How to make Mead (Honey Wine) **UPDATE 7/01/10**

Mead is super easy to make. And turns out GREAT!! (most of the time)

Depending on your Recipe. It can Take as little as a month, years, or even up to a life time for it to ferment.

The recipe I will post first is great for is GREAT for first starting out. And only takes a Month or so to ferment.

Also Mead is one cheep and easy ways to gift for the holidays.

If you have ever wanted to start to brew. This is something easy and fast to try, just don't hesitate, you only live once.

Step 1 What is Mead?

Mead or honey wine is the oldest alcoholic drinks known to man. It is made from honey and water via fermentation with yeast. It may be still, carbonated, or sparkling; it may be dry, semi-sweet, or sweet.

Unlike beers and cider, meads (being wines) are drunk in small quantities. Therefore, we make them as strong as we can. The amount of alcohol we can make in meads is limited by the capacity of the yeast we add to withstand alcohol. And it is important to understand that yeast cannot live in a solution containing more than 14%of alcohol by volume. This is the usual amount that will destroy the yeast. But under certain circumstances and with suitable yeast the percentage might be as high as 18%. On the whole an amateur is unlikely to produce more than 16%, this is because he is unlikely to be able to carry out ferments under laboratory conditions with constantly favorable temps and a scientifically balanced must.

Depending on local traditions and specific recipes, it may be brewed with spices, fruits, or grain mash. It may be produced by fermentation of honey with grain mash, mead may also be flavored with to produce a bitter, Beer-like flavor.

Mead is independently multicultural. It is known from many sources of ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, although archaeological evidence of it is ambiguous. Its origins are lost in prehistory; "it can be regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks," Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat has observed, "antedating the cultivation of the soil." Claude Levi-Strauss makes a case for the invention of mead as a marker of the passage "from nature to culture."

Comments

[xiutwo]

what do you think about using a peach concentrate instead of the lemonade?

[TheBlackSharpie]

Skyrim brought me here

[jkennerly]

What exactly are you using as a yeast nutrient?

[upwind48]

Buy this online or from a brew shop. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/yeast-nutrient.html some youtube videos or websites will explain what it is made of.

You can also use a handful of raisens. again, consult recipies or youtube videos for the amount needed.

also note that in some recipies, nutrient is added in incriments during primary fermentation. many sites offer suggestions for this step. or you could just add some raisens =]

[LordainCalynn24]

HI ive never brewed or have tried to brew anything afor, and im simply wondering on an average of course how much the cost would be to set up equipment wise?

[xmobisx]

http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm

this website gives a little tutorial on how to get stuff to make mead from your local store. if you want the equipment in this instructables, the glass carboy is about 45 bucks the airlock and bung is like another 2 bucks.

www.morebeer.com is a good website to look at brewing equipment.

[Buckshott00]

I like heavy Carbonation in my drinks have you ever tried force carbonating your brews?

[ilpug]

This is great, and I am going to try this. I am just wondering, what would be a basic all-around ratio to use when making this?

I was going to test it out on a very small scale at first, using a 1.7 liter glass bail top bottle, with an airlock i saw on this site.

I saw that you said that the basic amount was 70% honey. That is cool, but what amount of lemon juice should I use?

a basic mixture ratio is all I really need.

Also, I have been having extreme trouble with finding brewing yeast. Can I use bread yeast? any other kind of yeast?

I can't wait to try this!

[lostbord999]

when it comes to honey to lemon i used 1-1 really. i did a 5 gal.. 5 lbs of honey and 5 contaners of lemon.

the yeast will change the over all taste.. i havnt used bread yeast but it can make it taste a bit different.. the yeast i used was shapaine yeast. i would stick to wine/mead/shapaine yeast. mead will take much longer to make with mead but it will break everything down slower.

[bamaya1]

Been reading the Saint Paul brew club way(Curt Stock)of making mead and they use an open fermenter and deliberately oxygenate the fermenting mead in the primary. Ever try this?

[lostbord999]

if you had room for it and the set up mabey.. its kinda hard to control tho.. and possibly make a big big mess.. also got to consider your climet and bacteria.

[Meuryn]

Jesus Christ that's a big bottle.

[mmorgan4]

do you serve it chilled or at room temp?

[lostbord999]

depends on they type and what your tring to get out of the experence.

what happens when its chilled. you will not get the entire flavor of the mead. but on some you dont want the entire flavor. might be to tart sour bitter sweet etc.

Just got to experement. I do prefer to try it first chilled. and go from there. some room temp and some chilled.

[rjbatc]

In Slovakia ( and probably some other countries around here ) it is common to buy *warm* mead during winter. Try this also, not bad - especially for when it is cold.

[aplummer1]

yes im was wondering if you could post a simple one page ingrediants and supply list please?

[agallaway]

Thank you for this awesome recipe. I am making one batch, (my first ever) with lemonaid like you said. It's on it's second week. I just started a new batch using grape juice. made sure there were o preservatives and all.
I will tell you how it came out.
I am having fun. Again, thank you!!!

[lostbord999]

Looks amazing!! Cant wate to hear back!

[agallaway]

This is my strawberry Guava batch

[agallaway]

I finished and drank the grape batch :) I am experimenting adding some sugar at the end. Last time I added one cup per jug, too much I think.
*Question: I noticed the longer I wait on it, the fizz dies down and seems also, my friends liked it a lot at the 3rd week, but after that seems the buzz isn't that strong.
And it gets flat after the 4th week. But didn't last long after that. (we drank it all byt hen)
* with your recipe I make 4 one gallon jugs. I don't know if it is bad that I don't end up with 5 jugs? I guess I needed to add more water at the end?
* I just started a batch of strawberry guava. Warning, big foam!! I got my vents clogged on the day after. so I took them out and rinsed and replaced them. seemed to continue well. It was bright pink almost red at the beginning. Now it is soft pink. Looks cute. :)
* I have been racking when the bubbles stop, usually in 2 or three weeks. It has been working well.

Thanks again for getting me hooked on this hobby, it's so much fun. Anyother flavor ideas on what I could try next? I know we have to be careful of preservatives in the frozen juice. I am considering trying to find pinneapple. But for now, maybe orange? does orange work well?

[ktellyn]

hi
As i am new to this wine making
i have 2 questions that i would like to ask

why do you use lemonade drinks ?
would this be a alternative to the lemon and the orange fruit ?

and the second is my mead is not clearing after 4 weeks ?
would you have any Suggestions please
thank you for your time
ktell

[lostbord999]

lemonade constrate dose not have as many presuritives as lemonade juice. lest chemicals the better.

when it comes to wine. you can use any fruit there is avaible. there is just more straining or pressing.

when it comes to mead. it dose take longer than wine. there are many things you can use to clear it up. but over all those change the true flavor of the mead. so just let it sit. wate for it to stop bubbling/pooping. and bottle. if you want it to be clearer. siphon it into another contaner and let it settle more. do not do it to afton.. like once every 2 months. mabey once a month. dont rush it.

the beauty about mead. you cant go wrong with it. if it is to tart. sour what ever.. just bottle and let it sit. i know i have over 200-300 bottles i made last year sitting in my basement. it can take years for it to machure.

but have fun with it and just experement. :)

[lucek]

Yeah damn that 3-carboxy-3-hydroxypentanedioic acid dihydrogen monoxide. Chemicals are bad. Who needs them.

[freshnessninja]

I forgot what there called but there's chemicals you can use to clear them, one recipe I heard even used ground up egg shells to clear it. I was told that it doesn't leave a flavor but i didn't try it so I'm not the expert for it. I know the compound starts with a T something like tampening. on that note do you recomend the use of campden tablets?

[lucek]

If you want to start out modify the ratios downward and use a mason jar. You can experiment with flavor without dedicating 5 gallons. Odds are you probably have 1 or more around your house or can pick them up for a quarter at a yard sale.

[rubberduckslife]

I really want to try this out soon but I have on e question. In my house there is not much room for a setup like this even with a smaller carboy. I was wondering if I could leave it to ferment in a crawlspace in my house. The space does get hot though and i was wondering if you knew if the heat would effect the brew? Thanks!

[lazyNinja]

most yeast needs the temp to be lower than 75F. but it is possible to find some beer yeasts that are good to about 78F. if your crawl space is warmer than that you could try keeping the carboy covered with a wet blanket.

[lostbord999]

Temperature is one of the biggest things to be consured about.. for ale/beer/wine/mead what ever. the temps you want to stay inside of is 60-76 78 can be pushing it. wet blanket is a good sudjustion. but over all you would have to be replacing that blanket on a daily basses. (it would get smelly fast because of the bacteria that will be growing on the town/blanket. expecilly in heat.)

My sudjustion is to make room. Not to sound mean or anything. But it will be sitting there for a long time. very long time. make a spot in a closet that it will not be moved/bumped whatever. dont make a spot in a pantrie. most of them will get to hot. (bottles have exploded because of the heat where i have stoored them before)

or even if you do end up using the crawl space. do it during the cooler time of year. I am sure it would be cooler during that time in the crawl space?

[arpoky]

Me likey the third picture here. (Step 2) BD

[xmobisx]

the middle mead is your lemon concintrate mead. i decided to try it in a 1 gallon since my larger one is full of beer. the other is a camomile mead i started 2 weeks after the lemon one.

[cloclo59]

Apparently a beverage fermented from honey has existed since ancient Egypt with the Pharaohs.
Apparemment une boisson à partir de miel fermenté existerait depuis l’Egypte ancienne, avec les pharaons.

[toadnoodle]

I was wondering if I boil everything that I am going to use water, would I still have to sanitize or would that be sufficient?

[lunchbox201]

it is good practice to sanitize everything that the mead will come in contact with to kill off any unwanted yeasts and bacteria that will cause your stuff to go bad. fruits can be the hardest to sanitize because they are subject to the open air all the time and are the most likely to harbor unwanted yeasts i prefer to pure` and boil my fruit before adding it to my wine. as for equipment you can use a 1/4 teaspoon of bleach to a gallon of water to sanitize you equipment but you need to make sure it dries completely before use there are some safer sanitizers like idofore which is made from an iodine base this stuff works well and is cheap too.

[xfirexstarzx]

Hmmm I love stuff like this. I just finished making a 5 gallon batch. Note that I still had to add the fruit and then top off with a little more water at the point the pic was taken.

One of my friends gave me some honey that came from his hives. I don't usually take pictures, but this was after the honey with no fruit added yet. I was amazed at how black it was.

I ended up adding some limes and mint, because that was what I had available, and the last batch turned out great like that.

[lunchbox201]

the dark colour in your mead may be due to the types of flowers that the bees harvested from. usually wild flower honey has a much darker tinge than say pure clover honey. honey is an important part of your mead what type of honey use will give your finished product different flavors. alvacodo bloom honey will give a softer buttery taste, meadowfoam honey will impart a vanilla marshmallow flavor clover honey is what you get at the store and it is the standard run of the mill it doesnt have much of a distinct flavor in my opinion but that makes it good for putting fruits and spices in your wine to showcase the fruit or spice flavors. as for clearing the cloudiness you can purchase some items at your homebrew supply store that will help clear your mead like irish moss. also racking your mead off your lees will help. racking means you take the mead and siphon it into another container leaving behind a small amount of liquid and the brown sludge. the lees are the brown sludge. you may have to do this more than once but as the stuff settles its a good idea to get it out of the container this will also help give the wine a better flavor

[lostbord999]

Nicely dun!!

[darrellsutherlands]

Hey recently bought a book printed in the seventies on making mead, left alot of question unanswered. If i use bakers yeast what is the maximum alchol content produced? my fermentation seemed to have stopped so i bought a tester, says im only sitting at about 3-4%, this was not satisfying to me, tastes great, kinda of like a cooler, but was hopeing for more of the 12% and above range, and can i add more sugars to keep the fermentatioin process going(will more alchol be produced) or should i enjoy what i got and spend the couple bucks on brewers yeast. Liked using bread yeast since i allready had it at home.
Thanks Darrell

[robot797]

hey i have a problem
my mead in a 2 liter bottle wont get clear
it is standing vor over 5 months
2 months has the fermentation stoped
and it was place 2 weeks in full light when we were moving the furniture
when does it get clear

[bowow0807]

well some kinds of honey will refuse to clear for several months or years and if you are into mead you should try to use a fining agent like Sparkolloid, or if you are cheap try gelatin a packet in a cup of water dissolve it in the water in heat but do not boil then pour still hot into the fermenter for a five gallon batch; and a bit more than a teaspoon of gelatin in about half cup of water follow the given instructions make sure the gelatin is flavorless for a small batch

[a splosion]

Hey, have you tasted a little bit of this one yet? I want to try it.