So a new year, a new mead; this one is after the other(s) on this site, keeping in mind what's been learnt. Trying to steer this away from "alcoholic honey" and more towards the wine-like flavours I remember from other meads.
- 16lbs non-pasteurised honey.
- 4 tsp wine acid blend powder.
- 1 package oak chips (you get these with wine kits; I think it's 1oz, but rather finely chipped).
- 1 tsp tannic acid powder.
- 3 tsp Yeast Nutrient (blend including yeast hulls, otherwise known as yeast energizer).
- Enough water to make the above fill a 6 gallon carboy with a few inches of headspace.
- Lalvin 1118 (what I use), 1116, or the wine yeast of your choice. Just keep an eye on the attenuation expected re: FG.
Note: No (additional) sulfites, just the same level of care to avoid oxidation + contamination as in beer. I've found this to work well for me, as I seem to be sensitive (not allergic, just low flavor threshold) to sulfites.
- Boil 5L of water in brew-pot.
- Turn off heat and immediately dissolve (all) honey in water. DO NOT CONTINUE BOILING.
- Pour contents into 6-gallon carboy.
- Add the yeast nutrient, acids, and oak chips.
- Top up to 2-3 inches below the carboy neck with cold (tap) water, shaking frequently.
- Pitch yeast & add airlock.
- Keep at 17-19C.
Wait until visible fermentation has stopped, rack to secondary, leave a couple of months (warmer is better to some degree - 21-24C seems to work well), fine or filter, bottle, leave a few more months. Three months from pitching is about your limit for drinkable mead, and more is definitely better.
This dries out completely in my experience (sub 1.000), but carbonation helps with the dry profile. Artificial carbonation and a beer-gun is my next plan for bottling this stuff... with the reduced FG, should be able to make some seriously light, dry, and bubbly mead.