I am about to start a mead homebrew using the method where you mix honey water and yeast in a galon jug and put a balloon with a pinhole on the jug opening. The recipe says to add a sliced orange and box of raisins to give energy to the yeast. Is it necesarry to add the orange and raisins? I was just going to add some cloves and cinnamon. Also, how long do I have to keep it in the jug with the baloon? I was going to put it into glass bottles after about 3 weeks. Any tips for me are appreciated as I am an inexperienced brewer.
Go ahead and use an airlock instead of a balloon.
Skip the orange and raisins, add some yeast nutrient.
You need a hydrometer to measure starting gravity and ending gravity. Most meads need more than 3 weeks unless they are pretty low starting gravity.
Check out your local library for a mead brewing book.
Thanks for the response. How much yeast nutrient should I put in a one gallon container? Also, where is the cheapest place (online or brick and mortar) to buy honey, 1 gallon glass jars, airlocks, etc.
1tsp of DAP per gal will give you roughly 258ppm of fermentable Nitrogen.
The cheapest place I know of for honey (clover) is at Costco. If your town has curbside recycling you may be able to get one gallon jugs for free, check the bins of the big time winos in your neighborhood, that’s how I got mine. The first place to check for airlocks, etc. is your local homebrew shop, if you have one. If not, N B is pretty good.
The cheapest place I know of for honey (clover) is at Costco. If your town has curbside recycling you may be able to get one gallon jugs for free, check the bins of the big time winos in your neighborhood, that’s how I got mine. The first place to check for airlocks, etc. is your local homebrew shop, if you have one. If not, N B is pretty good.[/quote]
Go buy one of those CArlo Rossi cheap wines. Dump the wine keep the jug.
Depending on where you live see if you can find local honey. I found a guy locally where if you bring your own container it is $3.00 per pound.
Buy two one-gallon jugs of quality apple cider. Drink one and about a quart of the other. Use the first jug for the mead and add a can of frozen apple juice to the second and make cider at the same time as the mead (you can split the yeast packet between the two jugs).
I wouldn’t recommend using the cheapest honey I could find for a mead.
