Decided to make my first mead on Sunday July 25, 2010 with:
15 lbs Clover Honey (Sam's Club)
1 tsp Fermaid K
White Labs WLP720 - Sweet Mead Wine Yeast
Before getting started put all 3 honey containers in a dish tub filled with hot tap water. Added filtered tap water (78F from the tap) until collected about 3 gallons or more into a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. Then added the FermaidK and sloshed carboy to mix in with water. Added all the honey into the carboy, using a big funnel and topped off to collect 5 gallons in the carboy. Using a 3 prong plastic wine degasser attached to a hand held drill, inserted into the carboy and mixed up the must vigorously, took OG reading of 1.100. Added yeast, then ran the drill to mix and oxygenate the must some more. Installed stopper with airlock with vodka. After 24 hours a slow but steady fermentation had begun.
Follow up, after a couple of days, it seemed like the fermentation was becoming incredibly slow. Upon the advice of an experienced meadmaker, I was advised to add some more nutrient, but to be careful not to create a mead geyser. So being one that only hears what they want, I added another teaspoon of Fermaid K to the carboy and quickly paced the stopper back on. The airlock immediately started bubbling like crazy, but I have this 3 prong wine degasser and I figured, why not do a quick spin to mix in the nutrient better. Holy crap, barely hit the drill and the mead literally exploded out of the carboy, not only was it a geyser, it was a freakin' Kracahfuckintou volcano. So the only smart move was to quickly jam the stopper back on. The result, an intense spray shooting out of the small holes on the cap of my airlock, making it go everywhere, including the celing. The productive reaction, stare at this as it make a big mess and think, What The Fuck?!?!?, until the stopper & airlock blew off of the carboy, where another thick column of foam bubbled out at least 6 inches above the carboy opening. What a mess to clean up, fortunately being in the basement, I got it cleaned up before anyone knew what happened. Once all the CO2 blew out the carboy was still, but after 24 hours, it was back to fermenting, a little better than before adding the nutrient. Unfortunately, I lost over a gallon of mean from the eruption. Mead lesson #1, adding more nutrient should be done carefully and NEVER put the airlok back on when if it does erupt. Also keep close to drain to minimize cleanup!
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