Reddit mentions of Yeast Energizer - 1 lb.

I understand that you lack a lot of space, so I'm just going to throw this out once. I make 5 gallon batches because it's the same amount of work as a 1 gallon batch, but you end up with a lot more mead. I can't imagine putting in all of the effort to make a batch and only getting one quart. That said....

Final sweetness and ABV are determined by both how much honey you add and what kind of yeast you use. Since the yeast is turning sugar from the honey into alcohol, if you only add enough honey to reach 5% ABV, it won't be possible to go over 5% since there isn't honey to ferment. Also each strain of yeast has a different alcohol tolerance, so if you add enough honey to reach 15% but use a yeast that has a tolerance of 10%, it will probably stop at 10% instead of reaching 15%. Since the yeast is consuming sugar, if you had two identical batches with enough sugar to reach 15%, and in one batch you used a yeast that could only reach 10% and in the other used a yeast that could reach 18%, the 10% yeast would be lower ABV and very sweet, the 18% yeast would be higher alcohol but much drier. So you need to both pick the correct yeast and have the correct amount of honey.

You can use bakers yeast (as in: it will convert sugar to alcohol) but in general this is a bad idea if you have access to brewers yeast. It's incredibly inconsistent. You might be able to reach 10% on one batch and 5% on the next. You could easily split a packet of champagne yeast across 20 quart sized mason jars. After all: a 5 gram packet is good enough for 5 gallons which is 20 times as much as a quart. Packets of yeast cost about a dollar, so you'd be compromising one of the most critical ingredients in mead to prevent spending $0.05 per batch. You can even re-use yeast if you are careful about it.

For the airlock, I know you said you are cheap but here are a few options of things to buy. You can throw something like this on top of a mason jar and it will work like an airlock. $10 for 6 isn't bad. Another option would be to drill holes in the tops of the lids, insert something like this and add a real airlock. Another option is to pick a vessel with a smaller neck and use a balloon with a hole poked in it. A final, much cheaper option, would be to punch a hole in the top and tape a piece of rubber over the hole tightly in a way that lets air out, but seals afterwards. I don't know how much I would trust that, though...

Without tools to measure alcohol content, at this scale, it is virtually impossible to figure out the alcohol content. You can make a rough guess, but that's all it will be. There's no way around this without buying a hydrometer, refractometer, or similar.

For the amount of honey to add, it very highly depends on what you want and what yeast you are using. Let's pretend you go with a champagne yeast. By volume,

• 1 part honey to 4 parts water will give you about 12% ABV and dry (so, 0.8 cups honey with 3.2 cups water)
  
  
• 1 part honey to 3 parts water will give you about 15% ABV and dry (so, 1 cup honey to 3 cups water)
  
  
• 1 part honey to 2 parts water should get you around 18% ABV and sweet (so, 1 and 1/3 cup honey to 2 and 2/3 cup water)
  
  The catch is, for reliable, repeatable results you absolutely should get some kind of yeast nutrient. Buy something like this and it will basically last you forever on a 1 quart scale. It's an essential ingredient for making good mead reliably. If you can't get your hands on that a substitute would be boiled bread yeast.

Not sure if these links will work for you but these are what I use

Yeast Nutrient: https://amzn.com/B0064H0MVK

Yeast Energizer: https://amzn.com/B0064H0LUW

They work great for me, and my mead always ferments dry in less than a week by staggering. In fact I just hit a new record on my current 5 gallon batch SG 1.100 to 1.000 in 4 days.

It sounds that your must could be quite acidic. [You can get a PH test kit, and shoot for 3.7 to 4.6] If you're too acidic you can use

(http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/checking-ph-of-your-mead.htm) Also it sounds like you didn't add any nutrient, you will need to toss in some Yeast Nutrient and Yeast Energizer to ensure complete fermentation, otherwise you will end up with a very sweet brew that is only like 8%.

To add to what Mike said for sure check out /r/mead! There's a ton of good information in the side bar to get your started. The biggest thing besides good sanitation & quality honey/yeast is temperature control. Don't let it ferment in a hot garage or you'll end up with something akin to rocket fuel. To keep things simple at first you can just put it in a cool, dark closet and that will help your mead taste EXPONENTIALLY better if kept relatively cool (60-70 degrees)

Also another simple, yet effective thing is using nutrients. People get crazy nutrient addition schedules but just tossing the recommended amounts in at the start will make for a cleaner fermentation and a better tasting mead. Here's a link to some good stuff I like to use. Energizer And Nutrient


If you have a local homebrew shop they should have everything you need to get started.

Just my 2 cents! PM me if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help! :)