Wanting To Try Mead

[Angell Wine]

wild east pears:About 5 lbs: they fit in a 1 gal zip lock bag

 

[Angell Wine]

We where in a Field look for some cows that got loose the other day when i came across this pear tree ,so I pick some. Not has sweet as the store bought ones but good anuff for a country boy so hey lets make some wine out it. i really don't know what kind they are

 

[masta]

Ok...5 lbs of pears in 3 gals of Melomel (which is the correct term for mead with fruit)should give you a medium fruit character. You will need a 3 gal carboy and do you have access to any local honey? I would suggest a light honey such as clover or tupelo so the pear flavor doesn't get overpowered by a strong honey.

 

[Angell Wine]

got everything i need but tell me more about light honey. Could you water it down to get a good sg to start with. Wehave local honey producershere but like wine it changes year to year.

 

[Waldo]

My first two gallons of Mead ( the twin jugs on the left in picture)are clearing up nicely. I do not understand the color difference between them and the gallon I started recently which is the one on the far left.


The other wines in the picture ( from right moving left) are a gallon of my Muscadine/Grape, Blueberry, Two Strawberry and then my 3 Meads

 

[MedPretzel]

It's hard to see the color difference in the meads from the picture, in my opinion.





Your wines look great, but you might want to rack the blueberry and the twin-meads? Looks like sediment is forming? Or does it look worse on the pic than it is in real life? (I know that sometimes sediment looks worse on pics than in real)





M.

 

[Waldo]

Try one more time Martina....Latest batch of Mead is jug on far left. Mead I was comparing them to are the two jugs next to it. I hope now that I have clarified that you can tell a difference in the color.


I don't think the sediment inthe Meadis any problem as Masta told me when I racked them to put them aside and dont touch them for 6 months. I will be racking the Muscadine/Grape today.Edited by: Waldo

 

[masta]

Meads are looking good Waldo and how many times have you racked them...once from primary?


What type of honey did you use?

 

[masta]

Steve,


I suggested a lighter honey only because dark colored honey often has a very strong flavor profile such as buckwheat. Up here in the Northeast the honey darkens as the season progresses due to the pollen available to the bees.


I have had good luck using 3 lbs of honey per gallon with Lalvin D-47 yeast. This combo works well to leave some residual sweetness to the finished mead without having to back sweeten.


Adding fruit to the primary after fermentation slows and SG drops to 1.020 seems to be the preferred method to help maintain the fruit flavor.

 

[Waldo]

Meads are looking good Waldo and how many times have you racked them...once from primary?


What type of honey did you use?

The two twins have been racked once from primary and were clover honey.


The second batch as of Sunday was at 1.010 and has not been racked yet. It was a darker honey that the first batch but not sure what type.

 

[Waldo]

Second batch of Mead continues to clear and the taste was great when I racked it this morning. I now have my first batch of "Marbled" Mead

 

[Hippie]

Wow! Nice shootin marble!

 

[Waldo]

Now dammit Hippie you sposed to be looking at my Mead not dem marbles. They don't even have no taste

 

[Hippie]

Man, when I was a kid we always had pocketfuls of marbles and would have all day tournaments and always trading and coveting others' marbles.

 

[Waldo]

I remember those days well Hippie. The ole big boys we called "Log Rollers" Everyone always had their favorite "shooter" and what a coup it was to win someones favorite

 

[RAMROD]

Boy can I remember that!

 

[Hippie]

 

[Waldo]

Trying to recall all the different marble games. I kknow there was one where there was a series of holes in a straight line and you shot from hole to hole, trying to keep your opponets marble knocked away from the holes. The other was a big ring drawn in the dirt and any marbles you could knock out of the ring with your shooter was yours.That is if you were playing for keeps.

 

[rgecaprock]

Us girls just played with them because they were pretty!! We pretended that they were valuable jewels!


Ramona

 

[Waldo]

Some say I have "Lost My Marbles" but I think I still have a few left somewhere. Just can't remember where they are.