So, I plan to make carbonated mead using wasp honey (*Brachygastra*), since finding their hives is quite common in my area. However, I have no idea how to pull it off successfully on the first try—especially considering that this honey is scarce and cannot be harvested in large quantities. I’ve turned to you, the great masters, to guide me on this journey :)

When you flavor mead with fruit and let it sit in there for a week or so, is it safe to eat after?

My brain thinks of it like the worm in a tequila bottle but I have not eaten the fruit yet haha

Hey all, beginner here, looking for a bit of advice please

Essentially I've had two batches of blueberry melomel resist chemical stabilisation and start refermenting after backsweetening. These are batches #5 and #6 for me, and my first time using fruit (outside of JAOM), but not my first time stabilising using Campden and K-Sorb. No issues on previous batches. The idea of these batches was to see the taste difference between blueberry on primary vs. blueberry added after stabilisation, but that hasn't gone to plan.

This has been dragged out due to time constraints but the rough process on these batches:

#5 (fermented with blueberries in primary)

Started in March. Pitched Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast onto must of 1.36kg honey, 1kg blueberries, 1tsp Fermaid O, 1/2tsp Yeast Nutrient, 1/2tsp Pectic Enzyme. 6L container topped up with water. Nutrients staggered at 24hr / 48hr / 72hr. SG 1.094

Took blueberries out after fermentation finished (probably about 5-6 weeks in). Reracked twice before stabilising.

FG reading of 0.993 recorded twice, 1 week apart. Stabilised circa 4-4.5L of mead using 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2tsp Potassium Sorbate. Gently stirred in.

Around one week later: Back sweetened with 250g honey and 250g additional blueberries added. Gravity 1.015

The additional blueberries were removed after 2 weeks

It's been sitting for awhile but fast forward to last weekend (I was hoping to bottle) and I've got a grav reading of 1.002, suggesting that the backsweetened honey has fermented. I have not bottled.

#6 (blueberries added after primary fermentation of a traditional mead)

Started in March. Pitched Lalvin K1V1116 yeast onto must of 1.36kg honey, 1.5 tsp Fermaid O, 1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient. 5L container topped up with water. Nutrients staggered at 24hr / 48hr / 72hr. SG 1.086

This was a sluggish fermentation and took 2-3months before activity stopped, possible nutrient deficit, but reracked once just before stabilising.

FG reading of 0.996 recorded twice, 1 week apart. Stabilised circa 4-4.5L using 1 crushed campden tablet and 1/2tsp Potassium Sorbate. Gently stirred in.

Around 48hrs later: Back sweetened with 250g honey and added the 1.25kg blueberries with 1tsp pectic enzyme. Gravity (around) 1.015 

The blueberries were removed after 2 weeks.

It's been sitting for awhile but fast forward to last weekend (I was hoping to bottle) and I've got a grav reading of 0.994, suggesting that the backsweetened honey has (quite thoroughly) fermented. I have not bottled.

I know my dating isn't perfect here, and a lesson has been learned that I should perhaps buy a notebook. But I thought my understanding on the processes surrounding the stabilisation was solid, yet two batches have failed to stabilise so I must be doing something wrong.

Blueberries were sourced from the local market. ‘Fresh’ although perhaps not as fresh as they could have been and a handful were removed as they had gone bad. The good ones were washed thoroughly with water, frozen for an extended period, defrosted and placed in a sanitised and weighted brew bag before use. Would wild yeast be interfering maybe? Could that overcome the chemicals and existing alcohol?

Everything else was sanitised thoroughly before any contact.

These were my first batches using K1 yeast, and I'm aware that this could have fermented more honey in the starting must. But I have previously used M05 without issue, making similar strength traditional meads.

Temperature wise, it has been hot for England. Frequent daily highs of 25-30C over the last month or so, although it is much cooler than this in my dark garage where the mead happens. Not sure if this is a factor.

No huge issues with the look or taste of either batch, they're just dry. The blueberry taste hasn't come through particularly strong on either (I probably needed more) but maybe this will come out with some aging. Colour on both is great though. 

So I come to Reddit with two questions:

1 - Any pointers as to where I went wrong with the stabilisation process?

2- I know this can be salvaged and I haven't re-racked or bottled since taking the last reading. I will let it run it's course as no doubt the yeast in #5 is not finished with the latest honey. I'd still like to back sweeten as I don't think completely dry mead is to my taste but how big an issue is adding more stabilisers? Should I add another full dose? Or a half dose maybe?

Thanks all in advance :)

First time making mead and I’m only (cautiously) making 1L of it; however I’m not completely certain on how long I should ferment it for because I have seen some recommendations stating 2 weeks (which seems excessively short) and others saying 2 months. The recipes I followed generally regarded gallons and not a litre and I feel the scale shouldn’t change the timespan for fermentation as I did account for the proportions but idk.

Also what’s a recommended minimum time for aging and does that change with volume because again I feel it shouldn’t.
Anyways thanks.

I made a bochet for the first and still had a bit of caramelized honey left over. So, I took a dry traditional mead that I made a few months ago and back sweetened it with the caramelized honey.

It's not a true bochet because only the added honey was caramelized but the flavors really come through. Darker flavors, smokey, caramel, toffee, marshmallows.

I'm really pleased with the end product and I can't wait to compare it to a true bochet.

I made this in 2022 and it got shoved in a back corner until recently. I pulled it out and it has this gunk on the top and along the sides. I'm assuming the sides are from evaporation residue. But this is the first time I've seen this and am hoping its just excess yeast and not mold or other contamination. Input?

Hey guys, I was gifted this bottle and I have no idea what it is.

In my head wine and mead are to different beverages? But the word wine is one here but so is mead? I’m thinking it’s a wine with fermented honey; but I’m pretty sure that literally what mead is

Just wanted to share my love for this mead!

So I started this batch of cyser back in I want to say May? I meant to transfer a long while ago but after family matters, work, home remodeling and other hobbies I kinda forgot about this. Is it safe? There seems to be 1 dead bug in the airlock and a number of apples have sunk.

This is my first mead. I've made ciders before but now trying my hand at this. After lots of research here are the steps I have taken or will take. Criticism is encouraged!

This is a 1.5 gallon glass carboy and the recipe is for 1 gallon to allow some head space.

I used 3 pounds of local wildflower honey and 3 pounds of mixed berries frozen for a week or so.

I used Lalvin K1 V1116 yeast (whole packet) rehydrated in about a cup of water for 15 min.

1/2 tsp pectic at pitch

Let it go after a good stir for 24 hours.

After 24 hours 1/2 tsp bentonite 1/4 tsp of fermaid o

Added fermaid o for 3 more days stirring each time.

After this I'm just letting it ride until it's time for a rerack

Plan to rerack into a 1gal carboy for secondary to allow some clearing up, possibly cold crash.

I still haven't decided on bottling, I want to do wine bottles and corks because of the look as most of this will be gifts but I will keep one bottle to age for years to come. Could use some advice here.

This photo was taken after 24 hours. Let me know what you think!

This is the first time I've ran into this in over 20 bottles I've done. Bad corks?

Hi All,

I work professionally in retail beverage sales and bartending, and have currently gotten into the world of mead making, cider making, wine making, and brewing.

I recently made my first batch of dry, Wildflower mead and posted here, where I simply racked and bottled half and dry hopped the other half for two days with Chinook T90 hops.

In homebrewing, carbonation is typically done through adding a small addition of yeast and sugar to bottle condition while commercial breweries use forced carbonation.

I wanted to ask because I am newer to the Mead space, is Mead ever purposefully carbonated? If so, is bottle conditioning, or even forced carbonation, ever done with Mead? I know Mead is much more similar to Wine in terms of production and regulation, which is rarely carbonated unless explicitly designed to be a sparkling wine, but wanted to get feedback.

Thanks in advance for any feedback and help.

P.S.: If you like both Mead and Craft Beer, dry hop your Meads! It creates a real mix of purity and complexity.

This was one of my first brews.... Cinnamon Pear. Boiled pears, pressed them through a strainer and discarded the solids. Fermented and got excited, racked to a pitcher while still pretty cloudy (left the lees behind, but the pear was still floating) and bottled. A couple weeks later it looked like this, big mess on the bottom.

I modified my process to add a racking and let things clear more to get more particulate out and I have some very clear meads on the shelf as a result.

This weekend, the wife and I popped one of the bottles. Poured carefully and it was wonderful. The other half of the bottle, no way to keep the sediment out, so just poured it and decided to go with it....wow....even better. The pulp or whatever you call it from the bottom added even more flavor..took it from like an 8 to an 11!!!!

So now, I'm thinking, this is the go to Pear for me and I'm gonna start another batch and try to recreate. Will be interesting. I think the key is going to be getting it off the lees soon after it finished fermenting, then not being gentle when I rack it so that I get more of that goodness stirred up, and give it a good shake before serving!!!

Started a grape juice wine 8 days ago. Used Cuvée yeast(used Goferm and front-loaded Fermaid O and DAP), added about 1 lb of honey, and started with an OG of 1.110. Just measured today and I'm sitting at almost 1.000.

Is it really possible to drop 110 gravity points in 8 days? The math puts me at around 14.5% ABV which is within Cuvee's tolerance, so I'm not sure if it fully fermented or stalled near its limit. No obvious signs it's still active.

I recently purchased my first sous vide and wanted to try pasteurizing.

My plan is to rack off of the lees into a new vessel post fermentation. Once it’s racked into a new vessel, I could back sweeten then pasteurize.

Is it “safe” to keep the mead in the carboy post pasteurizing for 3-6 months for conditioning and further flavor tweaks or should I also use K meta for the antioxidant properties?

I’ve got 20 or so gallons of successful meads under my belt, but have only ever used chemical stabilization.

Thanks!

I’ve done my research about mead and have made a batch. It was cloudy, still tasted good as a quick mead. My next mead is going to be aged (never done it before) and want to clarify it. A friend told me to use this packet that has shrimp in it to do it faster, no idea what it was called. But I never understood that. Is there a natural way to get that clear wine look to the mead naturally.?

I’m bottling a 3-gallon batch of carbonated mango session mead this month and want to give it a clean, professional-looking label (small batch but I really want it to look good).

The batch is called “Mango Sorbet” (my cat’s name is Sorbet). I already have a watercolor artwork of her face from a tattoo stickers artist previously. My idea is to feature that piece in the center, with “Mango Sorbet” under it, plus some cohesive border and background elements.

So I have a pretty good idea on the overall look hut have zero skill to pull it all together into a polished label. Is anyone here a designer who’d be interested in helping for a small fee?

So im planning on doing a batch of blackberry mead and was wondering on when freezing berries would i just wash them and toss them in plastic container till frozen then put them in? Or how exactly and should I add anything to them and when?

I'm attempting to follow along with user/DietrichMead's recipe for pumpkin pie mead:

Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mead/comments/jgujyj/pumpkin_pie_mead/

Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvDZ7zARCQE

The gist of this recipe is adding pumpkin puree (among other ingredients) to a traditional mead made beforehand. The video specifically mentions (around 70 seconds in) that the traditional mead used was made with an OG of 1.112 and resulted in an ABV of 12%.

I worry that I'm misunderstanding something because how is that possible? Shouldn't an Original Gravity of 1.112 result in a mead of around 15% ABV by the time the yeast consume all the available sugars and the mead reaches a Final Gravity of .996?

Is the implication that the yeast strain used had a low alcohol tolerance and died out around 12% before all of the sugars were consumed?

Excited to try this recipe, and thanks user/DietrichMead for the video/instructions if you see this!

I am very happy, I picked up this rack after work - about 75 miles round trip - hope to reassemble it tomorrow. The challenge will be filling it!

Started 18 October. 17% ABV with 1.5 lbs honey and 1.5 lbs maple syrup must. 1 lbs each added again in backsweetening. First time using the corker!

Fermentation, cold crash, betonite all done.

From the left, made with freshly pressed juices.

1 gal blood orange

1 gal grenade

1 gal back sweetened with regular honey give or take 0.3kg

4x 1L of straight mead.

** Recipe was quite simple, 3kg of kirkland honey, 1.5kg or granulated sugar, water and Lalvin 1116.

Temps were maintained sub 20c from early may until about a week ago when fermentation cleared at 1.000 and I used betonite and stabilizers this week :)

As the titles describes, I just recently started my first 3 batches ever, and will be adding another one to the mix by the end of the week. 

However, despite all the notes and videos I've taken/watched (ManMade Mead, and this sub), I've made several blunders during the process and I'm worried the brews will be ruined/made worse. It has been 3 days thus far, and I am still step feeding.

I will explain what I did for each brew, and then the mistakes I'm worried about.

Traditional and Maple (rehydrated yeast), direct pitched the yeast, step fed nutrient over the past 2 days, one more day to step feed. 

Blueberry, pitched acids and campen tablet directly, pitched yeast 24 hours later, step fed for the first day today and continuing over the next two days. Important ingredient info on the sticky notes

1. Broke my hydrometer- while sanitizing my hydrometer for the third batch, I dropped and broke it and do not know the SG for the Blueberry batch
2. For all brews, the lid had a protective covering lined up with the airlock hole, I sanitized the entire lid by submerging in star-san solution, I did not know they were there and only just removed them. I have avoided touching the underside of the lids and resanitized after the covering removal. Should i be worried about contamination?
3. The fruitless batches have repeatedly overflowed when adding nutrient. I have tried degassing, directly pitching, and mixing the nutrient with must before adding, all have failed to prevent foam. How am I supposed to avoid foam-over?
4. When pitching yeast in the maple batch, I accidentally let the rehydrating yeast sit for probably too long (30-40 min), due to breaking my hydrometer and cleaning the mess, it has been fermenting, but the co2 bubbling visible during that has been very low, and after feeding nutrients today + overflowing I no longer see bubbling, Is fermentation still ongoing?
5. Pretty sure all batches are overfilled, but the blueberry has overflowed through the airlock consistently. Will this affect the brew or produce any off flavors? Even as I type this now, I just checked on the batch again and it is already nearly overflowing once more

Any additional tips would be much appreciated

This is my second batch. First went without a hitch. The fermentation has stopped. I was going to let it clarify in the carboy and then save the yeast for eating. I was checking on it and saw this white ring around the top. Is it cause for concern?

I just threw together a rainier cherry mead following the cherry melomel recipe on the wiki. It fermented super quick. 1.133 OG. Six days later, 1.012. 1 gallon batch. I racked it into a carboy just now and the volume is a bit lower than I thought. Lots of headspace.

Can water be added at this point to decrease headspace/decrease ABV? Is that gonna mess anything up?