Make Mead

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When you mix water and honey and ferment it with yeast, you get mead, an alcoholic drink often referred to as "honey wine". There are over 30 different kinds of mead.[1] This article will give you a simple recipe to use.

Ingredients

(Amounts vary depending on how much mead you want to make)

  • Honey
  • Water
  • Yeast
  • Fruit or Spices (optional)

Steps

  1. Gather and sanitize all the items listed in the "Things You'll Need" below. Anything that will touch the mead-in-the-making should be sanitized first. The environment you are creating to encourage fermentation can also encourage the growth of any microorganisms left behind from inadequate sanitation. You can use a weak bleach solution (remember to rinse well) but it is better to use a sanitizing solution that can be found at any beer or wine-making store (and online).
  2. Mix approximately 3.5 pounds honey with {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} distilled water. DO NOT HEAT OR BOIL. There is no need to do this with an FDA regulated honey and clean drinking water. Boiling used to be done to drive off germs and bacteria in the water, honey is naturally anti-bacterial.
    • This mixture, by the way, is called "must".
    • Adding fruits or spices to the must will drastically change the flavour, and just about anything can go with a mead. It's really fun to experiment with flavours as a home-brewer!
    • How to Liquify Honey
    • How to Verify the Purity of Honey
  3. Rehydrate your chosen yeast per the manufacturer's directions then add it to your must.
  4. Put in a large container with plenty of room for fermentation to occur. If there isn't enough space, a vigorous ferment can escape and cause a mess. You'll want to prevent air from getting into the container, but carbon dioxide needs to be able to escape. One way to do this is to poke a few holes in a balloon and then stretch it over the mouth of the bottle. Secure it by putting a rubber band or tape around it. This, however, is not a very good way to seal your mead as you can not add nutrients or aerate very well with the balloon in place, requiring the balloon to be replaced several times. The best method is to purchase an airlock from a local brew store or online as they are reusable, sanitizable, and won't disintegrate over time.
  5. Put in a quiet place at an optimal temperature range for your chosen yeast. This information should be published by the manufacturer. If you have a hydrometer and know the starting gravity of your must, you can determine the sugar breaks of your fermentation. To determine your three sugar breaks, take your original gravity, determine what your final gravity should be based on the ABV tolerance of your yeast, then break that total number into thirds. Aerate (introduce oxygen) at least once daily during the first sugar break, the more times a the better.
  6. There are a few different ways to know when the mead is done fermenting:[2]
    • The most accurate way to know is to measure the specific gravity with a hydrometer when you first mix it, then measure it every two weeks. The chosen yeast has a published ABV tolerance, and the hydrometer reading can be used to determine what the final gravity of the mead should be. When the mead reaches this gravity, wait a minimum of 4-6 months before bottling to ensure all CO2 that was in suspension in the mead has degassed. If the mead has not properly degassed and too much CO2 for the rating of the type of bottle the mead is bottled in is transferred, there is a risk of bottle explosion with temperature swings.
    • Wait at least 8 weeks. The amount of time it takes for the mead to ferment will depend on a variety of factors, but 8 weeks should be enough time for most scenarios.
    • If you're using an airlock, wait until 3 weeks after it stops bubbling.
  7. Once the fermentation has completed, transfer your mead to a container with little to no headspace for aging. The less surface area that oxygen can get to, the better. Siphoning is the best way to go so that you leave as much sediment behind as possible. The longer you wait, the better your mead will be, an average wait time is 8 months to a year for a home brewer.
  8. Transfer the mead into bottles, seal, and store in a cool dark place. Your mead is now drinkable, but it is even better when aged even longer.

Video

Things You'll Need

  • Sanitizing solution
  • Large pot
  • Thermometer
  • Large clear container
  • Airlock or balloon
  • Hydrometer (optional)
  • Siphon
  • Bottles

Tips

  • If there's a wine-making shop near you, white wine yeasts are also good. Beer yeast has trouble digesting the sugars in honey, being bred to digest maltose.
  • The sweetness of your mead has more to do with how much honey you put in the must per gallon vs the ABV tolerance of your yeast than the specific type of yeast. Once you learn more about the tolerances of the yeasts available in your area, you can make your mead dry or sweet depending on the recipe you create.
  • There is actually a time you can heat your honey: it's when making a specific type of mead called a bochet. A bochet is a mead made with caramelized or burnt honey.
  • Any neutral fruit juice (apple, white grape) will make a good yeast nutrient, which is generally needed in honey - which, unto itself, has no additional nutrients for the yeast to feed off of and is actually very acidic. Just add a small amount to get things going, unless you want your mead to taste like those juices. Alternatively, a commercial yeast nutrient can be picked up at your local home brew or home wine shop.
  • Letting your mead get too hot or cold during the fermentation process can stop the fermenting or spoil your mead. A quiet place is best, without a lot of traffic. Dark isn't necessary.
  • A wine-making shop will also have finings, sparkolloid and bentonite, which will attract the particulate matter that makes mead cloudy. This really speeds up the clearing process which can take months on its own.
  • Adding potassium sorbate to the mead when you are bottling will help preserve the color and flavor for a long period of time. Sorbate is mostly used as a yeast inhibitor to help stabilize the mead before bottling. However, you should never used sorbate without also adding sulphite or microorganisms will eat the sorbate and turn it into geraniols.[2]

Warnings

  • Avoid the temptation to add more sugar or honey to the mead when bottling. If the fermentation has not completely finished, it can get rejuvenated by the new food source and turn the mead into a glass grenade.
  • Make sure you get yeast from a wine-making supply store. Do not use "brewer's yeast" from a health-food store. Baker's yeast is an alternative for anyone interested in trying this out for the first time. It gives you a feel for brewing while keeping your cash from going into failed batches. However, baker's yeast is also bred to ferment VERY rapidly, and produces a lot of off-flavors. Some beer yeasts may also produce some off flavors, but to a lesser extent (honey water is a harsh environment for a yeast cell, and is missing a lot of nutrients found in beer). Wine yeast is generally the best for mead, and some homebrew supply shops will carry yeasts developed especially for mead.
  • As with all alcoholic products, please enjoy your homemade mead responsibly.
  • This is an alcoholic beverage, so all consumers must be of legal drinking age.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead#Mead_variants
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/bottling-mead-tips.htm

http://www.gotmead.com/

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