Just bottled my first ever mead, wondering if this much headspace would cause oxidation?

I can't find anything on this in the internet. I saw somewhere, that for beers cause of low abv you don't age it at all. How do you determine how long to age your brew? What is the science behind this?

First time poster and pretty new meadmaker. I started this batch two days ago with half a packet of S04 but all the yeast is floating on top and I don't see any signs of fermentation. I rehydrated the yeast with go-ferm and added to 3lbs OB honey and 1 gallon distilled water. SG of 1.081. Took another reading yesterday and I thought it said 1.079, but I could have misread either reading. I rehydrated some more yeast yesterday and added fermaid-o in SNA in a separate bowl before adding it into the main jar, but still no activity. Did I get a dud packet of yeast? I've heard S04 is usually pretty consistent and has an active fermentation. Pictures are from this morning and this evening.

Hi Guys,

I’ve been brewing a strawberry mead for a little over a week now and have checked on it but it seems the strawberry seeds (or whatever these bits are) are growing roots like a plant? Any help would be great cheers

Can't decide what all to make as tinctures and are herbs are better fresh/ dried and make in tea.

I plan to do cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, all spice so far for spices as an extract I also plan to use cacao nibs for a chocolate extract.

Im just not sure if I should do something like an orange peel or a rose or hibiscus extract or if those are better fresh or as dried flowers in a pouch or if they are better as a tea in primary or not

What herbs should I 100% do as fresh or as a tea and what ones are probably better as a tincture

Im trying to make a strawberry, blueberry, and dandelion mead however the ingredients are at the top and im not sure that adds flavor how can i fix this or is the mead chalked

Just bottled my first mead batch. I used a blue Ox mead starter kit and Tupelo Honey I ordered through Amazon. Starting gravity was 1.070. I fermented in my closet for 3 weeks. Final gravity was 0.099. Taste was a little sour and reminded me of a sour ale. No second fermentation. Does this sound right? Or did i do something wrong?

I’m looking for some recipe recommendations

Which kind do you guys use?

Is this normal? I bought a can of mead because i wanted to get an idea of what it might be like (i know it can vary a lot). It was gross to the point that i was not willing to drink it and my friend did not want to either. We both thought it smelled strongly of yeast and tasted like beer (i have not had beer before so i wouldn't really know, but he has).

Given this i decided to transfer it to a rinsed out sprite bottle to get a better look at it/at least close it to decide what to do with it. The colour seems very very pale to me and it is actively bubbling which leads me to believe it's somehow fermenting still. This is especially odd given it did not taste sweet whatsoever, so i don't know what sugar it is fermenting.

I don't imagine the bubbling is normal, is it? Is there anything i can do to rescue the mead and make it taste less like beer? Does it just need to age?

The mead only has water, honey, and yeast listed as ingredients, as well as saying that it may contain sulfites (which should mean that the yeast should be deactivated i think [though it seems to not have worked lol]). The listed ABV is 6% which could have something to do with how light it is if it's very watered down.

https://i.imgur.com/OJhUNko.mp4

I've been having problems with keeping the sediment out of my final product during the bottling phase. There is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of several of my bottles, it has caused it to be salty. Solution?

Hello. I am wondering about the versatility of kviek Voss, to be exact. I bought some late late year but haven't tried it out yet. What I'd like to know is what everyone's experience has been with it. Does it chew through 3 pounds of honey and stop at 12%abv every single time? How does it do on different types of mead? How often does it stall?

Tell me everything you've experienced, please.

I'm considering the possibility of running kviek on everything I make.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I’ve ran into some trouble with one of my most recent batches. Tried to do a take on a “pear mojito.” The ingredients are as follows:

• 1lb 11oz of pears (with skin)
• 2lbs lime juice and peels
• 2lbs of orange blossom honey
• Smidge over 1lb wildflower honey
• Topped with moroccan mint tea
• 5g D47 yeast • OG about 1.03

Batch was started around 2/18/2025. Fermentation was visibly active for a good two weeks before bubbles stopped for the most part. Checked grav around week 3, still sitting around 1.03 Did some (admittedly post de facto) research and saw the PH of the mint tea base or the acidity from limes could have stalled fermentation. I’ve since added 1tsp of sodium bicarbonate to lower acidity and have attempted to repitch yeast (twice) with EC118. Fermentation seems to not want to restart. Any guesses? I’d really rather not toss this batch if I don’t have to

Both are 18+%. Crazy strong. What would you do at this point. 4 weeks old and im about to rack to secondary. Back sweeten, let age or add more fruit or additions?

Started with a kilogram of blueberry blossom honey and a pack of 71b, giving staggered additions of Fermaid O for the first 3 days. After two weeks fermentation had finished and the mead was beginning to clear, with a wonderful floral smell. Racked onto a kilogram of wild blueberries mashed with pectic enzyme. Fermentation got going slowly again. After 11 days the berries seemed spent, racked off of them and added half a split vanilla bean. The vanilla really soaked in quick, only kept it in for three days before I was happy with it. Cold crashed, got it off the lees and gave it a bit to make sure it was all settled, then bottled.

Does anybody have a sure fire way to restart a stick fermentation? I’ve added a yeast starter, added a different yeast strain, added nutrients, and I am still not seeing any bubbling action. Help please!

Hey guys. I've been getting into mead making recently, but I'm stuck in the cleaning step. Every single video I've seen uses StarSan, a product that isn't available where I'm from. What are some alternatives? Is using dilluted bleach an option?

Hi all, new to seeing the community and love some of the recipes I've seen so far.

I've made a few wines and beers but not hugely experienced, decided to try making a flavoured mead this time around using Raspberry jam of all things haha.

Seemed to go pretty well, I made it with 3 or so jars of jam, 2 of honey and some bicarb to bring the ph up slightly.

Was predicted to come out at around 13% abv but can't remember the exact gravity off the top of my head. It finished with around 5% potential left to go but I couldn't figure out why.

I had some nutrients in at the start (generic wilko brand from the UK) and half a pack of lavin 71b.

I started the other half of the pack, added a some more nutirent, checked ph and may have added some more jam but it seems stuck and I'm not sure why.

Should I try fix the stall or give up where it is and just bottle? It is sweet but still tastes delicious 😋

Hello guys,

The fermentation in my first seemed to do great at first but now seems to be stalled, I think the problem might be the temperature but I'd like to know what you think and if you have any tips.

Recipe:

4kg honey for a 16L must 10g M05 mangrove Jack's yeast 10g DAP Salt

The must was started on the 15th of March with a gravity reading of 1.075

I left the must in a fermentation bucket and didn't open it once since today, the fermentation started in only a few hours with lots of bubbles.

Another reading on the 24th of March was at ~1.016 One on the 29th at approx 1.012.

I'm not 100% sure about my readings because I'm still learning how to properly use an hydrometer, but it shouldn't be too off.

What I'm sure of is that it barely moved if at all since last Saturday. Today I decided to open the bucket for the first time since I was taking my readings from samples taken from the bucket's tap, but I was wondering if taking only the bottom part of the must could give inaccurate readings.

Anyways I opened it, stirred gently and took the temperature, it was at 19°c which seems to be in the working range of the yeast but feels a bit low.

I changed the air lock water while I was at it and it's now bubbling happily, but idk if it might be just because I stirred the must recently.

So should I worry or just give it time ? When should I try to get another gravity reading to confirm? I know the bubbles are not the best indicator of fermentation but I was hoping that since I was still hearing a few, things were going fine, but I'm a bit worried about those last two identical readings.

Just bottled this batch of deliciousness. It's a hibiscus kit from craftabrew, started on MLK Day and just bottled today. Gravity reading is a little low about 7%.

Hello all, due to my newness in the hobby I didnt measure my alcohol percentages correctly so now I am not sure if it's time to backsweeten or not. Here's is my current measurement. It's a vanilla mead, nothing too fancy

I decided to make a half-gallon batch with some very pale colored white acacia honey I got from my beekeeper friend and it smells like literally nothing, just a very, very faint acacia flower smell. I mixed up some must, boiled 2 grams of bread yeast and put it in there as yeast nutrient(I cannot find fermaid O or any other common nutrients in my area) and now the must just smells like some broth or the packaging the yeast came in, will this smell fade later? does anyone have a similar experience?

I watched a couple of videos on how to flavor Mead using bagged tea. I have one gallon as an experiment using a concentrated tea brew of Lemon/Ginger. I'm going to guess that I'll need to back-sweeten it a little but don't know yet. Has anyone else ever used teabags to flavor your Mead?

Give me your best recipe ideas please! I’m usually a beer brewer but have two young children so I’m struggling to find the time to fit 6 hour brew days in at the moment! I have a 4 keg kegging system in my shed and would like to have a go at some session meads to try and keep the kegs filled. I’ll be serving under pressure so they will be carbonated. I do have an 18% ABV Rhubarb Melomel under my belt, so sort of know what I’m doing. Super low ABV would be good, thinking 4-6% (something you could crush a couple of pints of). Also anything with hops would be great to satisfy my hop cravings although I have no idea how you would hop a mead other than just dry hopping. Cheers!

Alright this is my first post here, but I started two new batches after awhile using some older yeast I had.
I added a some new yeast nutrients to the batch from this new brand "Fermaid-O" (or something like that) it was very powdery and hard to mix, I'm about 3 weeks in and the fermentation has been really slow and now it's come to a dead halt, I bought some brand new yeast, hydrated a full packet and added into both batches, half in each one. Is there another or better way to start up the yeast again? I've been making mead for awhile but I've never had a batch ferment this slowly and then just dead stop, and I spent almost $60 on the honey so I would like to save it if I can ^-^;