12 New batches in the Mead Making Laboratory

[kenshiro100cracked]

I'd be a lot happier and a lot warmer with a bellyful of mead

[xsugarcrispx]

I just made the basic beginner one, then another with orange raisin and cinnamon and another with blueberry and camomile! all similar and all fermenting well im using EC-118 and i hear that different yeasts have different effects and alter the mead. Is this true? and do you have any good tips for a beginner mead maker?

[epicfantasy]

@xsugarcrispx yes, different yeasts create differences in the mead. Myadvice to beginners is to have fun, be patient.

[Pastradamus1985]

As an irishman im proud to see an american brewing our ancient beverage. Thats some set-up you got there man. Good work!

[kmezzina]

Was there ever a follow up to this? Which yeast seemed to fare better than others? I've got my first batch of mead going, and this definitely has me curious.

[epicfantasy]

@kmezzina I never did a follow up. They are mostly very similar. No clear winner. Mostly just a matter of taste.

[kmezzina]

@epicfantasy Thanks to your guide (First gallon, still fermenting) and K. Schramm's book I now have 8 gallons of mead currently underway, myself. Three one gallon batches (Your quick recipe with the oranges and raisins, one straight honey, and one with a half of a vanilla bean) and a five gallon batch of straight honey mead. The more I read, the more I want to try. I'm considering bottling the one gallon straight honey as a sparkling mead, need to get some beer bottles and a capper.

[epicfantasy]

@kmezzina Sounds like you are having fun!!

[kmezzina]

@epicfantasy Having a blast. Started brewing a gallon after not finding any locally, as a trial. Then I found some B.Nektar Orange Blossom and Vanilla Cinnamon, and fell in love with mead. Decided to expand my brewing operation, as it's not cheap!

[cyndysooch]

New to mead making. I want to make a dessert mead. How can I make the sweetest mead?

[epicfantasy]

@cyndysooch About 1.5 quarts of honey per gallon should do it. With a dessert mead it needs a lot of honey.

[Watlington4]

Will you Sell your mead?

Just would like to say I have just started watching your Videos, They are amazing!

Keep Posting!

[epicfantasy]

@Watlington4 thanks for watching. I havent done a mead vid in a while. Definitely on my list. Can't sell mead without a license. Its an alcoholic beverage :)

[Unclejona]

Really impressed with your experiments dude, well done

[etard82]

hey... I made some burnt honey mead.... its not done yet ... but it tasted great.... ever done a burnt one?

[murray821]

For basic mead do you have to add some fruit? Or can you just use Honey, water and yeast. I don't like to alter the taste of original mead. When I got my projects going I sure will experiment with different flavors, but my main goal is to create an original mead.

[epicfantasy]

@murray821 you are right. no fruit is needed for a basic mead. That is proper mead.

[urielwolfblood]

When it comes to adding juices to your mead do you need to be cautious of acid levels? I was wanting to make an apple cinnamon mead for winter and didn't know whether to add apple juice, sliced apples, applesauce, etc. What would you reccomend?

[epicfantasy]

@urielwolfblood Yes, the acid level should be checked. Apple juice is the easiest, but apples are the best imho

[doomdaydivice]

Can I Add Some Oak Chips To My Mead.

[epicfantasy]

@doomdaydivice yes, you can add oak chips. Some people do it and some recipes call for it. I tried it once though and the batch was ruined. Not sure why. Might have been the oak or something else. 

[bushinarin]

I just started a new batch. This one is cherry/vanilla/almond. I think that it's going to be the most delicious mead that's ever existed.

... Although that basement is looking pretty good. I think it's cool that you can make so much of it, I don't have the money or the space.

Thank you for all of your tips, without you I don't think I'd be able to even make one batch.

[epicfantasy]

@bushinarin You are very welcome! Have fun with it and you might be right, cherry/vanilla/almond is going to make a spectacular mead, simply delicious.

[confettistar]

No offence, but do you ever get tired of mead? You seem to make quite a bit of it. Is mead a lot better than your typical wine?

[epicfantasy]

@confettistar Just a hobby, I enjoy it :)

[Evological]

I'm making my first batch tomorrow with a friend, who is an experienced mead maker. I can't tell you how excited I am. I'm a musician, and hope to one day be able to express my self in making mead/beer/wine in the same way I can express my self through music. Thank you for your videos. People like you make my heart smile :)

[epicfantasy]

@Evological Thanks! You have got to write a mead song :) Have fun - let me know how it goes!

[idrobinhood]

White Mead...

[MetalFusion337]

Hey bro, what exactly is in the rasberry mead? like water, yeast, rasberries...etc ( :

[bushinarin]

@MetalFusion337 If I had to guess, 3 lbs of honey/1 lb of raspberries per gallon of mead. I may be wrong about the raspberries, but 3 lbs of honey to the gallon seems to be about the average people use.

[1toomanyhobbies]

Any updates on how they turned out? It would be great to see a video discussing your thoughts on the taste from each of the different yeasts.

[cmblake6]

Finally got my "quick/easy" on to ferment. Let us see how it goes. As everybody else said, let us know which, if any, yeast works best.

[tommie314101]

al 12 for personal use? o.o

[Judokkaa]

Got my first batch brewing right now, I'm excited, this could be a life long hobby for me.

[bluemystic7501]

What were the results of this experiment? Which yeasts performed better?

[Uqigo]

So after seeing this video I'm now curious, which mead of those batches is your favorite? Also, which yeast produces the best flavor?

[Uqigo]

So which of your meads did you like the best in this test? What was the best yeast for good flavor?

[romeodelta1178]

hey bro, I finally finished my first batch of mead. It came out suprisingly good. Thanks for the advise.

[epicfantasy]

@romeodelta1178 Congrats on your first batch of mead! glad I could help. Start on your second batch :)

[ACTeslaMachineDC]

what info is on the strips of tape?

[epicfantasy]

I write a batch number on the strips of tape. This refers me to a sheet of paper where I keep all the information about the batch of mead like yeast, honey, fruits added, date started, racking, all the usual fermenting information. I update that sheet as I work on the mead.

[Attarraxxia]

I have a mead question:

I made a gallon of mead, and its been a month, its bubbling, clarified, and settled. I'm going to rack it this weekend, into another carboy for further fermentation. But I used champagne yeast, and I'm worried about making bottle bombs when I do eventually rack it. how do i determine that the fermentation is finished before bottling the mead to prevent bottle bombs?

[epicfantasy]

Congratulations on your adventure into mead making. You should use a hydrometer to insure your mead is ready to be bottled. What you can do is just wait it out! Once that airlock has stopped bubbling. You can rack again and wait another month then you should be ok to bottle. Usually 3 months is long enough to bottle. depends on recipe and yeast though and will vary a bit. You are racking this weekend, I say after a month you rack again one more time. Then a month later you could safely bottle.

[jimmyquest08]

Thank you !!! This looks like a lot of fun.

[TheLaughableNews]

So, what happened? How were they?

[epicfantasy]

Variations in color, flavor and alcohol content but none of these batches really stands above the rest. Ends up to mostly just be a matter of taste and preference. They are all aging so there may be a significan difference. I will know after the next tasting later this year.

[OldThuja]

@epicfantasy I would love see the tasting notes you found with each strain. Even if none is better then the other, it would be very useful to know which strains bring out which flavors. Also what type of honey did you use? Many yeasts only highlight flavors already present, therefore if those were not available you wouldn't notice the difference.

Thank you for all the great mead videos!

[g1o2r3d4o5n6]

This is a viking's wet dream :D

[lordsaevus]

How is this coming along? I would love to see the differences you found!

[DarthHobo23]

i just put mine in the carboy from the bucket today. but its bubbleing really slowly. is there something wrong?

[epicfantasy]

It is probably ok. How long was it in the bucket before you transferred it?

[DarthHobo23]

it was a week in the bucket. it sped up after a while and then slowed down a little bit. i think its ok tho

[epicfantasy]

A week seems to be a little fast. Probably ok though. Keep an eye on it, may start bubbling again once it settles in.

[6sixpounder6]

dude i'm jealous. your 12 batches and expert mead lab puts the three first time trials i have in my dorm to shame.

[BVargas78]

My local store had a good deal on mead recently, three 70cl bottles for £10 so i've stocked up. I like its nice.

[Isismygoddess333]

so whats the verdict on the fastest and best tasting?

[HellPunisher00]

Do you know where to get equipment like this for cheap? I know you have a cool way to make mead on the uber cheap but in terms of 'proper' equipment (mainly jugs and airlocks etc.) do you know a place that makes decent items for a good price?

[lairdkeffer]

I make my air lock out of a 2 foot peice of clear plastic tubing you can get at like lowes or homedepot make it into a loop and put a little water in the bottom after you clean it really good

[Chaser53pin]

How long do you let it age?

[epicfantasy]

I let it age at least a year. Some people wait less. i have had some that was reasonably good within a few months.

[vadimuschka]

How long do you wait till you bottle the mead?

[texabamabrackish]

This does look like a mad scientist's lab!

[TheRealSafariTom]

Where do you bu the honey ? Its so expensive ... and you must use a ton of it !

[epicfantasy]

Good Point! The honey is expensive. I shop around with different apiaries. And I have a friend starting up a beehive so hopefully that will be a good source of quality and inexpensive honey soon!

[sharpie443]

holy crap that is a lot of honey. That would kill my 5 gallon bucket.

[OrganicSu]

Hiya,

Are these all commercial yeasts? or have you also propagated yeast yourself (e.g. just put apple peelings in water and wait a couple of days)?

I rent an uninsulated summer house. Currently Winter. i have propagated my own yeast and I have fermentation happening at 48 Farenheit (9 Celsius). I put orange yeast into orange melomel, and apple yeast into Cyser, but haven't done the cross comparison.

Cheers

Su

[epicfantasy]

Hi Su! These are all commercial yeasts and I was supposed to do a tasting last week and I havent' yet. Doh! This week I will do a tasting and analysis. About propagating your own yeast - that would be fun and I should give it a try. What kind of results do you get. And I am really surprised that you are getting ferment at that low temp. How low in temp does it go in the summer house?

[OrganicSu]

First 3 batches on the go (Orange Melomel, Cyser, Lemon Wine). Did a sneaky taste of lemon & Cyser after 2 & 4 weeks respectively (taste is nothing special at the moment :-(

A month ago it was 40 F indoors. Normal yeast just won't work here. My wife was making yeast for bread, so I decided to use that.

Any organic material will make yeast (e.g. basil leaves in water - add some sugar also to help it out when the "stuff" is not inherently sweet). Wait a few days and she'll start to bubble.

[angelofdeath014]

These look delicious, i Long to drink some nice mead..

[bmorrison0070]

Very nice, have you done the taste test yet?

[epicfantasy]

I am going to do an official taste test this week. I will let you know how it goes :)

[420bitchess]

which yeast turned out the best flavor wise and how qwikly it fermented ???????/

[willssonglist]

The Red Star Yeast came out the best, in my opinion. It fermented about average compared to others a little on the faster side.

[Goblinblade]

Wow nice mead! which then is the best, fastest yeast to use? also, what is the black mead batch in the back made out of?

[epicfantasy]

Not ready to make the decision on the best yeast yet! Taste testing should figure that out. The Premiere cuvee is definitely in the lead right now. It feremted quick and cleared quick.

The big dark bottle in the back is a plain batch of very sweet mead using goldenrod honey. Its very dark but just plain old mead :) Nothing special added. Goldenrod honey was very dark.

[matthewmaki]

did you try baking yeast and how did that turn out?

[epicfantasy]

Absolutely, I did one batch with plain old baking yeast (Fleischmanns) and it has been coming along great. Its slower to ferment than most of the wine yeasts and slower to clear but itscoming along just fine :)

[epicfantasy]

I definitely will. Thats the nature of this experiment. And so far I have some stunning observations. Some of the mead has developed much faster than others. A lot faster. Some are almost clear with a very distinct leeds at the bottom while others are still very cloudy. Amazing the difference in ferment cycles.

[gnnr602]

If you do a follow up vid to this one, how about describe the flavors each strain imparts.