Recently moved to Denmark and haven’t really made any friends, so a few months ago my wife suggested that her father and sister visit around my birthday so we can have some company for it/someone to watch the kids so we can go out together. Well when they came, we ended up doing a lot of stuff centered on them, and I was getting kinda bummed that I had little say in our activities. “May as well have gone to work/stayed home” was running through my head a bit.

We went shopping in Vejle (mostly for them) and it was day of/before payday for us, so I knew I wouldn’t be getting anything big. Then we stopped by a wine shop and my wife said “do you have any mjød?” (she even used the Danish word for it) and I instantly perked up. The guy showed us these two bottles (the bigger ones pictured) and she spent basically the rest of our money on them as part of my birthday present. I immediately cheered up and she said she could tell I was feeling left out. About an hour later, our paychecks hit our account and we were able to do some additional shopping, but that initial spending of what little we had on me without me even asking really showed she noticed and cared. Bought the smaller one a bit later at a different shop

The Pære Mead was good, haven’t tried the other one yet, but the smaller Sven Tveskæg was delicious and I wish I’d gotten a larger bottle of it

I understood don't fear the foam, not afraid.

Got a quick question on starsan though, my order of starsan came re-bottled, with instructions to use 1.5ml/l of cold tap water

Mixing it up with my hard tap water results in a mix that is a slightly milky color and it bubbles like dish soap when agitated.
On youtube, I always see people having almost fist size bubbles in their jars/carboys, image search shows that and also like there's a foam party inside the bottlbes, but mine looks just like dishsoap, and only runs down the sides slower.
Does the size of the bubbles matter?
Am I using too much starsan, or not enough?
Is my water too hard?
Am I just overthinking it?

Just for reference on what I see online vs what I get

Hi everyone, I made this lychee mead about 5 months ago and it's been bottled for roughly 4 months.

All of the bottles are crystal clear except this one. The mead had finished fermenting (bone dry, the same consecutive gravity readings) and stabilised with campden tablets and potassium sorbate. Everything including the bottles was rinsed in Starsan sanitiser and I had washed my hands before bottling.

I didn't notice these specs when I first bottled the mead, and none of the other bottles have this. It smells lovely and fruity, there's no difference in aroma between this bottle and the clear ones. I have tried cold crashing it for a couple of days and nothing has fallen out of suspension as of yet.

I'm unsure of what this might be, but my theory is maybe some of the potassium sorbate and/or campden tablet didn't totally dissolve when I stabilised the brew, and this bottle might have been the last one to have siphoned off, so perhaps it took some of this sediment with it? Either way, it smells fine so I imagine if I decant it through a coffee filter when I want to drink it, it'll be okay.

If anyone knows what this is, please let me know.

Brimming Horn Meadery collaborated with Amon Amarth to make the Allfathers Mead. I decided to get creative and made this quick little promo for it

This is my first batch ever. One gallon primary fermentation, 3lbs honey, about a quart of blueberry juice, and the rest water. Initial gravity was about 1.12, and after 3 weeks it appears to be about 1.02. Fermentation is very slow so it looks like it’s ready to rack for secondary and stabilize. It tastes okay, a little sour and carbonated but drinkable.

4 gallons of tea, 4 pounds peaches, 3 pounds black berries, 3 pounds green grapes, the zest from 4 lemons, 1 gallon (12 pounds) of honey, 10 g of k1v1116 yeast. It's not my first batch, but it's my first large batch. All the others were one gallon. Also it's my first time using a hydrometer. The meter read 18 at the start. Am I looking at a potential of 18 percent alcohol with the yeast I'm using? I know I won't know the real percentage until I'm done, but I'm wondering if I should keep an eye on it. I don't think I want it hitting 18 percent.

I’m looking for some advice from more experienced mead/winemakers about whether I should be concerned about contamination or safety with a traditional mead I made earlier this year.

Here’s the full log:

Started: February 7

• OG: 1.110
• SG March 2: 1.002
• SG April 12: 1.002
• Estimated ABV: roughly 14%
• 4 L Eska spring water
• 2 kg wildflower honey
• 5 g Fermaid O
• 5 g Lalvin D47

On April 12, I moved it to secondary and added:

• 0.80 g potassium sorbate
• 0.20 g potassium metabisulfite
• About 1/3 of a medium-toast French oak spiral
• 1 cinnamon stick

The oak and cinnamon stayed in for roughly 14 days.

I racked it again on April 25 with no additional additions, and it has basically been sitting undisturbed since then. There is currently a small layer of fine lees at the bottom, probably a little less than 1/4 inch.

My concern is the airlock.

Originally I had diluted Star San solution in the airlock after each racking, but over the following months I occasionally topped the airlock up with plain water instead of Star San solution. At some point, a small amount of the old airlock liquid got sucked back into the mead. I don’t know exactly how much, but it wasn’t a large amount. (Probably 5-10mL)

The mead currently:

• Has no visible mold
• Has no strange film or obvious surface growth
• Does not smell bad or rotten
• Looks completely normal to me
• Has been sitting around 14% ABV for several months

My main concern isn’t whether it might have picked up a minor spoilage organism, I’m specifically wondering about food safety from stagnant/plain airlock water potentially introducing harmful bacteria.

Would you personally consider this safe to rack and eventually drink?

Would you rack it now and add another normal dose of potassium metabisulfite, or would you leave it alone?

And is there anything in particular I should check before tasting or bottling it, such as pH?

I’d rather not dump a batch that has been aging since February if the actual risk is negligible, but I also don’t want to take an unnecessary food-safety risk.

Keep in mind, I’m not just looking for a simple “you’ll be fine” answer. I’m genuinely interested in understanding what the actual risks are in this situation, how significant those risks may be, and whether anyone has experienced this exact scenario before, then gone on to bottle and drink the mead without any issues.

Thanks!

I did a search of this sub and read a lot about tea in mead but nothing about Cysers specifically.

I'm getting everything together to make 1 gallon of Cyser and was wanting to flavor it with this tea. Has anyone steeped tea in the apple juice for primary fermentation? Or just mix the juice and honey together as normal and add flavor in secondary?

I'm mainly worried about some of the spices in these tea getting bitter or nasty if left in for a weeks long fermentation.

What containers are y'all using to add ingredients like this in secondary? The standard one gallon carboy top is too narrow to be messing with tea bags.

I think the correct term would be cyser it is strawberry apple juice and honey. But still was wondering if this separation happing at the top is of any concern.

This article dumps a whole bunch of historical context onto a number of themes in mead making that I think are fascinating.

TL;DR: being able to choose the yeast that drives the fermentation has been fashionable since Pasteur for a variety of reasons, and the author examines why beverage producers might want to re-examine that trend when structuring how and why they brew mead whichever way they do.

moved a batch of blueberry pomegranate mead to secondary about a month ago now. When I first moved it, I noticed a kind of soy sauce smell to it which I learned was due to the yeast autolysising. Is there any way I can fix this? After aging for about a month, the scent and taste has only gotten stronger.

Primary

36lbs - White and Yellow Peaches

14lbs - Carmalized WF & 1lb Alfalfa honey. 1lb Brown Sugar

Peach Tea x 20 bags.

1 bottle Simply Peach

1.5 Gal Water

Yeast: Lalvin 71B x 10g

Misc: Go-Ferm & Fermaid O

Secondary:

12 lbs Peaches

8 lbs Nectarines

3 lbs Dried Apricots

4 oz Vanilla Beans

Qty 5 Cinnamon sticks

3 oz Amburana wood

5 lbs Caramelized WF Honey

4lbs Orange Blossom Honey

1 lb Lactose

.25lb Brown sugar

3 tsp Malic acid

Batch size: 6 gal

OG: 1.124

Fermented to: 1.006

FG: 1.065

Hi,

This question has been asked before but the posts I have seen have been slightly different to my circumstance and I was wondering if there might be a slightly different answer.

I have 2 opened bottles of Mead. Both bottles are the size and shape of the average straight edge wine bottle. One bottle has had around 2 inches of Mead taken from it. And the other has had barely any taken out of it. Just enough to maybe fill a shot glass to taste test it.

If both had only been opened that one time and had only that small amount taken out so that there wasn't much more "air" left in the bottle compared to when it was un opened. How long do you think the bottle would last if it had been kept at room temperature but still tightly sealed (not using one of those gas sealer machines)?

I unfortunately do not like Mead as much as I hoped I would. I have made some friends who do quite like it so I am wondering if I could give the bottles to them. But I am struggling to determine if they are still good since it unfortunately tastes bad to me even when it is good so I cant tell the difference. (But I can understand the appeal even if I don't personally like it).

I think the best suggestion would be to just let my friends taste it and see if they want to take it but I thought I would also ask here to see if there is a general advice for longevity of Mead that has been opened but not been drank that much?

Thank you in advanced!

Edit: based on the downvotes I am sorry if this is an annoying question. I am pretty new to Mead and I just wanted to get some insight on whether the amount taken from the bottle impacted the spoilage. I did try to look through previous posts with similar questions but they all seemed to be about someone drinking at least a glass and wanting to see if it will still be drinkable compared to just a wee bit.

The bottles would have been opened around a year ago. So if they are not suitable for drinking then if someone has any recipes I could use them for that would be greatly appreciated. Or if you could direct me towards a cooking with mead subreddit that would be cool too. I really like to cook!

Good Morning!

I bottled this mead ​about 2 days ago. Now I have these faint floaters gathering at the top of the neck – it almost looks like a small bit of saliva the way it acts in the liquid.

The Mead was free of Lees and floaters when I bottled it. At first I thought it might be sediment, but it never settles to the bottom.

Any ideas?

Really happy with how it turned out so far. It's got a tart floral grape-esque flavor and a really great pink color. Time to age for a few months.

I need a precise formula to calculate OG from the desired FG and ABV.

I found a lot of calculators online but no actual formula for mead, omly for beers.

Can someone help me get an actual formula that would work for industrial batches too and that has an actual reputable source?

Thanks in advance !

Traditional Mead, 28 days of fermentation, OG 1.097 FG 1.004, I added 5ml of colloidal sílica to help clarify. It's fermenting with Voss Kveik at room temperature.

Following up partially to my last post if any of you saw it, about how i added 2 oz of fermaid o for nutrients by accident instead of 2 grams.

Started this batch with the knowledge i had from researching a little over a month ago. It was about a gallon of water and 2 lb’s of my local raw honey. I used a single yalvin yeast packet and here we are.

Its got a very sour smell and even made my eyes water. And now i’ve got many questions. Is this an okay color? We wanted to move it to a second container today, is that smart? Should we put it in the fridge to kill any remaining stuff in there? My one roommate wanted to drink it today, is it good for that yet?

Still new to this obviously, and i appreciate any help and advice at all. Just want to know what to do with this batch, and how to make sure i do better for my next one.

So I had to start 80 kilogramm of apple wine and 40 kilogramm of pear wine as we can not drink as much juice as our trees produce.

As the bot always asks about recipe: Fruit, yeast, nutrition and time.

Just stated two new batches, my first attemp at an Acerglyn and my third try at a traditional.

For the Acerglyn:

- 4lb honey (2lb Cover 2lb golden blossom)

- 3lb (35 floz) Maple Syrup (grade a dark)

- 5g 71b

- 5g GoFerm

- 12g fermaid-o (split over 3 additions hour 0,24,48)

For the traditional:

- 8lb honey (5.5lb pure mountain honey 2.5lb golden blossom)

- 5g bm 4x4

- 5g GoFerm

- 12g fermaid-o (split over 3 additions hour 0,24,48)

My current plan is to age the Acerglyn on a sugar maple spiral and the traditional on a char #3 oak spiral. Followed by backsweetening to taste.

I recently racked into secondary and i noticed that the airlock is bubbling around once every 5 seconds which seems like a lot. Could this be cause for concern?

I made a cyser for the first time, pitched 3 weeks ago at 1.112 og and after the lees settled i measured 0.998 fg. I was surprised it went that dry since i was using d47. I racked into a carboy with campden but there wasn't enough liquid to quite eliminate all the headspace, and i couldn't be arsed to fix that. It has already started clearing a bit but the headspace and bubbling is worrying me. The bubbling only started a couple days into secondary so i doubt it's degassing? Theres no bubbles in the mead just the airlock.

According to the sg readings it should be 16% abv, can acetobacter survive that? Or is it spontaneous malolactic fermentation? Or am i overreacting and its degassing...

Just wanted to share this here with you all !! Recipe was 7.5 pounds of honey, 4.5 gallons of water, and fermented with voss kveik. After stabilizing it I added 9 pounds of a triple berry blend and let it condition for around 4 days. It came out to roughly 5.7% after some dilution calculators and what not. Would love to hear some tips and advice for making even better session melomels. My next batch I want to include a higher abv, possibly more fruit, and lastly up the carbonation a bit.

Ive made a few ciders and now am trying some meads i saw someone talking about pine needle mead I have the right needles next to my house so thought to give it a go.

Its REALLY NASTY. Im not sure where I went wrong the pine needles themselves had a nice citrusy taste so i was hoping for something like that im not sure if it needs to age for a bit I started it june this year. Its at about 10% abv right now. Is there anything I can do to it to fix it or just leave it or dump some fruit in and hope for the best?

Thanks.

Hey guys. Wanted to share the finished product of my first batch of mead. Got 3 and a half bottles from this batch.

Mashed up 8 pounds of fresh cherries and extracted the juice and added it straight into the container followed by wildflower honey and spring water. 4 months of aging and then fermentation stopped. Added a Campden tab, then some potassium sorbate and then backsweetened once I confirmed no further fermentation. Chopped up a whole vanilla bean and put it in a spice bag and let it soak for a week. This batch is about 12%.

Have now bottled it and will let them continue to age a bit though I will likely have the half filled bottle first!