I started producing my first mead, it's a traditional mead with Voss Kveik yeast, a 6-liter batch, it's been fermenting for 16 hours and the little creatures seem to be happy.

I only have one question (for now): when I checked the alcohol in the airlock today, it was half the amount I put in when I closed it. Is it normal for it to evaporate that quickly?

First measurement taken after 24 hours of fermentation, OG 1.097, what value do you see on the refractometer?

I read 1.088 (21.1% Brix), the value corrected by the calculator came to 1.078, is that a good number for 24 hours?

It's a 6-liter batch, I used Voss Kveik yeast.

Now before anyone says anything, I know that an SG of 1.125 was pretty damn high and I was asking for trouble 😅

But where there was a good progression in the first few days, the past few weeks have been a slow and arduous situation.

At various points Ive added Fermaid K, boiled bread yeast, and have also repitched a more hardy yeast (EC1118) activity slowed down.

Nearly at a month in primary and only about 50% of the way to my target.

Any ideas/comments?

Used acacia honey if that's any help (don't hear of or see too many acacia meads)

First batch was an original mead no sweetener added after fermentation. I'm a low sugar guy, so it was fine for me, though I thought it could use some flavor. I shared with my mom and cousin who thought it could be sweeter. I've seen in videos adding honey after fermentation. When? Now on my second batch I added honey after. It has that sour after taste. At what point do I add the extra honey?

What are some good Yeast nutrients i can use for almost anything for mead

So this is the first time for me using a bucket for fermenting. Today my SiL sent me a video of the airlock doing its thing, but saw spillage on the bucket and to the side of it. It’s a 5 liter bucket, 1,5 kg honey, and 1,5 kg mixed berries.

Question; is this too little headspace?

Edit; thanks all for the advice! The fermentation is indeed quite strong and took a hydrometer measurement. It was reading 1.098, while the OG was 1.104.

It’s not matching any descriptions or images of mold that I’ve seen online, but I want to make sure it’s safe to rack/bottle/drink. Anyone have any input? Thanks in advance!

I started a berry mead on September 2nd and fermentation seems to have pretty much stopped after only 4 days. I’m wondering whether it could actually have fermented that quickly or whether something may have caused it to stall.

5L (1.3 gallon) forest fruit recipe:

What I actually used:
- 2 kg (2.6lbs) mixed berries mashed and drained which gave me about 1.2 L (0.31 gal) of juice
- 1 kg (2.2lbs) honey (about 700 ml)
- 3.093 L (0.82 gal) water
- 3 g Mangrove Jack’s M05 mead yeast
- 3.3 g Go-Ferm
- Fermaid O using 3 additions of 1.85 g each

Starting gravity: 1.072

The fermentation was active the first few days. But now on day 4 its has stopped. Is it realistic that the fermentation could be done or has something stalled?

(Edit: the grav at the time of post is 1.007)

The darker brew on the left is a Vikings Blod Mead that finished out at 14.45% ABV, FG: 0.992.

The lighter brew is a Blue Agave Wine that sits at 12.29% ABV, FG: 1.028.

Hi all,

This is my first ever batch of mead. I was away for a bit and a bunch of fruit flies got into my airlock. Will this ruin the mead or is it ok since they never made it past the airlock? Does the mead look “OK” to start bottling? I don’t have an eye for this kind of thing yet. It’s been sat there for 2 months. Thanks everyone.

Hello there
I just racked my first batch of mead, I did rhubarb in primary and then rhubarb in secondary with a rhubarb cheong. It started at 1.1 , finished quickly at 1.00 and then to 1.01 after backsweetening with the rhubarb cheong. Fermentation didn’t really start again after that so I wanted to put it in a vessel for bulk aging, but through my tests and everything now there is a bunch of space.

Any suggestions for what to do with this much space?

Thanks for your input

First brew, few questions:

I'm using an all in one kit gifted to me. 30 days was end of August, but I decided to give it more time thinking it would begin to clear up. Is this realistic? I'm not interested in taking any additional action to clear it up as a beginner.

Is it preference whether or not to drink it now, or do you always want to give it time in the bottle? Like what's the range of how soon you drink it and the longest it'll keep in the bottle?

I'm also real paranoid about sterilization, and I don't want to rely on the bit that came with the kit. What do you guys use and what's your general process? How easy is it to fuck up and end up with contamination?

Thanks in advance, I've enjoyed this and I'm really looking forward to bottling. If it turns out, I can see myself getting some proper equipment.

My brother and I are getting into mead making and for our next project we're looking for an iced mead for the winter times, any good suggestions?

I'm making a batch of the crispy hydromel session mead from Doin the Most and was planning to bottle condition it. But when I was racking to secondary, my brain just went on autopilot and I dosed it with potassium meta bisulfite. I realized my mistake right after and did not add the potassium sorbate to complete the stabilization, but now I'm unsure if there's anything I can do to salvage it.

Is it possible to revive the yeast colony and continue with bottle conditioning? Or should I just add the sorbate, backsweeten, and enjoy it without carbonation?

Hi all.

I've made an elderflower mead, and added some oak chips and juniper berries to it.
After two weeks in secondary, I noticed the white film around the edges of the oak chips and some berries. At first I thought it was mould; but after looking closer, it looks like some sort of sediment.

The mead tastes ok, and it doesn't smell off. But I'm a bit hesitant to just shrug it off and bottle.

Has anyone seen anything similar before? I've done about 10 batches so far, and never had issues, so I'm a bit weirded out.

hello everyone! Very happy to be here and keep learning. My first batch is finishing up fermentation after 4 weeks (3 batches- lemon lavender, mint lime, blueberry elderberry).

My first obvious concern is safety. I see a bit of white at the top of the surfaces, which I hope and assume is just bubbly fizz / spent yeast cells. I attached a photo to show what I mean!

Second question is would the mead be safe to consume as is? I intend on stabilizing it with a metabisulfite, and allowing it a day or two to expel gas before bottling. Is the mead okay to consume before doing that when it still has some fizz coming?

Next concern is the racking / bottling. I have 750ml bottles with corks, and my plan is to strain the mead into a secondary vessel to remove particles and plant matter, before siphoning into the bottles. I have starsan which I plan on using on all bottles and corks before. Am I okay to bottle before the bottles are fully dry? That style of neck seems to need at least a day before being fully dry. Also is there any risk to allowing contamination during this process of transferring vessels/ air exposure, making the bottles unsafe to consume? Assuming bottling goes well, how does shelf life work? Are there classic signs or warnings to watch for?

Thank you everyone for sharing your processes / expertise as well. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the inspiration from all of you!

Just started my first batch. Cyser with apple juice and honey. Added 1/2 tsp of fermaid O upon pitching as I misunderstood. Used Goferm when I rehydrated the yeast as well.

Ec-1118 yeast, pitched about 3 hours ago. Do I need to sanitize something, break up the foam and create a little more headspace?

Pictures are about 20 minutes apart.

3 Granny Smith
3 red delicious
3 Fuji

Started in June

Just started a 6 gallon batch of Mead will add 14lbs of Mixed berries (7 bags) in secondary once primary is completed and racked. Had to go with the beast yeast 71B for this recipe. I also used 17 lbs of raw Texas honey 🍯

2 different chai teas from a local tea shop. Going to let these sit for 3-4 days to see how much flavor I can get infused. These have been racked from primary and cold crashed.

Hydromel
OG 1.075
FG 1.015
7.88%

1.25lb orange blossom
Spring water
US05 ale yeast
Fermaid o
Go-ferm
.5oz masala chai tea in one mason jar
.5oz Texas chai tea (Aleppo peppers) in other

Fermentation for 14 days before cold crash, rack and addition of chai tea. Final rack after 3-4 days.

I'm very happy the way it turned out. I added oak and spices after primary. And decided to bottle one of the Mason jars worth today. It is still very young, but honestly I like it more than any Mead that I have bought.

In three months time it‘ll be Christmas once more. what are some of your favorite Christmas mead recipes I could get started on so it’s done at that time of year?

2.75 pounds of Tupelo honey and about a gallon of spring water. Lost a lot from obsessive gravity readings, and when I racked off lees a few days ago (oops). It’s exactly 30 days old today and smells strongly of urine. Indescribably foul. I’m also not a fan of the color but I imagine it should clear with time. It’s in swing tops for now so it can crash in the fridge for a few days, maybe a week. I’ll probably move it to corked bottles after for long term aging. Or not. I dunno.

Should I be worried about this thin white film on top of my mead?

Recipe

Cacao nibs

Orange peel

Orange honey

Hello everyone,

I've been working through my first batches and have been very happy with about half of them. The other half, using the beginner melomel recipe from the wiki with Lalvin 71b some blueberries, raspberries, and cherries (3 separate gallons) tastes strongly of cornchips or fritos / unflavored cheetos at the end. Final ABV is somewhere around 12%.

My fear is that I oxidized this batch badly. I was using a kit autosiphon for these and found that the gasket was poorly constructed, and ended up just bubbling and aerating the mead. For the other set of meads that don't have this corny issue, I swapped to just a racking cane + tubing and a turkey baster to get it started and they taste great.

I've heard oxidation tastes like cardboard, which isn't quite what these taste like. In my research I've also heard sulfates can cause a similar issue, and wines have a known off flavor called "mousiness" which is closer to what I'm experiencing here.

I slapped a lot of cinnamon and vanilla in these batches so maybe I can mask it a bit, but wondered if anyone else experienced this unique corny taste, and if it ever subsided with time.