Scouring the internet, you can find a lot of people who don’t hesitate to spit verbal diarrhea at people who have questions about their mead, even when they themselves have less of a clue (eg “a dry mead has to be backsweetened or it will be undrinkable”, or “you must add orange slices and tea bags”, or “it will take a mead 2 years to be drinkable”). I’m primary a beer brewer, but let me tell you about my first mead experience:
I like the history of mead, and it intrigues me that no one drinks it anymore. But it’s hard to find a commercial mead that I enjoy drinking, they’re all just sooooooo sweet. So I decided to brew a light, dry mead (7.0 lbs of honey → 3.0 gallons). Following northern brewer’s instructions, I pitched Wyeast’s Dry mead yeast, no starter since it was only 3.0 gallons. On “brew” day and every other day for 4 days I added FermaidK + DAP (totaling 1 tsp FermaidK and 2 tsp DAP). C02 was released by shaking the bucket in the morning, afternoon, and evening for primary fermentation.
Primary fermentation in the bucket finished in 1 week! After reaching terminal gravity in 15 days from start date, I racked into a 3 gallon carboy. The mead tastes delicious, almost like a pinot grigio!!! A little harsh, but the yeast seemed to have an overall healthy fermentation. I would drink this mead after 15 days of fermenting over any of that sweet garbage you can find (and I’ve spent a pretty penny trying to find a mead at my local liquor stores and wineries that I enjoy). Given 2-3 couple months of aging/clearing, and possibly carbonating in the bottle, you can have a 10-12% ABV mead ready with SIMPLE INGREDIENTS … no oranges, no black tea, none of that sh!%.
You may think this is another guy spatting verbal diarrhea (especially if you like sweet, strong mead), but I like a dry “sessionable” mead … and if you do too, follow this recipe and instructions, you won’t be disappointed. :blah:
