Slapdash Aldi Mead - will it work?

joeKel73

I was picking up some shopping in Aldi during the week. Did some strange impulse buying - 5L of water and a few jars of honey, which I'm hoping will become mead! I hadn't checked any recipes or quantities so curious how you think my slapdash effort at mead will turn out...

I got 3 jars of honey, totaling almost 1.5kg. Boiled up the 5L of water. I had seen on one of craigtube's hard cider videos that raisins work as a good yeast nutrient, so mashed up a handful of raisins and threw them in. Added all the honey and kept it boiling for about 30mins. Then sat the pot in a sink of cold water and let it cool down.

I sanatised the 5L container, a cut bottle top (for use as funnel) and a strainer. When the mix felt about right, I strained into the 5L container. Tipped a bit into a trial jar and took a hydrometer reading (1.078). Tasted the sample bit and it was gooood.

Added 1/2 sachet of tesco dry baking yeast. Put a pinhole in the cap and put on the 5L bottle.

2 days later and there's a good steady stream of tiny bubbles rising... seems to be working.

So - do you think this'll work? Or just be nasty without proper yeast etc...!

Loobz

Sounds like it will work. It will take anything from 3-9 months before its drinkable. After 2 weeks approx you need to transfer it to another container, leaving the sediment at the bottom behind and discarding it. I used lidl honey in my meade. I also dried some oak leaves in the oven and added them to the boil, along with rose hips (picked from the ditch) and raisans.

ClimberC

Out of interest, How much did the honey cost you?

Mantel

foto joe wrote: »

So - do you think this'll work? Or just be nasty without proper yeast etc...!

It's hard to tell until it's finished, some people swear by bakers yeast and others swear at people using bakers yeast to brew. Best thing to do is stick it somewhere dark and forget about it for at least 6 months unless you have another plan for it and if it tastes okay but not great, leave it another 6 months or longer.

Funsterdelux

Nice, that's how I started with my ginger beer/wine/poison!

tommy2bad

yeah it'll work. you have the mix about right, when you change containers get a proper air lock, wild yeast can get in through any hole not valved. The fermenting gas should keep you safe till then but as it slows down you wont have the protection of escaping co2.

joeKel73

ClimberC wrote: »

Out of interest, How much did the honey cost you?

I think it was about €1.99/454g

tommy2bad wrote: »

yeah it'll work. you have the mix about right, when you change containers get a proper air lock, wild yeast can get in through any hole not valved. The fermenting gas should keep you safe till then but as it slows down you wont have the protection of escaping co2.

Yeah I've picked up an airlock since. Will pick up another 5L bottle soon and get the airlock fitted to that lid. Will need to get tubing to siphon it across too.

Shiny

My only concern would be that you are using plastic, which is fine for the initial fermentation stage of 2 weeks but for long term storage I would recommend using a small glass demijohn.

The plastic could leech into the mead (not always the case) and a certain amount of oxygen would be able to breach through the plastic which would oxidise the mead.

I have never seen mead stored in anything other than glass or better bottle for long term.

stimpson

For cheap honey, Sainsburys in Newry is the place to go. 39p a jar if I remember correctly. I picked up a crap load of it before to supercharge my turbo cider.

Bawnmore

Bringing this thread back to life. How's everything going? How'd the final gravity turn out? Throwing on a similar batch so fishing for feedback

joeKel73

I haven't touched it since, don't have any tubing to siphon it into secondary fermenter or bottles. Must pick some up soon. I might sanitize the hydrometer tonight and drop it in. I'd say it's fermenting v slowly as I need to keep the brew belt on my beer fermenter to keep the temperature up.

Bawnmore

I've the same mead on the go down to the Comeragh water. Only difference is in the yeast. I'm using a white wine yeast on advice from the guys in My Beer And Wine in Rathmines. It doesn't look up to much though so not sure if I should be worried or not.

tommy2bad

Honey is tough going for yeast to get through, fermentation slows down something awful.
Get it into a secondary and store it with an airlock.

joeKel73

Forgot to update this thread! Bottled the mead in December, still in the initial container.

Tried it about 3 months ago and was very sharp. Actually tasted like cheap white wine with a dash of lime...!

Tried another bottle tonight, improved hugely, v surprised. We had a guest from Cornwall this evening who has had many meads, tried it and said it was a "very good mead". Sharpness has mellowed a lot, its also nice and clear.

Aldi mead ftw!