Mead and its making

my only attempts so far have been emergency cysers (freezer failed last summer - defrosted soft fruit mix used as base with washings etc.).
but to summarise some advice from some on BKF -
1.
Having spent the day making some mead I think I can divulge the recipe that we used. apparently 6 hours isn't enough and it'll take at least 6 months before we can try it but we were coached by one of our local award winners so I'm hoping this works out but it is based on her "I know it's right by the taste of the honey/water mix" method.

3lbs+Cappings (I reckon approx 2.5lbs of honey on its own would do it, we used 8lbs of cappings in the end as most of the honey was in the bottom)
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Extract (marmite for the less commercially conscious)
1 cup black tea (for the tannin)
Wine yeast, about half a teaspoon
Table spoon of Lemon Juice.

Wash the cappings in 4pints warm water until honey dissolved. (you can use a hydrowhatsimacallit to be precise on this, I believe you want it be about 1.12-1.15 which should get you to around 13-15% alcohol)

While you're faffing around with dissolving the honey in the water sterilise a Demi-John using 1tsp Sodium Metabisulphate to a pint of water. Pour into the demijohn bung it up and leave it for at least 15 minutes.

Once sterilised, rinse thoroughly with water.

Dissolve the Marmite in the cold tea.

Add the yeast to the demijohn first

Then add the tea, lemon juice, honey/water solution and top up with water if necessary so it's just under the bottom of the neck. Add the airlock to the top and leave in a warm place and it should start to ferment and you'll see bubbles in the liquor and glugging from the airlock.

After 1-3 months depending on the speed of fermentation the bubbling will cease and the Mead will clear leaving sediment on the bottom. At this point, rack it off to another, sterile, demijohn and keep until bottling.

Older the better. Apparently the Buckfast abbey boys recommend maturing in oak barrels for 10 years. Here 6 months of preferably a year was recommended.

2.
Having studied brewing microbiology, being scottish and naturally lazy I have a low effort technique I can suggest for comparison.

Firstly - use the washings from cleaning your extraction equipment. if you use warm water to rinse the extractor into the filters and then into the buckets you can probably recover about a pound of honey that would otherwise go down the drain. Little and often recovers the honey with the least dilution and it cheers up a boring task.

Secondly - do not sterilise it. I am persuaded that there are all sorts of goodies in honey that are destroyed by heating and I hate the taste of sulphur dioxide. All equipement should be cleaned and then given a final rinse with tap water. Your ferment is most definitely not sterile, but the real danger is adding a dose of vinegar bacteria that have been lurking in the bottom of some old kit that was not properly cleaned last time round!

Thirdly - no measuring of weights or volumes, just use a hydrometer to get the specific gravity above at least 1.085. If you are not sterilising you need to give the yeast as much of a competitive advantage as possible so the liquor needs to be nice and sugary.

Fourthly - give a massive overdose of your chosen yeast. I use champagne yeast that I have started in a properly sterilised bottle well before I start to extract my honey. Make up at least a litre and make sure it is working well before it is added to the brew. You want it to take over immediately! Not all yeasts ferment to alcohol. Some go to polysaccharides ( wall paper paste anyone?) and I had one beer fermentation that produced a foam like polystyrene.

Fifthly - make sure the yeast is fed. I agree with the argument that honey is lacking in protein. I use yeast nutrient, but am very taken with a previous posters suggestion of marmite. I do know that yeast loves vitamins and organic acids - my old tutor swore by malic acid from apples but citric and ascorbic ( Vitamin C) also seem to work well.

Sixthly - keep the yeast happy. Warm, no changes in temperature, no drafts and regular feeding with more honey ( not too much or you can give it osmotic shock).

As a further cost saving, I use 2L PET pop bottles with the bubblers glued in with hot glue. Cheaper and easier to clean than demijohns and less dangerous than glass if you do misjudge it and let them explode.

My mead making is basically tied onto the end of cleaning up the honey extraction. All you need is a yeast culture, a hydrometer and some old pop bottles to get a real bonus.