Talk:Mead Batch 1

Trader Joe's sells delicious desert mesquite honey in 2 lb cardboard tubs at a very reasonable price! --Ubernerd 10:55, 4 January 2010 (EST)

I've also had several people tell me that in their experience, champagne yeast makes the mead super cloudy. It doesn't clarify well without additional clarification steps like adding gelatin post-fermentation. Left alone, that can contribute an unwanted bready flavor. I strongly suggest wine yeast over champagne yeast for that reason. Also, in my experience, using a yeast nutrient in mead is somewhat unnecessary since the must is already so sweet. I have skipped using nutrient and not noticed any difference between batches. If you can't get your yeast to thrive in honey-water, it's likely you had a bum batch of yeast to begin with. --Ubernerd 11:05, 4 January 2010 (EST)

Huh. I've read a lot of recipes that vary in the kind of yeast to use, but will go in favor of people I know who have actual experience. There are a couple of "mead" yeasts on the market, which usually double as some kind of wine yeast, which makes sense based on your advice. In the end, it'll depend on what they have at the brew store as to what kind of yeast, etc., I wind up using. --Morrigu 11:16, 6 January 2010 (EST)

And after all that advice, if I can't get honey-water to ferment, I don't deserve to drink. -Morrigu 22:01, 3 February 2010 (EST)

Relax - it's only been a month in the carboy, and you are doing a 3 gallon batch. That carboy is huge compared to a 1 gallon carboy and will need about 8 weeks to even begin to properly ferment. The Gargamel took 8 weeks plus another 4 to clarify, and then some time in the bottle. --Ubernerd 17:32, 6 March 2010 (EST)

I keep trying to go by beer-scale time, which means I'm getting twitchy. I'll probably feed it up to 9 lbs. of honey anyway, and rack to my larger (5 gallon) carboy, and let it sit forever, then clarify in a month or two. Probably wind up having to bring it upstairs when it gets hot out too. Ah well, it'll all turn out eventually. And when the 3 gallon bottles are empty, I can start another batch... Brewing bug? Nah, never got bit. Just jumped in the hive for a few minutes. -Morrigu 20:58, 8 March 2010 (EST)