(Part 2) Top products from r/mead

Your recipe sounds like it'll turn out well if all goes according to plan! You may want to add some sweetness back if it ferments dry, but you've got several weeks to figure that out and read the Wiki to get all caught up on the method and terminology to things like back sweetening and nutrient addition schedules. I admire that you're being industrious with your fermentation equipment, I wasn't brave enough to start fermenting with whatever I had on hand with my first batch.

If you think you'll stick with it, here's the equipment I used for my first batch. I highly recommend looking into it if you think you'll do another batch! (I apologize if you aren't in the US, Amazon is my go-to)

• Hydrometer - $15.99 | You'll definitely want one of these first! It'll help you figure out when fermentation is done, plus it's nice to know your ABV when your friends or family ask "How strong is this?" (if you like to share)
  
• One Gallon Glass Carboy with Airlock, Drilled Stopper, Polyseal Lid - $14.81 | A glass carboy could last you forever! These have done very well for me, and the included airlock will give you a great setup for less than $15. The screw-on cap is just an added bonus, I use mine when I cold-crash.
  
• Star San 16 oz - $16 | This seems like the go-to sanitizer for the sub, and I use it as well. If you think you'll do several batches, I recommend going with the 32 oz size instead! It's much cheaper per ounce.
  
• Campden Tablets aka K-Meta (Potassium Metabisulfite) - $6.08 | This will help you preserve and stabilize your mead before you bottle. Some people don't, but it's highly recommended!
  
• Auto Siphon - $13.99 | This makes racking to secondary and bottling much easier! When it comes time to bottling, it's also really nice to have a Bottling Wand - $5.86
  
  All-in-all, this is just about my current setup excluding yeast, yeast nutrients, and extra carboys and airlocks. The list above comes out to about $127.45 USD before tax, which really isn't too bad considering one gallon should yield just shy of 5 standard wine bottles! Most commercial meads I've seen ranges from $15-$25 with some exceptions (There's a winery near me called Oliver Winery that makes a mead called Camelot Mead that sells for about $8 per bottle. Very good for such a cheap mead, you can probably find it at Total Wine & More if you have one nearby).
  
  ​
  
  Sorry for such a long comment! Best of luck in your mead-making adventure!
  
  Edit: If you have a local homebrew store, I would opt for that rather than Amazon. Prices may not be as cheap but you won't have to wait for shipping, you'll be able to support a local business, and employees at homebrew stores are usually really helpful and they can recommend recipes and give you pointers. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction!

The necessities he needs for making his first batch of mead:

Required: 1. A carboy for fermenting and aging it in. I would highly recommend glass for his first one as it’s easy to sanitize and clear so you can see what the mead is doing. a one gallon carboy is usually most people’s first.

Basically required: 2. An air lock and carboy bung to keep the carboy air tight while fermenting and aging I’d suggest the standard PLASTIC ‘S’ shaped one piece air lock although it’s all down to personal preference. Glass will inevitably roll off the counter top and shatter just like 2 of my hydrometers and test jars did... lol I use a #6.5 bung for my standard 1 gallon carboys that I started with.

Required: 3. A good strain of yeast specifically meant for brewing. (Keep the bread yeast to sourdough where it works much better for) I found my preferred strain very early on as I use an ale yeast but you can’t really go wrong with premier blanc wine yeast. The wiki on this sub has a lot of info on that.

HIGHLY recommended: 4. A hydrometer and test jar. Most people don’t use one for their first batch but my guess is that he’s going to really enjoy it and end up making more batches so having a hydrometer is very important. It allows you to make sure your mead is done fermenting and allows you to know your alcohol content.

HIGHLY recommended: 5. Yeast nutrient. If yeast has a rough fermentation. The mead will taste like rocket fuel for the first 4 months. Proper nutrients will allow the yeast to have a healthy ferment and to drink it much quicker. (Pretty cheap in small amounts)

HIGHLY recommended: 6. Starsan sanitizer. I’d personally consider this an Absolute necessity. You can do your best to clean things with dawn dish soap but it won’t entirely clean things and if things get contaminated it could take all your hard work and ruin the batch.

Required: 7. A silicone hose to siphon out the mead and get it off the funky yeast at the bottom. I’d recommend a clear one as it helps to see where the stuff is at in the tube.

Hope this helps.

If my fellow mead men could correct this or add to this I’d appreciate it.

Edit: this kit on amazon has pretty much everything and the price is pretty good honestly.


Homebrewstuff One Gallon Nano-Meadery Mead Starter Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICTNLGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_c1k0DbD3YAD6G

It doesn’t have a test jar for the hydrometer though but you can find a plastic one pretty cheap.

Ken Schramm's book is one of the best and has already been linked to, but I'll throw another link below. Like /u/StormBeforeDawn said, no book is the most up-to-date, but frankly that's not what he needs. He needs to get the basic process down, and then be ready to do research in books and various places online to learn more. Schramm's book is widely considered the best place to start.

Steve Piatz's book is good and worth getting. It has a lot of information on diagnosing weird smells/tastes, and has the best pictures around. It is quite frankly the prettiest book in terms of pictures, layout, and typesetting. That said, I think he could have served novices better in some of the process descriptions around things like aeration and degassing (nothing that can't be figured out with resources here on the reddit wiki, GotMead.com, or YouTube videos).

Lastly, and maybe my first recommendation behind Schramm's book, Are Robert Ratliff's two books The Big Book of Mead Recipes and Let There Be Melomels. These last two are recipe books. Once you understand the basic process of making mead (and proper sanitization), it's simply a matter of getting down to it and making batch after batch, experimenting and enjoying the product. Ratliff's books are helpful in that they give you collections of tested and proven recipes that produce enjoyable finished products.

1. The Compleat Meadmaker (Schramm): https://amzn.to/2QS9yiv
   
2. Big Book of Mead Recipes (Ratliff): https://amzn.to/2DdxhBJ
   
3. Let There be Melomels (Ratliff): https://amzn.to/2OhN0Gu
   
4. The Complete Guide to Making Mead (Piatz): https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Making-Mead-Ingredients/dp/0760345643
   
   So I'd suggest getting him the first two books. I highly recommend both of Ratliff's books, not as introductions to making meads, but as great recipe books to kickstart your imagination.

I understand that you lack a lot of space, so I'm just going to throw this out once. I make 5 gallon batches because it's the same amount of work as a 1 gallon batch, but you end up with a lot more mead. I can't imagine putting in all of the effort to make a batch and only getting one quart. That said....

Final sweetness and ABV are determined by both how much honey you add and what kind of yeast you use. Since the yeast is turning sugar from the honey into alcohol, if you only add enough honey to reach 5% ABV, it won't be possible to go over 5% since there isn't honey to ferment. Also each strain of yeast has a different alcohol tolerance, so if you add enough honey to reach 15% but use a yeast that has a tolerance of 10%, it will probably stop at 10% instead of reaching 15%. Since the yeast is consuming sugar, if you had two identical batches with enough sugar to reach 15%, and in one batch you used a yeast that could only reach 10% and in the other used a yeast that could reach 18%, the 10% yeast would be lower ABV and very sweet, the 18% yeast would be higher alcohol but much drier. So you need to both pick the correct yeast and have the correct amount of honey.

You can use bakers yeast (as in: it will convert sugar to alcohol) but in general this is a bad idea if you have access to brewers yeast. It's incredibly inconsistent. You might be able to reach 10% on one batch and 5% on the next. You could easily split a packet of champagne yeast across 20 quart sized mason jars. After all: a 5 gram packet is good enough for 5 gallons which is 20 times as much as a quart. Packets of yeast cost about a dollar, so you'd be compromising one of the most critical ingredients in mead to prevent spending $0.05 per batch. You can even re-use yeast if you are careful about it.

For the airlock, I know you said you are cheap but here are a few options of things to buy. You can throw something like this on top of a mason jar and it will work like an airlock. $10 for 6 isn't bad. Another option would be to drill holes in the tops of the lids, insert something like this and add a real airlock. Another option is to pick a vessel with a smaller neck and use a balloon with a hole poked in it. A final, much cheaper option, would be to punch a hole in the top and tape a piece of rubber over the hole tightly in a way that lets air out, but seals afterwards. I don't know how much I would trust that, though...

Without tools to measure alcohol content, at this scale, it is virtually impossible to figure out the alcohol content. You can make a rough guess, but that's all it will be. There's no way around this without buying a hydrometer, refractometer, or similar.

For the amount of honey to add, it very highly depends on what you want and what yeast you are using. Let's pretend you go with a champagne yeast. By volume,

• 1 part honey to 4 parts water will give you about 12% ABV and dry (so, 0.8 cups honey with 3.2 cups water)
  
  
• 1 part honey to 3 parts water will give you about 15% ABV and dry (so, 1 cup honey to 3 cups water)
  
  
• 1 part honey to 2 parts water should get you around 18% ABV and sweet (so, 1 and 1/3 cup honey to 2 and 2/3 cup water)
  
  The catch is, for reliable, repeatable results you absolutely should get some kind of yeast nutrient. Buy something like this and it will basically last you forever on a 1 quart scale. It's an essential ingredient for making good mead reliably. If you can't get your hands on that a substitute would be boiled bread yeast.

1. Yes. It's a lot of extra work, though.
   
   
2. "Food Grade" marked buckets are fine to use. I don't know if I'd use them for long-term storage of alcohol even if they were airtight, but for 1-4 weeks of fermentation, they're fine.
   
   
3. During fermentation it's not important that you have a good seal. Fermentation causes the off-gassing of CO2, so the mead will protect itself from oxygen (but not fruit flies!).
   
   
4. I wouldn't use a bucket for long-term storage because of the vastly increased amount of headspace, and I'm not sure the buckets are meant for alcohol storage.
   
   
5. That's just fine. Remember to get enough airlocks. They should be about $1 each at your local homebrew shop. And have at least one spare gallon carboy, because you'll probably want to rack it more than once to leave sediment behind.
   
   
6. Okay.
   
   

• Anywhere it says to use acid blend before fermentation, don't do it. Instead, start with 1/4 or 1/2 of the amount they advocate, after the mead has cleared. Mix in a little at a time until it tastes good to you. (Draw out 1 cup of mead, mix in the acid blend, mix that back into the mead. You might want to experiment in a little with individual glasses of mead to get the balance just right. However, if you've got all your mead in 1 gallon carboys, that could get tedious and the amounts could be too small to screw with, so you might just want to add what they suggest - but do it after fermentation.
  
  
• Don't heat and skim. Do a no-heat must.
  
  
• Rehydrate your yeast with Go-Ferm. Or at least rehydrate in water according to instructions on the packet. You'll retain a much larger number of viable yeast this way.
  
  
• Don't be surprised if your airlock doesn't bubble on a plastic bucket. The seals are notoriously faulty (and that's fine, per #3).
  
  
• Upgrade from the L.D. Carlson nutrient additives if you want to open a real can of worms.
  
  
• Make a little extra mead in the buckets to start with, so you know you'll have enough to fill your carboys to the top, after racking losses, without using water.
  
  
• Caps are much easier to deal with. If you want to cork (because so professional, so cool, so good for aging!), seriously consider investing in a floor corker, especially if you're planning to keep doing this. I'm in love with this model.
  
  
• When you get to the part where you bottle, rack your mead one more time into a sanitized vessel right beforehand, being extra careful not to suck up any sediment, even if that means leaving half an inch or so in the carboy. You can get that stuff later and put it in a dregs bottle (or drink it). But you can have very clear and sediment free mead without filtering if you do this.
  
  

7. Use fresh fruit. What the hell are they thinking? Don't boil it. Just overpitch your yeast a little. (Use two or three 5 gram packets instead of one.) If you're worried, Google how to use Potassium Metabisulfite to sanitize a must. Okay, so I did it you.
   
   
8. Sort of. During fermentation it will be fine, but get real airlocks because during bulk aging the pressure balance can change with barometric pressure changes, and that can result in sucking gross jar water/vodka into your mead.
   
   
9. Mead is very forgiving. I bet you'll be okay. Don't let your airlocks go dry - I can honestly say that I've seen more good mead lost that way than any other way.

Mead is VERY forgiving, far more so than beer or wine. As has been suggested, JAOM is a great "toss it in and walk away" recipe, but almost any recipe will work for a beginner, even if it's done a bit off.

Things to remember:

Don't use bleach to sanitize, it's fucking hard to get completely out, and can render a batch unusable. I prefer IO Star to Star San as it doesn't foam up when you scrub the shit out of stuff with it, and it's easier to completely rinse.

Mead needs separate nutrient, it is quite cheap on Amazon you should also add Energizer perodically (once every other day for the first week and once a week for the next month) to prevent things from getting stuck along the way. A good guide on how/when to add fruit and how to perform step feeding, which produces the tastiest results, can be found HERE.

Wine Tannin can help to make your flavors "pop" and come out more brightly, add around 3 grams to a 5 gallon batch in primary.

Also, don't let things ferment in too warm a space, the place I ferment in is a steady 69 degrees, if you let it go too warm, you might end up with weird alcohols getting created, and your brew providing a headache along with a buzz.


Lastly, if you've decide you're going to get into brewing, don't go the carboy/bucket route. For a little bit more money (like $40 more than everything else combined), you can get a MUCH better/easier and compact solution. A conical eliminates the need to rack from one container into another (has a bottom drain to suck out yeast cake) it has a side drain to bottle from (I plug this into my filter pump and bottle right from there) is MUCH more compact then separate bucket/carboy & racking canes, and is a lot easier to clean because the hole in the top is like 6 inches across, plenty big enough for a hand and a scrubby sponge as opposed to the tiny 2" opening in a carboy (which are a bitch to clean).

Also, the supplier in this link (highgravitybrew.com) doesn't charge for shipping for these conicals, it seems like everyone else who sells them does even though they're all drop shipped from the factory regardless from whom you get it.

damn, I really appreciate this response, a lot of fantastic info about corks I did not know.

> those bubbles are probably from the original headspace and not coming from the cork

There hasn't been any mead leakage that I can see, and I have no concerns about re-fermentation, for sure. I'm curious how small, separated bubbles could move from the headspace to the neck, as the neck is lower than the sides. A few weeks ago when I noticed this I "reset" all the headspace to the side, making sure the neck was completely liquid, and after a week+ it looks like the picture above.

As far as equipment (probably irrelevant, but figured I'd share if it helps), I'm using this floor corker (brand new, this was the first time use). I did a few test runs with bottles of water to make sure the cork depth was good, but these were its maiden voyage.

If you don't mind a followup - I get from the responses below that dry corks are what cause the whole "crumbling cork" scenario - is there a particular timeframe that is relevant (or irrelevant) for? The current batches I have bottled were 1gal, expecting to go through them in < 1 year (with 1 bottle from each marked to be used at 1 year). I have a 5gal batch aging that I'll likely want to save some bottles to age into the 1-2 year range, with a few bottles reserved for tasting at the 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 year mark.

Wisdom I had picked up sounded like technical corks are generally good for ~2 years (my assumption would be "at proper humidity"), with natural corks being desireable for longer term storage. If the majority are going to be opened in 2 years or less (probably closer to 1-1.5 at most), would using "opened for a few months" corks be as much of a concern?

To piggy back on u/stormbeforedawn's comment.

This is the equipment I used that I've had good luck with so far. It's what he recommended, I'm just providing links to the specific product I used.

• 2 gal primary bucket
  
  
• 1 gal secondary glass
  
  
• Autosiphon
  
  
• racking cane
  
  
• Hydrometer
  
  
• Starsan
  
  
• GoFerm
  
  
• I used Fermaid O, not Fermaid K, because I was following a specific nutrient regimen. It's called TONSA 2.0. Popular, but apparently not cost efficient with larger batches. People better at this than I can answer nutrient schedule questions.
  
  
• Bubbler/Airlock.
  
  
• Bottles and cap method are your preferance. You can get bottles of tons of shapes, colors and styles. Corked, capped, swingtop, etc. Just make sure the bottles are food-safe and not decorative hobby/thrift store stuff. If you use corks, same rule, don't use decorative stuff. You'll want #8 agglomerated cork and a hand corker tool to put the corks on. #9 corks work too, but you'll need heavy tools (like a floor corker) to do that..

I highly recommend this book by Steve Piatz, It’s a more modern take on mead making, and a lot more friendly to folks working out the basics. Ken’s book is great for inspiration!

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Making-Mead-Ingredients/dp/0760345643/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=310SBD34GYQXY&keywords=steve+piatz&qid=1557926064&s=gateway&sprefix=Steve+pia%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

>How do you get your ingredients and what’s the most important part about them?

I look to source ingredients locally, when possible. Farmer's market, local co-op, etc. Specialty ingredients such as certain honey varietals that are regionally specific (tupelo, meadowfoam, mesquite, orange blossom, etc.) are typically ordered online after reading a fair number of reviews to get a sense of what I'm buying. Penzey's (online) is my go-to for spices. Quality is far-and-away the top priority when sourcing ingredients. It shows in the final product. Compromise in this area will cap the quality of your final product.

>What was the most helpful source of information at the beginning?

Honestly, the r/mead wiki is pretty damn helpful. I also recommend The Compleat Meadmaker and The Complete Guide to Making Mead. These are the two that got me started, and they are both quality publications.

>What equipment do you have/ how long have you used it?

Oh god. I just moved and realized how much equipment I actually have. It's...probably excessive.

2 x 5-gal primary buckets
2 x 2-gal primary buckets
1 x bottling bucket
8 x 1-gal glass jugs/carboys
5 x 3-gal glass carboys
2 x 5-gal better bottles
1 x 6.5-gal better bottle
1 x 6.5-gal glass carboy
Requisite number of air locks, bungs, stoppers, etc.
Hydrometer
Refractometer
Auto-siphon
Silicone tubing (replaced all vinyl tubing)
Handheld bottle capper (for crown caps)
Portuguese floor corker
Bottle tree
*Buon Vino mini-jet filtration system

I'm sure there more that I'm forgetting, but this gives the general sense.

Relax, don't worry, you made alcohol! isn't it neat?

get yourself something like this, it will help a ton. (your local homebrew supply store is probably cheaper)

1st question: 2 weeks is fine. If you want to wait another week or two that's fine too.

2nd question: see the auto-siphon above. use it to siphon all of the liquid above the yeast cake that's settled on the bottom.

3rd question: For our purposes, I like to think of gravity as a measure of sugar content. Since yeast eat sugars and poop CO^2 + alchohol, the gravity will drop during fermentation. This allows us to measure our alcohol content.

Schramm's book is definitely at the top some other good reads are:

On Mead:

• Making Mead (honeywine) - Roger A Morse Link
  
• Making mead - Bryan Acton and Peter Duncan Link
  
  WineMaking in general:
  
  
• The art of making wine - Stanley F Anderson and Raymond Hull Link
  
• Country Wines - Pattie Vargas and Rich Gulling Link
  
• Techniques in Home Winemaking - Daniel Pambianchi Link
  
  Good Reads for science:
  
  
• An analysis of brewing techniques - George and Laurie Fix Link
  
• Principles of brewing science - George Fix Link

Background

Based upon my initial question: Is it wine or meed?, I am working on my first Mead/Pyment. I've taken the original recipe I cobbled together from a variety of sources.

Is it mead? Well yes. According to the calculators in the sidebar concord juice is about 8.89% sugar. Honey is roughly 80%. I'm no math wiz, but I fussed with both Google and Wolframalpha and 8.89% of two gallons is roughly 45 Tablespoons or 0.23 pounds of sugars, 1 Gallon of Honey is roughly equivalent to 204 tablespoons of sugars or 7.9 pounds of sugars. yes I know Different types of sugars, etc. etc. But the mixture here is getting much more than 51% of the sugars from honey, so: 'tis a Wine -> Mead -> Melomel -> Pyment.


The following is an expansion of The GotMead format for recipes.

1. Ingredients
   
   • Star-San - not technically an ingredient, but it's for sterilization. I think of it as an anti-ingredient keeping the bad bugs out. (Sprayer use= 1/4 tsp to 650ml water & 60 second exposure)
     
   • 1.5 Gallons of boiled tap water (more or less to make things work out.) NOTE: I have well water, not city water - so no chlorine & plenty of minerals.
     
   • ~2 Gallons of homemade concord grape juice. (SG 1.060)
     Last year I pressed about about six gallons of grape juice from concords of my own. I was going to make jelly in the winter and froze it in the deep freeze.
     
   • 10lbs (now 15lbs) of Pure N Simple Honey.
     
   • ~3 tsp Fermax from Amazon.
     
   • Red Star Premier Blanc [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00434CB74)
     
     
2. Equipment
   
   • Large Stainless stock pot (for initial boil)
     
   • 5 Gallon food grade bucket & Lid sterilized.
     
   • 4 Gallon Sams club water bottle playing the role of carboy.
     
   • Hydrometer
     
   • Transfer hose
     
   • Water lock/ Bubbler
     
     
3. Preparation
   
   • Thaw the grape juice overnight in the fridge in a large container in case of leakage.
     
   • Sterilization/pasteurization.
     Thinking through the volume of Honey (~1 gallon) and aiming for a 4 gallon carboy; bring 1.5 gallon of water to a boil. Turn off heat, add the grape juice in order to pasteurize the juice without setting the pectin, stir in about 10-12 pounds of honey. (remove any scum that forms)
     
   • Sanitize the bucket and lid, and stirring spoon.
     
   • Stir vigorously as you add the ingredients.
     
   • add to the bucket, check the temperature and the SG - calculate remaining honey or water and add as needed. Stir till mixed, or your arm falls off - whichever comes first.
     
   • Check the temperature until it is at least down to about 80 degrees then add the yeast we're off to primary fermentation.
     
     
4. Primary fermentation.
   
   • 5 gallon sterilized bucket & lid with airlock.
     
   • Actual Original Specific Gravity (OG): 1.130 (I thought it was 1.122 but the must was still quite warm.)
     
   • I will plan on testing as fermentation tapers off and make a decision then on adding additional honey and warm water (carefully of course) in order to restart fermentation. (adjust to desired SG as needed).
     
   • Once fermentation has stopped transfer it to the secondary.
     
     
5. Secondary.
   
   • 4 gallon sams club water jug (plastic) with airlock.
     
   • Saved my honey jugs just in case I had any left over that wouldn't fit in the carboy.
     
   • Time. Lots of time.
     
     Notes:
     
     9/13/16 Initial. Retested SG, it was at 1.130.
     
     9/15/16 Sterilized a large spoon and vigerously stirred to aerate. SG at 1.074, fermentation is fast and furious.
     
     9/16/16 Aerated/degassed. 3tsp fermax. SG 1.050
     
     9/16/16 Aerated/degassed. SG 1.026
     
     9/21/16 Racking Day. SG 0.998 (ABV 18%?). Upon racking there was not quite enough in the carboy. After staring at it for twenty minutes I decided to gamble and added one gallon of water, and 5LBS of honey to bring it up to just below the base of the neck. Retesting the SG was 1.030. It is currently sitting inside a 5 gallon bucket in my bathroom, I'll transfer it to the closet as soon as I'm reasonably certain it won't go Mt. St. Helens on my wardrobe.
     
     

Not sure if these links will work for you but these are what I use

Yeast Nutrient: https://amzn.com/B0064H0MVK

Yeast Energizer: https://amzn.com/B0064H0LUW

They work great for me, and my mead always ferments dry in less than a week by staggering. In fact I just hit a new record on my current 5 gallon batch SG 1.100 to 1.000 in 4 days.

On the flip-side, I love my hand corker. Here’s a link. It’s a little more expensive than other hand corkers I’ve seen but a lot less expensive than a floor corker. All I do is spray the corks with a little starsan just before corking so they slide in easier and they go in without the dents. It’s adjustable also.

I don’t doubt a floor corker is better but if you don’t have space/can’t afford/don’t want to pay that much for the floor corker, this is a good option.

I have this one and enjoyed it.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Making-Mead-Ingredients/dp/0760345643/ref=sr_1_5

Like Storm said, the wiki on this subreddit is better, but maybe he can check that out if he likes the book.

You can get the kit without the honey for $17 less. That means they're charging almost $6/lb for their honey. If you can get good honey cheaper locally, I'd buy this kit - trying to buy the individual components on Amazon would cost more like $45-50 so it's a decent deal.

I highly recommend spirals over chips

Buy one of these, saw off a quarter of it, drop it into your mead, and taste it every week until it's as oaky as you like.

But remember to find a balance between sweetness, acidity, and oak.. you don't want to go too far in any one direction

I never used that yeast. Most people here use wine, champagne, or mead yeast like Lalvin 71B-1122 or EC-1118 or ICV D-47 - though people occasionally do use ale yeast.

You could probably get that kit stuff cheaper as /u/balathustrius said assuming you have a shop nearby. But there is something to be said for just pulling the trigger and getting it all in one go, and there's nothing wrong with that.


Personally I'd get the cheaper kit without the honey and just get 3lbs of honey locally or at the farm market or grocery store for my first go.


Even though the kit has some cleaner/sanitizer (never used that type) I'd probably order some StarSan instead of the honey.

edit: add some yeast nutrients like GoFerm and Fermaid K and you're good to go. You can make the mead without them but they are highly recommended, especially when using ONLY honey. The yeast need more than sugar, otherwise your fermentation will possibly just stall.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011296704/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687582&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00OXPE8U6&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=T14FVA59Q7GWT7AVFE30

They are pretty good

I use this style: https://smile.amazon.com/Ferrari-8R-KUTK-YL7E-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FQBBK2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1469729139&sr=8-4&keywords=corker (though there are better corkers)

You can see the nuts near the top I was talking about, they allow for adjustment. I usually back them off whenever I'm using a new cork or bottle type, and just keep adjusting it forward while hitting the same cork in the same bottle until I like the result. Then just go hit the rest as normal.

I do have a few indents in some of them, but really it's just good photography (left that to the wife). The corker is this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Ferrari-8R-KUTK-YL7E-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FQBBK2?sa-no-redirect=1

Or you can just shake it.

Or for a few $

https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Brew-32-4MTR-E225-Whip-Degasser/dp/B00A7UK9A4/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=carboy+degasser&qid=1571108344&sr=8-4

​

I'm not a chemist and can't answer your question, but even if possible, there are better options.

Chips are not the same as spirals. Their flavor is less complex and imparts sooner.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Winemaking/dp/B013S28UC6/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1522282130&sr=1-1&keywords=oak+spirals

Are better. Your chips will work fine.

"supposed" being the keyword of your question, I have to answer as 'there is nothing you are supposed to do'

​

that being said if you are going to keep it in your secondary (or later jugs) then you are going to want to get some wine preserver

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PR4J20S/ (or similar)

​

however bottles are cheap:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CI25EE/ (the cheapest bottles I've found so far other then free used bottles)

Thank you! Made it in Photoshop. Got the bottles off Amazon and shipped to Peltier Glassworks to be screen printed.

Well, u/fallen-biologist has doubts on usefulness of degassing in the first place.

I do it during first part of fermentation because dropping nutrients into an active ferment will cause overflow or geyser in a carboy. Mostly by shaking or stirring vigorously.

In secondary? It'll slowly degas on its own. You can speed it up by putting in a rough wooden spoon for the nucleation points. Or putting it under a slight vacuum.

One of these might work for a vacuum actually. Possibly not strong (enough) for or a gallon or more. https://www.amazon.com/Original-Vacu-Vin-Vacuum-Stoppers/dp/B000GA3KCE/ref=asc_df_B000GA3KCE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198068964911&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13238637119483462515&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007689&hvtargid=pla-511514466152&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Brewing-and-Winemaking-Supplies/dp/B0064O8QY8/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1520970387&sr=8-10&keywords=Homebrew+stir

I have this one. It fits in all my carboys without issue and is good for a degas stir.

Can I use something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Portugese-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FRWJNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482378735&sr=8-1&keywords=corker

Will do! I wasn't sure it would indicate on directions per gallon. This a good option?

Were you talking about this guy?

I also use it for 1 gallon batches and it's a pain, but worth the $10 you pay. I think it's problem is that their 5 gallon version is great (still using mine 6 years later), but they couldn't scale it down properly.

Sorry. Can you give me a picture or a link to the product?

This is what they should be like: https://smile.amazon.com/Campden-Tablets-potassium-metabisulfite-100/dp/B0064O9HWI?sa-no-redirect=1

For tight-necked carboys, I'd actually recommend these things.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vacu-Vin-Wine-Saver-Gift/dp/B000GA3KCE

I use it on my 1 gallon carboys. The rubber plugs fit well, and since it's hand powered, there's little to no chance of the glass collapsing inwards as some people fear. It takes a little longer, as you have to let gas escape on its own, but you can leave it on while it does.

I have this one and it fits in one gallon carboys very well.

I bought it on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HFSCX9P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Amazon has a fermenting container that's 1.5 gallons. That way when you rack off into a 1 gallon carboy you'll actually have a gallon of mead. It's only 3 dollars more.

Prolly need to buy an airlock set to go with it tho.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFSCX9P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kg1wCbCHC7E2Q

Better double check on lilac before using it. I have at least one source here that says do not use it, or rhubarb leaves also (not that you were planning on putting them in, but could be toxic). Many times the info you see on flowers doesn't include whether or not it's toxic in food/beverages. I guess there would be some info on this in a herbal encyclopedia or from others who make herbal wines. Just be extra cautious before trying new stuff (as you are, obviously), especially anything that's a flower or fungus (mushrooms, etc).

Compared to apples, most berries have very low pectin levels. Pectin is a chemical present in most (all?) plants, and contributes haze to beer, mead, and wine. Apples have some of the highest amount of pectin, where soft berries tend to have the lowest.

You may find that the apple meads take a very long time to clear, if they do at all. However, pectic haze is easily remedied by adding an enzyme to dissolve it (pectinase).

I use this. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Loaded-Beer-Bottle-Filler/dp/B000E66A4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539095622&sr=8-1&keywords=bottling+wand

Nope, those are vacuum stoppers.

I used oak spirals. You just put in one third of a spiral per gallon for 5 weeks.

The only other one I know of besides Schramm's book is Making Wild Wines and Meads

I am using this one Homebrewstuff One Gallon Nano-meadery Mead Starter Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICTNLGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_E3XfAb3A357RE

Fermtech Mini Auto-Siphon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064ODL1G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_O18IBbH9HNE3C

http://store.defalcowines.com/FIZZ-X.html

or

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7UK9A4?keywords=degassing%20rod&qid=1458586356&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

So why do I need both since Fermaid K has DAP in it?

I was basically set on yeast nutrient and Campden Tablets. Is there anything else I should get?

No.

Get a cheap freezer off of ebay/craigslist, then get one of these and set your temperature:
http://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B011296704

When it gets too cold, power to the unit gets killed...when it warms back up, you get the idea.

• Primary -- honey, water and yeast are in a container of some sort (bucket, carboy, etc). After a few weeks, fermentation settles down and you have a sediment.
  
• Secondary -- Moving the liquid (the must) to a new container, leaving the sediment behind (see note below).
  
• Filtering (optional) -- There exist a number of affordable filtering options for the homebrewer. These can filter down to the sub-micron level and in theory remove all the yeast from your brew. Some claim that filtering strips character from your mead, though I have not found this to be the case personally. I can also attest that everything I've filtered has developed no bottle sediment, even after years.
  
  - or -
  
  
• Fining/stabilizing/cold crashing/etc (also optional) -- There exist a number of non-filtering solutions for stopping yeast activity and helping to get the particulate matter out of suspension and clearing up your mead. Even if you neither filter nor fine/crash your mead, it will eventually clear on its own--but this will take a long time.
  
• Bottling -- After the mead clears sufficiently in secondary, you can bottle.
  
• Drinking -- Drinking immediately may not give best results, as the mead will be new and will not have mellowed. But you can drink it any time after bottling to years later. Depending on your bottling step, you may (likely) or may not get additional sediment in the bottle, which is fine. Just don't disturb it when you pour.
  
  Thoughts on secondary: This terminology comes from winemaking, and in fact, no secondary fermentation occurs. But the terminology is standard, and most everyone knows that 'secondary' means moving to a new container. The prime reason for moving to a secondary vessel seems to be to get the must off of the sediment (the lees). The theory is that the yeast will eventually kill itself (autolysis) and add off/bad flavors to your brew. Some say this isn't as big a deal as contemporary wisdom makes it out to be.
  
  Everyone has their own timelines that they prefer, and the contemporary wisdom (especially on reddit) is to check yeast activity on a semi-regular basis using a hydrometer or a refractometer. I've been brewing for a long time, and have gotten lazy about it. I generally do a '2-2-2 method'. 2 months in primary, 2 months in secondary, 2 months to drink after bottling.
  
  It simplifies things for me, and keeps me from having to spend a lot of time fooling around with my mead once I have it started. I haven't touched a hydrometer in years and own a refractometer that I've never used. I've never made any bottle bombs, and generally don't care about the exact alcohol content of my mead (though I can give a rough guess as to the content based on the initial amount of honey-to-water ratios that I've used in a batch).

Mix-Stir Agitator Rod https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064O8QY8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_7C9aAb2Y7AMWZ

This is what I use

Assuming you’re referring to this?

Does the tap being higher than the assumed level of the yeast make it so you don’t need to siphon? Would you run a risk of getting sediment into the other container by just pouring it from the spout?

Either way, for that price, I’m considering this too! Carboys are great, but a pain for stuffing fruit into.
*edit formatting is hard

This is something I've been meaning to ask others.

My current bottles are these: http://amzn.com/B005CI25EE

750ml, clear, nice, simple. They're about 25 dollars per 12 once shipping is factored in, but I'm always looking for a cheaper option if someone has one.

Edit, Also: These aren't fulfilled by Amazon, but if they were, be prepared for ham-handedness and lack of thought for glassware shipping. There are homebrew vendors themselves who are better about that than others. So far in the last two months, I've had a broken 6 gallon carboy show up and a 1 swingtop bottle busted. I made a claim on the carboy but not on the bottle since I had 23 others and didn't want to hassle with it. No problems on the claim, just meant I had something sitting in primary longer than I wanted.