Category Archives: Mead

It can be as simple as mixing honey and water then adding yeast. It’s sometimes called honey wine, and you can use a lot of your winemaking knowledge. But once you start, you’ll notice a whole world of possibilities.

A Simple Mead Recipe: When to rack

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My mead is bubbling away in a primary fermenter, a large open topped container. At some point I’ll want to rack it to a secondary fermenter. That is, siphon the mead to a closed container where it’s protected from oxygen. There are two problems with siphoning mead or wine that is still fermenting. First, the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the mead will come out of solution and interrupt the siphon. Second, most of the yeast may have settled to the bottom of the fermenter, and they may be left behind. If there are not enough yeast in the secondary, they won’t complete the job. For these reasons, I like to leave my mead in the primary until it has fermented to dryness. I’ll be checking the specific gravity of my mead, and I’ll rack when it gets down to about 1.000.

Leaving the mead in the primary until it’s done risks oxidation, so it’s important to make sure the mead ferments quickly. Mead has a reputation for being a slow fermenter, and that’s why I use a starter, and stir every day. It’s why my mead recipes always include additives like DAP and cream of tartar. Most of my mead ferments to dryness in about two weeks.



A Simple Mead Recipe: Care and feeding of your yeast

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Here’s a photo of the fermenting mead that I wrote about yesterday (and started the day before on 5/5/07).

After two days, the mead is translucent and small clumps of foam dot the surface

The yeast will do their work without much attention from me, but a daily stir can help. I sanitize a long stainless steel spoon by immersion in boiling water, dip it in cold water so it doesn’t shock the yeast, then give the whole thing a good stir.

After stirring, foam covers the entire surface

By doing this, I’m trying to keep the yeast uniformly distributed. If I didn’t, the yeast might settle to to the bottom and go dormant before they consumed all the sugar.



A Simple Mead Recipe

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After writing about mead yesterday, I decided to make one. Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients for mead:

  • 1 gallon (12 lb) of wildflower honey
  • 5 gallons water
  • 5 tsp diammonium phosphate (aka “DAP”)
  • 5 tsp cream of tartar
  • yeast (I used Red Star’s Premier Cuvee)

Basic mead making equipment:

A fermenter, stirring spoon, 3+ gallon stockpot, and a hydrometer are needed today. A 5-gallon carboy, 1-gallon jug with drilled bunges to fit, airlocks, siphon hose, and racking cane will be needed later. This is available at any homebrew/winemaking shop.

Procedure – how to make mead:

Measuring honeyAll your equipment (fermenter, stirring spoon, stockpot) should be clean. It’s also a good idea to sanitize your equipment by immersion in boiling water or sanitizing solution. YU8HwZ9FDAu1vtFJ9TNghZJJuqi0nr0v6ou can buy a commercial sanU8HwZ9FDAu1vtFJ9TNghZJJuqi0nr0v6itizer at any homebrew shop, or make your own. Measure one gallon of honey and dissolve into 2 gallons of water. In the photo, I’m pouring honey from a 5-gallon bucket into a stockpot. The stU8HwZ9FDAu1vtFJ9TNghZJJuqi0nr0v6ockpot has markings at the 8 quart and 12 quart levels. I filled it with hot (just off the boil) water to the 8 quart line, then poured in honey until it reached the 12 quart line. So I’m using the stockpot as a large measuring cup. I used hot water so that I could dissolve the honey more easily.


Filling the fermenterNext, fill the fermenter. In the photo at left, I’m pouring the 3 gallons of honey-water into my fermenter. After that, I dissolved the DAP and cream of tarter in a little water and stirred it in. Finally, I added 3 gallons of cold water and gave the whole thing a good stir.

Take a sample to measure the specific gravity with your hydrometer. Make a note of this so you can compare it to the specific gravity of the fermented mead and estimate the alcohol content. Here I measured the SG as 1.080, which means the potential alcohol is about 11% by volume. A pH measurement can be useful too, but the total acidity that winemaker’s often measure is much less useful in mead.Once you’ve taken your sample, you can pitch the yeast. I made a starter the day before with about a quarter cup honey dissolved in a cup of water with a pinch of DAP and cream of tartar. This gave my yeast a head start, and I poured the starter into my fermenter after I drew my sample.

Mischievous meadmaker tasting his honeyIt’s vital to stay focused and diligent. Due care must always be taken to perform each step with rigor and precision. Never forget the seriousness of your task 🙂


Update 5/28/07 – clarifying the mead with bentonite

I racked the mead into a new carboy and fined with bentonite.

 

Update 11/8/07 – aging the mead in oak

I racked off the bentonite sediment and onto some oak chips. I also adjusted the acidity.

 

Update 1/27/08 – different ways to make mead

There are many different ways to make mead, and in June 2007 I briefly discussed three of my other meads as well as an apple wine. I bottled all four that day, including some of the first mead I ever made, a mead in honor of Brother Adam, and the most wine-like mead I ever made.

Wildflower Mead

Update 3/23/2009: Bottled – the mead tastes great!

This is a simple recipe that turned out great – the only hard part was waiting. It was definitely worth the wait, and I would recommend this recipe to anyone interested in, or curious about, mead.

Not Just Tomatoes And Rhubarb Either

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To make a simple mead, dilute honey with water and ferment. You can mix this up in all sorts of ways by adding different ingredients; like fruit, herbs, and vegetables; varying the final alcohol, sweetness, and acidity; and by using different kinds of honey.

I had heard about mead and read about mead, but I didn’t know what it tasted like. It turns out that there are commercial meads available at retail, but I couldn’t find any at the time. So four years ago I started making my own. The idea was to find out “what mead tastes like,” and that meant sticking to simple dry meads. Once I made a few good examples of a plain dry mead, I could decide if I liked it or not. Well I do, and I’ve been trying out different fruit additions. In fact, I just bottled a cherry mead yesterday.

So, what does mead taste like? I can’t tell you. No really, have you ever tried to describe what vanilla tastes like? It’s used in all sorts of things and we all know what it tastes like, but how exactly would you put that into words? I’m afraid you’ll have to buy a commercial mead or make your own. The good news is: it’s easy to make, and tomorrow I’ll post a simple recipe for a plain mead to get you started.