Over the Gate

Gareth · Last edited by Gareth on Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:12 am; edited 3 times in total

Most of you already know that I enjoy a glass or two of home-made Mead, and a few of you have had the pleasure of enjoying some with me. Some of you also reckon that I make a drop of good stuff (No Bodger, that was my apple wine!), and if somebody wants to have a go at home-made Mead, Gareth's the one to ask. Yes, I have had a couple of mishaps, the most notable being the exploding bottles. As you may recall my Mead has generated a great deal of anxiety, hilarity, panic, and a caption competition.

Well, it might surprise you to know that I have only been making Mead for 18 months. Anyway, I have been promising the OTG management that I would do a step by step Mead making write up for some time now. So here it is;

This is a batch that I began on the 2nd of January; I want it to run to about 9% ABV. So about 6-8 weeks should be sufficient brewing time. This time I will use a fermentation stopper before I bottle this batch.

To fill a 25 litre brew keg or bucket this is the recipe that I use;

7.225 kgs of Honey. I use cheap Asda brand honey which is 76p per 425 grams, so I need 17 tubs.

1kg of Sugar. I use either Granulated White, Soft Brown or Demerara. This batch is being made with Soft Brown Sugar.

10 tablespoons of Lemon juice.

15 grams of Yeast.
I find that Allinson’s bread making Yeast makes much nicer Mead than commercially available wine making Yeasts from the local Home-Brewing shop.

13 grams of Pectin. This is optional, and I am not using any with this batch

Lots of filtered boiling water. I find my kettle to be very convenient for this, as the boiling water is not required all in one go.

First of all, you have to scrub out the brew keg or bucket. Give it a good rinse out, and then add about a gallon of cooled, filtered boiled water, and Milton sterilising fluid. Rather than fill the whole keg up I use the listed solution, fix the lid in place, and the slowly roll the keg for 30 minutes, ensuring that all the internal surfaces have been sterilised. Remove the lid, and then stand the Keg upside down, to drain. I like to then rinse it out with about 3 litres of filtered boiled water, just to remove any remaining Milton solution.

One of my Brewing Kegs.
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17 tubs of Honey, and the Sugar ready to go.

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A saucepan of hot (but not boiling) water to help thin the viscosity of the Honey.
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Even when the Honey has been heated, not all of it will pour from the tubs. So I top the tubs up with boiling water from the kettle, and then stand them in hot water in my frying pan, stirring them well to dissolve as much of the Honey as possible.
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Even that doesn't remove all the Honey from the tubs, so I repeat the processs.
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When you have obtained as much of the Honey as possible from the tubs, add the Sugar, then fill the rest of the Keg up with Boiled, filtered water, and stir well.
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Allow the mix to stand for 24 hours (with the lid on), so that it stabilises at room temperature. Then Add the lemon juice, and the yeast, and again stir well. After approximately 30 minutes the fermentation process should have started (can you see the first fermentaion bubbles?)
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Next, stand the keg in a place where the room temperature will be more or less constant, and forget about it for 6 weeks or so.
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In Lust, In Like, In Love.

Gareth

"It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time. It’s going to take patience and time; to do it right."

Lloyd · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 3255 Location: bs36

Brilliant, mate!......Next we need one on filtering etc. right up to bottling.

Gareth · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:32 am Post subject:

I certainly will Lloyd.

I intended to blog the Mead making through all of the processes.

When I moved, a few weeks ago, I found that I still have about 3 litres of Birch sap left over from last year's escapades. So in a another week or so I will be making another 10 litre batch of Birch Sap flavoured Mead.

How about sending me 500g of smoked Walnuts , to add to a batch of Mead in February, mate?

Question; Just out of curiosity ..... ..... ..... Can Honey be smoked?

I wouldn't mind trying to make a batch of Mead from Smoked Honey.

I would like to make a 10 litre batch of Mead each month, and to flavour it with what is available from the hedgerows as the months and seasons pass. Elderflower, Hawthorn blossom, Rosehips, Blackberries, Elderberries, Sloes, Hazel and Beech nuts come immediately to mind, but I welcome other suggestions.

My Christmas present to myself was a new mains powered Ryobi engraving set.
I also "laid down" 10 of Weston's 2 litre jugs of Scrumpy for Christmas (currently £2.99 each in my local Asda), and obtained another 12 empty ones from posting an advert on Norwich freecycle. It is my intention to engrave these empty jugs, and then bottle off the Mead (after using a fermentaion stopper this time) into these, so that I have something home produced to bring with me when I visit other OTGers. I just need to finalise a design to engrave upon the Jugs.

Well on the way to obtaining empty 2 litre Scrumpy Jugs.

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My new Mains powered engraving kit.

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_________________
In Lust, In Like, In Love.

Gareth

"It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time. It’s going to take patience and time; to do it right."

bodger · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:43 am Post subject:

Well posted Gareth

Aren't those the pictures for your bomb making thread ?

Seiously though, young Robert, thats Ferras took quite a shine to your mead when you stopped at our place last summer.

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MrsWW · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:49 am Post subject:

It is veeerrrrryyyy nice stuff - down to my last few drops now

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Pilsbury · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1348 Location: Essex

perfect, I have the honey, I have the demi johns, i have the lemon juice and I was looking for the yeast but guess what, I have bread making yeast in the cupboard

I think I will have a crack at this tonight but only 1 demi john for now and I will be following the progress with interest.
Cheers
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MickyD · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Bexleyheath

Never tried mead before but have just racked off my first mead after making it back at the end of November so its had plenty of time to ferment (as you'll see from my sig below.

I might prime a few bottles to try and get some fizz into them and maybe kill off the yeast in a couple to have a still version, then I can see which I prefer. I only made 1 x 5l DJ so havent got loads, but I dont know if I will like it.........although it was pretty tastey last night when I racked it.

Either way they are going in beer bottles so they wont go bang......hopefully.
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Gareth · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:40 am Post subject:

Pilsbury · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1348 Location: Essex

excellet, I guess it still need an air lock to prevent the exploding demi john problem
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Never trust a skinny chef
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Gareth · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

I would guess so.

My Rotor Kegs have a pressure relief valve fitted into the screw tops, and I rely upon this to prevent problems at the brewing stage.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to take a Hydrometer reading, when I made the initial Mead mix.

I will just have to leave it for 6-8 weeks and enjoy drinking this batch of Mead without knowing the ABV%
_________________
In Lust, In Like, In Love.

Gareth

"It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time. It’s going to take patience and time; to do it right."

Pilsbury · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1348 Location: Essex

Gareth · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:09 am Post subject:

You should take the initial base line specific gravity reading with the Hydrometer, Just before you add the yeast. I broke all of my rules, as I normally fix a sticky label on the Keg, listing the date, ingreidents, and the initial specfic gravity reading.

The Maths are as follows:

To calculate an approximate alcohol by volume of your finished homebrew: Original gravity minus Final Gravity times 129=your approximate homebrew alcohol by volume (ABV).

For example, a homebrew with an original gravity of 1.050 and a final gravity of 1.015 would be calculated as follows: 1.050-1.015=0.035X129=4.51% ABV

Here is a link to help you if my explanation is confusing.

http://www.homebrewzone.com/hydrometer.htm
_________________
In Lust, In Like, In Love.

Gareth

"It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time. It’s going to take patience and time; to do it right."

Pilsbury · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1348 Location: Essex

nope your explination is perfect, I will pick up a hydrometer when I am out today.
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Never trust a skinny chef
www.wilddutch.co.uk caution, work in progress

Gareth · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:29 am Post subject:

Guess what Mate?

I am making your Matchstick covered tube today, to go with your pencil case (I'm sorry about the delay, I have been a bit busy lately). It will make a wonderful Hydrometer keeper.

The best tasting Batch of Mead that I made was my first, I had a hydrometer and recorded the readings , but didn't have the equation to do the calculation and therefore never knew the ABV% until well after we had started drinking the Mead.

I don't think that it really matters, as I am certain that Ragnar The Mead Master never had a Hydrometer, or that his maurading Viking buddies cared that much about the ABV%, just so long as the Mead did the job.
_________________
In Lust, In Like, In Love.

Gareth

"It’s going to take time, a whole lot of precious time. It’s going to take patience and time; to do it right."

Pilsbury · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 1348 Location: Essex

true but i would be interested in the ABV, and it would mean I could lable the bottles properly incase i gave any away.
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Never trust a skinny chef
www.wilddutch.co.uk caution, work in progress