Nah, he has to sell you his kits and products first. He's "free-fishing" by giving you these shorts to tease what to do, and then railroading the fans to his affiliate links lol. You can find the right ways to do it somewhere else.
Could you make a video demonstrating common defects in mead making? I plan on making mead but I’d like to know what a bad batch could potentially look like. I know the most important thing is sanitization but I don’t know the signs of a bad batch.
Yeah i agree because my first try tasted truely dreadful. I think it was too warm during furmentation because it had a similar after taste to beer that is brewed too hot.
Mold, sulfurous smells, vinegary smells, super slow/virtually no fermentation. Its best to keep mead at 70F to 80F and keep it in the dark. During to first week or 2 youll want to gently shake/stir it to get rid of the excess CO2 so the yeast arent stressed or suffocating.
as long as you want. You can let it ferment a day or two or let it go until the yeast eats all the goodies and dies. The alcohol content is direct affected by how long you let it ferment.
Vineyard worker here yep sanitizer soap and neutralizer is for best result be careful with sani. Cheap method boil water add slowly shake. Careful bottle might pop. Have fun
Could you just use like 50 ml of alcoholic disinfectant and just swirl it around in the bottle to hit every nook and cranny then use the rest for the other equipment and let it airdry?
I started this batch yesterday. Didn’t add nutrient. Got an inkbird to use with my mini fridge and keeping it between 65-67 degrees. Had a starting reading of 1.099. Was already planning on letting it go for about a month. What are your thoughts?
I bought your kit on amazon! Plan on using some apples cider and honey from the market, do you think one pound of honey will be enough for this recipe?
I tend to use dead bakers yeast instead of labled yeast nutrient, and I do so both in brewing and in baking because in my home conditions it tends to propegate the yeast more to use a particular yeast that we boiled in water then let cool and added sugar and living yeast to. In the case of baking, it makes doughs just floof like a japanese sponge cake, and in the case of brewing we tend to be more able to get a working starter from the last splash after bottling, we aren't 100% certain why using the freshly killed bakers yeast we do yields a better result than prepackaged nutrient but I thought I'd leave this tip for anyone who wants to try it. We use the free bakers yeast they give at our local grocery store to feed to red star wine yeast (Not all stores give this yeast and if yours doesn't just buy the absolute cheapest yeast you can and it should work close to the same)
Read that Camden tablets kill yeast or are used as stabilizers during the bottling stage, is that true and if so how much would I add in the beginning of fermentation and during transfers like you said or should I not worry about it
A tip from the mead subreddit is to use a bucket with plenty to headspace. Like if ur doing 1 gal have a 3 gal bucket. This gives you room for fruits and reduces risk of blowoff from fruit clogging your airlock. The yeast will make a layer of co2 and push out all the oxygen as co2 is heavier. Once finished you can transfer to a carboy to settle/bottle.
Dont cambden tablets kill the yeast? Everything i read says it does. I bought your recipe and its the only one with cambden tablets listed to put it in at the same time as your yeast!! I'm starting this batch tomorrow and I just hope it doesn't kill the yeast i guess
Hi, as a fellow mead maker, I've noticed from your videos that you don't cook your honey and water together to make a must? Is there a reason for this? Does this affect the outcome?
You lose a lot of flavor from honey by heating it plus there's no reason to unless you are trying to make a bochet which caramelizes the honey. The wort for beer making needs to be heated for its own reasons. You want your mead to taste like honey or you might as well just use sugar and make a wine.
I'm thinking of getting into making mead. Is it necessary to use the additional sanitizer? Can't you just boil some water and sanitize that way like for making jam, pickles, etc?
@@goldenhivemead Good to know, thank you for the reply. Don't really want to make anyone sick from the mead so likely better to be on the safer side of things. Wanting to make a mead with natural yeast from the honey and fruit, thinking of going with blueberries.
Can you explain a little couldn't find any copper to add only literal copper blocks 😂😂 So if you could tell me what I should look for and how to add it exactly that would be awesome!!
I really recommend staying away from additives and only using them as needed. I can taste them after years of brewing, and they dont taste good. You can taste what your yeast eat, so if your a nerd or pationate about this, look into what yeast consume. They are a lot happier and tastier when they are not relying on cannibalism. I also really recommend cold crashing! I cold crash then back sweeten and never have had a peoblem with accidentally restarting fermentation. Take risks and have fun.
yeah id like to not use sulfites and definitely dont want to pasteurize. so after fermentation seemingly stops, you cold crash? then can you bottle and age?
@juliancannone432 yeah exactly! Once you get your ABV high enough from my experience the yeast won't want to restart fermentation (depending on the yeast obviously, I never use champagne yeast for flat wines, but I always use champ yeast for my naturally carbonated stuff obviously 😆. Just let it get up to say 10% if that's your target, I always go to 12% because that's where I feel it's the most stable without additives, and then I carefully rack into another container right before fermentation is complete stopped actually, then that gives just a bit more CO2 production and it helps eat any oxygen left from transfer if that was a problem, by leaving it in socindary for a week or two you'll have a super clear mead or wine and them I like to cold crash it if I can, sometimes literally a big plastic plantter with a kitty pool full of ice water for 2 days 🤣. Then I just put it into bottles from there, but tbh normally what I do is ill use one of my mini kegs and fill that with a small amount of c02, then all the wine, then the amijt of honey I know I want to add, I bleed of any air I can, then I mix the honey into the mead in the mining by swirling and as the wine gets warm again it will easily dissolve any amount of honey you put in, after about a day of occasional swirling it as you walk by I actually let it sit for a day or two before drinking, but I'm still drinking a methaglin from a mining from 2 years ago. Its fun to taste it as it ages with the keg. Long story short, feel confident that with a good abv the yeast won't want to restart fermentation unless you want them too. My favorite thing now is to make a good fkat wine, then in secondary mix in a chapange yeast that pairs with the other yeast and bottle in champange bottles then using bidules discorge. (You should try it)
@@juliancannone432 Yeah, exactly! Once you get your ABV high enough, the yeast usually won't restart fermentation-depending on the strain, of course. I never use champagne yeast for flat wines, but I always go for it when naturally carbonating stuff. 😆 If your target ABV is around 10%, that's great, but I usually go to 12% because it seems more stable without additives. I carefully rack into another container just before fermentation is completely stopped, which helps with a little more CO2 production and eats up any oxygen left from the transfer. Leaving it in secondary for a week or two will give you a super clear mead or wine, and then I like to cold crash it if I can. Sometimes, I literally use a big plastic planter with a kiddie pool full of ice water for 2 days. 🤣 From there, I usually bottle it, but more often, I'll fill one of my mini kegs with a bit of CO2, then add the wine and the amount of honey I want. I bleed off any air, swirl the honey into the mead as it warms up, and it dissolves easily. After a day of occasional swirling, I let it sit for another day or two before drinking. I'm still enjoying a methaglin from a mini keg that’s two years old. It's fun to taste it as it ages in the keg! Long story short, with a good ABV, the yeast won’t want to restart fermentation unless you want them to. Lately, my favorite thing is making a good flat wine, then adding a champagne yeast in secondary that pairs well with the original yeast, bottling in champagne bottles, and disgorging with bidules. You should definitely try it.
@@colinmcintyre1769 ok cool thank you. So after cold crashing, I can backsweeten? How can i ensure it doesnt start fermenting again? Also if i want to bottle and age, should i age for a few months before or after bottling?
@juliancannone432 The key is getting your ABV high enough, ideally around 12%, and then stopping fermentation while removing as much yeast as possible. By cooling it below 40°F, you can essentially kill the yeast or make them so dormant that they won't cause problems, especially if you're careful during racking. As long as your ABV is decent, fermentation has stopped, and your wine is clear, I've never had any issues. Patience is definitely important here. With a high ABV and lack of yeast, it's hard for fermentation to restart unless you're dealing with a really strong strain. It could also be smart to cold crash the mead in the bottle after adding any sugar, to see if you notice any differences. Secondary fermentation for a flat wine mainly acts as conditioning and clarifying. I usually wait to give away the wine to make sure it's not going to restart fermentation or have any other issues. Keeping it simple has always worked for me! I highly recommend trying the traditional champagne method in the future, but starting with making flat wine is a great approach-don’t be afraid to experiment. Sanitization is key, and understanding the chemistry helps a lot. You don't really need a filter if you have patience and access to a large fridge, etc. What are you trying to do? If you’re working with apples, you might not even need to add nitrates, but I’d suggest using only the juice and lightly pasteurizing everything before fermentation starts.
@@TheRattail I’m prepping a mead with orange peels today. So I should allow whatever bacteria lives on the peel to be allowed into the fermentation process?
@@Sir_Korey no just wach it hot but don't use sanitizer!! The few bacterias that stay on after that should get killed once you stabilize it after the fermentation!
Unfortunately I don’t think so fermentation of any kind creates alcohol even if In super low amounts and is the only way I’m aware to get things fizzy. Unless maybe you inject co2 but I’m not sure the drink will taste right with out the fermentation
Or you can just use steam and alchool an never have any problem. If you work in a proper way with a decent igiene and good products the chance to introduce bacteria is very very very very low. If you use commercial fruit what kill yeast are the pesticides that often you find on commercial fruits. You can find also pesticides and herbicidea in the commercial honey. This chemical are often more problematic for your yeast that any batteria.
Never once used the potassium shit and never ever have used a yeast nutrient and have never had a bad batch and my alcohol content have always being at our near the yeast tolerance level every ferment
