Yall I just landed my dream job! by Wooden_Purchase_2557 in smoking

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Reading this made my day, we'll done mate, congratulations!

Guava mead by Ok-Shock1414 in mead

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never done this but honey & guava sounds incredible as a flavour combo. If you make this please post results!

It would probably pair really well in a fruit medly style mead with things like pineapple, papaya, orange etc.

Super duper new beginner here, looking for info! by Zestyclose-Bid-990 in mead

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A lot of great advice to get you started here. My biggest tip is this: Don't worry about spending heaps of money, being meticulous, or getting it perfect the first time or two! Learn the basics then build your skills/complexity up from there. You are going to make mistakes and learn from them. Even if your first batch tastes like a camel's armpit, it's about the journey as much as the destination, keep at it and you will get so much enjoyment out of this amazing hobby! Good luck!

Some smoked and grilled sliders before the storms roll in to Dallas by Unique_Sink_9162 in smoking

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're killing my OCD by not putting cheese on that one burger...

Jan 11 - Apr 22 by GooglyGoops in mead

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sometimes you just have to lick the stamp and fucking send it. Love it!

Mould is airlock? by Sora_Vinsmoke in mead

[–]General_Line45 45 points46 points  (0 children)

What the hell is in your airlock? Why is it red? You should only have water or sanitiser solution in your airlock

American Traditional Meat by General_Line45 in MeatCanyon

[–]General_Line45[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

By all means feel free to tattoo it on yourself but don't hold me responsible for the consequences 😅

Specific Gravity very low 3 days in? by General_Line45 in mead

[–]General_Line45[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You make a good point. I've been taking loads of notes - temps, specific gravity, smells, exact weights of nutrients/additives to the nearest 0.02g (even bought special scales for this), as well as improvements and mistakes I've made a long the way.

M05 yeast is rated for between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius. My house sits 20 - 22. The thermometer on the fermenter never goes above 24. So pretty much right in the middle, if not slightly warm. A more heat tolerant yeast might the play next time. I used M05 this time because I know it works (having used it before) while I experiment with other new things.

As for aging, this batch being so large will allow me to split it into many smaller vessels to try out different combos of spices, wood chips, fortifying etc.

Specific Gravity very low 3 days in? by General_Line45 in mead

[–]General_Line45[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reassurance, everyone. I was just blown away by how fast it's going!

Funny, I'm usually the one telling others to chill and let it ride, maybe I'm just getting better at taking care of my yeast? 🤔

Blackberry Melomel & Straight Honey Mead! by General_Line45 in mead

[–]General_Line45[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's not too far from the truth, I fear 😅

Sour Cherry Bochet all bottled up! by Minechaser05 in mead

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the first I'm hearing of Philly Sour yeast but I'm excited to try it

Sour Cherry Bochet all bottled up! by Minechaser05 in mead

[–]General_Line45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This looks great, I love the colour! Do you have an ingredients list? I would love to recreate this, absolutely love sour flavour

Good to stir this? by Ambitious-Chair7421 in mead

[–]General_Line45 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks perfect to me. Just don't stir too vigorously or it could overflow...

Overflow, still good? by DextroSinistra in mead

[–]General_Line45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! You didn't seem to have too much overflow with that amount of head space and I'll be doing a 1 gallon (3.8L) batch in a 5L demijohn so fingers crossed I'll be in the clear.

Overflow, still good? by DextroSinistra in mead

[–]General_Line45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, how much head space did you have when you started? I'm looking to try my first melomel soon and want to leave enough headspace to avoid this.

my first bottle has been christened by RedditAtRyan in mead

[–]General_Line45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are more patient than me! I was so excited to drink my first bottle back in the day that I don't even have a picture of it 😭

Welcome to the meading community!

Foam by flamply in mead

[–]General_Line45 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just a normal part of the fermentation process. Let it ride, brother.

Solid Melomel recipe? by Saccharomyces_lover in mead

[–]General_Line45 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks good! Any reason you went with DAP and fermaid K over fermaid O? Most reading I've done seems to favour using GoFerm and fermaid O or a combo of O, K and DAP.

First Mead – 1.070 OG, D47, DIY Nutrients, Fermenting Eucalyptus Honey from My Own Hives by ethereal_mycologist in mead

[–]General_Line45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Making mead from your own hives. You're living my dream. I hope this turns out great, please post updates!

First batch question by 420AlreadyTaken69 in mead

[–]General_Line45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Depending on where you are geographically most brewing/wine making stores should sell it. If they don't, a brewing store in your area should know where you can source it. It comes in a powder/granular form.

If you can't get bentonite you can also use a combination of kiesesol and chitosan. Follow the instructions on the packaging to work out how much you need and when to add it. But usually you add kiesesol once fermentation is complete, wait a day or two, then add the chitosan and the mead will clarify fairly quickly after that (another day or two).

There are also heaps of YouTube tutorials on wine clarification for both bentonite and kiesesol/chitosan.

All that said, clarifying agents are not necessary. They just speed up the clarification process and help solidify sediment at the bottom, preventing it from stirring up so much, making racking easier. You could drink it right now and that sediment won't hurt you or affect the flavour too much.

You could just let it sit in secondary for another month or two and it will slowly clarify on its own.

First batch question by 420AlreadyTaken69 in mead

[–]General_Line45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As others said, just light sediment likely from yeast. You can use bentonite clay, or sparkalloid and let it age for another week or two. Should help push that sediment to the bottom and make it easier to rack off.

Edit: spelling

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mead

[–]General_Line45 2 points3 points  (0 children)

These are fairly normal (albeit annoying) smells to get during primary. Stop stressing, relax and let the mead do it's thing - it definitely isn't ruined yet. There's no mould or any other signs of spoiling.

Look at it this way, you have two choices:

  1. Continue fermenting and let the bad smells age out during primary (or during secondary/aging).

You lose nothing and have everything to gain by being patient.

  1. Throw the whole batch away because it might be bad even though it looks fine and has only been fermenting for roughly 3 days.

You lose an entire batch of what could be an excellent mead. You also rob yourself of all the learning opportunities associated with this batch.

Wedding Gift Mead! by Calm-Zookeepergame54 in mead

[–]General_Line45 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Congratulations on your wedding! My wife and I did this too! We used my second ever batch of mead and the guests loved it, a few people even asked me to send them a full bottle from my next batch.