Hey guys,
I'm completely new to homebrewing. Decided to get into brewing mead. I have a few friends who do beer, and started talked with them, they pointed me here! I have done a bit of reading (mostly the mead tutorials and other related stuff on this site) and have some (very foggy) idea what to do. I still have a lot of questions though! Will try to keep this as short as possible but I have a feeling it will be a bit on the long side.
So far, I've decided to try a gallon batch (due to the fact a 1 gallon carboy is 4 bucks) to see if I like it, upgrade later. Picked up 2 1 gal carboys, syphon and tubing, stoppers, airlock, cleaner, and sanitizer.
1. After reading
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/mead/making-mead/ I felt like it would be pretty straightforward. After speaking to my friend, I started the journey down the rabbit's hole. First thing I realized was keeping the fermenter at 70F or below in an apartment would be very difficult. How adversely will fermenting at say, 73-75F affect the mead? I've seen a few references online to people fermenting at around room temp, but many referring to cool fermentations.
2. SNA. I know (or think I know
![Cool 8)](http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/Smileys/default/cool.gif)
) old school wisdom is that mead has to age a long time (1+ years), but SNA can be used to reduce this to a few months. Read about it here:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/mead/mead-making-tips/ but there is not a lot of information. I've read some thread where guys add the nutrients in several phases based on the gravity. Is there a typical schedule people use? Any information about this would be great because waiting a year for 1 gal of mead would be pretty disappointing, and I don't have the space/$ to brew in big enough batches to make the 1 year wait pay off.
3. For a first time mead making, how important is pH balancing?
4. Yeast/recipes: The recipe (
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/tradition-dry-varietal-mead/, just figured this is as good a place as any to start, other recommedations welcome) calls for Lalvin 71B. The shop near my only carries Lalvin E1118 (was the only suitable yeast they had that I saw). I understand that different strains behave differently, but is it possible to just more or less substitute one yeast for another in terms of dosage? Of course I could just order some 71B online (I assume the dry stuff ships pretty well, I know it does for bread yeast anyway).
5. Finally, I like meads to be a little sweat (for reference, I think Vikings Blod is about the perfect sweetness for me), so I think back sweetening is going to be in order. I'm just a little confused when this is done. Do you do it right before bottling, or do you do it before aging it.
Thanks for reading my huge post and answering my questions! items 2 and 4 show a pretty clear lack of in depth knowledge about mead making in general, sorry about that! Also general tips, gotchas and things you wish you did the first time would be appreciated!