One Gallon Mead Batches

[max42]

I made a 1 gallon batch which turned out excellent (4 lbs honey, 1 sliced orange, 20 raisons, D47 yeast).

I made another 1 gallon batch which had very little flavor (3 lbs of honey, EC1118 yeast). Clearly this was less honey and a drier mead, not a favorite of most that have tried it.

I'd like to experiment more with some fruits as I enjoyed the orange/raison one. I've tried searching this forum but can't seem to find "1 gallon" or "one gallon" that doesn't return a huge number that is not just limited to my search.

I'm looking for different fruit ideas, including the amount for a 1 gallon batch. ideas? Thanks!

 

[bernardsmith]

apple - makes a cyser; pears
berries - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, elderberries
soft fruits like apricots, peaches, plums;
tropical fruits such as pineapples, mangoes, papaya
bananas (I know they are tropical but they don't have a great deal of juice, but fully ripe they do have a lot of fermentable sugar)

What about flowers? Hibiscus? elderflower? I am currently making 4 gallons of elderflower mead - using about 6 oz of dried flowers in four gallons of mead (about 12 lbs of honey).
How much fruit? Others may have different ideas but 4 - 5 lbs of fruit per gallon is not unreasonable if you are looking for a balance between the honey and the fruit flavors. If you use fruit you want to add pectic enzyme to break down the pectins.
If you prefer sweeter rather than drier meads you can always stabilize the mead after all the sugars have been converted to CO2 and alcohol and then add more honey to sweeten. The stabilization - ie the addition of K-meta and k-sorbate will inhibit the yeast from reproducing and assuming that you have stabilized after several rackings you should have no viable colony of yeast so any addition of honey will remain unfermented and so - add sweetness.

 

[Arpolis]

Your traditional with lalvin ec-1118 is at no surprise that it had little flavor. Ec-1118 is an aggressive yeast that blows a lot of honey character out of the airlock. That is not to say a good mead can't be made with it but there are easier yeast to use.

So don't count out traditionals. I recently made a traditional that used pure orange blossom honey, yeast nutrient, potassium bicarbonate and lalvin 71b-1112 yeast and when I tasted it for the first time I leaped back and thought I mis-labled my gallon jugs and I was tasting my lemon mead. But no it was the traditional.

In the way of fruit meads I usually follow this basic concept:

1 gallon

2lb honey (plus or minus to give a gravity of 1.080 - 1.110)
3lb fruit or 100% fruit juice with no water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
.5 tsp yeast energizer
1tsp pectic enzyme
1 tbs dry loose leaf black tea
Water topped up to just over a gallon if not using juice
Yeast (lalvin 71b-1112, RC-212 or K1v-1116)

That is a very loose recipe that works well for most fruits. Some things like citrous fruits or delicate flavors like watermellon are different. If you want more fruit flavor then put in half the fruit in the primary with the yeast pitch and the rest goes in after the yeast is finished and you have racked to secondary. It is good when mixing up your must to actually have about 1.25 - 1.5 gallons of must so that when racking after the lees pile up you can top up with refrigerated must as to reduce headspace.

Once the mead is close to being completely clear you often need to stabilize with Camden tablets, potassium sorbate and then after 24 hours add a little honey back to a desired sweetness to make the fruit flavor pop.

If you have more specific questions then let us know.

 

[BGBC]

when I tasted it for the first time I reaped back and thought I mis-labled my gall

Translation?

I have a traditional (future melomel) going now with 71b (going to add berries in secondary). My first mead with 1118 has been a disappointment so far.

To the OP's question, you can take any mead recipe and scale it to 1 gallon. Just like beer recipes, the mead recipes scale linearly (divide the ingredients in 5-gallon recipe by 5 to get your 1 gallon recipe).

 

[Arpolis]

Translation?

Sorry misspelled that. I corrected spelling errors.

 

[max42]

Your traditional with lalvin ec-1118 is at no surprise that it had little flavor. Ec-1118 is an aggressive yeast that blows a lot of honey character out of the airlock. That is not to say a good mead can't be made with it but there are easier yeast to use.

So don't count out traditionals. I recently made a traditional that used pure orange blossom honey, yeast nutrient, potassium bicarbonate and lalvin 71b-1112 yeast and when I tasted it for the first time I leaped back and thought I mis-labled my gallon jugs and I was tasting my lemon mead. But no it was the traditional.

In the way of fruit meads I usually follow this basic concept:

1 gallon

2lb honey (plus or minus to give a gravity of 1.080 - 1.110)
3lb fruit or 100% fruit juice with no water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
.5 tsp yeast energizer
1tsp pectic enzyme
1 tbs dry loose leaf black tea
Water topped up to just over a gallon if not using juice
Yeast (lalvin 71b-1112, RC-212 or K1v-1116)

That is a very loose recipe that works well for most fruits. Some things like citrous fruits or delicate flavors like watermellon are different. If you want more fruit flavor then put in half the fruit in the primary with the yeast pitch and the rest goes in after the yeast is finished and you have racked to secondary. It is good when mixing up your must to actually have about 1.25 - 1.5 gallons of must so that when racking after the lees pile up you can top up with refrigerated must as to reduce headspace.

Once the mead is close to being completely clear you often need to stabilize with Camden tablets, potassium sorbate and then after 24 hours add a little honey back to a desired sweetness to make the fruit flavor pop.

If you have more specific questions then let us know.

What does the tea bring to the flavor (hope you don't just say tastes like tea) but I am curious about this addition.

 

[Arpolis]

The tea does not add much flavor honestly when pitched dry like that. I use it more for the mouthfeel. I started using black tea when I was following a wine recipe and had no tannin powder to add so Earl Grey black tea became a substitute and I never went back from it.