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Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

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Jon-Marcus

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Dec 26, 2005
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Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

16 years ago I was given a recipie for "mead". Unfortunatly in moving several times I lost that recipie.
After browsing around here, I'm really not sure what I made in two seperate batches. The first was honey -lemon- nutmeg, which was great. The second was honey -lemon- ginger which was dry. I didn't care for it. But what set it apart, and what makes me wonder what I really made, is it did not call for any yeast. None at all. And "ferment" time was one month, in plastic 2 liter bottles stored in a dark place. Oh, yes, it has one heck of a kick.
Was this a form of mead?
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Can you tell us a bit more about what you used and how you made it? Sounds like honey, water, some lemon, some nutmeg, shook them up and drank them in a month. Any fermentation would be from wild yeast most likely.

Can you tell us what "great" means? Sweet, dry, etc.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

OK. Great, for me, means sweet.
About 4 or 5 gallons of water, a quart of clover honey, juice from two lemons, the cut up rine of one of the lemons, and I think 1 or 2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg. all mixed together and brought to a boil. I forget how long of a boil. then let cool, covered and let it set for about 24 hour. Strained and poured into cleaned 2 liter dr pepper bottles. These were placed in a thick plastic garbage bag inside a large container( in case a bottle exploded) and kept in the dark for a month. I think 2 months would have been better, but I was wanting to try the results.
Does this help?
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Ok,

Sounds like you are off on the amount of honey. In order for it to be sweet you would need about 1 quart per gallon.

Based on your recipe I'd say you were a lot more than EXTREMELY lucky that all of the bottles did not explode.

What was the consistancy of the mead? Was it sparkling/carbonated?

The base recipe sounds ok if you adjust the amount of honey to a total of 12-15 lbs depending on if you use 4 or 5 gallons of water. I personally would not leave this to wild yeast. I'd use a wine yeast, and ferment this in an appropriate fermentation vessel (bucket, carboy, etc.) with an airlock.


Cheers,

Oskaar
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

It sounds like it was simply a honey drink, unfermented. Or else it was luck - luck if it fermented, and luck if it didn't explode the bottles. If the bottles didn't explode and it was not carbonated, and there was no sediment, then no fermentation. We just need a little bit more info.
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

If i recall correctly ( it WAS 16 years ago, and I am afflicted with Sometimer's ;D ) I'd say there was about 1/2 to 2 inches of sediment.
There was pressure in the bottles but I wouldn't call it carbonated, not like a regular American beer anyway. Maybe like a dark German beer, like Grolsh.
Consistancy? Ummmmmm, Dark, smooth, and not cloudy.

Am I understanding correctly that mead is really beer made with honey instead of sugar? ( please, don't start throwing things at me. )
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Jon-Marcus,

Mead is it's own entity... closer to a wine than a beer. Beers are generally fermented from sugars obtained from grains, with the addition of hops for bittering. You are right that a mead's primary sugar source is honey, over 50% or it ceases to be a mead. Also alcohol % tends to be higher with mead than beer. Usually 12% or higher... I have a Pineapple Melomel that has just taken itself over 21%, much to my dismay, I was hoping it'd stop at 19 or 20%.

Wrathwilde
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Did you add anything to it like sultanas or something that could introduce a natural yeast? Like how ginger beer is done.

Mu.
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Heck, you don't need to introduce a thing to get fermentation. I just made a cordial last month, with raspberry puree and quite a bit of vodka and brandy, shoulda killed off anything but full-environment-suited yeast. But that durn thing kicked off and is *still* fermenting, and fast. I have to keep venting the bottles it was strained into. Its the weirdest thing. So, either I forgot to add all the alcohol, unlikely since I kept a log and noted it, or there is a *really* hardy yeast around here that can live in a near all-alcohol environment......
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Mu said:
Did you add anything to it like sultanas or something that could introduce a natural yeast? Like how ginger beer is done.

Mu.
Click to expand...

Hi, Mu.
No, didn't add anything to it, except the ingredients listed. I did find the nutmeg batch to be quite sweet, so if there was any fermentation it must have been low volume. After all, none of the bottles burst. Still, there was a kick to it. could have been a "sugar rush", I suppose.
I just don't know.
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Vicky, if you found a yeast that'll survive in that much alcohol, that stuff'll be crazy!

(((Hmm, wonder if we can get her to streak after drinking it?)))
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

No, no streaking, but I did get threatened if I didn't make more (now I have to hope the yeast will cooperate!)
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Hey Vicky

This cordial of yours that started fermenting spontaneously, what would you guess the alcohol percentage of the starting mixture was? Maybe this wild yeast culture would be something worth isolating and keeping, especially if the results are to your liking.

JoeM
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Hmm. I'll dig up the recipe and post it here, and we can figure it out. *Then* I have to capture the littles buggers.....LOL
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Vicky, the raspberries dunnit. They are so full of wild yeast, the fermentation could keep a hot-air balloon afloat. Last time I made raspberry cordial, it turned into a dry and aromatic raspberry wine - that wild yeast just wouldn't quit. Of course it could just as easily have gone to vinegar if it had been hot in the house, which has happened to me in the past. Hm, it's been a while since I've made raspberry cordial - think I'm going to get some frozen berries and work up a big batch. If it progesses into wine, that's OK with me too.

Miriam
 
Re: Hi, everyone. I could use a little help.

Hmm that’s a very interesting thought, I didn’t really think of that. Where did the raspberries come from? Was it a canned puree or pureed fresh fruit? If they were fresh fruit I bet that’s your culpret, if it was canned or even frozen fruit I wouldn’t be so sure…
 
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