My First "Finished" Mead

[smertz001]

I currently have 4 batches of mead started, tomorrow will be #005, and whilst #001 is still sitting in it's carboy looking pretty, #002 had started (2012-11-17) and been bottled (2012-12-12.)

It was the No-Age Sweet Mead Ready in 3 Weeks

A couple nights ago I finally got a chance to actually taste it due to life events in the way. And I must say, as my first finished one, I was very much impressed with it. Nice crisp and light sweetness to it. Tasted better than some of the bottled stuff I had tried at the Texas RenFest last year. Nice light straw colour, a little tang of the alcohol in it, and a good feel in the mouth. Too bad it was only a one gallon batch and I gave away some of the bottles already (bottled it 375ml so it would last longer, good thinking there I think!)

I'm now very anxious to see how the others come out! But guess this is where patience is required...

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[Marshmallow Blue]

Congratulations. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. Ive drank my first batch a while ago. But I have batches 2,3 and 4 sitting in my closet. I'll be bottling batch 2 and aging it in the bottles til October and doing batches 5 and 6 soon. I wish I had used 375ml or even 12oz bottles (I used your regular old 750ml) cause that stuff was gone in under a week. One bottle shared with co-workers, one to parents and one I drank over a couple days.

What other batches do you have going right now?

 

[Chevette Girl]

I like bottling my 1-gal batches in a combination of 375 and 750 ml bottles... but if you can go with all 375's, it does make it last longer... Sounds like you're off to a good start with your 3 week mead, and at least you've now got something quick and tasty that you know you can whip up quickly, to give yourself something to drink while you wait for other meads to age!!

 

[smertz001]

The other batches I currently have going:

Batch - 001: Traditional Mead Recipe from Defalcos
Started: 2012-11-02
What: A screwed up attempt at following bad directions. It was basically a kit that was just add water (and honey as they ran out of honey.) and I flubbed the directions quite well. But it's currently sitting i the corner looking very pretty and ready to rack again (after 2 months of neglect.) Used an unlabeled local honey that has a taste of wildflower, but could also be a blend.

Batch - 002: The one originally posted in this thread.

Batch - 003: Sparkling Grapefruit Melomel
Started: 2013-01-11
What: A recipe from First Steps in Winemaking, 4th Edition, 6th Impression. I then swapped out the sugar for honey, used Lalvin 1118, and will hope to get it sparkling come bottling time when it's done fermenting out. Which, it's definitely not. Still bubbling away slowly.

Batch - 004: Sparking Grapefruit Hydromel.
Started: 2013-01-11
What: Their was a lot of leftovers from the melomel, so I dump it into another gallon carboy and topped with water (so around half of the original mixture and half water.)

Tonight I started the process for Batch - 005: Which will be a Sweet Blood Orange Melomel. I got the oranges washed up nicely to remove whatever waxes, pesticides, etc and they are currently drying waiting for their sanitary bath tomorrow just before they get zested and juiced.

 

[Marshmallow Blue]

I saw blood oranges at trader joes today and was thinking about picking them up for eating and a batch... But mostly a batch , but I refrained since I'm doing a bochet next. I haven't used grapefruits but I'm assuming the goal with me is too have their bitterness countered by the sugars in the must.

 

[xopher425]

I'm dying to try a sparkling grapefruit melomel. Sounds like the perfect drink for a hot summer night. I'm going to hold off, though, so I can get more experience making and bottling good mead (and waiting for it to mature) before I try carbonation. I'll be following how it goes, though, I'm really curious how it goes. Some have said to use the zest in the secondary for the best flavor. I'd like to see how the flavor is with the fruit in the primary (I'm assuming that's how you have it.) I had strawberries in my primary, and a tiny bit disappointed with the flavor (I do have some that I'll add to the secondary to get more of the fruit flavor).

 

[smertz001]

The Grapefruit is going to be interesting. The original recipe is from a book from the 1960s that my mother gave me, that my father's father gave her. I don't know how/if the recipe has changed in the newer versions of it at all. But, I happened to get a bunch of grapefruits (coworker has a tree) and so it only made sense since I just started making mead!

Since making that batch, I too have seen that putting the zest in the secondary gives it more flavour. Don't know.... but it is still bubbling away happily in secondary as is, and I'm not suppose to touch it until it's done. No idea how long that will be!

Bottling it will be a challenge, I will be using 187ml champagne bottles, as so many people want a taste. I just need to get the bottles and some good corks for it as well as the cages so they don't go pop on me!