Hello all, was hoping to get some general beginner advice/questions answered - I just bought a 1 gallon mead kit from amazon. I'm 1 week into primary fermentation with some honey I brought back home with me from the Philippines. It was quite expensive and I don't want to ruin my first attempt! When exactly should I de-gas, and should I stir or shake the must and how often? And when is the earliest I can consume it after racking/secondary fermentation? I don't care about acquiring a high alcohol content, I want it closer to beer levels than wine, if possible. I also plan to try a metheglin recipe upon secondary, and was hoping to also maybe get some pointers on that proecdure as well. Is it best to put the herbs/spices directly into the bottle? Or use a kind of tea bag or coffee filter bag? And how long should they remain inside? I also read a bit about pectic enzyme to help clear up the mixture, is this recommended/necessary to use also? Thank you..
First Time Mead Batch Advice
- Thread starter Spaw
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What was the original Specific Gravity (SG) of your must? The Alcohol By Volume (ABV) is directly related to the amount of sugar you start with, and SG is a measure of that. If you started with a SG in range for wine strength (10%-18% ABV), that's what you'll get.
Fermentation needs to complete. When the SG is 0.998 or less and remains constant for 3 days, the fermentation should be done. Until that time, stir once or twice daily.
You can degas after fermentation completes. Pectic enzyme should not be necessary for mead.
I add spices for metheglin during fermentation, but you can do it during aging. I use a muslin hops bag to keep the spices together, although you can use ground spices. My notes from my last metheglin are here:
https://wine.bkfazekas.com/2018-metheglin-mead/
Regarding when you can drink it? Any time you want. Wine/mead is safe to drink immediately.
However -- fermented beverages benefit from aging. Beer is good in a matter of months, and IME beer-strength meads are good after 4 to 6 months.
Wine-strength mead benefit from years of aging. It's pretty good at the 1 year mark, but each year of aging shows improvement.
Winemaking is a patience game.
What was the original Specific Gravity (SG) of your must? The Alcohol By Volume (ABV) is directly related to the amount of sugar you start with, and SG is a measure of that. If you started with a SG in range for wine strength (10%-18% ABV), that's what you'll get.
Fermentation needs to complete. When the SG is 0.998 or less and remains constant for 3 days, the fermentation should be done. Until that time, stir once or twice daily.
You can degas after fermentation completes. Pectic enzyme should not be necessary for mead.
I add spices for metheglin during fermentation, but you can do it during aging. I use a muslin hops bag to keep the spices together, although you can use ground spices. My notes from my last metheglin are here:
https://wine.bkfazekas.com/2018-metheglin-mead/
Regarding when you can drink it? Any time you want. Wine/mead is safe to drink immediately.
However -- fermented beverages benefit from aging. Beer is good in a matter of months, and IME beer-strength meads are good after 4 to 6 months.
Wine-strength mead benefit from years of aging. It's pretty good at the 1 year mark, but each year of aging shows improvement.
Winemaking is a patience game.
Thank you for the information. I unfortunatley don't have any measuring devices at this time. Is it a hydrometer that I need to acquire the SG? This is the link to the kit I bought which claims 10-12% ABV. But any devices or other things I should invest in for the future would be good to know about also.
How long do you usually keep the hops bag in for?
Will start stirring daily, do I not need to worry about oxidation in doing this? Just kept coming across that in reading.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W4DKJF5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
Welcome to Wine Making Talk
Mead has high nutrient demands and frequently uses a process called step feeding. With the cyser I am currently running I added 1.5 gram per gallon FermaidO and when the gravity gets to 1.060 it will get 1.0 gram per gallon FermaidK. I hope you added a nitrogen source.
I hope the kit had you added some acid to make sure the pH is below 3.7.
You are stirring which will add air, at the start of a fermentation yeast need air to reproduce.
Degassing, this is done after the fermentation is done. As Bryan notes this is checked by monitoring the change in specific gravity. I also suggest patience, for me I will ferment which is at least a week, but last year in the garage was a month. Next let it clear at least a month followed by racking the clean mead off the lees. (Cyser/ apple has pectin so I needed pectin enzyme). The mead will clear more in this carboy, for me I let it settle about 11 months then degas and bottle. So far I have been making a somewhat cloudy finished cyser, but I like the flavor.
You could drink your mead after the first month BUT it will get cleaner the longer you wait,it will also have a better honey flavor at 18 months or even two years.
You can treat with bentonite to speed the clearing.
Steeping spices in a bag is best. You should periodically taste the flavor and a bag let’s you pull the spices out for a clean end point. Many of us use a nylon bag like a small pain strainer bag, yes tea bags would work too.
The finished alcohol is based on how much sugar is in the mead. We measure this with gravity (a hydrometer). A beverage at 5 to 6% alcohol is fairly stable. Under 5% has more risk of a storage bacterial infection. 10% alcohol is more stable.
good luck on your first fermentation.
Mead has high nutrient demands and frequently uses a process called step feeding. With the cyser I am currently running I added 1.5 gram per gallon FermaidO and when the gravity gets to 1.060 it will get 1.0 gram per gallon FermaidK. I hope you added a nitrogen source.
I hope the kit had you added some acid to make sure the pH is below 3.7.
You are stirring which will add air, at the start of a fermentation yeast need air to reproduce.
Degassing, this is done after the fermentation is done. As Bryan notes this is checked by monitoring the change in specific gravity. I also suggest patience, for me I will ferment which is at least a week, but last year in the garage was a month. Next let it clear at least a month followed by racking the clean mead off the lees. (Cyser/ apple has pectin so I needed pectin enzyme). The mead will clear more in this carboy, for me I let it settle about 11 months then degas and bottle. So far I have been making a somewhat cloudy finished cyser, but I like the flavor.
You could drink your mead after the first month BUT it will get cleaner the longer you wait,it will also have a better honey flavor at 18 months or even two years.
You can treat with bentonite to speed the clearing.
Steeping spices in a bag is best. You should periodically taste the flavor and a bag let’s you pull the spices out for a clean end point. Many of us use a nylon bag like a small pain strainer bag, yes tea bags would work too.
The finished alcohol is based on how much sugar is in the mead. We measure this with gravity (a hydrometer). A beverage at 5 to 6% alcohol is fairly stable. Under 5% has more risk of a storage bacterial infection. 10% alcohol is more stable.
good luck on your first fermentation.
Thanks for the info. Hmm well all I had was the yeast and a yeast nutrient. What should I do as far as a nitrogen source and pH adjustment?
Yeast nutrient works. It's generic and we probably have no idea what is in it, but it works.
For pH, I use lemons. Wash them first, then juice and add the juice + rind to the fermenter. In addition to adding acid to the mead, it adds a big of flavor.
For pH, I use lemons. Wash them first, then juice and add the juice + rind to the fermenter. In addition to adding acid to the mead, it adds a big of flavor.
That sounds good. Is it ok to add ingredients/fruits to the primary at any point in the process?
Nutrient needs to be added at the beginning; as @Rice_Guy said, honey is nutrient poor. Honey is the perfect food for everyone except yeast. However, if you're still fermenting (and without nutrient I assume you are) add it.
Do you have a hydrometer? This is THE one essential tool you need.
I add lemons at the beginning. However, you can add them at any point.
Two answers:
making mead/ wine is a process of cleaning out things that will spoil (ie sugar). A material like cinnamon or nutmeg or oak cubes has very low sugar therefore it can be added at any time, including trying out several rates of treatment in the finished bottle.
A fruit/ fruit juice typically has significant sugar and yeast on the skins in which case it will ferment, this can be safely added to the primary (and juice in the first week or two of the secondary, example to top off the carboy and reduce ullage). It will ferment and requires an air lock to let CO2 escape. ,,, and I may be guilty of even topping off for the second racking.
making mead/ wine is a process of cleaning out things that will spoil (ie sugar). A material like cinnamon or nutmeg or oak cubes has very low sugar therefore it can be added at any time, including trying out several rates of treatment in the finished bottle.
A fruit/ fruit juice typically has significant sugar and yeast on the skins in which case it will ferment, this can be safely added to the primary (and juice in the first week or two of the secondary, example to top off the carboy and reduce ullage). It will ferment and requires an air lock to let CO2 escape. ,,, and I may be guilty of even topping off for the second racking.
Take a look at the MoreWine! manuals -- the third one down is a white wine guide, which will answer a LOT of questions. It won't answer all (else this forum wouldn't have much activity) so continue asking questions.
https://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals
https://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals
This is weird -- I was just notified of this message, which was posted last night and was not present when I read the thread earlier this morning.
Anyway, yes, a hydrometer is used to check SG. Among other things, it tells you when fermentation is complete. Fermentation can stop for many reasons, only one of which is that it is complete (yeast has eaten all the sugar). This thread explains how to use a hydrometer:
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/how-to-read-hydrometer.10346/
I leave the flavorings in for the duration of fermentation.
O2 is a very misunderstood concept. As @Rice_Guy said, yeast needs O2 to reproduce, which is why an open bucket is generally used for fermentation. The daily stirring/punchdown (of fruit solids, if present) introduces necessary O2.
AFTER fermentation? O2 becomes the enemy. The yeast no longer needs it and that is when oxidation becomes a danger.
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