Questions

[Princehoggle]

Hello, I am very new to the hobby. I actually haven't started my first batch yet, but I have a few probably dumb questions. I was watching someone make mead. They said after fermenting about 2 weeks to a month to rack the mead. Before they started they sterilized everything. Would I need to sterilize the racking container or could I just clean it? They didn't explain how to backsweeten. They just mentioned that you could, and I was thinking of doing something like a banana mead. If there is a resource that I can get all the information from. I'm sure I will have other dumb questions.

 

[myndflyte]

Welcome. Most people don't sterilize, they sanitize. Sterilization is obviously better but for the vast majority, sanitation is good enough. That being said, anything coming in contact with the mead will need to be sanitized; containers, racking cane, tubing, wine theif, etc.

Here is one of many articles you can find on backsweetening: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/how-to-backsweeten-mead-and-cider/

As for banana mead, may be good, maybe not. Start at April 21, 2012 to see his progress with banana mead: http://wineandmead.blogspot.com/sea...0+01:00&max-results=10&start=40&by-date=false

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Princehoggle - and welcome. Sometimes trying to make a specific mead as your very first (or 10th mead) is a little like trying to swim the English Channel as the very first you have entered the water .. It may be better to get your feet a little wet before you attempt anything complex and challenging even for a well experienced mead maker.

That said, I would very strongly recommend that first time mead makers make what are called traditional meads - that is a mead made with only honey, water, yeast and nutrients to get a handle on what you need to know/ do to make a mead that delights you. When you have mastered a traditional then you will really understand how to make any kind of mead. The thing is that with a traditional there is nothing to hide behind, nothing to mask problems. You can experiment using different varietals of honey, quantities of honey, types of yeast, different temperatures - and you can do all this while making small quantities of mead (Nothing like having to swallow 5 gallons of poorly made mead, using expensive honey to teach you the value of starting off with single gallon batches.. mead ain't beer, after all).

 

[madscientist451]

Get an extra bucket and some star-san concentrate. I use 3 gallon buckets and mix up 2.5 gallons of star-san mixture using 1/2 oz of star-san concentrate. Keep the bucket around all the time, and when your carboy is clean, sanitize it by dumoiung star-san in, letting it sit for 2 minutes, then you can dump the star san back in the bucket and use it over and over.
All kinds of mead making tips can be found at https://www.meadmakr.com/