My Mead Failure.

Cafe Society
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Hey, you could literally ask the mead maker. I linked to his big epiphany article on how to make mead, and he also has hundred(s??) of youtube segments where he answers questions and pontificates. Ricky can be pretty entertaining and knows an awful lot about mead making. He’s also pretty patient about answering emails.

I’m not a mead expert by any means, but yeast, yeast nutrients, aerating your must will get you much of the way there. What I’ve learned is also don’t boil the honey as this boils away a lot of the aroma and flavor you want. Instead heat to 160 degrees for 15 minutes to sanitize.

Me, I do a half dozen cysers a year (2 gallons Costco apple juice, 5 pounds Costco honey, top up to 4 gallons total). I’m pretty partial to using Nottingham yeast as recommended by Silenus.

Most folks don’t use wild yeast because

  1. most suck
  2. even if they don’t suck, you have hit or miss results
  3. even wild yeast that have been selected and then commercialized in a lab can be not overly palatable. And this is after evaluating tons of wild yeasties. Here’s an example from white labs that sounds pretty interesting: https://whitelabs.com/yeast-bank/wlp611-new-nordic-ale-yeast
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Just found this: Wild Yeast Is Your Friend

Includes a troubleshooting section. Endorsed by Ricky the Meadmaker

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Cheers for the ratio suggestions- I’d only be doing 1 gallon max as a trial, I don’t have that much honey left.

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On thing that will help you get more honey flavor out of your mead is to not heat it too much above 135f we see the breakdown of several of the lightest flavors and the beginning of caramelization reactions which will lower your potential ABV and remove honey flavors for toast and caramel. It is better to drop your temp and pitch at slightly higher rates.

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For a recipe I’d us about 1.75 pounds of honey in a gallon of water which should get you to the 8-10% abv range depending on how efficient your fermentation is. Its been noted above but cold and slow will be your friend, I like 6 months at 60F before my first racking.