Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

primary fermenter, and add the yeast. This is

called pitching the yeast. Close the fermenter, and put on the

airlock.

The airlock is a nifty little piece of hard plastic tubing, bent into

an S shape--looking and acting a lot like the drain pipe under the

sink. You put some water in it (about 1/2 an inch on each side of the

S, and the escaping gasses from the fermentation will push their

way through the water in the airlock. This allows the pressure to

escape, but leaves the fermenter sealed so nothing can get in from the

outside. (Youll understand it when you see one.) In anytime from a

day to a week from when you put the cover and airlock on, gasses will

begin to bubble out of the airlock showing you that the mead is

fermenting. All the books tell you this will start within a day, but

sometimes it takes a little longer. If it doesnt start in a week,

consider throwing in another packet of yeast and a teaspoon of yeast

energizer. You might also see if the room you have placed your

fermenter in is too cold. (Cement floors in basements radiate a lot

of cold and will slow your fermentation to a crawl, even if the room

is heated.) Ive had best results with the fermenter between 65P75!.

You might also take some care not to put the fermenter on a carpet.

Sometimes the fermentation will go berserk and foam will ooze out of

the airlock during the first week. Usually this only happens with

beer, but it can be a mess, so the fermenter should probably stay in

the kitchen.

In one to three months, you will see the fermentation slow to a stop

or near stop. This happens either because the yeast has converted all

the sugar to alcohol, or, more likely, there is a sufficient amount of

alcohol to kill the yeast (how did this stuff ever evolve?). This is

another reason for using champagne yeast--it is tolerant of higher

levels of alcohol, so you will get a much stronger brew.

You then need to bottle your mead. Soak the corks in water for at

least an hour if not a day before you bottle, to get them soft and

pliable. Sterilize the bottles, and the racking cane and tubing. The

racking cane is a siphon devide with the intake about a 1/2 inch above

the bottom level, so you dont get any of the yeast sludge into the

bottles. The sludge is pretty disgusting looking and tastes twice as

bad. You want to make sure not to disturb it. This means not

swishing around the racking cane. Its also helpful to put the

primary fermenter up on the table a few hours before you are going to

bottle, so any sludge disturbed will have time to settle. One more

thing--always siphon, never pour the mead, and sterilize the siphon

and racking cane.

Finally, you need to cork the bottles. Most kits come with one of two

types of corking devices. Both push the cork through a narrowing

passage that compreses it, so it will fit into the bottle neck and

then expand, forming a seal. The first is a plunger style device,

with a hole in the side. You put the cork in, and place the whole

device over the bottle, and then push down on the plunger and the cork

slides into the bottle. The second type of corker (and the one I

prefer) consists of two pieces of plastic. One is hollow, and you

place the cork inside of it. You then fit the second piece, over the

first. It has a stopper inside which pushes the cork down through the

hollow piece, into the neck of the bottle. I find this latter type a

bit more stable. I was always tipping over bottles with the plunger

type, this doesnt seem to happen with the two piece one. Very

occasionally youll get corks that simply wont go in. This is

usually due to a knot hidden in the middle of the cork. It usually

means chipping the cork out of the corker with a knife or pushing it

back the way it came.

Weve found the bottling works best in teams of three, one holding the

top of the racking cane in the fermenter (and avoiding the yeast

sludge), a second at the bottom of the siphon filling the bottles, and

a third person corking the full bottles. When we get down to the part

with the sludge, we usually put that in a separate bottle and drink it

as soon as its marginally clear to test the mead. It will probably

taste horrid, but this will change with age. If its vinegar, start