Long time beer brewer, first time mead uh....maker? brewer? meader?
Anyway, I sort of just winged it, figuring this is probably like beer making, and it will be mead in the end as long as I don't get an infection. True? Or are there any real gotchas that are not just tales and preferences? It seemed like every "never do this" was a "don't worry about" in the next article I read.
Here's what I've done:
12 lbs of orange blossom honey
4 gallons distilled water
1 packed of Red Star Cote des Blancs dry wine yeast
LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient
I bought the honey at a farmers market back in October and it had gone to sugar, so I heated up the jars in a pot of hot water until it cleared up. I then dumped it into my sanitized bucket. I added half a gallon of boiled distilled water and mixed thoroughly. Next, I added the rest of the 4 gallons of distilled water, stirred vigorously to oxygenate, then added the yeast, which I had re-hydrated.
That's where I'm at now. I have it in my fermentation chamber set for about 70 - 74 degrees, and will add 5 tsp of the yeast nutrient during active fermentation. I don't have any yeast energizer.
I plan to stir it up during active fermentation ever day or two to degas, which is certainly different than beer. I'll let rack to a glass carboy after fermentation has stopped, then rack every so often to clear it up over the next however many months it takes to clear.
Sound good? Have I goofed it up yet?
Anyway, I sort of just winged it, figuring this is probably like beer making, and it will be mead in the end as long as I don't get an infection. True? Or are there any real gotchas that are not just tales and preferences? It seemed like every "never do this" was a "don't worry about" in the next article I read.
Here's what I've done:
12 lbs of orange blossom honey
4 gallons distilled water
1 packed of Red Star Cote des Blancs dry wine yeast
LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient
I bought the honey at a farmers market back in October and it had gone to sugar, so I heated up the jars in a pot of hot water until it cleared up. I then dumped it into my sanitized bucket. I added half a gallon of boiled distilled water and mixed thoroughly. Next, I added the rest of the 4 gallons of distilled water, stirred vigorously to oxygenate, then added the yeast, which I had re-hydrated.
That's where I'm at now. I have it in my fermentation chamber set for about 70 - 74 degrees, and will add 5 tsp of the yeast nutrient during active fermentation. I don't have any yeast energizer.
I plan to stir it up during active fermentation ever day or two to degas, which is certainly different than beer. I'll let rack to a glass carboy after fermentation has stopped, then rack every so often to clear it up over the next however many months it takes to clear.
Sound good? Have I goofed it up yet?