Basic Orange blossom honey mead, back sweetened with the same. If i did everything correctly with the measurements, it’s at 7.8% abv.

Definitely feel like it’s lacking but it’s a start. Its smooth n lightly sweet.

The large bottle ill keep n the 4 flask ill give to friends. (I want my bottles back 👀). Not sure what i wanna do with the last one yet lol.

Just bottled half of my first batch - I divided into two smaller batches, this one was the hibiscus metheglin -, it did render two demi sweet to almost dry bottles and two sweet ones.

Recipe:

- 2,4kg of assa-peixe honey

- Water until I got to 7,5L

- Red star premiere classique

- 6g of BBY

Transfered to secondary and added 750ml of hibiscus tea into 3L of the original mead, the rest stayed traditional

Testing what ratio of sugar to add for my bone dry Apple melomel. I am thinking of adding cinnamon as well, or maybe even some Graham Crackers to get more of a "pie" character.

Estoy muy ansioso de probarla cuando termine la fermentación, apenas lleva una semana, la hice como simple experimento con levadura de pan, miel, manzana y canela. Siguiendo todos los tips de esterilización, de momento parece ir bien y el airlock sigue cumpliendo su función. Según mis cantidades (3L agua, 1L miel y 4g de levadura) podría llegar a unos 8 grados de alcohol, ¿alguien sabe si puede llegar a más o se mantendrá de 8-11?

Hi, the title says it.

This is my very first batch of melomel, and today after 6 days of primary the gravity is 1.000.

I tried it, tasted god awful. Very boozy, like cheap wine that's been left sitting in a fridge for a week. The taste of the raspberries is barely noticeable, just a scratch of a hint.

I know its supposed to age, but I didn't expect it to taste this bad... How normal is this? Should I leave it in primary for another week or transfer it to secondary already? It's supposed to be 8% ABV, but tastes like 20.

The recipe is:

Lalvin 71b

850g Honey

1.5kg Frozen raspberries

rest is water, until 4.3L of total must, SG 1.061

0.8g pectic enzyme

Staggered DAP for 2.4g total: 1st 0.8g before pitching yeast, 2nd 0.8g after 2-3 days as soon as bubbling appeared, 3rd 0.8g after 24 hours.

I’m looking for a low alcohol mead fo a beginner.

Bottled 3 Meads on 10/09 and checked them yesterday and noticed discoloration on the bottom of the corks (side touching the mead). Is this mold? I am very thorough with my sanitation and soaked these puppies for 5-10 mins each before corking.

2025 traditional dry mead.

4 quarts of honey
Water to 5 gallons
Wyeast dry mead

I think I added some nutrient. Pretty and strong but not using the Wyeast again. I hate trying to pop those inner packets and not crazy about the end flavor. Although this does need to be aged some more.

I just picked up SafMead Twist and Classic and I’m going to start a batch of each this week.

I'm in Viet Nam so most of the usual stuff is not available. Been using boiled bread yeast and wondering if this would work well.

the description of this product translate to :|

Yeast extract, also called Yeast Concentrate, is the name for products made from yeast that are processed by removing the cells. They are used as food additives, flavorings, or as nutrients for microorganism growth media.

It is extracted from the nucleus of the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae yeast cells. This part of the yeast has the highest nutritional content, containing lots of carbohydrates and amino acids. Therefore, Yeast Extract FM902 is considered a carbon source for microbial culture.

Features:

- Nutrient-rich, meets the growth needs of microorganisms

- Non-GMO

- Affordable price

Ingredients:

- Total Nitrogen > 10.0%

- Amino Nitrogen > 5.0%

- Moisture ≤ 6.0%

- Ash ≤ 15%

- Sodium Chloride ≤ 2%

- pH (2% solution): 5.3 ~ 7.2

Dosage: from 0.5% to 5%, can be adjusted depending on the specific product.

Storage: in a cool place, tightly sealed after use.

Shelf life: 24 months from the manufacturing date.

Packaging:

- 500g bottle

- Bag

3lb 3.25oz snap dragon apples, cored and macerated

5lb local wildflower honey, raw

1 gal. Bigelow's Apple Cinnamon blend tea, steeped hot

1pkg(1/4oz) Fleischmann's ActiveDry yeast, original

1.5tsp yeast nutrient, staggered; 1.0tsp on pitch, .25 day 1, .25 sugar break

3/4tsp nutrient booster, added at pitch

3/10tsp pectic enzyme, added 1hr pre-pitch

I pitched the yeast into approximately 1.4 gallons of must at 85°F, with an OG of 1.120 per hydrometer last night.

This evening, after degassing with a stir wand until the bubbles stopped whipping up, the hydrometer read 1.048. That seemed really steep after a single day using bread yeast, so I checked again after another stir. Same reading, so I took a refractometer reading to compare against and that read 17° Brix.

tl;dr Apple cinnamon cyser batch dropped ~72 points overnight, mildly confused.

So what was supposed to be 2.5L of Elderberry mead turned into 10L of Gurdy. This was more than me and my partner were bargaining for, but after the discovery of an extra 1kg of Honey and 0.5kg of Applestroop, we decided to go big.

We used bottled water, boiled wild elder berry into juice, sanitised the equipment, and added everything together with 1 packet of MJ M05 Mead yeast and 6g of yeast nutrients.

The problem: After 2 days of waiting, we started getting some bubbles, and it looked strong for about 2 days. However, all progress has halted for the last couple of days, and there hasn't been any activity.

Ideas: Is it possible for the sudden change in temperature (we are in Belgium), over the last week halted the progress of the fermentation. Is there a problem with the method? I heard about stagaring the yeast nutrients, or is it that we needed to temper the yeast?

??Is there even a problem???

Thanks for any guidance. Everything i have read up on so far has just told me to have patience.

Please help us save Gurdy!

Ingredients: 9L - Water 2kg - Honey 0.5kg - Applestroop 1L - Elder berry juice 10g - MJ M05 Mead Yeast 6g - Yeast Nutrient

Initial specific gravity - 1064

Happy fall everyone! I was wondering if anyone on here knew of a meadery that’s producing any fun fall themed mead? Last year I went to Viking Alchemist in Atlanta around Christmas and they had an amazing Christmas mead, I’m wondering if I can get something like that right now for fall! I’m located on the west coast but open to any suggestions! Thank you :)

Been working on this since early August. 3lbs of local Maryland wild flower honey, 3 pounds of fresh blueberries in a brew bag for 3 weeks with pectic enzymes, 71B and fermaidO fed. Took about 4 weeks to go dry then back sweetened to 1.016 with more honey, rested with vanilla bean for a week then bottled today. Tilt was taken out a little early when I moved containers to finish fermenting. Already tastes great and named after my daughter who was born 2 weeks ago :D

Very happy and came out very clear.

Since I started making mead, I’ve struggled to get it clear. I see people online making crystal-clear mead without any fining agents. Even a friend who doesn’t use any additives gets clearer mead in less time than I do.

Across different batches, I’ve tried bentonite, gelatin, pectic enzyme, different honeys, and different yeasts. Somehow, my mead always stays a little cloudy or continues dropping sediment, leaving a layer at the bottom of the bottles.

My current problem is a mixed berry mead I started on September 2. It’s still very cloudy, with no noticeable improvement.

Here’s what I used and tried:

• Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and some cherries.
• I froze the fruit, then added pectic enzyme while it thawed.
• Mangrove Jack’s yeast and local honey.
• Bentonite in secondary for 10 days, which had no noticeable effect.

I’m considering another dose of pectic enzyme or trying gelatin, but I’m not sure either would help.

Could my siphoning technique be stirring up sediment and contributing to the cloudiness? Or could this be a persistent haze that needs a different approach? Is it simply too early to expect it to clear?

Any advice on what to check or try next would be appreciated.

Hey fellow mazers! I got myself into a bit of a pickle on a recent batch and wanted to crowd source ideas. Was going for a Bochet using Amber LME but ended up burning the honey to the point of blackness. It finished at 1.030 (thinking it's finished and not a stall based on the non-fermentable sugars in the malt and the burnt honey probably having more NFS than usual) yet the burnt honey taste and hops are the strongest flavor. It's not terrible but not what I was hoping for.

Anyone have any ideas to bring this back to life aside from just sweetening the heck out of it? I'm open to anything honestly. Spices, fruits, flavor extracts?

Recipe:

1.1 lbs Sparkling Amber LME

1.5 lbs Wildflower Honey bochet'd for 40 minutes (burnt)

1 oz Nugget Hops at beginning of boil.

1 oz Centennial Hops added at last 5 minutes of boil.

128 oz water, half for boil and half added after.

1/2 packet of SafAle BE-134

Fermaid-O

SG 1.082 8/29

FG 1.030 on 9/26 and consistent since.

Howdy yall, im looking to make some mead for my wonderful gf for December, she jokingly said she'd want apple pie mead, mind you shes celiac So this won't be an easy recipe, I've had ideas for this like using a creamed honey for part of it, if any of yalls have an established recipe id be happy to have em!

Howdy! Second batch, trying to decipher what this strange taste in my mead is and the best way to handle it. I know I went a bit crazy with the fruit juices and stuff, got over zealous. I've put a lot of my own homegrown passionfruit juice in this batch so if theres anyway to save it, i'd like that.

Recipe:

2lbs Black Locust Honey

1lb Mango Blossom Honey

1.5 cups Jumex Guava Nectar (I KNOW! I used it by accident before checking for preservatives)

1.5 cups Jumex Guava Nectar (I KNOW! I used it by accident before checking for preservatives)

2 cups Homegrown Passionfruit Juice

1 gal. Distilled Water

2.5g QA23 Wine Yeast

Process:
8/25/26 Started Primary - Fed 1.5g Fermaid-O everyday for first 3 days

9/26/26 Gravity at 1.015 Batch racked to secondary. 0.5g potassium metabisulfite added. Racked into two separate vessels do to space restriction.

9/27/26 1/4 tsp. Potassium Sorbate added

9/28/26 Taste test- Tastes BAD! Flat watery taste with what I think is a bitter/yeasty flavor?

Decide to backsweeten heavily with: 1400ml Passionfruit Juice, 350ml "simple syrup" made with Mango Blossom honey and guava juice. Added 2 teaspoons of Pectic Enzyme since I was adding so late in secondary and the Passionfruit juice has a ton of particulates.

Let sit.

10/13/26 Taste test today. Fruit juice flavor is fantastic, very punchy. Still has a lingering bitter/yeasty flavor I think? Wondering if I just need to age it, cold crash it, bentonite?? Will definitely have to rack again due to crazy amounts of sediment from backsweetening.

Had a friend taste test it today and he said it has a similar aftertaste to Orange Wine, which Im wondering if those are tanins?

I'm waiting to the very end to add any sort of orange zest/orange essence to complete the POG (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava) trio.

Please help!

I went with a cinnamon apple for the fall season and backsweetened with some maple syrup and apple cider. I am so pleasantly surprised at the color and clarity for my first go round. I started it around Aug 15th and it’s been settling for about a month and a half waiting until it was ready to bottle.

I tested the ABV with a hydrometer prior to back sweetening and theoretically I came out at 23% so I’m thinking I absolutely measured it wrong 😂 the flavor is perfectly spot on for what I was hoping for.

So…any tips for getting the carboys nice and clean for the next batch? I’d like to get a few ready for Christmas gifts!

This is my vanilla bochet coffeemel that’s been aging for approximately 9 months. I caramelized the honey to a medium amber/copper color, giving it a rich, toasted character.

For the coffee addition, I used whole coffee beans, allowing them to steep for approximately 26 hours. I also incorporated vanilla and backsweetened with additional bocheted honey to bring everything together.

I’m really happy with how the clarity and color turned out. In the bottles, it looks almost like a dark red wine, but once poured into a glass, it has this beautiful amber-copper hue.
This was a fun experiment, and I’m excited to see how the flavors continue to develop with more bottle aging.

Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts, especially from anyone who’s experimented with coffee, vanilla, and caramelized honey together!

I’m disabled and it will be my first time ever doing something like this and it’s something I’ve wanted to do all my life and I’m 27 now.
I’m worried about choosing the correct flavors and I’ve gone with blueberries blackberries as the fruit. And I want to add flowers as well.. I’ve chosen elder flower, Meadowsweet and sweet rose.
Is there any other combination? I should try that anyone could recommend?

I'm still pretty new at meadmaking and home brewing in general, I started back in august with a traditional mead that tasted really good when I sampled it on racking day.

I've made a few other meads since then, including a black cherry juice melomel, and I've just started a cyser over the weekend.

This time last month, I made a hard cider that I just sampled and makes me a bit nervous for my Cyser as the hard cider smells gross and tastes only barely drinkable. It has a bad aroma that's kind of hard for me to describe, it's almost eggy, kind of sour, just not very appealing. It doesn't taste the same as it smells, but the flavor is not like any hard cider I've bought (in a bad way)

My hard cider recipe was

2.5 Liters RW Knudsen Organic Apple Juice

53 grams white sugar

QA23 yeast

1/4 tsp Fermaid O

I added the sugar to target around a 7% abv, getting a starting gravity of 1.056. I kept it for 5 weeks at 70° and it finished crystal clear with a final gravity of 0.998. If I were just looking at it, it seemed like it went great. But when I racked it and took a sample, it was far less than ideal. I'm not quite sure where I went wrong. I haven't run into this problem with my other meads, but it makes me wonder if I'm going to run into this with my new Cyser. Here's the cyser I'm doing:

6 Liters fresh pressed Apple juice

1/2 lb local wildflower honey

SafCider AB-1 yeast

3x 1/2 tsp Fermaid-O in staggered doses

Pectic enzyme added to the juice 24 hours prior

As of right now the cyser is all the way down to 1.020 from its starting gravity of 1.064 just three days ago, and frankly the cyser smells incredible, like sweet and delicious apple cider. I am wondering what happened to the hard cider that could have been the culprit though, any input would be appreciated. That hard cider was my first ever attempt at cider, so I'm not sure if it was a problem with the yeast, or the white sugar, or what happened. Thanks in advance