@DOSE-RAD yes, but you just a warning, that strain has a high alcohol tolerance and it will go dry. So if you want it sweet you will Ned stabilizers before you backsweeten. Also ec 1118 might take time to mellow out because it will give you a jet fuel taste.

@thebrewtank7665 ok cool thanks for the reply!! I'm planing on letting it sit anywhere from 6m to 1y. If I get the same OG as you did and let it ferment to 1.000 it'll be at about 15%abv. Now if I stabilize and back sweeten is should remove some of the dryness? Sorry it's my second batch

Doin the most, man made mead are two channels that come to mind with tons of content. I had to stop making mead indefinitely due to personal reasons. Texas longhouse mead bought up most of my gear thankfully. I answer questions from time to time, but ide say with this batch I would have doubled thee berries and frozen then thawed them before. Also give them a little crush in the bag to release their juices.

No bad. A bit sweet. But would benefit from fresh kiwi. Would avoid strawberry puree and do a syrup concentrate. Really just avoid the seeds as they can impart a bandaid flavor. It can age out, but it's not a pleasant sip.

@@thebrewtank7665 good tip, maybe i'll sieve it out before hand or do the syrup concentrate. Many thanks! Made meads before but not with fruits to it's touch and go for me on this one

If you want clarity, less haze then sure. If you wanna make it really strong ide use a pasteurized blueberry juice.

Needed to be in the sweet range and possibly double the peaches. This was an early one and I planned on making an end of the year taste test, but I had to get rid of all the mead I made because of the poor decisions of a roommate.

Needed to be in the sweet range and possibly double the peaches. This was an early one and I planned on making an end of the year taste test, but I had to get rid of all the mead I made because of the poor decisions of a roommate.

​@@thebrewtank7665tragic about the roommate. Did it get too hot? Or get opened and over oxygenated/moldy? If not was it dry due to the honey to water ratio?

Possibly, but you may want to be careful about microorganisms. You may be able to pasteurize the juice, and do great sterile practices, but you might get contaminated. There are probably more risks and procedures that take time, but I would look into how people make homemade cider or other mead making channels. Man made mead or Doin the most I think may have done one.

I am also just starting. Personally, I would up the honey a little, maybe 2.25 to 2.5. I also always pitch a whole packet of yeast it is just easier, and you know it is enough to get it going. Also, freezing the berries and then unfreezeing them helps break the cell walls and release some more flavor and sugars.

Northern Brewer Company sells the little big mouth bubbler. This recipe was a dud, didn't like the end. I think Texas Longhouse Meadery, Doing the most or Man Made Mead have great videos on it. What I would do differently is backsweeten it to a sweet or semi sweet level and double the peaches.

What size jar did you use ?

This one was a little over two weeks. Then in secondary I let it clear. I would suggest a sweet to semi sweet level. This went dry and didn't taste that great.

I would have added more strawberries, or have made a syrup. Thing about strawberries is that you don't want them sitting in there too long or their seeds give off this odd latex bandaid flavor and smell.

​How long do you think before it's ready to take the strawberries out to avoid the latex flavor? ​@thebrewtank7665

If you use store bought spring water and open it right before you use it it's fine. Tap though, I'm not sure about.

@@thebrewtank7665 😔 This is why I should've done research instead of just listening to a random friend. Well thank you for clarification.

@@SirTravis-vn6yp man made mead and doin' the most are great channels. I'm having to stop making mead due to some issues with my rental and another issue with a roommate.

@@thebrewtank7665 I'm sorry to hear that man. I appreciate your recommendation and I hope your situation can return to normal.

Less stress on yeast and better yeast health. Go Ferm is also a nutrient I use to keep them strong in the beginning.

Nope. Not soap suds. I make a five gallon batch of star sans and sterilize and rinse tools with it. Would not recommend cleaning your equipment dish soap like dawn as it will leave a film on your glassware and porous equipment. Instead, soak in five star cleaner. Suds are caused by my dumping 1 gallon at a time of distilled water on the star sans.

It sat in warm water in the sink while I setup the shoot. Some people put them in tubs with a sous vide machine while they sanitize their equipment.

Fake 🍯

Norther Brewer makes them you can order them online under little big mouth bubbler

It depends. The best thing to do is to take gravity readings. Usually it can take one to two weeks, but if it stalls, it can referent later without any stabilization. After one week i would take a gravity reading to see how far along it is. This requires you to take an original gravity right before or directly after pitch in order to compare the two. Some yeasts can eat up the sugars in less time, so having a hydrometer is a must for brewers.

"ASMR is the term for the sensation people get when they watch stimulating videos or take part in other activities - usually ones that involve personal attention. Many people describe the feeling as “tingles” that run through the back of someone's head and spine." TAken from Google. Basically I just boost up the volume a little and do some b-roll.

I would use it in primary along with pectic enzyme so that the pectins in the puree don't cloud it up as bad, then I would rack it onto some sparkoloid or bentonite. I would also taste it and see where the flavors at, then maybe do a secondary fruit addition. The easiest recipe I've done for raspberries was getting the Cran-Raspberry Ocean spray juice and doing a gallon of that. Still had a good Raspberry flavor, though I would probably add a pound or two fresh in secondary for more pop.

You can do fruit in primary and secondary if you want it to be a fruit dominant melomel. Adding fruit in secondary though, you may want to stabilize after your fermentation. There really is no time on it, though you can kind of tell by the forming of leese on the bottom, lack of bubbles, and clearing. The best way is to take samples and using a hydrometer to see how much your gravity has changed, especially if you are fermenting dry and backsweetening to taste or using fruit in secondary. Usually my timeframe is somewhere between 10-14 days before I rack into a secondary vessel, but I do like to take samples ehre and there to make sure that it's going well and the fermentation has not stalled.

This one oxidized unfortunately. Had to toss it. :( Unfortunately I'm soon going to get outta brewing for awhile due to some personal issues and burnout. I might come back in a year or so, but currently between my job, family, and wanting to make a career change I'm about to make things super complicated. I have a few videos coming up, and soon one to tell those who subbed. Thanks for tuning in though, I appreciate the follow up. Throughout tasting this one it had a slight floral and honey notes, weak but I was hoping for this one to be a refreshing after lawnwork or after a workday.

@@thebrewtank7665 what do you think caused it to oxidize? Too much headspace? It was my understanding that mead is much less likely to oxidize than other alcoholic beverages. I'm planning on making a batch of mead in the next month to break-in the mini bucket fermenters I just made.

Just a habit of mine. Before or after does not matter so long as you take a reading. In the small one gallon batch you might dilute your mixture slightly, but if you take a reading before fermentation kicks up you'll be fine.

That's awesome! I wish I could get some of the local stuff, but I live a bit close to the city. I've been wanting to expand into beer either later this year or next, but the cleanup and prep takes much longer. With all the cleaning and the availability of good beers nowadays, beer brewing is pretty much a passion hobby. I think one famous mead maker that comes to mind that transitioned from honey to beer was Steve Fletty,. He just wanted a good IPA, and now there are so many out and there he transitioned to mead-making after a taste testing. I think he won the Mazer Cup 2-3 times after his experience, and one that I've been wanting to make is the Holy Cacao one. There are plenty of ways to approach Strawberry, but the most important rule I hear others say is to not go pas 7-10 days in primary. I would just do seven, but the reason as to why they say this is because it will actually end up having a "band-aid" flavor. This is cause by the seeds. If I were to use fresh fruit, I would do a freeze and pectic enzyme treatment, then do that in primary for a week in a bag,, remove and let it ferment out. Then, I would do it again after fermentation and stabilization. Another approach would be to use a food mill to juice and make a syrup to backsweeten. The main culprit of the band aid taste will be the seeds. Also, if headspace is high, a blow off tube going into a quart jar half to one-third full of starsans or vodka for the first 2-3 days is a must because for some reason strawberry foams and ferments like crazy. (Due to the potassium maybe? I've had it go crazy with bananas too.)

@@thebrewtank7665 We have a lot of great beers from brewpubs and microbreweries here on the east coast. Takes more time and effort to make beer than I feel like putting into it but still have some leftover grains and hops so I may make a DIPA this fall when it cools down some. For my strawberry melomel, I used 3 lbs. of honey, a cup of black tea for some tannins, 2 lbs. of organic strawberries that I cleaned, froze, thawed and diced for the primary. Using Lalvin D-47 yeast along with nutrient blend of Fermaid K and DAP. My plan is to ferment for a week to ten days max and hopefully fermentation will be over. Then will remove the strawberry bag, dump the berries and add another pound of the thawed and diced strawberries for another week for conditioning. This will hopefully give extra flavor and aroma that the fermentation may have scrubbed out. You were dead on about the strawberries foaming up but never had any blow out to the bubbler but it was enough to where I could not do much oxygenating after 24, 48 and 72 hour nutrient additions. Now after 3 days of vigorous fermentation it now appears to be slowing down some. I do plan to use a clarifier, Super-Kleer, to help clarify the finished mead since I do expect some pectin haze. Have had great success with that product producing a crystal clear product come bottling time. Also like to carbonate some of my meads with the CO2 system I still have from the beer brewing. We call it Champead and it is really good!

Correct! Ocean Spray pasteurize their juices. Welch's, store brands, and certain Motts brands contain preservatives. This brand luckily did not have any. I've been wanting to try those frozen concentrate ones too. Had a chest freezer go out and waste the ones I wanted to try. Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Benzoate are also what I see sometimes too.

I hear you. I adjust the music here and there so it's not blaring on later videos. The only issue is outside noise, airplane and jets, lawnmowers, echos, loud roommate's etc. I have been wanting to do more asmr mead vids though. Those I do at night where usually everyone is out or asleep and the outside noise is not as bad.

@@thebrewtank7665 Super just got into this I’m so excited. I think I’ve got all the jars and all the equipment that I need. I got the gallon jars but just ordered a little bit smaller ones. Definitely following you. Like I said we want to hear you and what you’re doing. Thank you waiting for your new video

@@Ventura0404 Thanks. It may be a few more weeks. There's a lot of things going on right now and I've been meaning to do an update video. Life kinda got outta hand, but I'm almost in the clear.

@@Ventura0404 Have a good one brewing though! This one was a pretty big hit, though I may back off the honey some. Overall, I had no complaints. I would like to use this as a base and experiment with adding certain spices or using cacao and Dutch chocolate.

@@thebrewtank7665 I do understand. Will give me something to look forward to

True. Some ways you could avoid this is to stabilize and backsweeten with a concentrate, or stabilize and rack onto fruit. Though, racking onto fruit may mess with your needed sulfite levels, the concentrate would probably be better if there was a referment and there would be a lack of pectin. This one though the only issue I had was it was coming out of the airlock.

Yep

Thanks, they're easy to use, but the lids can be a pain. I'm thinking about doing a one year review on them. Whaddaya think?

Thanks!

I've been wanting to show from start to first taste. Then do a follow up after a year of brewing. I'm on hiatus due to family, covid, work, and trying to re think and add different brews aside from mead. (Beer, hooch, anything fermentable like kimchee or pickles) In depth wise ide also like to take ph levels, give a reason as to why I approach the brew with the mead and ingredient amounts, and also offer alternatives if fruit cannot be used or if people are afraid.

This one sat for about two weeks before I transferred to secondary for clearing. Very basic and one note. Would probably have benefitted with an acid addition. I think I used 71b, and that one likes to eat up malic acid, what gives the juice its tartness.

@@thebrewtank7665 what acid would you recommend and how much per gallon? when would I add it?

Hey, thanks for the kind words! I appreciate it! I'll be back soon with more videos, currently I've been having to put things on hiatus because of Covid, Family emergencies, etc. But I plan on being back very soon!

Yes, in the beginning I would dunk the strawberries and it would foam like crazy. With fruit(and definitely strawberries) it needs it badly. Next time I'm definitely not going to repeat this or use juice for these fermenters

Nah, I went freshly added. You can freeze and thaw fruit before addition to help break down the cell walls and extract more flavor, but this one I decided not to. There was not much strawberry flavor in this one, so I'll probably triple the berries and only keep them in for 12 days max. If you keep strawberries in for too long the seeds give an off flavor to the mead that tastes like Band-aids. Another suggestion I had from the local brew shop I go to is to make a Syrup using a food mill. Might do that some time in the future.

@@thebrewtank7665 awesome. Sounds like a future one to try for sure!

What does "de thaw" mean, wouldn't that just be freezing lmao

It turned out quite pleasant and dry. The raspberry was there, along with its tartness, but I was hoping the fruit would come out more. Next time I would do this, I'll be doubling or tripling the recipe. (Probably the latter) I'll do some follow up videos and experimenting with the fruit additions at a later date.

Croft and Barrow

You're right! It's Nordic and spelled Gjærkauk. Basically waking up the yeast and cheering them on to feast on the sugars. It's just a fun little ritual I borrowed. I just do a booming "Feast!" For mine.

@@thebrewtank7665 Awesome!! I love the history of it

Had some spillage, but overall the fermentation went well. It went dry, with the peach taste present, but would definitely benefit with more peach and a sweeter finish. Texas longhouse mead talked with me about it and suggested the same to get a juicy peach taste to it.

@@thebrewtank7665 Thanks for the reply. I’ve found that fruit in secondary retains a lot more of the flavor. To bring out the peach try adding some apricots. I’ll do a 80% peach 20% apricots. Cheers!

@@thebrewtank7665 - I know this was months ago but here’s the advice I got for maximum peach flavour: 1. Use the ripest peaches you can find. That means if you were to eat one the juice would run down your chin, the stone comes out easily and if you wanted to peel it, you’d be able to get most of the skin off without blanching. 2. Never remove the skins prior to fermentation as a lot of the peach flavour is in the skins. 3. Freeze, defrost AND use pectic enzyme 4. Add peach in secondary as well. 5. Finish the mead slightly sweet to sweet. Looks like you already used ripe fruit and kept the skins on. Most videos out there show people using peaches without their skins. Yay!

​@@eddavanleemputten9232would it be ok to only use the peaches in secondary or is pretty beneficial to also drop them in the primary?

@@ShootinItStr8 - Great question! It’s perfectly okay to drop peaches in only in secondary. The result is different, as fermenting fruit has a different flavour from steeping fruit. Often, ‘secondary’ is when fermentation is done. It doesn’t necessarily kick back up again. Some home brewers will make a mead using only honey, water, yeast nutrient and yeast. Then they’ll stabilise this mead and only then will they add flavour. The fruit won’t ferment as the mead has been stabilised. The fruit will release juice and flavours into the alcoholic beverage they created. This is similar to making beverages such as sloe gin. Fermented fruit has more of a ‘cooked’ flavour (for lack of a better word). Fruit added in secondary will add more of a ‘fresh’ or ‘raw’ flavour. Some home brewers want both. So they add fruit in primary, remove this after a while, then rack their brew off the lees (yeast cake) and add more fruit in during secondary. It all depends. There is no right or wrong. I’ll often choose depending on availability, the size of my fermenter, my mood, my budget… Example: not so long ago I made a banana mead. It fermented like crazy, left a lot of sediment at the bottom of my fermenter. When I racked this mead all my other fermentation vessels were in use, so I had to rack into a pitcher, clean out the one I had, then transfer back. I also tasted the brew and felt it could use more banana. I had plenty in my fruit bowl so I popped in a brewing bag filled with peeled and sliced bananas. Head space gone, more flavour going in. The original recipe didn’t include this step. Another example: I’d made a traditional and got an invitation to a party. Turns out the person inviting me is absolutely obsessed with raspberries, but my raspberry mead was in no way finished. So I dumped a healthy amount of frozen and thawed raspberries into the traditional mead. Left it to steep for a week. Raspberry mead. Cold crashed it to clear it and thank goodness it worked. I was able to surprise the party girl with some raspberry mead whilst my original batch was still working, looking as murky as can be. Example three: I spied blueberries on offer at the supermarket. I’d just gotten my hands on some good quality honey at a sweet, sweet price. Figured both would do nicely together. Mixed up a batch of mead with virtually no recipe. Blueberries, nutrient, pectic enzyme, honey, water. Just kept adding honey to the mixture until I knew the ABV would be around 12%. Last minute I added a great big handful of chopped raisins for body because I hadn’t bought a whole lot of blueberries. Left that brew to run for a week and removed the berries & raisins (they were in a brewing bag). Let fermentation run its full course. Left it to clear. Racked, back sweetened, stabilised and let it sit some more to completely clear. Tasted it, added some vanilla and bottled it. Decided I need to make it more often. Some times it can make sense to add at least part, if not all the fruit in primary. One example of such a situation is colour extraction. Some fruits carry their pigment in the skins and not the flesh. Fermentation helps to extract more colour (so does pectic enzyme). Some times, it makes sense to inly add it in secondary, when you don’t have a large fermentation vessel and want maximum yield or maximum versatility. Let’s say you want three flavours but only have one fermentation vessel. But you do have several large jars that are of sufficient size to steep fruit in 1/3rd of your mead. Well, have at it, make a traditional and go play with fruit… I hope this is not confusing, because I didn’t really give you a definitive answer. Thing is, there isn’t really one. As long as you work cleanly (sanitise, sanitise, sanitise), don’t oxidise your mead or wine once fermentation is well under way or done, the world of flavours and possibilities is your oyster. When adding fruit in secondary I would make sure it is cut up finely. I wouldn’t blend it because you might end up with a very murky end result or so much sediment you don’t get a lot of mead. Increasing surface area helps with flavour extra (so does freezing and thawing). Also: remember your alcohol percentage might end being a bit lower because the peaches will release juice into the mead but that juice will not necessarily ferment. I’d make sure to swirl that fermenter every day once or twice to get all the fruit nice and wet, this will help you to avoid the formation of mold. And give it time. Steeping does take time. Leave those peaches in for at least two weeks, preferably more. Good luck!