16 replies to this topic

[Genesee Ted]

Being a pro brewer, I get my creative juice in beer at work. Homebrewing beer isn’t really worth it for me with my current rig but I have been missing crafting beverages at home. Plus, my wife and I have been looking for a hobby to do together.

So we are going to start doing a batch of mead a month. I have a fantastic honey supplier that’s right near my work. I picked up 57 lbs of raspberry blossom today. I have a whole bunch of raspberry purée from my plants in the freezer so a melomel is the first order of business.

I have made a handful of meads in the past but I haven’t kept current on best practices. Any pointers?

[DieselGopher]

SNA. I use it in all mine, I’m a believer it helps roll the fermentation along. And patience, I’m down to my last couple bottles of the first mead I ever made in 2008, a raspberry melomel. It’s f’ing delicious. I need to make a bunch more so I can cellar some for a while.

[gnef]

When I was making mead regularly, I used the hightest SNA method. I later saw a post about using SNA with fermaid-O rather than the -k, and it looked interesting. If I were going to make mead now, I'd probably give the fermaid-o a try, or it is at least worth your time to do some research about it.

[Mya]

what they said!

[positiveContact]

How did the vikings pull this off without modern chemistry?

[Stains_not_here_man]

How did the vikings pull this off without modern chemistry?

They chugged a lot of shitty mead and didn't care

[dondewey]

I'd reserve a bit for a plain batch just to see how the raspberry honey flavor comes through by itself.

I did

[dondewey]

a batch 2 years ago with tons of fruit and followed the oxygenation and feeding SNA protocol. At transfer to secondary it was OK, but not great and the flavors were just a mess. After 6 months in secondary it was outstanding.

Was tons of honey (some added a couple of days in), like 15 lbs of frozen fruit, and then pure fruit juice to get to correct starting volume. No water.

[positiveContact]

send mando some good mead.

[Genesee Ted]

I'd reserve a bit for a plain batch just to see how the raspberry honey flavor comes through by itself.

I did

Yeah for each kind of honey I am going to make just a standard mead with it. Probably shoot for ~14%. The rest will be up for grabs creatively.

What are you guys seeing price wise? This bucket was $270 for 57 lbs

[Genesee Ted]

So we just mixed up batch one. I thought it was all raspberries but turns out it was a mix of raspberries and montmorrency (I think) cherries. Fruit comes out to about 10 liters and like 10.5 brix. Added 12 lbs honey and enough water to get to 5 gal.

OG: 1.1080 (25.5 brix)
10 grams lalvin Bourgovin RC 212
I couldn’t find much info on Fermax but that was all my local had for nutes. I’ll have to order some Fermaid O it looks like. In any case, I added 5 grams today. I’ll add more over the next few days

[realbeerguy]

When I was making mead regularly, I used the hightest SNA method. I later saw a post about using SNA with fermaid-O rather than the -k, and it looked interesting. If I were going to make mead now, I'd probably give the fermaid-o a try, or it is at least worth your time to do some research about it.

We use Ferm-O exclusively at the Meadery

[realbeerguy]

Also, temp control will make a world of difference.  Your mead will be done sooner with no fusils or off flavors.  We ferment at 62dF

[Genesee Ted]

I’m going to order some meadowfoam honey soon. I had a mead at W A Meadwerks made with it. Was killer. Any other cool varieties or combos you would recommend?

[Gusso]

Also, temp control will make a world of difference. Your mead will be done sooner with no fusils or off flavors. We ferment at 62dF

RBG, are you operating a mead place in Bluffton? If so, I should make a visit!

[realbeerguy]

RBG, are you operating a mead place in Bluffton? If so, I should make a visit!

For almost 3 yrs now.  Bee-Town Mead & Cider, Bluffton, SC

 

Let me know when you are headed down to make sure I'm in

[Gusso]

Good name. I'll definitely head down that way in the near future.