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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).
  
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  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!

It takes quite a bit of effort to oxidize mead while racking. Just to give you an idea, we "rack" our meads with a large pump at the rate of several tens of gallons per minute (and at this point in time there is also a fair amount of off-gassing of dissolved CO2). I recommend you invest in a sterile siphon starter. You should try and plan on having enough mead going into secondary to fill whatever secondary/tertiary vessel you have well into the shoulder/neck (to minimize oxidation at the mead/air interface). If you don't quite have enough mead, you can add sanitized glass marbles or you can 'jacket' the mead with a layer of CO2 if you have a tank (if you've force carbonated a beer before, or something). Another (cheaper) option is to buy a can of wine preserver, which is a mixture of argon, CO2, nitrogen, etc (non-oxygen gases). The can is very light, and most people think the can is empty when they buy it - it is not. It comes with a WD-40-style straw and instructions for how to use it - but you could use it to jacket a carboy just like a user of a CO2 tank.

Cherries can be really delightful in a mead. I recommend using dark, tart/sour cherries (e.g. Balaton cherries, Montmorency, any nice morello-type cherry you can get your hands on). These can be pitted or unpitted, or you can use pitted cherries with some number of pits added back to the fermentation (use sparingly). Most people will recommend freezing the fruit for a week or so and thawing, although if you can purchase pitted, IQF/frozen fruit that can be nice, also. Ground shipping would be cheaper if the temperature is below freezing where you are this time of year. I recommend using a muslin bag or other fruit-containment device in your primary bucket - this will make racking easier and "cap management" a little nicer, also. If you use a copius amount of cherries in primary, then you can also expect that it will be eminently drinkable in 3-4 months time (with the proper yeast selection, of course, e.g. 71B-1122 or another low-nitrogen requirement yeast) but one which will also age extremely well - the fermentation will be extremely healthy because the yeast will scavenge cell-wall materials from the fruit's own cells, and the fruit also adds nutrients and a buffer against rapid changes in pH. Ferment at the bottom of the temperature range for this yeast.. In terms of honey and amounts, you can learn the various mead calculators on the sidebar, but in the end you will need to suss out how much residual sweetness you need to balance the tartness from the cherries, and also for your personal taste in residual sweetness. This can also change depending on the alcohol balance, determined by the yeast strain you select.

Star san is awesome.

Giving fresh, clean water to your cats is vitally important before you make mead with them. This way they are tender and hydrated, and I find the honey and cat flavors are well integrated and age well. If you are really serious about making a cat mead, see if you can find free-range cats from a local farm. I find the alley cats and other urban felines give the mead too many barnyard-esque, horse-blankety, and even phenolic off-flavors.

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.

Don't buy a kit! They sell you all kinds of shit you won't use when there are better options for similar money.

Get a brewing bucket as if you don't have a bottler then this will make your life so much better.

Get 2 carboys (glass is best but better bottles will work too). Check Craigslist for these...you can get some awesome deals.

Get 1 Refractomoeter instead of a hydrometer because they use WAY less of your must to calculate and they aren't mega fragile like hydrometers are.

You will want an auto siphon

You will want a carboy brush that fits on a cordless drill because cleaning a carboy without one fucking sucks (and for 18 bucks this is a no brainer).

You will need sanitizer. I personally like Iodophor because it's super cheap, it doesn't really foam up and it lasts forever. I bought one of THESE bottles like 2 years ago and it is about half full even though I brew between 50-100 gallons a year.

I always advocate people start with beer bottles rather than wine bottles. The reason for this has less to do with the bottles and more to do with equipment. The Ferrari Bottle Capper is 14 dollars while a good floor corker for wine bottles will set you back 60 bucks. In addition, it's cheaper to bottle in 20 ounce beer bottles with caps rather than in wine bottles with good corks. Use of a double lever corker for wine bottles should be considered a war crime...seriously...unless you're a masochist who loves dumping wine everywhere and having to clean it afterwards...then just avoid them...they are absolutely awful.

If you go the wine bottle route then NEVER use agglomerated or colmated corks (the ones made from tiny pieces of cork glued together) as they fall apart and will leave chunks in your bottles. In addition they don't age well, so you are much more likely to lose your brew to spoilage. I like synthetic Nomacorc but you can also buy very good quality solid natural corks as well.

Good oxygen absorbing bottle caps on the other hand are mega cheap. Again...this isn't about one being better than the other, so you can use either one.

For wine bottles, I REALLY like the ones with screw tops because they make it nice and easy to cap your bottles once opened. But for all of your bottles buy these locally...shipping will double or triple the cost of these vs buying locally. I get them for 15 bucks a case a few miles from my house...they're almost 30 a case on Amazon or close to that from Midwest or from Ohio (shipping is like 11-15 dollars a case.)

For beer bottles...I prefer clear, but they'll be tough to find locally so I often end up with brown ones. Again...buy these locally not online due to shipping costs. Your local brewing supply stores buy these pallets at a time so even Amazon can't compete with the lack of shipping costs.

I couldn't find mead anywhere in the store either, anywhere I asked I just got weird looks. So I did some online research and it turns out that one of the local wineries makes award winning mead. I'm pretty blessed though as there are about 20 wineries less than 5km from my house, and about 100 if I'm willing to go 30 minutes.

I went and tasted 6 meads and bought a bottle (This one). They ranged from semi-sweet to very very sweet (30g/L to 100g/L residual sugar). The one I bought was their "dry mead". It didn't have as strong of a honey taste as I expected. It reminded me of white wine, but don't get me wrong it did have some great notes of honey in the flavor and aroma. Their sweeter ones definitely had more honey flavour and were very viscous (because generally more honey is used to make them) and they also generally had a higher ABV (due to higher specific gravity). Even though the mead i bought was their dry mead, it still contained 30g/L and I was definitely hanging the next day from it. However using the technical notes on their site I gather I can make a drier mead myself.

If you like white wine, you will like mead and I am having a lot of fun learning and planning my first batch. I'm reading this book and it is excellent. Use this to help calculate how much honey you will need, your potential ABV and SG. Also take a look at Gotmead.com and homebrewtalk.com.

Now you've said the words that let me to start copy/pasting from my FAQ.

I have all of this saved for whenever someone asks for help getting started.
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Here are a couple of beginner threads you might find useful:

I've never made mead before, but I want to. Tell me everything!

Beginner wanting some advice.

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Getting Started

• You might want to start with the sidebar link, The Basics.
  
  
• Get a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm. It's due for an update, but it's still the densest source of meadmaking information out there. The biggest changes are probably that Ken no longer heats most of his musts at all, and he uses staggered nutrient additions. (I believe a Second Edition is in his schedule in the next couple of years.)
  
  
• I wrote a lot about yeast nutrition in mead here.
  
  
• There might be some extended information in this post I made to /r/mead.
  
  
• The BJCP Mead Exam Resource page has lots of good information, too.
  
  
• You can look over my entire recipe log, here. Later recipes are better documented. At some point I should probably go back and remove or update old recipes for people wishing to recreate them.
  
  
• Learn to use the mead calculator. Note that it does have a help page.
  
  
• Learn to use a hydrometer.
  
  
• Be wary of information more than 5-10 years old. Meadmaking has changed dramatically in the last decade!
  
  
• Read up on yeast strains. You can find information on each at its manufacturer's website, or retail websites. For example, here are the Lalvin strains. If you want to use a tried-and-true wine yeast strain, pick up some 71B-1122.
  
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  Here are some thoughts and general knowledge to help you make good decisions about which articles are trustworthy.
  
  
• Heating the must has fallen out of favor for many meadmakers. Some still do it, though, and recently there was a post here which strongly suggested that heated must meads have a fuller body, but less aroma. (I don't heat my honey.)
  
  
• If you aren't heating anything, it takes a while to mix in the honey, but it will dissolve eventually. A drill with a stirrer attachment is really handy.
  
  
• Don't ferment an X gallon mead in an X gallon carboy or bucket. Get a bucket that gives you about total mead + 1/5th volume of head space or more. (6, 7.9, and 2 gallon buckets are popular.) Rack it into the right sized container right after, or near the end of, fermentation.
  
  
• If you've brewed before, you know just how big of a difference the right yeast can make. Stay away from bread yeast.
  
  
• JAOM is a popular starter recipe, but it has some issues. If you do it, use a real wine yeast. D-47, Red Star Pasteur Champagn, 71B-1122 all work great. Use the orange zest and flesh. Get rid of as much pith/mesocarp as possible. Rack off of orange and spices after about a month.
  
  
• Mead musts are totally nutrient deficient. There really isn't any short answer for how to supplement the required nitrogen and micronutrients. Here (edit: fixed link) is a long answer that I wrote out of pure frustration. This also covers staggered nutrient additions to some degree.
  
  
• Mead benefits from aeration/degassing of the must for the first third to half of fermentation. Drill stirrers are useful for this, too.
  
  
• Using dry yeast, starters aren't necessary. Just pitch two packets (which are about $1 each!) for 5 gallons of must. Rehydrate your yeast every time. If you use a rehydration nutrient like Go-Ferm or Go-Ferm P.E., it makes a huge difference (for the better) in lag time. (For one gallon, you can use the whole packet, or half the packet.)
  
  __
  
  What Honey do I use? Where do I get it?
  
  Let's talk honey.
  
  Where do you guys get your honey?
  
  So where do you get your honey?
  
  Further questions about honey.
  
  What type of honey do you use?
  
  Honey Prices and Suppliers
  
  Where do you get your honey?
  
  Honey Acquisition
  

TLDR: The "Full kit" looks like it has the basics. As others have said, you might want a food-grade plastic bucket for primary fermentation, and you'll need bottles/containers to store the end product in.

If it were a "complete" kit I'd probably put one together which included One step sanitizer to sanitize equipment,a plastic fermentation bucket, and an auto-syphon to make racking (i.e., transferring the liquid from container to container) easier.

If it's something you're interested in pursuing further, there's plenty more you could consider picking up. A bottle filler for the auto syphon, a filtration kit to help clarify wine/mead, fining products, you might want to look into picking up more things like yeast energizer and yeast nutrient (which it sounds like this kit comes with some) and sulfate/sorbate (to stabilize the mead before back-sweetening) etc.

There are lots of recipes and lots of help available, so read up and feel free to ask questions and have a lot of fun experimenting and trying new things :)

Ha ha! I like the name! Awesome, glad you didn't have a big explosion! But definitely keep swirling it when you can to get the CO2 out of solution, it will help your ferment!

Also, check out the 'Everything you need to know' link on the sidebar! It has tons more information on help your mead process (Checking pH, adding nutrients, ect...). And if you haven't read the Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm, you should, it's a good beginner guide!

You won't know if you made major fuck ups immediately unless fermentation stops way short or never starts. If you were making a 14% beer, you would want to age it for a year before it really hits its stride. Please do not give up if your mead tastes horrible after fermentation. It will get better and your subsequent batches will improve as you improve your process and take better care of your yeast.

Here is my guide to making your first mead. While you are managing fermentation, read this book and you will learn the basics and beyond.

Pushing the yeast past their alcohol tolerance: Yeast can tolerate alcohol only to a not-so-certain point. For instance, 71B-1122 (the most commonly used yeast for mead, i suggest you use it your first time) will go to 14% alcohol, sometimes a little more, and it will stop fermenting. If you have enough honey to ferment to 15% or 16% alcohol, there will be residual sweetness left in the mead.

For your first mead, I suggest you use enough honey to ferment to 14%. If you want more sweetness when it is done, dissolve 1/2 a pound at a time (if youre doing 5 gallons) in water and add it to the fermenter. Taste it in 24 hours and see if you want to add more. You can not take things out so be careful when adding sweetness and spices to your mead.

Become familiar with the mead calculator in the side bar and don't hesitate to ask questions here if you cant find the answer with a few searches

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 agree that there's nothing to worry about here. Also, EC-1118 is aggressive and has an alcohol tolerance of about 18% and could go even higher if coaxed.

My rough-estimate for percent alcohol is as follows: 40 points of gravity per pound of honey per gallon of water. That is, 1 lb of honey in 1 gal of water would give a SG of 1.040. For a 5-gal batch, 16 lbs of honey in 4 gals of water:

(16lbs * 40)/4 gals = 1.160

So my calculation says your starting gravity was more of 1.160 (more or less). I see that conflicts with Kurai_'s answer, though, so I'm interested in how they arrived at it (unless they meant to type 1.150).

Alcohol. Generally speakinig, I do 8 points of gravity per percentage of alcohol. That is, if your yeast fermented 80 points of gravity (say, from 1.100 down to 1.020), then your mead would be 10% abv. This is just my rouge estimate. If you want precision, you'll need lab gear and knowledge.

You say the calculator told you your must should have been closer to 1.150 when you started. That jives with my estimation of 1.160. Let's say your starting gravity was 1.150 and your finishing gravity is now 1.010 (which is what I took away from your post). The calculation goes like this:

1.150 - 1.010 = 140 gravity points fermented
140 / 8 = 17.5% ABV

This makes more sense because EC-1118 has an alcohol tolerance of up to 18%. If your goal was a sweet, high gravity sack mead, then congratulations - you nailed it. Now put that jet fuel away for a year or so because it's going to need the aging.

If you're the reading type, The Compleat Meadmaker is very approachable and has tons of techniques and helpful science.

Nothing to worry about here except fending off people trying to steal your goods. Also be sure to always measure your starting gravity.

[Ken Schramm's Compleat Meadmaker] ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0937381802?pc_redir=1397498837&robot_redir=1) is a great place to start, its an absolute wealth of knowledge on just about everything mead. It's definitely worth a good read!

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.

Two options: wine whip (you can use other things on hand with the same effect like some stiff wire that's been sanitized) and Fermcap-S.

Not really sure how effective Fermcap is when degassing (never tried it) - it's mainly just to prevent excessive foam during fermentation, not while actively mixing it up. Very, very careful use of a wine whip is probably your best bet. However, it's really not the end of the world if you don't degas at all.

Random. So someone unverified that I can't find anywhere else. Bonus the image for the product just looked like a pile of sand XD.

I found Fermaid O for £10/100g in one place and considering I got 100g of DAP for like £1.80 yesterday, that's kind of steep. Although tbf I don't know what it retails at normally. Other places were mostly out of stock. But again I think its mostly an american product and you don't know how long a seller has had it. Could be all earwiggy and damp. Maybe I'm just a diva.

Also, I suggest picking up Ken Schramm's book: The compleat meadmaker. It reads super easy - just like he's talking to you, and is great for anything from creating your first mead to honing in on a recipe you've been doing for years. Some parts are a bit outdated, but it's still an extremely useful book.

You might want to then go more long-term and get him some bottling tools. Depending on how he wants to bottle, or what kind of mead he's making, a wine corker, a case of empties, and handful of corks might be something nice for down the road. Especially if he has something already aging in a carboy.

If it's supposed to be sparkling then you might want to stick with the relative ease of a bottle capper and some campaign bottles. TIL that in North America at least most sparkling wine bottles actually take regular ol' beer caps - which is incredible to learn. Martinelli's apple cider is the only place I've ever seen it done, but I guess it's common. If he doesn't have a regular bottle capper, or has something that isn't as easy on the bottle as one of these then maybe a capper and caps would be good.

Hope this helps!

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.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0735B5YND/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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I just bought this one for my second batch it is super user friendly, affordable, and overall really helps you be scientific.

The carboy you are looking at was the first one I had ever purchased, the airlock and stopper work great for 1gal batches. definitely recommend.

I use the Red Star yeast for my batches and it works well, might switch to a more specific yeast later, but for just starting out it works well. If used sparingly, you can make up to 55 1gal batches with the amount of yeast you are buying.

As for the sanitizer, you'll find most people use Star San because of how homebrewing-friendly it can be, but its really up to you. Just make sure your equipment is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized before brewing.

I have 4 of these, great cost, easy to clean

Home Brew Ohio One gallon Wide Mouth Jar with Drilled Lid & Twin Bubble Airlock-Set of 2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07115V3F7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Th6wCbT5RZX6M

A lot of it is beer lingo. Ive been homebrewing for 8+ years and have made over 120 batches of beer. Im also a National BJCP judge (you have to know a lot of beer making lingo to do well). I also have a very large beer, wine and mead making library (30+ books). I also have a commercial meadery.

Which parts were you curious about? I can point you in the right direction, but if I knew what you were most interested in, I could better direct you.

If you havent read much on mead, try Ken Schramms The Compleat Meadmaker

There isnt much out there on session meads (aka "quick" meads); most is my own experimentation. You really need to be able to keg or pasteurize to get a non-dry, "low" alcohol mead with carbonation.

Sorry to be this guy but get a damn airlock. Seriously though the next time you or your friend make an amazon purchase try buying something like these here. They're so cheap and you'll need them eventually if this hobby interests you.

The balloon will most likely being to lost its elasticity and start to feel crunchy. When this happens it's very likely that the balloon will start to tear or the small hole you made will become large enough, from loss of elasticity to keep it closed, for bacteria and airborne contaminants to get in.

I brew beer mostly, no patience, and the yeast for an ale sometimes takes up to 36 hours to get going to the point where I see good bubbling in my airlock. Good luck!

Storm has helped a ton of us to learn to make mead the right way. He'll help you too if you'll stop the name calling. This book is looked at as the published authority, although I've heard it's slightly dated:

https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802

On the other hand, this sub's wiki is probably some of the best info around. I'm not kidding.

>What is the best way to ensure I don't have the carbonation start to come into play?

By understanding what your hydro is telling you. There are a variety of stabilization methods covered on the wiki, including time and abv, running out of sugar, heat, chemicals and forced filtration. Chemicals are the easiest for a rookie, I personally prefer ABV. Each method has pros and cons.

>made for home brewing buckets

food grade =!= o2 impermeable through the walls. I have to look it up every time for which plastics are both food safe and o2 proof. Seals can be an issue in any bucket, like you were thinking. Oxidation is a huge killer for brewing. If you don't overstay your welcome in a random bucket it is a non issue. You can buy a bucket with airlock, spigot and lid for ~14$ though. It's hard to get all that for less.

>sanitizer

https://www.amazon.com/Star-San-4C-YKNL-FWNT-San-16oz/dp/B0064O7Y64/ref=asc_df_B0064O7Y6450285

That's a lifetime supply for most brewers. I think I'm on number 3 of those bottles at most and I have 800 gallons or so to my name.

your LHBS is generally going to be the cheapest for everything but honey and kegging equipment, and maybe bottling supplies depending on the deal. I bully the local shop into volume discounts when I buy a few hundred bottles.

https://www.amazon.com/Kirkland-Signature-Pure-Honey-Pound/dp/B007F2EQEW/

There are plenty of honey's available on amazon. The above is a decent cheap one. There are better honey's out there but this shows up at your door tomorrow for a reasonable price. A lot of "raw" and "organic" honey's are full of shit, but it's hard to tell what's good an what's not without tasting. If something is grade A and "raw" it's probably a lie. USDA grades have a lot to do with clarity and honey that hasn't been heated of filtered has better aroma and flavor may struggle to mead Grade A criteria.

It's fermenting. Did you check the specific gravity before adding more sugar and sealing it up?

I would encourage you to pick up a copy of The New Complete Joy of Hombrewing by Charlie Papazian and/or a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm

If you're going to back sweeten your mead you need to add potassium sorbate to prevent the yeast from starting back up.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802

Start there if you look to make future batches. Also, I wouldn't have used distilled water. Spring water is better. Yeast needs vitamins and minerals. I would also use better yeast in the future. Lalvin D47 is a good mead yeast. I'd replace your baloon with an airlock. They are really cheap. http://www.amazon.com/Piece-Plastic-Airlock-Sold-sets/dp/B000E60G2W

I'd keep what you have out of direct sunlight (so in a closet or throw a blanket over it) and I'd keep it at 70 degrees F.

I highly recommend getting some real brewer's yeast. It'll help the flavor immensely. And it's certainly not expensive.

Also, I second everyone else on the airlock thing. It's hugely important in preventing infection and preserving flavor.

I was looking at this myself for an setup:

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Brew-Ohio-Fermenter-Capacity/dp/B00KQN9OSK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1524859700&sr=8-4&keywords=glass+carboy

That pretty expensive compared to what you are seeing at LHBS'?

EDIT: NVM, actually took a minute to call a LHBS near me and yep, a lot cheaper. Can get 1g glass carboy's for like $6.....

This one is more just baked goods, but Magnus does have a Nordic Cookbook that's also worth a look through.

If you're a gamer at all, the book that brought me to this sub to learn more about mead was The Elder Scrolls Cookbook. Fun recipes, even if you're not trying to recreate something from the game world.

I use one of these in buckets and a 1 gallon test jug. Seems to work pretty well.
Clean Bottle Express Wine/Beer DeGasser https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007RT8U1S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mpp8ybF1RJC5Z

There are a bunch of different styles of degassers that would probably all work.

Semi-sweet to sweet is what I think I want, maybe 14% Abv. Yes, I did mean sulfites. I want to make one batch with pears and one traditional, here are the yeast nutrients I was looking at using, and my basement in the winter is always below 70f. Ill look into some of the other stuff you are talking about though. Thanks!

You have one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-5478-6H-Auto-Siphon-Tubing-Clamp/dp/B00SDLLZDY/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3FSQTFCNKS7D6&keywords=auto+siphon&qid=1569088031&s=gateway&sprefix=auto+si%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-2

Best to start the siphon in a pot of clean water to get it going, clamp off the hose and then transfer the cane into the mead to begin siphoning it out. If you hold it as you're doing it, you can prevent any of the sediment at the bottom from getting in. Just stop it before it gets there.

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.

I've read a number of books about mead. This one is so far the best.

I think I remember reading in http://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802 that orange blossom has a very high sugar content. So if you're going with a JAOM, I think more sugar = more better. Also, The Compleat Meadmaker is an okay book if you want a reference for some basic procedure/recipes.

Hmmm. All good suggestions. I'm about to throw up an update, I decided to do a little more independent research (which I should've just done in the first place) and I think I might go with one of the Lavlin strains, either the D-47 or the EC-1118. I know I'm breaking the first rule of homebrewing, but I'm definitely stressing on this because I would really like for this to be a decent batch for Christmas with my family.

If you want way too much information for a beginner, I'd suggest reading the white paper by /u/balathustrius. I use the LD carlson energizer and LD carlson nutrient, these are the exact ones I ordered from amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064H0LUW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064H0MVK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

those quantities are enough for 50+ gallons of mead or so, though.

If you have time, I got a couple of these precisely so that I could do small batches with whole fruit additions without worrying about neck size. Just got them but they seem OK so far (have a gallon with peaches and another with apples in secondary right now).

I have this thing:
http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Bottle-Express-Wine-DeGasser/dp/B007RT8U1S/ref=pd_sbs_k_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0C5Y1WX765AG6J2B3W1E

Works good enough for me, and it takes a lot less energy than picking up a full 6 gallon carboy!

Dunno if I've ever seen 1.5 gallon, but 2 gallon would be good for a 1 gallon melomel recipe.

Edit: New formatting...

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Brew-Ohio-Drilled-Airlock-Set/dp/B07115V3F7/

I have these ones, they're glass and the lids fit well.

>Pumping air into it via a turkey baster

that visual just made me giggle.

it all depends on how much head room, and what container you have.

Shaking could give you a geyser, adding air via a turkey baster wouldn't likely do anything, but you could use it to stir slowly for a bit.

If your in a bucket and have good headspace, you could hook this up to a drill and give it a few spins mid bucket.

​

edit: wasn't done... hit save to soon.

i bought a degasser drill attachment on amazon, it works well for 1 gallon carboys

note - do not run drill at full speed

https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478545311&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+meadmaker
this is a great place to start learning.
do take into account that he is talking from a wine makers perspective.
very good meads can be made from more of a beer/brewers tech also.

Choosing your honey is a lot like choosing the ingredients for an entree. In reality both will work, it just depends on the flavors your going for. Taste it, do you like it? Then try it out!

If, however you're looking for a more pragmatic approach I suggest The Compleat Meadmaker (Yes, the spelling is correct).

I can't remember exactly which page because I'm at work, but there is table, table 7.3 which contains the various varieties of honey and what their characteristics are most likely to be. Including flavors, sugars, Ph, etc.

I use this -- a bench capper would be nice if I lived in a big enough place that I were willing to semi-permanently dedicate table space to it, but that particular item works just fine for me for now.

I've had pretty good results with this one. It's basically just weed trimmer cord on the end of a plastic dowel rod, but it gets the job done.

Are you talking about synthetic corks like these?
https://www.amazon.com/Nomacorc-Synthetic-Wine-Corks-Bag/dp/B0064GWTS0/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=synthetic+corks&qid=1554419619&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Or something else?

Strawberry flavor does not transfer well to mead without large amounts. As others have said, you will want to rack once the strawberries are white. Generally, for a weak flavor like strawberries, the fruit is added closer to bottling so that you don't lose the flavor to time.
I'd suggest picking up this book. It's a quick and easy read.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802/ref=cm_lmf_img_3

I bought a basic Fermtech 5478-6H Auto-Siphon Mini with 6 Feet of Tubing and Clamp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SDLLZDY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_f1EuDb9WJSGFD

Siphon. Had another sterilized carboy and transferred it. Then added my new spices and fruits.

You're always gonna need two containers in my opion. This is my second time and my first was a fucking failure. So I've done more studying. And what's best for at least 1gl brews. It's more investment. But worth it

How big are your batches?

6.5 is fine for 5 gallons

2 gallon bucket for 1 gallon batches

7.8 gallon bucket for 6 gallon batches

As is listed in the wiki that TripleBangin linked The Compleat Meadmaker is a great starting point and depending on where you live if there is a decent home brew store you may want to check there. I'd also say dive in and go for a learn by doing. Large batches of mead can get expensive just in your honey budget, but a gallon of mead isn't all that bad(though a few assorted reusable parts will add to the cost of that first batch).

I learned a lot from the book "Make mead like a viking".

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Mead-Like-Viking-Wild-Fermented/dp/1603585982

I have one like this, that I got from my LHBS

This is the bible of meadmaking. make sure you get a copy, all of the questions you're asking are answered there.

The most important advice anyone can give you in this thread is to buy "The Compleat Mead Maker" by Ken Schramm. Never look back.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802

This is recommended on the mead wiki

Check this out at Amazon.com
The Compleat Meadmaker : Home Production of Honey Wine From Your First Batch to Award-winning Fruit and Herb Variations https://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381802/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_jw40DbGRM6G22

I’ve used the product here in a pinch when I haven’t had anything to top off with.

Private Preserve Wine... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DCS18?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Just go to amazon and search the name of whatever yeast.
Lalvin d47

Lalvin 71b

Just for example

I got these 1 gallons from amazon and use them for fermenting peppers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07115V3F7/

this
Works as well as what others posted but half the price. Otherwise, you could probably make your own for even cheaper if you're not the last type.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KQN9OSK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484923450&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=1+gallon+carboy

$11 with no shipping cost if you have prime, plus it already comes with a bung and airlock! Not a bad deal if you have prime. The shipping cost other places online will often be as much as the carboy itself I've found. Amazon is where I've gotten all my 1 gallons as they were actually cheaper than at my LHBS, I've never had any issues with cracks or quality.

I've done it with good effect with 5 small batches, and only one went bad. Here's my method for making Wild Fermented Dandelion Wine.

It can definitely be a gamble, and if you are seeking consistency between batches and a known finish, it isn't the way to go. I'm a bit more of a mad scientist than most brewers I know!

Most of my methods align with those expressed in Make Mead Like a Viking by Jereme Zimmerman.

No, you need a way to create/add an airlock. Something like this is great it your going for a gallon sized batch

The pressure from the built up carbon dioxide would have forced the cork out of the bottle, thereby avoiding showering the area with glass. That's the lesson you should have learned and that's the lesson someone should have taught you (or you should have learned from research) before you bottled your first ever batch of mead in growlers. The other lesson you should have learned was not to back sweeten without first dosing the batch with Camden tablets unless you were making a sparkling mead in champagne bottles.


I really don't mean to come across as a prick, but in the past two years I've been making mead and participating here, I've seen countless people dive headfirst into this hobby without so much as a cursory lesson in mead making. Sure, it takes no brains to throw store bought honey, tap water, bread yeast, and Sunmaid raisins into a milk jug and tie a balloon over the mouth with a couple holes punched in it, but honestly, that's disrespecting the hobby, the process, and the mead itself.

As in depth and confusing as Ken Schramm's The Compleat Meadmaker gets in later chapters, I believe that everybody that insists on going through with even one batch of mead needs to read at least some of this book.

the first thing you need is a copy of 'the compleat meadmaker':

http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802

the second thing you need is to read it.

read this first:
https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802

I'll have to wait to get it - I believe it was a recipe from The Compleat Meadmaker but I'd have to find out which particular recipe we used.

It's "The Compleat Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm. I've been wanting to start into meadmaking for a long time now and anything I read around the forums pointed towards the book. People seem to use it as a sort of reference guide for almost anything.

Here's where I got it :D

Equipment wize get yourself a carboy, a bucket and a filter!

The go to book is this guy right here! https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning-Variations/dp/0937381802/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541712846&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=making+mead&dpPl=1&dpID=51R-oNy9mWL&ref=plSrch

Pick up a copy of The Compleat Meadmaker

I think they're from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Official-Cookbook/dp/1683833988

I got it recently myself and I'll be trying the recipes myself soon.

It is the official Elder Scrolls Cookbook

>https://www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Official-Cookbook/dp/1683833988

How many meads/wines recipes do this book have?

It’s the official Skyrim Cookbook

$17 with prime shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Red-Baron-Bottle-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTK/

I use synthetics for convenience

Nomacorc Synthetic Wine Corks #9 x 1 1/2". Bag of 100 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064GWTS0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0fdNDb7F70BAD

I use these...

https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Plastic-Fermenter-drilled-lid/dp/B0064O8WWE/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=3BOCV43TCMST7&keywords=2+gallon+fermenting+bucket&qid=1551151619&s=gateway&sprefix=2+gallon+ferm&sr=8-2

Also a newbie, waiting for all my equipment to arrive from Amazon... But I picked up this 2 gallon bucket:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064O8WWE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_BssFybCMY4GHZ

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

In case those links don’t work

Home Brew Ohio Glass Wine Fermenter Includes Rubber Stopper and Airlock, 1 gallon Capacity https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQN9OSK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_TPwLBbTPBQJ6J

Home Brew Ohio Hydrometer, Triple Scale https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C5P6GNW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EQwLBb78PRVRG

Fermtech 5478-6H Auto-Siphon Mini... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SDLLZDY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This one comes with tubing and a clip to adjust the siphon depth.

Home Brew Ohio One gallon Wide Mouth Jar with Drilled Lid & Twin Bubble Airlock-Set of 2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07115V3F7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5lnxDb705ZCDJ

Looks very similar to the ones I buy above. Haven't had any issues with them.

Quick search found: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0735B5YND/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_P1dOBb43NYQDR

Generally, some Go-Ferm when I hydrate the yeast, and some Fermaid-O after fermentation starts.

I'm running some experiments right now to see if I can replace Fermaid-O with boiled baker's yeast, but I don't have results from that experiment yet.

How does this look for a shopping list?

Airlock

Yeast

Jar One (3L vol)

Not sure how much water, but maybe about 2.3L?

25 Raisins

1 Cinnamon stick

1 whole orange, sliced, no peels to prevent bitterness

1 pinch of allspice

1 pinch of nutmeg

1.6kg of wild flower honey

1 whole clove

Jar Two (also 3L vol)

Again, not sure on the water. 2.3L maybe?

1kg blackberries

1.6kg of wild flower honey

i just purchased the 16 dollar fermaid o https://www.amazon.com/CellarScience-AD332B-Fermaid-O-120/dp/B074D9HQJD/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519787713&sr=8-1&keywords=fermaid+o

ill let you know

Ken Schramm's "The Compleat Meadmaker" (2003, still available on Amazon) was probably the book that helped me take my brewing more seriously. I'm a little biased because my brewing style is no-boil and for years I traded time for money and stress (no nutrients, no measurements, just wait long enough and it'll finish) and that really worked for me a decade ago.

With regard to more current resources, I like a lot about TOSNA. I'm not convinced on whether the fourth addition is worth it but I appreciate the effort put into matching the requirements of the yeast and the concentration of the must to the amount of nutrient added. This site implements TOSNA and other protocols in an easy-to-use interface -- if you're looking to tune your recipe, you could do worse than start there!

Finally, both this subreddit and http://gotmead.com/ have tons of resources. Now that I'm finishing with school, I look forward to exploring the wiki in detail.

I don't. We're just starting, so we have this kit

We did the 5 gallon beginner recipe from this book. It didn't occur to me until after initial brewing that having all that surface area touching the air could be bad during the secondary fermentation.

No worries, this book is the bible of mead:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Meadmaker-Production-Award-winning/dp/0937381802