KISS: My Foray Into Mead-Making
Just this past Saturday, I made my very first batch of mead. At least, I started my very first batch of mead - the making bit takes some time and it’s not really me who makes it. I just help Mother Nature along by introducing certain elements in a controlled manour. In any case, now I can say that I’ve made mead.
The very first thing we took care of was preparing the yeast - allowing the yeast cells to multiply and start activating before getting into the must - which would be my honey-water, but I’m jumping ahead again.
Anyway, we plopped the yeast in a cupful of orange juice and let that sit for about two hours - we went off and watched something on the Discovery Channel. The boys were in the garage, brewing their third batch of beer. The women-folk had the kitchen and the meadery going on. Her son kindly made us sandwiches. (clicking on the thumbnails will give you more details, and open a new window)
We put everything in the sanitiser, dumped the blackberry honey in half a gallon of water and put it on the heat - but didn’t make it boil. Almost immediately, I was scraping the impurities (the foam comprised of honeycomb, pollen and usually bee-bits) off and it wasn’t even warm yet.
We did get it up in temperature after a while, 150 degrees Fahrenheit, in fact. I cleaned off as much of the foam as I could, it was time to add the pectin enzyme and acid blend.
Once we were able to cool the must down (about 77 degrees F), it was time to take a sample (for taste and looking for clarity), measure the specific gravity and add the active yeast! It tasted really sweet and the blackberry finish was very noticeable.
We put it in the carboy to finally settle and let the yeast do its thing. It now got to sit and patiently wait with the other meads previously made. Mine is the brownish one in the middle. Three different meads, created by three different methods, with different ingredients.
Next month, I add strawberries to mine. Then, for the next six months, I rack once a month - slowly filtering out the sediment to get clarity. After that, I will probably wait at least another six months before I will even think about testing it on people. Mead is better aged and the minimum I want to wait is two years.
I can be patient.
Ma & Doc Potter* Welcome...
Their newest creation! (name withheld due to age)
*Yes, I know - I look like a freakin' lunatic and the man looks like he's watching his son go off to the War.
The very first thing we took care of was preparing the yeast - allowing the yeast cells to multiply and start activating before getting into the must - which would be my honey-water, but I’m jumping ahead again.
Anyway, we plopped the yeast in a cupful of orange juice and let that sit for about two hours - we went off and watched something on the Discovery Channel. The boys were in the garage, brewing their third batch of beer. The women-folk had the kitchen and the meadery going on. Her son kindly made us sandwiches. (clicking on the thumbnails will give you more details, and open a new window)
We put everything in the sanitiser, dumped the blackberry honey in half a gallon of water and put it on the heat - but didn’t make it boil. Almost immediately, I was scraping the impurities (the foam comprised of honeycomb, pollen and usually bee-bits) off and it wasn’t even warm yet.
We did get it up in temperature after a while, 150 degrees Fahrenheit, in fact. I cleaned off as much of the foam as I could, it was time to add the pectin enzyme and acid blend.
Once we were able to cool the must down (about 77 degrees F), it was time to take a sample (for taste and looking for clarity), measure the specific gravity and add the active yeast! It tasted really sweet and the blackberry finish was very noticeable.
We put it in the carboy to finally settle and let the yeast do its thing. It now got to sit and patiently wait with the other meads previously made. Mine is the brownish one in the middle. Three different meads, created by three different methods, with different ingredients.
Next month, I add strawberries to mine. Then, for the next six months, I rack once a month - slowly filtering out the sediment to get clarity. After that, I will probably wait at least another six months before I will even think about testing it on people. Mead is better aged and the minimum I want to wait is two years.
I can be patient.
Ma & Doc Potter* Welcome...
Their newest creation! (name withheld due to age)
*Yes, I know - I look like a freakin' lunatic and the man looks like he's watching his son go off to the War.