Thank you! Do enjoy watching you make brews. You're so much more meticulous than I am. I call what you do "When it's done right" and what I do as "Well, it's done" Thanks again!
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Hey, if it works, it's right! 😁
@Beaguins7 ай бұрын
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing the result. I noticed you've stepped on the philosophies of some of your commenters. Don't worry about it. If you've been at this for 25 years you probably know what you're doing.
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Everyone has their own techniques and it's fine to (courteously) disagree 😉. I've made this recipe many times (and a very similar strawberry one). They work well for me - delicious and reliable 🙂
@strongandco7 ай бұрын
I'm in touch with a local bee keeper and have some honey on the way. I'll be trying this recipe.!! If you can't find unscented bleach in the supermarket (like me), if you use good quality bleach and rinse twice as advised, a final rinse with a kettle of boiling water, trickled down the sides of the plastic bucket ensures that no fragrance remains, don't do it with a glasss demijohn though. (If it's still available though, Milton is basically bleach without any cleaning properties and used to be unscented and still may be).
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Good tip on the Milton - it definitely works!
@jaymeelk93807 ай бұрын
Thank you so much! I’m so excited to try it, I always have lots of berries, but the tea tip for tannins is great because I dislike grape.
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
So glad it helped, sometimes the little tricks really help. I was amazed the first time I tried the glycerine trick - its a game changer (and looks like a lava lamp too! 😁)
@topazpowell85616 ай бұрын
I now have 10 ltrs. of blackberry mead started. Thank you very much for the video.
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
Outstanding! I'd better not post the sweet dessert mead recipe in case you run out of honey 🍯!
@topazpowell85616 ай бұрын
I have 4Kg of New forest honey waiting, the problem is, I need to bye more demijohn but the new ones are taller and don't fit in my filling system.@@EnglishCountryLife
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
@@topazpowell8561 We get all ours from the local car boot sale (50p is average) 😁
@topazpowell85616 ай бұрын
Wow I'm paying £10 from the car boot@@EnglishCountryLife
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
@@topazpowell8561 The advantages of huge car boots in rural areas 👍
@grantmclachlan12 ай бұрын
Going to make a honey berry version of this once my honey berries have been harvested. I have never made mead before but consider myself an experienced wine maker. I made your Parsnip wine and it turned out fantastic.
@EnglishCountryLife2 ай бұрын
Sounds great!
@corabaarde7606 ай бұрын
Thank you. I tried your port wine and parsnip it's really good. Now I started the blackberry mead. Tried other recipe from others but twas crap. Your recipe is really great. Thank you.
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
I'm so glad 😊
@donwalker39497 ай бұрын
Thanks for this.I'm going to be giving mead a go this year,
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
It's well worth it Don. I'll put another recipe up soon.
@Fantasy335010 күн бұрын
Hey! Such a nice and clear video! Definitly deserves a thumbsup! One question: do i need to use a glass jug as secondary fermentation or can it also be a different white bucket as the primary fermentation? Thanks! Already excited to brew my first mead! 🎉
@EnglishCountryLife10 күн бұрын
@@Fantasy3350 Hi! It doesn't have to be glass but it must be air tight and have a fitted air lock
@Fantasy335010 күн бұрын
@@EnglishCountryLife thanks for the info! Definitly subscribing! :)
@EnglishCountryLife10 күн бұрын
@@Fantasy3350 Any time 😁
@peterroberts58357 ай бұрын
I've never used orange juice as a starter for my yeast, and the tannin tip explains why my attempt at mead was "thin" I'll have to give that a try ! Did you ever do the growing ginger video ?
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Hi Peter! I forgot to record all the ginger steps, I'll try again this year!
@hellzoneUK19917 ай бұрын
Interesting, you certainly do some things I don't often see other mead-makers do on KZfaq, not that that's at all a bad thing if it works for you! Of course, in my experience, mead doesn't need exponentially more time on the actual fermentation - usually I find even a high abv mead is done producing alcohol within about two weeks. You are definitely right that secondary takes a while, but I find a lot of that is more bulk ageing and letting the harsher, jet fuel flavours mellow out and/or gas off. Definitely need to try the glycerine thing for secondary, though. Then again, I've mostly used champagne yeasts, I didn't even know mead specific yeast was a thing! I'll check it out, but I think it's probably smart not to be too married to a specific kind of yeast, you can really tailor what yeast you use to your recipe if you want a really specific result. I've heard a lot of American mead makers have really taken to using a Norwegian ale yeast lately that can go up as far as 16% and can put out citrusy tropical flavours if you ferment it warmer than you would on average, so I'll probably try that on a future batch. I rarely see people filtering the way you did after primary (people are very scared of oxidising their mead/wine to an overwrought degree I think), but I personally had to with my most recent batch, as I was using whole watermelons that I'd painstakingly juiced, and the pulp largely separated out before primary was even fully done, not sure if I'd recommend trying it that way, but there we are!
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
You are totally right that everyone has their own way to do things & I do agree that lots of yeasts can work, I've had good luck with both port wine yeast and Champagne yeast over the years and I'm sure many others work. I recall once the same person who was paranoid about oxidizing wine while racking off using a Richie's degassing tool that is basically a paint mixer 😁
@maxinedurling34257 ай бұрын
Why do you mash and not use a liquidize
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
I find liquidisers can produce very fine particulates that are garder to remove. I'm sure that it could work though!
@lindseybush27757 ай бұрын
Thanks so much for this informative video. I'm doing ok with chicken keeping thanks to you and Fiona but less successful with mead! I had a go at a basic mead recipe last year. It's been sat in bottles for 6 months and when we tried it at Christmas it burnt the back of our throats, not in a good way 😂. Did we try it too soon or have we gone wrong somewhere? How long do you leave your mead bottled after secondary fermentation before you start drinking it? Advice on the internet is conflicting so any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Hi Lindsey! Mead is one country wine that really benefits from bottle time. My take is to age for at least a year. My other observation is that if you ferment some honey too dry it can become quite harsh. I like nany wines dry, but mead isn't often one.
@lindseybush27757 ай бұрын
@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you so much for taking the time to give your advice. I shall put it back, resist temptation and leave it alone ☺️
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
@@lindseybush2775 Absolutely, you can always stabilise & back sweeten it later if it is too dry
@bendthebow6 ай бұрын
Hi, what alcohol percentage does that yeast give? Are the melomels more like wine strength?
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
Hi, this often ferments out to 16% or more do stronger than most wines
@bendthebow6 ай бұрын
@@EnglishCountryLife excellent! I'll attempt that one then when I have blackberries. Will attempt the straight mead in meantime
@bonniegarlick96906 ай бұрын
Why orange juice with the yeast?
@EnglishCountryLife6 ай бұрын
A little sugar, nutrients and warmth reinvigorates the yeast. Orange is slightly acidic which yeast likes & its flavour isn't off-putting. If you don't have any just use a teaspoon of sugar in some warm water
@leonardodtc48477 ай бұрын
Im just not the best brewer 😂 I made a whole much of sludge from a beer kit I purchased.
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
That's weird with a kit, they are normally pretty reliable. Did you follow the instructions or just wing it? 😉
@leonardodtc48477 ай бұрын
@@EnglishCountryLife I’m not sure, it did ask for specific temperatures and a heat mat which I neglected. Perhaps thats why it didn’t form into anything.
@Coxeysbodgering7 ай бұрын
Sorry I was disappointed with this recipe boiling honey makes a Boche, kills the natural antibiotic properties and the nuances of the honey. I've never boiled it and never had problem not anyone else I know, the only boiling/ pasturising I do is on the fruits to remove the need for unnecessary chemicals.
@Coxeysbodgering7 ай бұрын
Also filtering so fine so soon will remove most of the yeast colony stressing them out making off flavours and possibly stalling it. Hence why it takes you so long, mine have finished fermenting with in 2 months at most Higher alcohol meads need more aging and you seem to be mixing these stages up.
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
Ah well, we all have our own methods. To be honest, I've never found bottling mead early a good idea - the secondary ferment definitely runs on longer for me
@EnglishCountryLife7 ай бұрын
They keep fermenting vigorously - never had a stuck fermentation yet (on mead) 😉
@DarkStar6666 ай бұрын
A Boche (from burnt) is when you actually caramelize the honey before using it, merely heating a must is just a normal process that some follow, some don’t. I have a 2 year old boche that is just amazing, one of my favorite styles. The only hard rule of mead making is adding honey.