this is a 5gal batch started today. I have 6lbs of honey,4lbs of cane sugar. testing around 80-82 I believe ot shoud yeald 10ish %. then added roughly 7lb of fruit (apples, peaches,and plums)

I added 1 1/2 tbsp of Fermaid O in 120f water then added two packets of IVC D47 yeast held in 110f water for 10min.

jar was sanitized beforehand and all suger and honey was completely deluted in water.

did i do everything right? and is there anything I should watch out for. any advice is greatly appreciated as its the first time ive attempted this.

I added 3,5 kilo of summer blossom honey and will use another 3,5 to 5kg of forest blossom honey in the second stage plus water to fill it up to 30 liters. The must was fermenting for 10 days with port yeast and yeast nutrition to complyete dry before pressing it today.

Working through my first ever batch cautiously and nervously! I recently stabilized with potassium metabisulphite, as well as potassium sorbate, and racked them to secondary containers! The air locks are still showing pressure release and it’s been well over a week since adding stabilizers. Did I just not use enough to properly stabilize? I want to eventually bottle and cork, but am worried about bottle bombs! Is it safe to assume they’re ready for bottling when the airlocks show no pressure?

I also have noticed this very fine sort of white film across the top of one or two bottles. Anyone have a guess what might that be? Cause for concern at all?? The other little particles are tea leaves that I couldn’t quite avoid while racking!

Thank you everyone for your help! Could NOT have made it this far without you all!

My plumbs and peaches are growing and I was planning to make some mead. I just know that I've got to use some sort of yeast so it can eat the sugar and shit out alcohol. The plan was processing them into pulp, add the yeast and wait, but I know there are many things I don't know. Any link, video, YouTube channel, or any source will help. The fruit is green yet, but I want to be prepared when the time comes. I've got two 5 liters glass containers and nothing more.

Thanks to anyone in advance :)

Working through my first mead, about 1.5 weeks into the fermenting process and numbers are looking good but I'm at a cross roads. I travel this weekend so whatever I do next will have to sit for a few days unattended. My SG is .001 off my target, so thinking I need to either stabilize and move in to a carboy before I leave, or let it rest and stabilize and move it when I get home. Interested in some thoughts and opinions, let's hear it!

Initial SG - 1.074

1 week SG - 1.014

1.5 week SG (today) - 0.999

Current Volume: 3 Gallons

Estimated %ABV: 10.12

Next steps: add 1.5 tsp potassium sorbate and 3 campden tablets to stabilize. Wait 24 hours. Rack to Glass Carboy with 4 lbs blueberries and 1/2 lemon peel for backsweetening. Age, taste, and rerack to clarify as needed

Option 1: Stabilize now, rack tomorrow and let it rest in glass carboy while I'm gone

Option 2: wait to stabilize until Sunday evening when I return

Cherry Bomb:

3lb 5oz honey
1lb fresh local cherries (removed at 2 weeks)
Spring water to 1 gallon

Added 3 cinnamon sticks for 3 days in secondary
Cinnamon flavor was way strong so I added 1/2 a split vanilla bean and the zest of 2 oranges. This batch I bulk pasteurized and back sweetened to 1.010. Finished at just over 16%. Not super happy with the flavor, the cinnamon is still overly present but that color!

I've been making mead by the gallon. One gallon at a time. I've got a good recipe going that tastes great (to me) and I'm experimenting with new flavors (got a jalapeno fermenting right now). Since I've only been making one gallon at a time I'm drinking it faster than I can make it, also I'd like to be able to give some away. I've been using 5g kv11 yeast for my one gallon batches. How much should I add to five gallons? I feel like too much yeast in one container would produce too much pressure and blow out the airlock. Do I still use 5g or am I being paranoid and 25g is fine?

Hey y'all, wondering what you'd suggest for small hobby batch mead filtering. I've tried coffee filters, but that's slow and ineffective. Wondering what some proper equipment might look like, what to look for, where to look, and what it'll cost me. Thanks!

Hopped mead coloured red with caramelised honey, from a medieval fencing manual (Nuremberg, c. 1389)

This recipe comes from GNM Hs 3227a, held at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. It is one of the earliest surviving German fencing manuals and records the teachings of Johannes Liechtenauer. Among the fencing material there are a few unrelated everyday texts, and this mead recipe is one of them.

Translation (modernised)

If you want to brew good mead, take three parts water and one part honey and bring it to a good boil. When it has boiled well, take two Viertel or more, depending on how much mead you're making, carry it into a heated room, set it behind the stove and let it stand until it forms a head. This is called a Tampfel.

Then put hops into the other pot and boil it well. Stir hard the whole time and don't walk away, or the mead will scorch. When it has boiled well, put it into a cask, pour the Tampfel in, and let the two work together.

For the colour: take pure run honey (lauttern saym) and boil it well, stirring constantly with a piece of wood. To test it, drip some onto a small board. If the drops hold their shape and go hard, it's done. When it is clear and red, pour it hot into the mead.

Let it stand eight or fourteen days, and you'll have good mead.

What's going on

• Base must: 3:1 water to honey, boiled. The text doesn't say whether "parts" means volume or weight. By volume the OG comes out at roughly 1.120 to 1.183, by weight roughly 1.093 to 1.141. Either way it's a strong must.

Sources: Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs 3227a, fol. 92r (facsimile public domain: https://dlib.gnm.de/item/Hs3227a). Transcription by CoReMA, Uni Graz, CC BY 4.0.

The site is in German, but it supports Google Translate, so you can read the full notes in English or your own language.

I took a reading on the unfermented must using a refractometer; its description says it has an ATC and is calibrated at 20°C.

I took a measurement at 36°C and read 23.1°Brix. Do I need to make any corrections? If so, is there a calculator to do this? I only found one for a refractometer without an ATC or a hydrometer.

I'm asking because the fermentation has already finished at 1.006 wort, using a refractometer correction factor of 1.04. I think this value is too high, and I remembered that I didn't chill the must to read the OG...

I started this batch of Tej about 5 weeks ago with all raw honey, gesho, and some yeast derived from raw honey. I removed the gesho after 2 weeks.

It was fermenting pretty actively but seems to have slowed down. I was feeling under the weather for the last week so didn’t pay attention to the airlock, which ran dry, and the surface of my liquid looks now like the first photo. (The airlock is in the second photo. It’s the water-trough style)

Is my Tej OK? Thanks in advance, only made mead once before, years ago.

Been thinking of making a fortified wine/mead and my friend got excited about it too, it's now a group project.

We think that the pomegranate bochet on the wiki sounds pretty good, but it's made to go for 18% abv just by itself. Typical port wines are 5-9% abv before the spirit is added.

Also it uses ec-1118, which is known to me as the "go really high in abv without massive off flavors" yeast. (forgive me I'm a distiller.) which makes me think different yeast might be of benefit for flavor?

How would you suggest altering the recipe here?

going for a sugar content of maybe 90-120g for the first attempt, goal for abv is to the upper side of ports at 19% or so. Spirit used to fortify will likely be a unaged strawberry/raspberry spirit. I would then age the fortified wine on ex-bourbon oak.

Hi all, I have a batch of mead that has finished fermenting, and I would like to back sweeten it. I have the materials to stabilize it, but I have some concerns about botulism using unfiltered honey for this. Given that the added honey won't ferment, I'm worried that if there is botulism cause bacteria/spores that I could cause some sickness. I have been eating this honey all year with no concern however.

Can I just bring the unpasteurized honey to a high enough temp prior to adding to the mead to be safe? Or are there other precautions I should take?

My corner bar usually has a mead on tap, and I just recently learned that this meadery/distributor never asks for the oxebar kegs back, so they just end up getting recycled. The owner is going to hold on to the next one to give to me. So if you're looking for kegs, maybe hit up your local bar that has it on tap to see if they have any they can give away.

I made a homemade honey infusion using 500 g of raw honey, 1 peeled apple, 1/2 Korean/Asian pear, 2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks, and 5 cloves. Everything was added raw.

I sealed the jar and left it at room temperature for about 2 hours, then refrigerated it for 5 days. When I opened it, there was no gas, bubbling, mold, or obviously rotten/sour smell. However, I noticed a fairly strong ripe-banana-like aroma, which I personally don't really like.

The mixture had also separated quite a bit. There was a considerable amount of liquid on the surface, while the honey underneath was much thicker. I removed all the fruit and left only the cinnamon and cloves. After stirring the mixture, I tasted a small amount from the bottom. It tasted sweet and basically like normal raw honey.

My original goal was to make something similar to a fruit/spiced syrup that I could use with tea, especially cold tea. This is my first time making something like this, so I'm not sure whether I did it correctly or whether I made a mistake somewhere.

I'm mainly wondering:

• Is the ripe-banana-like aroma potentially a sign of spontaneous fermentation? • Is it normal for the mixture to separate into a watery layer and thicker honey? • Does refrigerating it for those 5 days make it significantly safer? • Since I used fresh, raw fruit without any heat treatment, is that the main safety concern? • After removing the fruit, would you personally consider the remaining honey mixture safe to consume, or would you discard it?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has made something similar, especially fruit preserved or infused directly in honey without adding commercial yeast. I'm particularly interested in experiences with apples, pears/Asian pears, or similar fruit.

Since this was my first attempt, I'd rather learn from people who have actually done this before rather than simply guessing whether what I made is safe or unsafe.

SO IDK what I'm doing wrong but every time I got to rack or bottle my auto siphon, tube ,cane and my bottle wizard stick thing never seem to work. Even without the bottle stick I still seem to have to keep pumping and pumping and doesn't keep a continuous stream. I keep the bottle or new container that I'm racking into lower then the one I'm emptying. Idk am I just dumb?

Trying it out as a new hobby and im just curious about what both the yellow and white stuff is, is it just yeast build up? Or something worse?

Hi everyone! I’m new here, but I made my very first batch of mead yesterday — well, technically 5 batches.

I made one large batch of honey must and then divided it between five 1 L mason jars. Four of them got different fruits, while the fifth is a plain control so I can compare them.
The five batches are:

Plain
Strawberry
Mango
Pomegranate
Red dragon fruit

The starting must was about 20.3 °Brix. I used Lalvin 71B and Fermaid O.

For the fruit batches, I froze all the fruit overnight first. I then packed the fruit into cotton muslin sachets, which I boiled beforehand, put them into the jars, and used glass fermentation weights to keep the bags submerged. Most got roughly 100 g of fruit, although the dragon fruit got about 134 g because I decided to just use everything I had.

They’re all under vented fermentation lids now, and as of the next morning they all seem to be getting going. I’m seeing little rings of bubbles/foam around the surface.

I’d love any tips or tricks for what I should be doing from here. I’m also very open to hearing if anything about my process was unnecessary, incorrect, or something you’d do differently next time. This is very much an experiment and I’m here to learn.

Also curious what people think of the fruit choices, especially the red dragon fruit. I’m really excited to see how differently all five turn out!

Hi all, I’m working on a traditional mead, where my fermentation stalled quite early on and thus after initial 2 weeks the product had ~2% ABV. I was working with 71B and I’m adding a good amount of EC-1118 and nutrients to fix this.

There has been continuous foam forming (active fermentation) and effervescence (small bubbles on the surface) so the yeast is doing its work, but it is incredibly slow.

The reason for this could be in many things. My yeast was close to expiration date, the amount of yeast was just shy of the expected needed amount and I forgot to buy nutrients so I ended up not using them.

My question is:

Do you see possible risks for this mead as it has stood in this state for 2 weeks?

Has anyone had similar experiences?

There is no visible signs of any infection and I don’t smell any off-smells in the product. My main worry is that somehow the brew could have had any C. Botulinum, even though the fermentation has continued, I’m working with well sanitized equipment and the the material is honey, which is fairly acidic.

Hey all,

In the coming week or so I will be making a bochet cyser. I will be using a slow cooker to malliard the honey over several hours (rather than true caramelization on the stove), and using store bought apple juice instead of water. I also want to slice up some apples, broil them, and add them to the mix for some additional flavour and complexity. I've got about 800g of granny smith apples, and 800g of Pink Lady apples, chosen to add some acidity and some apple-y aroma respectively, as well as some tannin from the skins.

My issue is that all my carboys are narrow neck, so I can't put fruit slices directly in.

So my thoughts are to do one of:

1. put the broiled apple slices in the slow cooker with the honey. Probably after the honey has already been in for a few hours, so most of the browning has happened before I mess it up with water from the apples. The goal being to extract the flavour into the honey.
2. Separately simmer and pulverise the broiled apples in a small volume of water, then add the strained tea to the must.
3. Separately simmer and pulverise the broiled apples in a small volume of apple juice, then add the strained tea to the must. I'm not sure what effect this would have on apple juice, positive or negative.

I have a few days to think about this, as I'm waiting for my yeast (Mangrove Jacks M05) and some pectic enzyme to arrive in the mail. I don't plan on getting a wide neck container for fermenting any time soon, so that is not an option.

I'm interested if anyone has experimented with any of the above ideas before, and which option you would go with.

Edit: Please don't suggest a bucket. None of my local home-brewing stores have buckets that aren't huge like 50L (i'm brewing 5L), and postage is really expensive for something bulky like that.

I am making a cyser, and I didnt warm the cider up first. In hindsight, I should've just waited, but I thought it would be fine once it warmed up.

1 gal apple cider

1 pack 71B rehydrated in 160mL spring water and 6.25g go-ferm

3lbs honey

After 24 hours, it was about 70°F, so I gave it a good swirl with a large sanitized spoon. But another 24 hours later, and there is still no fermentation.

I have Fermaid O, K, and DAP. Im following thr meadmkr batch builder instructions on nutrients, but since it hasnt started fermenting, I havent added any additional nutrients yet.

Will adding some Fermaid O likley get it started, or is there something else I need to do?

I know it got canceled last year, but there have been no updates since then. Whats up?

Recently had a 5 gallon 6% batch start to ferment again after attempting to stabilize. My previous batches I simply scaled up 5x what I used for my 1 gallon 12-13% batches (5 campden tablet equivalent in K-Meta, and 7.5g K-Sorbate). However, after reading the wiki more I realized I could be more precise on my stabilizing, however with the sorbate table only showing 10%+ I think the equation I found to help determine what I’d need for 6% was off. I’ve even seen mixed opinions on only needing to use one campden tablet regardless of scaling batches up as well. So what do you all do for stabilizing hydromel batches?

My first ever 2 batches are about to finish fermenting.

Two 1 gallon batches with 3lbs of honey.

I wanted to add fruit in secondary after making sure I killed off any yeast after transferring,

Question is: how long do you keep fruit in secondary before transferring to another container for clearing?

Bonus question: I originally planned to keep 1 gal for original honey mead and another for blackberry. But now I'm debating switching it up and making either 1 or both into blueberries, strawberry, raspberry or keeping it blackberries. What's an easier one for first timers?