Oh to bee a Mead Maker

[Tremyfro]

Thx Prothero....you have just answered my question re...why my mead is still fermenting. I used champagne yeast for my recipe. Goody...I can now just wait for it to finish fermenting and clear in its own time. Good luck with your sparkling mead...I would be interested in the result so don't forget to post when you sample it.

 

[Ely]

Anyway.....back to my mead...is it doing OK or not? Still cloudy but a bit clearer...is this normal for mead? Or is everyone else's crystal clear already? By the way....we topped up the elderflower wine with water and it is now cleared....just waiting til I have enough bottles. The Pinot Grigio is mainly bottled and the rest in 2 demijohns. There was about half a bottle left over, which went into the fridge for a few days. It went down rather well with slow roasted pork belly and veg....great flavour and body but no after taste. The slight chemical taste which I detected on bottling had gone. Think this may be one for Xmas.

I guess the time taken to clear varies. Sugar content, type of yeast etc. The fermentation process will slow on cooler days. You can't really judge it by someone elses

 

[Tom Bick]

Anyway.....back to my mead...is it doing OK or not? Still cloudy but a bit clearer...is this normal for mead? Or is everyone else's crystal clear already? By the way....we topped up the elderflower wine with water and it is now cleared....just waiting til I have enough bottles. The Pinot Grigio is mainly bottled and the rest in 2 demijohns. There was about half a bottle left over, which went into the fridge for a few days. It went down rather well with slow roasted pork belly and veg....great flavour and body but no after taste. The slight chemical taste which I detected on bottling had gone. Think this may be one for Xmas.

In the past some of my mead has cleared as soon as the fermentation finishes, but I have one from last year that still has a slight haze to it, its tastes lovely but not totally clear. I have made some elderflower melomel or metheglin and it is also showing the same haze and slow to clear, made from the same batch of honey from last years mead, a darkish full of pollen spring honey and perhaps a big contributor to the haze. This year I will make the mead from my light summer honey to see if things go back to clearing nice and fast once more.

 

[Swarm]

Trem,
You're a Bridgend member? Have a chat with Bill at the Honey show, he makes some lovely mead.

 

[Tremyfro]

Yes we are Bridgend members. Honey Show? When is that? Haven't heard anything but if we do I will be sure to speak to him. The mead is a little clearer...so there is hope yet. It was made from very pale honey.

 

[Swarm]

October, details on the website.

 

[Arfermo]

''It is vital that you fill your carboys to within an inch or so of the bottom of the airlock stopper.: This prevents your wine from oxidizing and.....''
QUOTE]

I am member of that website too and you have clearly taken your quote out of context to score a point - but missed. Using sulphite is a very basic tenet of good winemaking practice for most home winemakers with very few exceptions. Accordingly, I offer you another quote but from the moderator on that site with direct relevance to the question posed originally early on in this thread as follows:-

"You don't have to add Campden every time you rack, but it really depends on how often you are racking. Assuming you don't have any way to measure SO2 levels, you can again apply a rule of thumb. When sitting in glass containers, very little SO2 dissipates over time. In fact, you really only lose it during the racking process. And even then it's not a lot if you use some caution and don't splash much during racking. What I would suggest is adding a half dose of campden every other time you rack. But no more than one full dose over the course of a year".

Filling wine vessels almost to the cap does indeed inhibit deterioration/oxidation of the wine but it is sublimely stupid to suggest topping up with water to achieve that objective. That is precisely what I said earlier in this thread and if it's good enough for him, me and many others on that thread and elsewhere in the winemaking world worldwide it should be good enough for you. However, you plough your own furrow if you wish but you might well regret your sloppy winemaking practices that you advocate with your appallingly unconvincing wisdom in that field. PMs I recently received are clear about your motives for prolonging this issue - do yourself a favour and just go get a life please.

 

[Tremyfro]

I started this thread...it was about making mead...which I haven't done before. I was hoping for a little help along the way. Unfortunately, it turned into an argument about adding or not adding water to top up a demijohn. One poster, who clearly has a lot of experience and gave a lot of information, backed up by quotes, his CV etc, then accused another poster of 'unpleasant sarcasm', 'sloppy winemaking',being 'prickly and sensitive' and ended up with 'get a life'. At no time, in replies to these comments, did the second poster make personal comments....for which he is applauded.
Perhaps there is a history between these two posters...I wouldn't know.
What I do know is that there are many ways to manage a fermentation.
I expect, on reflection and re-reading the posts, that the poster who made the personal comments, will, in future, be confining his comments to the subject rather than to score points, even if he feels really frustrated.
I know we all like to show our knowledge, share experiences and have a laugh...but have a care .....for none of us like a 'put down'.

 

[Arfermo]

Hi Tremyfro.

I have sent you a PM so as to reduce the heat with more light. Hope it helps. Otherwise apologies for upset.

 

[Tom Bick]

Just a note to say always remember to label or mark your bottles as it could be twelve months or more before that lovely mead is ready for drinking or competition. So dont do what I have just done found six bottles I forgot I had that could be mead or apple??? and look rather better than the bottles I am confident are mead and preparing for the NHS!!!!! Just found a new use for the queen marker pens.

 

[Tremyfro]

That's is such good advice......I have a number of demijohns...all unlabelled...ATM I know which is which but a lot can happen before it is bottled or sampled. Also, my Pinot Grigio is unlabelled but as it is the only wine bottled as yet...no fear of mixing it up.i hope you are able to work out what's what before putting it forward for judging......just had a thought .....your Apple wine could be this years New Mead....

 

[Erichalfbee]

I use silver marker pens on my bottles; easy to scrub off

I'm just processing ten pounds of blackberries and will use some of the juice to make some melomel

 

[Tom Bick]

That's is such good advice......I have a number of demijohns...all unlabelled...ATM I know which is which but a lot can happen before it is bottled or sampled. Also, my Pinot Grigio is unlabelled but as it is the only wine bottled as yet...no fear of mixing it up.i hope you are able to work out what's what before putting it forward for judging......just had a thought .....your Apple wine could be this years New Mead....

It has crossed my mind to enter one as I am finding it hard to tell them apart. Confusing bit is how do you forget about six bottles of wine on a 45 foot narrowboat.

I'm just processing ten pounds of blackberries and will use some of the juice to make some melomel

Missed out completely on the blackberry’s this year, but have made up for being in elderberry country and have just bottled the elderflower and the elderberry bubbling away including a melomel.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Elder has been quite peculiar here this year. Masses of blossom during good weather but hardly any berries. I have an elder in the garden which has a few mature berries and yet is still in flower......crazy!

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes I have seen similar, lots of flowers, but the berries more patchy. Thankfully, I know an area with plenty of elder trees so can easily pick the best on offer and some trees literally groaning in big bunches of fruit.

 

[alldigging]

Just a note to say always remember to label or mark your bottles

I have not labelled any of the wine I've made. The very dark stuff is blackcurrant, the paler stuff is raspberry and the very pale stuff is either mint or dandelion and that's a risk you take.

I've yet to make mead but have got some honey allocated so just got to find a recipe now - hence me reading this thread.
I also got horribly distracted by the idea of making honey fudge too.

 

[Tremyfro]

So now I own 2 pens..a gold and a silver...for marking the wine demijohns and bottles. Great idea. Has saved on labelling all the plum jam, mixed berry jam, blackberry jelly...and no spending time soaking off the labels...which seem to adhere to the jars as if applied with superglue!
My blackberry wine is still fermenting but the mead just looks sad. It isn't clearing. I am going to check it this week...perhaps it is a stuck fermentation.
I also got sidetracked with making fudge...have yet to make one that I really like. I want a crumbly fudge...not a smooth one. I haven't got it right yet. And I need to practise the honey cake recipe for our Honey Show in October.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I also got sidetracked with making fudge...have yet to make one that I really like. I want a crumbly fudge...not a smooth one.

Drstitson's recipe will give you a crumbly fudge more like tablet. Whatever recipe you use if you resist completely the urge to stir while heating up to soft ball, take right off the heat and wait 10 minutes before whisking or beating you will get a tabletty fudge.

 

[chrismcd]

Mead is a bit different

Fascinating thread.

Just some additional comments.

1) Bees add anti-fermentation compounds to honey.

I have a feeling that it is not just peroxidase, but others - either from the bees or from plants (and not just Manuka honey!). IMHO mead fermentations are even more likely to be "stop start" than other types. I suspect this was also why some of the old beekeepers recommended boiling the mix before starting fermentation.

2) Yeast needs help/feeding.

Afermo gives a list of useful foods - I find that one junior Vitamin C table per gallon also helps - and is easier to find than Malic acid (which my Brewing Prof considered the best).

3) Avoid osmotic shock.

If you are trying for the highest alcohol levels, it pays to add extra honey/sugar using 'the little but often' technique - and let it settle at the bottom so the yeast gets used to it.

4) Camden Tablets.

I hate the taste of suphites, but one tablet per gallon seems to be a good compromise between stopping fermentation and wrecking the taste.

5) Oxidation.

I have left mead in decanters with sizeable air gaps for weeks without obvious oxidation. Mead seems much more tolerant of air gaps than wine in my experience.

6) Hazes

Can come from lots of sources - hence all the various techniques like enzymes, polishes or filtering

As a total diversion. The complaints departments of Whisky Companies have a rule of thumb. If you put your whisky in the fridge and it goes hazy from lipids settling out - do not drink more than a third of the bottle before claiming for a replacement - otherwise you will be told that you clearly enjoyed it and are not entitled to a refund