Not what I thought

[Garrete]

Hello.
I THOUGHT I was buying a mead kit. What I got was some honey, yeast, yeast nutrients and acid. The honey is 12lbs (5.44kg) of Wildflower. I also thought I would get instructions like how much water to use, how much acid blend to use and when, stuff like that. ANY help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[Crut]

where did you get it from. Im assuming 5 gal kit. Its mead, its not rocket science. And what you got IS a mead kit. Mead=Water+Honey+Yeast, with some nutrient if needed.
12 lbs sound decent for a good mead. Make enough for 5 or 5.5 gal and let it rip.
Cheers-Crut

[Lars]

Ok, real simple... 1st DO NOT HEAT YOUR HONEY you will drive off all the wonderful aromatics you want in your mead. The best way to make your mead would be to get a lees stirrer from your lhbs use the lees stirrer on a drill to mix the honey with water and nutrients. 12lbs is about a gallon, so you'll need about 4gallons of water for 5 gallons of mead. Pitch your yeast and let'er rip!

[Cosmic Charlie]

My first attempts with mead were lower gravity (for mead - 1.060ish). To make a mead thats similar to wine, and to have legs, it needs a higher alcohol content. Now I make meads that start at 1.100 or more. So, what I'm suggesting is that you make less than 5 gallons.

You could add water to the honey until you hit a certain gravity, or you can just decided to make a 4 gal batch. I marked my glass fermenters with a Sharpie in 1 gal intervals. I pour in the honey and nutrient (I dont use acid blend anymore), then pour in water until I reach my batch size. Then I shake until mixed.

I think the most common use of acid blend is to add it after fermentation if it tastes like it needs it. I think its hard to know how much to use up front. If you do make a higher gravity mead, like a wine, it needs to age a bit for the flavors to mature and the alcohol taste to mellow.


Edit: 3 lbs honey per gallon should get you near 1.100