Shepherd Made Mead Making Kit (Mead-Kit), Multicolored

The stopper hole is small, and is supposed to be that way. I saw a video a guy made trying to push the airlock into the stopper, saying it wasn't the right size. It is the right size, you just need to push harder, while twisting it into place. It takes a little muscle, but isn't *that* hard. It's a nice little kit for the cost, even if the directions/recipe isn't very good. You don't want to heat a whole gallon of water, which is 4 quarts, you need about a quart of space for the honey (so if you're gonna heat the water, which is totally unnecessary if using sealed gallon jugs of spring or distilled water, only heat about 3 quarts). And, you never want to heat up your honey, as it will deteriorate the taste of it, it's also very likely been pasteurized and is basically sterile by nature (antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial properties make it the ideal sweetener). So, what you should do is add 3 quarts of unheated water to your carboy, add the unheated honey, then your yeast nutrient, they your yeast, then stir, or carefully shake (making sure to release the pressure from the gasses building up every few seconds if shaking it up), then let it rip.

I’ve made meads and wines before, but wanted to upgrade my kit. This set was great for me because it had everything for a full batch without the frills of some of the other kits that raise prices.

Works great, I wish it came with more yeast though.

Process of receiving it:1. Got package off porch, opened it.[about a day passes here, I didn't have a chance to mess with it yet.]2. Get around to starting my mead project.3. Check the instructions: they're vague and not very helpful.4. Start heating water, get honey reaady.5. Check other supplies in box: there's the carboy, a screw-on lid, an airlock (completely smashed, plastic shards everywhere), some unknown breed of Red Star yeast with a champagne glass design on it, and a bag of nutrients for the yeast.6. Lament at not having an airlock, as there's no way for me to go to the brewing supply store, I can't leave the house at this time.7. Check instructions again, no real help here, so I google different tips on mead and mead making.8. Use 1 tbsp of bleach in one gallon of water, use that mix to sanitize all my stuff.9. Google says you can make an airlock by sticking a balloon on the end of the carboy and poking a hole in it so it inflates without popping.10. Finish preparing the honey-water mix, add sumac to it and let it sit.11. Track down a bag of balloons I have, poke a couple tiny holes in it, toss it into the sanitizer mix with my other stuff.12. Sanitize the carboy.13. Rinse and dry everything.14. Add honey mix (minus the sumac that settled at the bottom) into the carboy, then add bottled spring water, leaving headspace in the bottle.15. Pray I sanitized enough.16. Make and add yeast slurry, definitely not enough yeast.17. Wait a bit and add yeast nutrient as per some online instructions.18. Sanitized cap on, shake the whole bottle for a bit.19. Cap off. Pray I sanitized enough.20. Attach balloon, set the whole carboy on my desk in my room and watch it like a mother watches her baby for like two days straight until the set of airlocks I bought from Amazon arrive and I swap the balloon.That said, I actually liked the balloon trick, though it was a kinda small balloon and I expected it to rip from being stretched over the carboy.Anyway, from my experience and from the experience of others in the reviews, I'm just going to assume the majority of airlocks are going to be cracked or shattered in transit, so prep your own airlock/balloon instead.Even disregarding the shattered airlock though, you still get a great deal on a 1gal carboy, plus good yeast, plus yeast nutrient, so I'm not mad. I wish the instructions were better, though.

I was not expecting much with a price point of below 20 bucks. But with it you get an airlock, a glass gallon jug, yeast nutrients, and yeast. I wasn’t expecting anything other than the jug and airlock. That being said I have yet to try making mead with it. I will be updating this review once I have and chance the rating accordingly.(Update) after fermenting my first batch of classic mead (just water and honey) I can say that this is a very effective kit. So long as you sanitise all the parts before you use them, but why wouldn’t you sanitise in the first place. The mead I brewed was a 3 to 1 mix (about 3 pounds of honey per gallon of water) I added the whole packet of yeast and about a teaspoon of the yeast nutrient. The mead fermented for about two and a half months before getting transferred over to another container to settle and clear up for another month and a half. The mead has now been transferred once more for final mellowing and ageing. I sampled the mead before I transferred it for the final time and I can say that it came out amazing and way too strong, maybe 15-20% abv. This maybe due to the fact I added a whole packet of yeast and yeast nutrients. It will be another four to six months before I crack it open again for the final product.

The media could not be loaded. Everyone complaining that this is a ripoff is missing the big picture. This is a carboy, appropriate bung, airlock, yeast nutrient and wine yeast for under $12 with prime shipping. Try buying JUST the carboy with that. Or even just the yeast!I'm getting into wine making and like experimental one-gallon batches. I've bought this a few times because it's such a great deal, and will continue to buy them. The three piece airlock is good quality, the bungs are good and sturdy and the yeast kicked off right away! I don't use the nutrient because my recipe makes its own, but they give you a good sized bottle! Definitely enough for multiple batches.Things you'll need aside from this -Sanitizer (either get Starsan which will last you a while, or just use a capful of bleach in water)A siphon to bottle or rack. I got a nice autosiphon from Amazon, but even a length of tubing will work.A hydrometer - This is to see what your alcohol content is at. You can make it without it. Our ancestors didn't have these. Make sure you get a graduated cylinder to use it with, I forgot that step the first time.Ingredients - Water and honey and anything else you want to throw in. I get my honey from Winco for the first few batches and it is about $3/lb