Mead making, a beginners guide:

Mead is a fermented, alcoholic drink, around the same strength as a strong wine. It’s made from honey, in the way wine is derived from grapes. And all the material you really need to make it is an empty water gallon, a rubber band, and a balloon. Oh, and 6-weeks-time.

Making it at home is easy, just takes some very clean hands. the only ingredients you need is honey, yeast, and water. To start, let’s go over the process of fermentation:

Fermentation:

sugar + yeast = alcohol.

Yeast will feed on the honey and produce alcohol as a byproduct. In the right temperature gradient and free of contamination, your yeast will produce generally good aroma and flavor.

Sanitation:

Because you’re basically leaving a mixture of sugar water out for over a month, preventing bacterial or fungal infection is a “must.” Ha. All the equipment you use has to be sterilized, the container you use, the stirrer, anything that will touch something in the mead. you can use bleach and allow it to air dry, but I prefer a food-safe cleaner like StarSan, which is made for brewing. It dries without leaving a harmful or bad tasting residue.

Starting the Brew:

I always use honey in the primary fermentation for mead, as the complexity of any other syrups or flavoring will be broken down. I reserve them for sweetening after the primary fermentation.

The rule is 3-5 pounds of honey per gallon of water.

I begin my ”must,“ the name of the mead mixture pre-fermentation, using 3 pounds of honey, reserving the final two to sweeten afterwards.

Empty one plastic gallon jug of water into a pot, and fill it and drain with sanitizing solution.bring the water to a simmer, remove from heat, and stir In the honey until dissolved. Cover (with a sanitized lid!) and let sit until barely lukewarm. Pitch in your yeast and stir with a whisk. Using a whisk aerates the mixture, which helps to dissolve air and make it more accessible to yeast. Be sure to whisk it as thoroughly as possible, leaving no undissolved grains. Using a very careful hand, or a sanitized funnel, pour the must back into the gallon jug. poke a few tiny holes with a pin in the ballon, and tighten it with a rubber band. Leave it in a 60-70 F room for 3-6 weeks.

Optionally, one can buy yeast nutrients online snd add it to the must every 24 hours for the first 4 days of fermentation.

At this point, I add 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and wait 24 hours. It dissolves easily, and essentially prevents fermentation from starting, but does not halt whatever is in process. By waiting 24 hours, you will ensure fermentation will not continue inside your bottles, causing explosions.

Taste for dryness as needed, adding honey or something sweet to make it more palatable.

Ways to flavor mead:

By including whole spices in the mist as it warms, the spices will lend their aroma to the drink. By adding cinnamon sticks, it was very reminiscent of fireball whiskey. Experiment with cloves and other warm spices.

Try using reduced apple cider or maple syrup after fermentation to lend it those flavors. Avoid using flavor extracts, as they’ll add an artificial taste to the end product.

Wood chips/spirals/planks can be added to imitate a “barrel-aged” drink. Oak is popular. Add it during the aging process.

1-Gallon Mead Recipe:

• 3-5 pounds of honey

• 1 packet of brewing yeast, any kind (I use Lalvin ec-1118, for its high proof tolerance)

• 1 gallon distilled water

Bring the water to a simmer, sanitize the gallon jug, and stir the honey until dissolved and rest until lukewarm.

Pitch yeast, whisk thoroughly, and pour back into the gallon jug.

Poke holes in a balloon and fasten it with a rubber band. Leave in a 60-70 F environment for 3-6 weeks.

Decant mead off of sediment formed in bottom of container. Sweeten further with honey and bottle.