Gitruih
Member
Hey all,
Brand new member here with no experience whatsoever other than few youtube how to videos. Wanted to make some traditional Lithuanian mead, brought a kit last week and went to town with it Problem is I have no idea what I'm doing and all info I have contradicts itself, so you if don't mind sharing your experience I would really appreciate it. I tried to take initial reading with hydrometer, however it shattered upon landing so I have no idea what my 1st OG is
Recipe:
10L of water
6.8kg of honey. First to put 2.4 kg, add rest over 2-3 times
200g Juniper berrier
5g Vitamin C (didn't had this one so I cut 1 lemon and 2 mandarins instead)
Yeast- I used Bulldog high alcohol mead yeast
Questions:
1. I was told by pretty much everyone that it's too much honey and it will not ferment, however I've seen more than few videos that claimed as long as you stay within 1 to 4 ratio mead will ferment without any issues.
2. Since it's been a week (back of yeast and reviews claimed that it's done in about a week) I opened to drop in 2nd batch of honey, took another reading and obviously I just had to have a sip before additional honey hydrometer was showing 1.000 and honestly I couldn't taste any honey in it- taste like cheap dry wattery wine that just started to ferment (reminded me of childhood when I was wondering how apple juice tastes after being fermented for couple of weeks so I had one fermenting bottle opened and took a sip ). After droping another 2.4kg of honey in I took another reading and this time it was showing 1.054 is this normal? Somehow I expected more than this...
3. Am I supposed to shake it everyday or should I just leave it alone standing and bubling like it's doing now?
1st Update:
as I'm going for 2 weeks of holiday I decided to open it today (13/12) to see what is happening inside. Reading was showing 1.002 and after tasting I removed bag of berries and citrus. Also I added rest of honey (1.95kg) which put my reading to 1.042. As far as I can see there is no mold (fingers crossed ). Colour- I honestly would say that it's a freshly squeezed apple juice not honey mixed with water As far as taste goes it tastes completely different than what it was last week- it has very nice taste of juniper berries that reminds me of local store brough meads. Alcohol smell and taste is nothing to sneeze at as well but as far as I know this is to be expected I guess I'll open it next in another 2 weeks once I'm back from my holiday and have equipment for secondary fermentation (need to check some videos about what it is ) or racking.
2nd update:
Came back from holiday and took the reading (29/12). It's showing 1.028. Guess only thing I can do with it now is just leave it alone and wait another few weeeks before taking new reading
Brand new member here with no experience whatsoever other than few youtube how to videos. Wanted to make some traditional Lithuanian mead, brought a kit last week and went to town with it Problem is I have no idea what I'm doing and all info I have contradicts itself, so you if don't mind sharing your experience I would really appreciate it. I tried to take initial reading with hydrometer, however it shattered upon landing so I have no idea what my 1st OG is
Recipe:
10L of water
6.8kg of honey. First to put 2.4 kg, add rest over 2-3 times
200g Juniper berrier
5g Vitamin C (didn't had this one so I cut 1 lemon and 2 mandarins instead)
Yeast- I used Bulldog high alcohol mead yeast
Questions:
1. I was told by pretty much everyone that it's too much honey and it will not ferment, however I've seen more than few videos that claimed as long as you stay within 1 to 4 ratio mead will ferment without any issues.
2. Since it's been a week (back of yeast and reviews claimed that it's done in about a week) I opened to drop in 2nd batch of honey, took another reading and obviously I just had to have a sip before additional honey hydrometer was showing 1.000 and honestly I couldn't taste any honey in it- taste like cheap dry wattery wine that just started to ferment (reminded me of childhood when I was wondering how apple juice tastes after being fermented for couple of weeks so I had one fermenting bottle opened and took a sip ). After droping another 2.4kg of honey in I took another reading and this time it was showing 1.054 is this normal? Somehow I expected more than this...
3. Am I supposed to shake it everyday or should I just leave it alone standing and bubling like it's doing now?
1st Update:
as I'm going for 2 weeks of holiday I decided to open it today (13/12) to see what is happening inside. Reading was showing 1.002 and after tasting I removed bag of berries and citrus. Also I added rest of honey (1.95kg) which put my reading to 1.042. As far as I can see there is no mold (fingers crossed ). Colour- I honestly would say that it's a freshly squeezed apple juice not honey mixed with water As far as taste goes it tastes completely different than what it was last week- it has very nice taste of juniper berries that reminds me of local store brough meads. Alcohol smell and taste is nothing to sneeze at as well but as far as I know this is to be expected I guess I'll open it next in another 2 weeks once I'm back from my holiday and have equipment for secondary fermentation (need to check some videos about what it is ) or racking.
2nd update:
Came back from holiday and took the reading (29/12). It's showing 1.028. Guess only thing I can do with it now is just leave it alone and wait another few weeeks before taking new reading
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