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Accidental mead

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blackberry_briar

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 17, 2013
2
0
0
Michigan
I realize that it could argued that no mead is an accident - it was simply meant to be. However, I was making baklava over the holidays and the honey portion I started got put in the oven for safe keeping until I could finish the rest of the baklava..which also never got finished (busy year).

Fast-forward a few weeks and I discover my concoction in the oven right where I left it. It had been boiled and I had added 6 whole cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks and 3 wide lemon peels. The lemons were surrounded by foam...so they are obviously my source of yeast. What kind of yeast will never be known unless I were to send it to my microbiologist uncle in TN.

I removed the cloves and lemon peels and the foam ballooned over the next month or so as I tried to figure out what to do with it. I would hate throwing out raw, organic honey.

Soooo...what have I got going here? :p With the anti-microbial properties of cinnamon and the SUPER-antimicrobial properties of cloves I am sure bacterial did not stand a chance.

I could take a sip of it I suppose and if I report back then all went well. Unless any of you want to try it first. Any suggestions on what I should do next?

Thank you for letting me post here.
 
Hi! Thank you for replying. How do I let it finish before bottling? Wait until it stops foaming? I have not set out to make mead before. It has not been covered for about a month but has been in my very old oven with a seal on the door. So you think I should put a balloon on it (I have seen that posted somewhere). I will definitely post the gem quality after we have tasted it. How long should we age this type? FYI, I 'started' it in Nov/Dec. Thanks again! I hope you've enjoyed a great summer in your hemisphere.
 
Check out the newbee guide. Should be on the left menu pane there.
Read that, and it should become clear.
If you're worried, you can put a cloth over it, in primary it should be ok.
Read up, then ask for clarification on the confusing bits ;-)
 
Was this pure honey or a honey and water mixture? If a mixture, do you know the approximate proportions? If not, you might want to add some water to it or it may not ferment too far. Two parts water to one part honey is not a bad concentration in my experience, should leave you with a sweet mead unless you got a REALLY energetic strain of yeast in there.

...dangit, now I want baklava...
 
Hey, delicious things happen through blond moments like this. Such as, I am in the process of bottling everything I have in carboys because I will be moving in two months and I as got down to what should have been my last two carboys, somehow it was my last THREE carboys! I have no idea what this mysterious 3 gallon mead is, when I made it, what I put in it, anything at all. But it's kind of purple and fruity and not bad!

So yeah, not much help, but lots of empathy!
 
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