Any Mead brewers in the house?

[AKScott]

I am very happy with Lavin D-47.

I suggest "Joe's Ancient Orange Mead" for first time brewers, google should bring it right up for you on page one. They aren't kidding about the cloves, 5 cloves in a one gallon batch is too many in that recipe.

I do encorage experimentation in one gallon batches. I fooled with apple, grape, orange and who knows what else. For five gallon batches I only make bracken, mostly honey and water, but about 1/3 regular old beer wort with malted barley and hops. But that is just my preference, amke 5 gallon batches of the one gallon recipes you like.

For mead I do suggest low and slow Pasteurization. You can bring the honey in water to a boil, but I lose flavor compounds when I do it. If you go low and slow you'll preserve some of the aromatics all the way to the glass. My target is 140°F for 40 minutes.

Without a thermometer heat your water until you have a layer of bubbles all over the bottom of the kettle. Within 1,000 feet of sea level you should be right at 155°F. Turn off the stove, pour the honey into the water, stir to dissolve, cover the kettle and check your thermometer 40 minutes later to make sure the liquid is at or above 140°F.

The main thing about mead (and high gravity beers) is time. Leave it in the carboy on the yeast cake for as long as you can stand it, and then give it another three months.

On something like a 1.070 to 1.080 OG primary fermentation might only last 3-5 days, but the yeast will then start cleaning up after the party. Give them time. And then give them some more.

No matter how good your mead is and no matter how bad you want to drink the last bottle, put a bottle or a six pack away in a closet somewhere for a year. Really. This works with Sierra Nevada Big Foot and lots of other big beers. Just stick them in the cellar and forget about them. I have a Russian Imperial Stout I made coming up on it's third birthday this fall and I sure wish I had more than a twelve pack left.

[NewEnglander]

I am very happy with Lavin D-47.

I suggest "Joe's Ancient Orange Mead" for first time brewers, google should bring it right up for you on page one. They aren't kidding about the cloves, 5 cloves in a one gallon batch is too many in that recipe.

I'll second that. I've made a few batches of Joe's and it turns out great every time. And thanks for the other tips!

[Bing]

Without a thermometer heat your water until you have a layer of bubbles all over the bottom of the kettle. Within 1,000 feet of sea level you should be right at 155°F. Turn off the stove, pour the honey into the water, stir to dissolve, cover the kettle and check your thermometer 40 minutes later to make sure the liquid is at or above 140°F.

I use a sanitized plastic Coleman chest cooler similar to my infusion mash setup to hold a (relatively) steady temperature for a long period of time.