Here is a second batch of mead made by Nicholas. Here is what he has to say about it.
My second batch of mead, bottled and labeled. This batch was made from the same yeast as my first one, but a different honey - flower honey, according to the bag it came in. I used a lot of honey so the mead is quite sweet and will need some time to mature on the bottle, I think.
After bottling the first six bottles, I realized that I had enough left in the jug to fill another bottle, so I quickly cleaned another bottle, skipping the sanitizing, and poured the last of the mead instead of siphoning it, which aerated the mead some. To keep that bottle separate from the others, I wrote a little note to myself on the label, marking it as an experiment. :)
 A comparison between my first and second batch of mead. As you can see, the second one isn't as clear as the first, and also is a lot more yellow in color, both probably due to the amount and type of honey used.
Here is a batch of mead made by Sean. My thanks to him for sending in the picture and the notes on his batch. He normally brews beer and was very pleased with how easy it was to make a batch of mead compared to beer. Here is what he has to say about the mead batch:
I ended up using (and I don't know if this will work), a gallon of water (which ended up being a half gallon once I added everything), 2 pounds of honey, an orange, 25 raisins, some medium sweet wine yeast (5 grams), yeast nutrients, and a glass carboy stopper and air lock jammed into the plastic jug. Photo attached :D
If the fermentation kicks off and it works, I'll likely rack the jug into a 1 gallon glass carboy in a month or so. We'll see.
Here is a nice batch of mead made by Walter P. Rather than using Oranges he used key limes. He also added 20 large blueberries, 4 teaspoons of loose Earl Grey tea and the 25 raisins. He also used 2.5 lbs. of hone and Red Star Dry Yeast as he already had it on hand.
It should come out terrific and the picture was taken about three hours after mixing. The balloon is already showing signs of ferment.
Walter has sent us an update on his mead!
I racked my first batch today into 2 ea. 1/2-gallon carboys that I had lying around. I tasted it and it tastes extremely strong and limey. I strained it through a cheesecloth into a funnel on top of the bottles (I sterilized everything first). I just found out that the tobacco shop down the street from me sells brewing equipment so I bought a couple of corks and air locks. It's pretty cloudy at the moment, but if the way it tastes now is any indication of how it's going to taste later then it's shaping up to be delicious. Also in the picture is my second batch which I started a week ago today. For my second batch I used the remaining key limes and 12 large locally grown strawberries along with the raisins. The fermentation process seems to be going strong. Just an update. Your website helps me out a lot.
An update on Walter's Mead - The gallon on the left is my original first batch. I racked it for the third time today. It actually tastes like wine now and the citrus taste is mellowing nicely. It seems to have clarified but I still get some sediment by the end of the week so I keep racking.
The gallon on the right is my second batch. I racked it for the second time today. It's taste seems to be mellowing faster and the strawberry flavor is beginning to come out. If now is any indication of later, this one will be the better of the two. It's still pretty cloudy.
It's amazing how much the color difference is from different types of honey. I used wildflower honey for the the one on the left and mesquite honey for the one on the right. I plan on starting a new batch tomorrow. I've decided to try to use locally grown produce and local honey from here on out, so I'm not sure what I'll be using tomorrow yet. I'm slowly acquiring the proper tools and want to begin experimenting. :D
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