Sources of Honey for Mead brewing.

[crite40]

Hi All!
I need to put down a new brew of Mead shortly as my old brewing was some what depleted at the Kumeu folk music festival Home brew and drinking song
session on anniversary weekend.
Perhaps my wearing my armour attracted attention to it!!!
Problem!
I live in Helensville NW of Auckland and apparently a lot of the local honey in being affected by Tutin poisoning at this time of year.
Anyone know a good, reasonably inexpensive source of honey, in about 5Kg
lots so I can get another 5 gallons on the go?
BTW those who want to try Mead making for themselves. Remember to add yeast nutrient and vitamin B tablets, then your Mead will work in weeks rather
than years. Also Champagne yeast is best, Ale yeast dies too soon, when the alcohol level gets over 7 or 8% and Mead gets up to 14 or 15%.

[Thaner]

question for ya, whats the stuff meant to taste like 2 months in? i finding my stuff still has quite a bitter tang to it, has the mead taste there but whats considered normal??

[kiwifruitbat]

Not locally, but the honey done by my aunt is good quality - she's in the middle of the N.I.

I can't remember what she does off the top of my head... but I could ask if you wanted, as well as prices.

[crite40]

Well first off Thaner it can taste somewhat bitter. It depends on the honey and
that of course depends on the flowers it came from.
Also of course if it is fermented out to very little sugar, which I prefer to do, for long life then when wanting to drink some it can readily be flavoured with some fresh honey solution to improve palatability. That's how mine was done and it has been enjoyed by many Scandinavian visitors as well as locals.
A good blending honey for mine is the common Manuka blends from major producers. Don't add it until ready to drink however as secondary fermentation can take place even with 10 year old Mead.

Kiwifruitbat! Thanks for your message. I have just been in contact with our local organic farming people and hope to have some news on the Honey front this week. We have a whole lot of "lifestylers" around here fortunately and met some at a little talk given by Te Radar last Thursday night.
My old batch was apparently bitter because the town bees got a lot of Hebe
flower pollen, or so I've been told, from local gardens.
However I'm still drinking it!!!

The Tutin problem is apparently, according to the Beekeepers Association,
especially bad in the North Auckland area at this time of year. Some Honey suppliers actually have to take their product off the market until the flowering season is over.

In any event I will be racking and bottling a batch of Cider on Monday to keep me going!

[Silver]

If you are in a real pickle for mead I could organise some 12% sweet mead
as i also need to put another brew on and need some empty barrels.

[crite40]

Very many thanks for the offer Silver.
However since some of this Mead is used for my personal offerings I would like to make some more myself.
I'm sure you will find some "real" Norse who really prefer Mead to those @!$%#@@!# alchopops!!!!!
I'm still getting over the shock of the very idea of canned drinks at a Norsemen camp!
I still have a little bottle of Mead from Odinnshall in Gamla Uppsala, that I add a drop from to offerings and Mead used on special occasions, like my son's wedding 2 years ago.

Tomorrow I'll be bottling my new lot of Cider, its just about finished working now. Also tomorrow I'll be checking with some local organic lifestylers around Helensville who might have the Honey I need.

[Eachan]

Do you use glass carboys/brewing jugs to make your mead/cider in, with air locks? Do you use one of those gravity measuring devices(hydrometers) to ensure fermentation is complete or just wait a while after its "fallen clear"? I've been intending to give it a go but many places where I've tried to get info seem to make it all sound....very complicated to say the least... but I'm still keen! Any tips for starting out? Sorry to bombard with questions!

[Eachan]

Do you use glass carboys/brewing jugs to make your mead/cider in, with air locks? Do you use one of those gravity measuring devices(hydrometers) to ensure fermentation is complete or just wait a while after its "fallen clear"? I've been intending to give it a go but many places where I've tried to get info seem to make it all sound....very complicated to say the least... but I'm still keen! Any tips for starting out? Sorry to bombard with questions!

[crite40]

Hail Eachan!

I'm modern in my brewing methods as its a lot less hit and miss than the good old days.
Mainly I use 23 litre (5 Gallon) cubic polythene water containers. The ones with a tap at the bottom.
Yes, I use a gas trap also.
The thing with Mead is to use a few B vitamin tablets and some yeast nutrient. The honey must be heated to kill wild yeasts before dissolving at the rate of about 1KG of honey to 1 gallon of water.
Also you MUST use Champagne yeast. Ale yeast dies of alcholic poisoning at about 6 to 8 % and Mead often reaches up to 13/14%.
With this method it works through in Summer in about 2 to 4 weeks.
You are left with a rather dry, but very powerful Mead with very good keeping characteristics (some of mine is more than 10 years old).
Then as I described before you can adjust the taste and sweetness with a solution of honey just before serving.
BTW I have just this evening located a good local source of honey and will be getting my next lot on sometime later this week or early next.
I have to organise more containers though as I filled up 28 bottles with my new lot of Cider this afternoon.

[Eachan]

Thanks for that, I never thought of that! but of course those water containers are easier to get hold of then their flash glass counterpart.
Will definitly be having a go...
Wassail!

[Thaner]

i'm able to get a gallon size glass carboy with handle, with wire lever stopper for 16 bucks from the engineering shop one block up from work

but definatley the larger glass lads are $$$$

the two in the photo;

the one on the left is a weak honey wash type mead but I think that using the champagne yeast has meant that the stuff has been able to get right up and use all available sugar and as a result, 2 months in it has taken on a bit of a sharp yeast taste. the one on the right has about 2.5 - 3 kg of honey in it (made up to 4.5 litres) so much sweeter, it's bloody strong (was put down in december) so it is now just starting to 'taste like mead'

they are a little below their standard level due to me backsweetening them tonight with some manuka honey.. shud be good

[crite40]

Hail All!

The mead is Bubbling away in my garage as I type.
It has been fermenting for about 10 days now and is still working quite fast even tho the temperature is dropping a bit as we get into autumn.
Will probably keep it in its 20 litre "water container" brewing vessel for about another 3 weeks.
Then I'll put it up in recycled screw top wine and German beer bottles with the ceramic and rubber tops.
Then leave it for sevral months while I finish off the old lot!
As it brews it is getting a much less sweet and more "boozy"smell quite quickly.
BTW the cider came out quite well. Lowish alcohol content ~4% but then we usually drink it like "small beer" with meals.
This brand "Black Rock", a Kiwi package, is not as well flavoured as the imported UK styles. Next time I think I'll go back to them.