- Let 1+ bottles age for 30 days in the bottles before drinking.
- Let 1+ bottles age for 3 months in bottles before drinking.
- Let 1+ bottles age for 6 months in bottles before drinking.
- Let 1+ bottles age for 1 year in bottles before drinking.
- Let 1+ bottles age for 2 years in bottles before drinking.
- CLOVER: classic & widely available, this honey is sweet with a gentle tangy aftertaste.
- ORANGE BLOSSOM: floral, fruity & citrusy. This variety is best sourced from a reputable supplier or local farm, as it can often be artificially flavored.
- BUCKWHEAT: dark, strong, earthy & slightly spicy. Best used in combination with another variety of honey for balance.
- TUPLEO: floral, often sweeter & more “buttery” than other honey varieties.
- WILDFLOWER: flavors vary in each region & season. This is the name given to honey made from nectar of multiple flowers (or when the bees’ diet is unknown). No two batches are alike.
- MEADOWFOAM: tastes like toasted marshmallows and smells like vanilla. Need we say more?
To decrease the fermentation temp:
- Find a room in your house where the temperature doesn’t fluctuate much (like a closet). Avoid warm garages.
- Wet a hand towel with cold water and wrap around the carboy.
- Place the carboy in a large cooler or other plastic container. Place a few frozen water bottles or ice packs in the cooler. Replace with new ice packs daily.
To increase the fermentation temp:
- Wrap a dry towel or blanket around the carboy. Fermentation naturally creates some heat, so covering the fermenter can help boost the temperature by about 5°F.
- Place the carboy on a shelf or upstairs (heat rises).
- Avoid cold surfaces (metal, marble, concrete).
- In extreme cases, set the carboy on a heating pad set to low. Always exercise caution when using electronics around liquids - make sure the jug is dry and there are no signs of leaking.
Not to worry - sulfur-like aroma, especially in the earlier stage of fermentation process, is just a byproduct of the yeast fermenting. Sulphur smell comes from hydrogen sulfide gas, which is produced during peak fermentation and not cause for concern. As the yeast continues fermenting, the aroma should dissipate! We’d simply recommend that you continue degassing per the instruction manual. This technique helps the mead expel CO2, which also will help the hydrogen sulfide gas escape quicker!
A noticeable decrease in fermentation activity (bubbling, foaming, etc.) is to be expected. There will always be much more activity and CO2 buildup at the start of the fermentation, then the activity will taper off over time until all of the sugars are consumed by the yeast. The first addition of nutrients will yield the most foam and fizzing, and the following additions may be slightly less ‘reactive.’ Then fermentation activity will gradually slow down as the yeast continues to ferment the mead, slowing down as its supply of sugar ‘fuel’ is naturally reduced/fermented out.
Continued de-gassing will help keep the yeast active & productive (see step 13 in the instruction manual). As long as you allow the mead to rest undisturbed for 10 days before bottling, you can continue to de-gas your mead daily or every few days. De-gassing can also help expel a lot of CO2 from the mead, so you may see fizzing right after degassing, but the mead may still remain quite calm to the eye. But rest assured that even though you are seeing little to no fizzing & a lot less airlock activity, the yeast is still hard at work on those sugars.
A young mead can taste a bit dry or bitter, but will mature and refine with time. Mead is one of those fermented beverages that slowly and steadily and gets better with time and aging. The hardest part is the wait! Mead can benefit from months or even years aging in bottles.
Keep in mind that our kit produces a semi-dry mead, unlike most commercial meads that are back-sweetened before bottling. If you’d prefer a sweeter mead we’d recommend a process called back sweetening, which can be done once fermentation is complete. A stabilizing solution is added to the mead to stop yeast from reproducing. Then, more honey is added to the mead before bottling. Now that the yeast can’t ferment out all the sugars, the added honey sweetness remains in the mead. We have a Mead Backsweetening Kit that includes honey. We also offer the Potassium Sorbate stabilizer on its own if you’d prefer to use your own honey.
Mead Backsweetening Kit
Homemade mead is naturally semi-dry. If you want to craft a sweeter honey wine try our Backsweetening Mead Kit (intended for use with our 1 gallon Mead Making Kit or our 1 gallon Mead Recipe Kit). What's in our backsweetening mead kit? - 0.5 tsp Potassium Sorbate (stabilizer)- 12 oz bottle.
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HONEY FOR MAKING MEAD
The best honey for mead is raw and local. If you have our Mead Making Kit & need honey to get started, try some of our favorite regional honey varieties: Clover, SoCal & Midwest. The perfect bulk honey for mead, each bottle contains 40 oz (2.5 lb)
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