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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #6136  by AndrewLD
 01 Apr 2020, 11:43
This is getting beyond a joke. I Googled fermentation temperature for mead and have drowned (virtually) in a plethora of brewing forums that talk about the type of honey used in the "wort", type of yeast (K21D, F61 etc or some such nonsense). It cannot be this complicated.
So the honey is - honey - bit dark and with a slight caramel taste cos I had to heat the cappings to get it off the wax. Yeast is Sparking (?) and I am currently fermenting at about 18 degsC with a heater so it's pretty consistent.
Is that OK? Anyone care to offer a guess as to how long might it take before I put it in demijohns and how long after that might it take to be drinkable?
 #6168  by AndrewLD
 04 Apr 2020, 12:47
33 views and not a single reply - doesn't anyone make mead anymore? It's sitting there and not doing much. I know the yeast was alive before I "pitched" it (apparently that is another technical term one has to know :( ).
 #6178  by Patrick
 04 Apr 2020, 22:11
Hi Andrew

Sorry hadn’t seen the post! I had a big home wine making phase back in the 90’s - some superb, many okay and some downright shockers! Haven’t done it for a while but remember elderflower and blackberry as two stand out favourites. I still do beer quite regularly but use all malt kits now as they are a lot quicker and really good. The main problem with mead as I remember was it’s low ph and natural antibacterial properties could overwhelm yeast and either be very slow to start (or just not) or stick once underway.

My solution was to make the honey part of the solution much reduced at the outset and simply feed in more as the fermentation progressed. Another trick was simply to add the raw honey to the demijohn but not mix it . It sat as a striated later in the bottom and the yeast gradually made use of it until it was used up. That one won the Blue Riband in our honey show and the judge said it was the best she had tasted in years so something was right.

If you’ve been on the forums you know the way to buffer low ph etc. I have to admit I was a rather agricultural winemaker and the alchemy bit not my thing. I am sure my results would have been better if I was but the monks did okay mead without a chemistry set of additives.

I wouldn’t throw more heat at it, the ambient temperature at the moment is quite enough. Sorry if it sounds crass, but are you sure it has stuck? Sometimes the bung or airlock stem In the bung leaks and there is not enough pressure to “pop” - smear some vaseline round the bung and airlock stem and reinsert. If no joy then, how much honey did you use? If quite a bit, then you could draw off some of your mixture and dilute it say 50/50 or 25/75 with mineral water and give that some hydrated yeast and nutrient. If that goes okay then maybe split your original demijohn into two and fill part back up with water pitch your new starter into each and then when well underway add more until it ferments out or stops. I reckon a couple of years is worth waiting to drink but I do have a bottle somewhere of 2006 and that tasted pretty good from memory. It’s worth using mineral water if you live in an area with very chlorinated water as that can be a problem. I lived in Exeter for years and water straight from the tap made beer taste like TCP.

Hope there is something helpful you can try anyway.
 #6181  by MickBBKA
 05 Apr 2020, 01:04
Sometimes Mead will just stick and you can't get it going again no matter what you do, I have had this several times. Either chuck it or stick it in a dark corner for 2 years and forget about it. Sometimes comes good in the end.
Beekeepers will tell you everything about beekeeping. When it comes to Mead they will tell you their secrets just before they kill you.
Mead is the most unpredictable thing I have ever made. I have made 8 separate gallons to the same recipe, I got 2 very nice, 2 ok and poured 4 down the sink. At our honey show last year I got a score of 96 out of 100 from a very experienced show judge to win 1st place and a special commendation award. That Mead was 3 years old and only got 3rd the 2 years before. Its a very slow process, so don't expect home brew timescales.
I made better Mead when I didn't know what I was doing.

Best of luck in the future, record every weight, measure, ingredient and experiment with yeasts and types of honey. Always add some yeast nutrient as honey is very low in nutrients required by yeasts.

Cheers, Mick.
 #6197  by AndrewLD
 06 Apr 2020, 08:04
Thanks to you both, that is very helpful. I did give it a tablespoon of bakers yeast that I had overheated to kill it off as food for the wine yeast but this is getting more complicated than I wanted to get. I'll have to borrow a monk's habit, process around the hives offering some prayers and hope for the best.
Got to find a use for all this honey as I won't be able to sell it. On the brighter side - won't have to buy in syrup :)
 #6219  by MickBBKA
 07 Apr 2020, 02:21
2019 I have made some courgette, elderflower and honey mead. It is amazing. Its the most crystal clear, fantastic smelling & tasting thing I have ever made and I had high hopes for the local honey shows this year. There is not a cat in hells chance it will not be drank before next years shows resume. I done this the year before with a honey cider, it was brilliant, but September to July was way too long for a brew in our house to last.

The best thing with Mead is you never know what you are going to get. Please do try and make some Honey Cider with raw apples, you need a bit of bite so a cooking apple is good but if it works it is fantastic. Go for a Champagne or desert wine yeast. When it stops fermenting try adding a bit of sugar syrup, not honey, and see if it ferments a bit more. If it doesn't you just get a sweeter brew, which is nice anyway.

Let us know how you get on.. :D
 #6227  by Steve 1972
 07 Apr 2020, 12:38
AndrewLD wrote:
01 Apr 2020, 11:43
This is getting beyond a joke. I Googled fermentation temperature for mead and have drowned (virtually) in a plethora of brewing forums that talk about the type of honey used in the "wort", type of yeast (K21D, F61 etc or some such nonsense). It cannot be this complicated.
So the honey is - honey - bit dark and with a slight caramel taste cos I had to heat the cappings to get it off the wax. Yeast is Sparking (?) and I am currently fermenting at about 18 degsC with a heater so it's pretty consistent.
Is that OK? Anyone care to offer a guess as to how long might it take before I put it in demijohns and how long after that might it take to be drinkable?
I find a temperature around 12C to 15C works fine..I do mine in a spare bedroom that is dark and holds that temperature well..the airlock should be slowing down if not stopped by around 2wks..after that one crushed campdon tablet is dissolved in a bit of warm water and poured into the demijohns before racking..the apple and Pear cyser I make also gets pectolase added as the pectin in the apple and pears is hard to get clear without it..after a further two weeks it is good to go but the longer you leave it the better it gets..not in all cases but it usually does eventually.
 #7136  by Steve 1972
 14 May 2020, 12:21
10L of traditional mead i set away yesterday.
After sterilizing everything i 1/3 fill the demijohns with spring water..add a tea spoonful of yeast nutrient/a tea spoon full of citric acid one crushed campdon tablet dissolved in warm water to kill any naturally occurring yeasts to each demijohn also a cup of black tea made with three tea bags to each one for tanning's..add 3lb of honey to each Demijohn and give a good shake to dissolve all the honey ..top up with water but leave around two inch of head space..add the airlocks and leave it stand for 24hrs..
After 24hrs hydrate the yeast in a little jar of water at around 30C (yeast type Lalvin EC-1118) never had one fail yet using that yeast and it has a alcohol tolerance of around 18% if you wish to make it that potent..
Pitch the yeast into the demijohns and give a gentle shake add the airlocks and set them in a nice dark room..after a couple of hours the airlocks should be showing signs that the yeast is working away..in 23L barrels this can take upto 24hrs..only once have i had to pitch yeast a second time through no activity and i have made a lot..
After two weeks of primary fermentation and with little activity in the airlocks (One bubble per minute) i rack into a second demijohn..fill any head space upto the neck with spring water or mead already finished and ready to drink and add the airlocks again..
After a further two weeks it is ready to drink but i leave it stand for another month or two before bottling when it is usually crystal clear.

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 #7138  by Steve 1972
 14 May 2020, 12:30
Here is a batch from last year that i am still getting through..

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 #7140  by Patrick
 14 May 2020, 12:47
Now that is quite a haul. Good work!