First time with the 5 gallon carboy. I set the camera up yesterday to keep an eye on the brew, cause I had a worry that this exact thing might happen while I was at work. In hindsight, I'm not sure what my logic was. Seeing it happen on camera didn't actually help. RIP.
Hey, so i bought a bottle of traditional mead in glastonbury maybe 2 or 3 years ago, drank a quarter or so of the bottle, put lid on, packaged it up when i moved house, lost it, found it today in a box, cant find a use by date on it, was opened once when i got it, i moved house and the bottle has been unopened since then which is roughly 2 or 3 years.....will it be safe to drink???
Batch #46: Pear Mead
Started 8/25/25
Bottled 4/30/26
ABV 10.4%
final Gravity 1.006
Made with locally grown asian pears, pressed for juice, and wildflower honey. Came out with a lovely sweetness without adding any additional sugar. I may have to make a larger batch!
The 12oz bottles are ones left dry as a bone for one friend who prefers it that way and my wife who likes hers at Diabetes sweetness levels.
Hey everyone. This is my first time making mead and I'm hoping to get some insight because I'm honestly stumped. I made three separate 5L batches starting on 23 February, each with a different honey: linden, orange blossom, and honeydew. After racking today they all taste pretty rough and I'm wondering if the honey types are the main culprit, the ABV, or a combination of both.
All three batches used Lalvin 71B, targeting around 14% ABV. Fermentation started in a bucket at 20°C until about 2/3 of the sugars were consumed, then I transferred everything to a demijohn with airlock to finish. Once fermentation was done, I left them to rest for about a month in the same demijohn at around 14°C, then clarified with Super Kleer and bottled today.
The result across all three is pretty undrinkable: harsh, strong, genuinely unpleasant. I know 71B is generally recommended for softer, fruit-forward meads and is supposed to help with de-acidification, but I'm starting to wonder if it handles the more intense profiles of linden and honeydew well when pushed close to its alcohol tolerance. Orange blossom is usually considered easier to work with, yet it came out just as rough.
A few things I'm trying to figure out: do linden, orange blossom, or honeydew honeys have characteristics that make them particularly harsh at ~14% ABV? Is 71B a bad choice for these varietals, especially near its limit? Could the 14°C rest temperature have affected anything negatively? And is this just a "give it more time to age" situation, or is something more fundamentally off with the process?
Being a first timer I'm aware I might have missed something obvious, so any experience with these honey types or similar setups would be really appreciated. Thanks!
The picture is from a month ago
Edit OG 1.115 finished between 1.010-1.012
Degassed every day until sugar break
Genuine question - Why are you adding those small, prone to being clogged airlocks rather than a simple tube going from the cap to a bottle of water?
I see a lot of pictures of mead carboys making a mess by erupting and that never happened to me with a tube. They do eject some foam every now and then but it's always in the water and I made mead for 4 years now.
I'm not trying to be a smarta**, i genuinely don't understand the advantage of the small airlock, other than looking cool?
Should this stuff taste awful?
So i know it probably sounds hopeless but I just started a session mead that im wanting to be drinkable in a week.
Is it possible that it finishes primary in that time ?
Would i need to pasteurize?
Could I cold crash and chemical stabilize in that time ?
I have a friend coming to visit for a few days and he rarely makes it out my way here's the recipe let me know what ideas you have to make sure its finished in time
8 oz wild flower honey
8 oz frozen wild dew berries
1/4 tsp powdered wine tannin
1/3 tsp pectic enzyme
(Edited) 71b yeast
1/4 tsp bentonite to help with clearing ( heard it could be used when you pitch yeast and worked pretty fast )
Water up to half gallon (us)
Starting gravity of 1.051
Hi! Newbie here. Just started my first batch and looking forward to the results.
It just occurred to me that it’s recommended to store the mead in a cool and stable temperature. I’m starting to worry because I live in a country where air conditioning isn’t common.
Summers can go up to 30 degrees on some days. Portable air conditioning exists, but would require a window to be open, which means I can’t leave my home with AC on.
I live in an apartment. Is there any other solutions I might have missed, or am I even in trouble?
Been into this hobby a few years now. Every time I run I end up with a legal pad covered in scribbled jar numbers and ABV readings I can't read later or can’t find on my next run. Tried spreadsheets, tried beer brewing apps — nothing really fit how I actually work.
So I built something for myself. It's called StillCraft Cuts Tracker. Free, no login, runs in your browser. You log each jar as you go — cut type, volume, ABV, temp, notes — and mark them Keep/Discard/Feints/Undecided. Exports to CSV when you're done. Mobile-friendly so you can use your phone without printing anything. And for privacy, nothing is stored “in the cloud”. It stays on your device.
It's still early — more of a working mockup than a finished product. I'm using it myself but haven't had a lot of outside eyes on it yet.
stillcraft.app/landing/cuts-tracker.html
And to be up front, I’m not an app developer. I needed help from AI to take my idea and make something practical. That is a bit of a hot button issue, so I wanted to be clear from the start. I hope that doesn’t turn some of you away.
Curious what experienced folks think. Is this useful? What's missing? What would you actually want to track that isn't there? I’m planning on adding features in the future. I created a quick web page explaining what’s to come. It’s at stillcraft.app
No strings attached. Just something I made for myself that might be useful to others. Enjoy!
Hey Guys, i dont have experience and are starting tomorrow my first brew. Just wanna go over things since i know nobody who could guide me through the process and just want some feedback to soothe my nerves :p
I plan to make a Cherry-vanilla mead.
I take the (entstoned?) cherrys out of the freezer
I desinfect the container,
Need to wait maybe a bit more for all the cherrys to thaw
I add the Honey,
then add the cherrys&vanilla pods in the fermentationbags and put them in the container
Afterwards i fill everything with water.
Stir it
Take the measurement test add/reduce until it has the % i aim for
Add the yeast
Add the nutrians for the yeast
Stir again
Close the lid
Add the (airlock?)
Forget about it for 2-3 weeks
Remove bags with the cherrys+vanilla
Close lid
Forget about it for 6-24 months
Remember it becouse i see a random short in yt
Panik and look, Hope its good
Enjoy
Does this sound about right or did i forget smth? 😂
My daughter turns 18 next month. Just under two years ago we got my dad a brewing kit and made some mead (nothing special, honey, water, yeast, nutrient and cinnamon) with the intent of opening it up for her 18th (Legal drinking age here in Oz)
It's getting close to the date, and because its our first attempt, i'm really not sure what to expect. We ended up with four bottles (i think they are 750ml each) so we have some options.
As a non-drinker myself, is mead typically chilled? Room temp? With ice? Warmed somehow? Since we have a few bottles, is it worth trying it several ways or is one a stand-out.
Also, what can we learn from the day? What did I look for to improve (like, does it just evaporate from the tongue, is it sour or sweet etc?)
I have seen a few photos of people sharing their purple colors meads so I wanted get in on it.
Orange Blossom Honey mead with Purple Tea infusion.
I recently started skyrim and i have one thing in common with this game the Nords are basically OBSESSED with mead.
So as a person who recently got a mead kit for their birthday, I was curious on making Mead With Juniper Berries Mixed In.
Also general help with a Skyrim flair in it that screams 'skyrim' in its taste?
Any recipes instructions or ideas would be a big help!
Second photo is the mead after it finished fermenting, first photo is today. I had it aging with oak splinters for a bit (I think 2 weeks) and now it's much clearer. I'm very happy with how it turned out, but I don't have any more honey, so I'll have to buy some or wait until next harvest.
I was at Eastern Market a couple weeks ago and spoke with some other mead makers that considered buying the orchard but ultimately didn't feel they were a good fit to carry out Ken's vision. I received the email today about the orchard being sold, but I haven't seen any news articles or posts about it. Just curious if anyone here knows if another brewery or meadery might have purchased it. I really hope another Michigan based brewery did, but haven't seen any announcements from the ones I follow.
I was making a molasses mead, I had cold crashed it, racked it and then added a campden tablet 9:30 PM last night. I found it like this 10 o’clock this morning. I can’t tell what it is, but this is the first I’ve seen it.
I am going to attempt to make a sparkling blueberry mead (my first batch without a kit), and am looking for critique and tips for the basic steps I've put together for myself. The steps below are based off of the two previous kits I've done. I don't know what percentage im shooting for, but I have a hydrometer (that I haven't used yet).
DAY ONE
Add 40oz honey
Add ~half gallon spring water
Add 40oz pectic enzyme treated blueberries and Vanilla Bean (or wait 3-4 weeks for secondary?)
Add Fermaid-O (2g)
Add 71B (5g)
Fill rest of bucket/carboy (depending when adding blueberries) up to one gallon with spring water (if not already full)
DAY TWO
Degas
Add Fermaid-O (1g)
DAY FIVE
Degas
Add Fermaid-O (1g)
3-4 WEEKS LATER
Rack to Secondary
Add peptic Enzyme treated blueberries (and vanilla bean)?
2-5 DAYS LATER
Rack to Primary
Add Erythritol to taste
1 WEEK LATER
Prime and bottle
Let bottles sit for 6 weeks before refrigerating