I made a 1 gallon batch with 1 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 6 allspice berries and 2 cloves and it was beautiful, if i where to make a 2 gallon batch now would I double up the spices or keep the same amount?
Good evening yeastfriends,
I am a HUGE NotW fan and have been working my way toward this project since I began 2 years ago. I'm hoping for feedback before I set to making this about a week from now. I'm aiming for 3 gallons of 15ish %.
20lbs pears
7.5lbs honey
3 sticks cinnamon
3 Cloves
1 1/2 Cardamom
2c of syrup made from caramelized apple juice
"I took a drink from the tall tankard to give myself a chance to collect my wits, and something wonderful happened in my mouth: cool spring honey, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, pressed grape, burnt apple, sweet pear, and clear well water. That is all I have to say of metheglin. If you havenβt tried it, then I am sorry I cannot describe it properly. If you have, you donβt need me to remind you what it is like"
- Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)
A lot of you probably already know this, but I just learned that Metheglin is a real type of mead. Now time to get my hands on some.
Hello, Iβm new to brewing mead and I was just looking for some insight on what yeast to use for a herb mead. The Mad Monks Medieval Metheglin recipe. It calls for Wild Yeast but Iβm not quite ready for that step. Just looking for Opinions on what wine yeast to use in its stead. Thanks for anything you can share on this!
Hello all!
Myself and a number of my friends are enormous fans of these books; I just finished my... fifth? Sixth?... reread of the two main books not too long ago, and discovered while searching that metheglin is REAL. It's a variant of mead! Awesome!
So now I want to taste it (it can't be that good, can it?) and hopefully buy some bottles from meaderies to give as gifts. I'm based in Quebec, so I've been browsing the SAQ site, and a few others.
Have other Canadians had luck sourcing metheglin? Are there meaderies you recommend?
Hello my little chickadees! I'm fairly confident, based on the study of the very helpful wiki & FAQ and other forum posts and articles, that my mead is coming along okay and will end up alright. However, I did a couple dumb things, and so am making this post for a little sanity check early into conditioning, just in case I have fecked something and need to remedy it.
Overview
- 5 gallons fermenting in 6.5 gallon bucket; all spices etc. in from the beginning. Dry pitch 71B with Fermaid O.
- OG: 1.132
- Target Gravity: ~1.046ish (targeting <12% ABV)
- 2 week reading: 1.070 (~8.14% ABV)
- 4 week reading: 1.048 (~11.02% ABV)
- Racked after 4 week reading; mead still quite cloudy (possible from swilling in transit), but taste test was good. Wanted to take mead off spices to prevent overpowering, so I may have racked before fermentation was fully complete.
Couple Mistakes
- Racking before complete fermentation was confirmed; as outlined above, there was a reason for this, and I don't suspect it will be catastrophic.
- My 5 gallon carboy for conditioning is, in fact, a 6.5 gallon carboy, so I've got a fairly hefty headspace.
- I was bloody inept in siphoning, and pumped a load of bubbles into mead. "A load" may be me being overly critical and harsh, but there was a good 3-5 "somewhat bubbly" and slurpy pumps.
My (First Time Maker) Review of my Current State
- Images of the Mead as of Today (Nov 21st 2021)
- I want a quick sanity check on if we think those are early pellicles or if they're just little CO2 bubbles with some yeast. Because of my garbage siphoning, I have a decent whack of residue from primary, and my expectation is that includes some active yeast. The airlock is bubbling, albeit slowly and sporadically. I know that's not a guarantee of fermentation, but these factors may indicate fermentation is ongoing.
- If it is not early sign of infection, I suspect my mistakes might have balanced each other out a little. The ongoing secondary fermentation should create enough CO2 to prevent oxidation from that big old headspace, is what I'm hoping.
I have LD Carlson potassium metasulphite, which I'm tempted to put in to help offset all the extra O2 I accidentally pumped in like a lemon, but I'm thinking I should really wait until fermentation is confirmed complete before doing that so as to not kill off the yeast earl
... keep reading on reddit β‘Recipe, based off Bray's Fidnemead: https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Fidnemed/
1.5 lbs Desert Creek Honey
1q Tiesta Passion Berry Jolt tea (double-strength)
1T Fermaid O
1/8t KHCO3
Wyeast 1388 smack pack
Water to fill.
Added warm tea to carboy, added honey, fermaid, bicarb and mixed.
Added water to fill, mixed.
Pitched yeast at 71F, maintained must 68F
Gave a good swirl the first few days to aerate.
Went from 1.060 to 1.000 in 7 days, cold crashed overnight and re-racked to another carboy to continue to clear for another 3 days, then bottled in some swing-tops a couple days ago and don't expect it to sit around - no plans to age this one.
Pretty happy with the first effort. Nose actually comes across a bit peachy/tropical with some floral notes and flavor is very neutral. Mouthfeel is a tad thin, but hey, it's a hydromel. I think it would be fantastic in the summer under carbonation, so I'll probably be repeating this again.
https://preview.redd.it/khre69owwy581.jpg?width=704&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1e6ce45f369d6d737259fe86be0e3f892479be2a
Hi all! New to the sub and the craft.
I had a question about making melomels and/or metheglins.
For context, I had been doing research and finally pulled the trigger starting my own batch of mead. Doing a gallon batch with 3lb honey, using Lalvin yeast. I don't have a hydrometer this time around but based purely on advertised tolerance on the yeast I'm expecting anywhere from 8-14% ABV. I'm expecting to siphon my yield off the dropped off sediment in a week's time from time of posting.
My question comes as such: I had not considered making any kind of melomels or the like when I started but am now considering it. Would there be a problem in doing any of that this late into the process? I mainly want to at least do one portion of it with mulling spices and backsweeten another with some kind of berry, but I have no issue sticking with a traditional mead for my first run if I've missed my window.
Hey everyone! Finished a modest 9 liter primary dry at 15% ABV on M05 and will rack to secondary tomorrow, where I'll add flavor, and also sulfites and a fermentation stopper as I'll back sweeten later on! Exciting :D it's my first mead :) I think I'll flavor using only the teabag/thread method, as I neither want to water it down, nor add vodka to it. As for the flavors, after checking some online Xmas inspired recipes, I'm learning towards the following, opinions and suggestions most welcome, be it on method, ingredients or duration:
(for 9L, so little over 2 gallons) 2 cardamom pods, cracked 1 whole star anise 2 vanilla beans, split 1 cinnamon stick 2 whole cloves 1/4 whole nutmeg
I feel though that aside from vanilla, it might be too warm (spice) flavors and that something could be missing to balance it out / soften it up. I'm not sure about: dry orange peel, ginger, black tea and/or raisins. I also have smoked black tea... but that's probably too risky? xD
One important question: how soon/when can/should I back sweeten after adding sulfites and yeast stopper? I ask because I need it semisweet to monitor flavor development, and I'm not sure if I should: a) flavor it dry and sweeten samples when checking flavor development; b) wait X time and then back sweeten and flavor altogether; or c) wait X time, back sweeten, wait Y time to confirm no fermentation restart, then flavor.
Cheers!
Started a 5L mead/metheglin off in a demijohn last night. I've kept it in a cool dark cupboard, but the house got quite cold overnight. I thought I would stick my heat belt on this morning, and when I applied the temperature strip it read 14Β°C. I'm using Mangrove Jack's mead yeast, which totes a range of 15-30Β°C. It's currently warming up now, and I hope to keep it around 20-23C using just the heat belt and a vigilant eye.
I'm not using a hydrometer regularly on this brew as my demijohn does not have a bottom spout - it would require me to tip the entire jug on its side to fill up. I'm just going to let it sit for a couple months and see what happens.
I saw a few bubbles come through the airlock, and a couple of patches of foam on top of the must. It's been less than 24 hours so I'm not too fussed about the slow start.
However I am wondering if an 8-10 hour stint at 14C would have killed off fermentation before it could get started at all? If so, I have the remaining half of the yeast packet in the fridge, which I will make a starter with and dump in tomorrow or the day after once the temp is a bit higher. Does this seem like a good idea or am I overthinking things?
Iβm completely new to mead-making so I apologize if this is a silly question (couldnβt find an answer in the FAQs). Do the spices need to be added to the must before fermentation? I started a gallon batch of mead 4 days ago but have since read about metheglins and want to try one, but was wondering if itβs too late to add spices. The Brix reading is 23 and the specific gravity is 1.097, if that matters.
Also, is it okay to add directly or should it be in a little pouch/tea strainer thing? I was thinking of adding 1 cinnamon stick, 1 whole clove, and 1 star anise
Thanks in advance!
Trying to plan a lavender vanilla bean mead and want to finish sweet. I see both of these yeasts recommended for sweet meads and metheglins frequently. Is there an advantage to one or the other? Do they have differences in flavor/mouthfeel after aging? Is there a general preference?
