How to make your VERY first mead - 1 gallon EASY recipe! 

Thank you so much! We poured a lot of love and effort into trying to simplify the process safely. Glad you find it useful to share!

Welcome back!

It has definitely been a fun thought experiment. Hope folks find them useful!

100% this. Best thing to do is start a new batch the same day you bottle one - gives you something to occupy yourself with in the meantime! 😂

Love everything about this! Gotta get me a floor corker eventually!

I got me one of them , Portuguese Floor Corkers , Made in ITALY by FERRARI

I like it So much I keep it on the Corner of the Dining room , Slash , Dance Floor , Table Top , with pads for Cooking 🍳 pots 🍲🍯 under the Leg's . 🥂. 🐯🤠

@@DointheMost - Definitely recommend getting one. Mine can cork bottles of different sizes, which comes in very handy. Small ones for tastings & solo enjoyment, big ones for sharing & parties. No need to think. Pop in a bottle, pop in a cork, boom. In my Teen Queen’s words: So satisfying!

@@eddavanleemputten9232 Yeah , mine is like that . The Table is Spring Loaded . Put in any Size Bottle , when You start pulling the Handle down , it locks 🔐 the Table and compresses the Cork 🍾 . Then a little shaft a little bit bigger than a pencil 📝 , pushes the Cork in . Neat as all Get out. 🐯🤠

Haha, cheers friend. Doing my best to show what is possible!

Haha, sounds you’ll be just fine!

***yeast

I might try that! We did a champagne style disgorgement on a video once (I forget which). I was surprised it worked as well as it did. 😂

Mead tends to have higher alcohol than beer, so that means more sugar for the yeast to eat through during fermentation so primary fermentation will generally take more time. But time is also used as a tool after fermentation to mellow out and age the taste, many don't even consider it done till after a year, personally I don't quite have the patience for that 😂

It depends on a ton of factors. With staggered nutrient additions, a warmer ferment (with a yeast that can handle it), and depending on potential ABV, I have had primary finish up in two weeks or less consistently. But for something this style, following these practices, it can take a while.

Think of mead more like a wine. Wine CAN be done fermenting quite fast, but benefits from age. Also: the particulates inside the lead are different from those in beer, which is grain-based. As a result they won’t fall out in the same manner and at the same rate as those in beer. As DTM mentioned, it depends on a ton of factors. There are ways to have a mead done in two weeks. But what’s shown in this video is the simplest, most low-tech version for the absolute beginner who still wants to produce something agreeable (albeit dry and not semi-sweet or sweet). That.s also why he recommends back sweetening in the glass as you won’t need to stabilise at bottling. You don’t want to re-start fermentation accidentally and end up with bottle bombs. As you’ve already made beer twice, you already have some experience with fermentation. You might have airlocks, a fermenter (bucket or carboy) and a hydrometer, maybe a racking cane. That puts you at an advantage compared to a complete newbie. Why not try it? It’s fun and IMHO the end result is definitely worth it! I made my first mead when I was 19(ish) and am 53 now. It never gets boring as the variations are endless. You’ll never run out of recipes and there is a mead for every palate.

@@eddavanleemputten9232 Well Heck Girl , You just a Spring Chick 🐣. 😉, 🐯🤠

@@TigerPat_9180 - LOL! If only my neurosurgeon would agree! 🤣

and seperate all the parts... the first that that goes on most cheap siphons (the expensive ones too) is the gasket on the plunger. You can make those last longer by storing/cleaning them seperate from the siphon tube, so the gasket is less likely to deform while stored or heated.

Absolutely! I warped one the other day trying to stir a hot pot with it. My bad, haha.

Word. I'm lucky to have been convinced to start with big batches from the very beginning - since it became a hobby I love. Funny thing is now I've started to accumulate a ton of one- and two-gallon setups and gear.

P.S. When you Brew in the ground , in the shade ,it has a Constant Temperature 🌡️ and People can Walk right by it and not even Know it's there . If you dig your Pit at just the right Depth , People can Stand on Top of it and not even Know it's there . I STILL have my Pit , with Buckets 🪣 in it and Metal over the Top . Covered by Dirt & Magnolia Leaves . I'll leave it that way too . Maybe one day someone will find it . And say Lookie Here 🤯. 🐯🤠

This comment was a wild ride! 🚴 Love it. 🍻

@@DointheMost CHEERS , MY FRIEND ! 🥂🍻

Does it clear after just two months? I find my meads need three months to clear typically, then I bottle them. The apple one is easy to make, just add apple cider instead of water (and a cinnamon stick). I never use nutrients, no gravity readings (as they are always the same).

It's one with enough fractures it had to be retired, so I just hit it with a bunch of spray paint myself!

@@DointheMost Sweet!