pasturisation in an industrial setting where they know all those factors with some accuracy. At a domestic level, all I can see is explosions.

Cheers
Dave

hehe
same here, hence looking for a nutter who has tried it, and nutty enough to have repeated and perfected it. ;-) **no offence to tanga**

 

[thebeemann]

So how did it turn out ??? :drinks:

 

[BrewinWalruss]

So how did it turn out ??? :drinks:

Sorry for the late reply - it went down wonderfully! I just racked My second and Third batches today actually

 

[kaspa07]

Looks like a good recepie, My forst oon turned out ok, but I put too many cloves in it overpowered everything

Its getting better with age though

Just made my 2nd one with raspberries got it just waiting for it to age a while before I bottle