Mead

Latest Articles

Mead
Page 1, 2, 3 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Recipes, Preserving, Homebrewing

Author

Message

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 4:06 pm Post subject: Mead
Having come across a bottle in Safeway last week I tried it last night, and was surprised how much I liked it. I'd never tasted it before. My theory is if a bottle off a supermarket shelf is nice, a home made one should be nicer still? Is mead easy to get wrong? I understand it takes a good couple of years until drinking though?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 4:15 pm Post subject:
Mead is easy. What kind of mead do you want to make? Sweet? Dry? Dark? Light? Maybe a fruit based one (melomel or cyser) or a herb or spice based one (metheglin)? Oh, if you get me onto mead I'll wax lyrical for ages. I always seem to be making it, but I NEVER have any. I wonder why...

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 4:16 pm Post subject:
How about a simple, quick to mature lightish, medium one to start with?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 4:28 pm Post subject:

Okay...

Let me give you one of my standards.

3 1/2 lb of honey
Water to nearly a gallon
1/2 tsp citric acid
1 teabag
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 small tin of concentrated grape juice (optional; if you don't use this, consider using a wee bit more honey).
Yeast (champagne yeast is good).

Put about 3/4 gallon of water into a big pan, and tip in the honey, citric acid, yeast nutrient, grape juice (if using). Bring it to a low boil, and add a teabag. Keep the teabag in for, say, a minute.

Keep looking at the mix, and skim off any scum as it rises. You'll be doing this for a while, maybe an hour.

Let it come off the boil, and put it into a sterile demi-jon, and put in a foam bung (or some cotton wool). Let it cool, and add in some activated yeast.

When you rack it, top up as normal (with boiled water that's cooled a bit). Treat it as any other wine from now.

If it drags its heels clearing, you probably left too much scum in it, or didn't boil it long enough. That doesn't matter, you just have to use some finings, filter it, or be really patient. I had one that took a year to clear, but normally it's ready for bottling in, say, four months. If you're unsure as to whether it's good and done then spike it and sulfite it and rack it.

It keeps getting better in the bottle for longer than I've ever managed to mature it

Experiment with different honeys, herbs, fruits... I make a spiffing orange blossom mead, I make another with coltsfoot which is silky smooth, and I occasionally make one with concentrated pear juice. The variations are endless.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 4:38 pm Post subject:
I alwasy find commercial Mead way too sweet, not that I have tried many bottles. Are most home brew ones also intended to come out sweet?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 5:11 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

I alwasy find commercial Mead way too sweet, not that I have tried many bottles. Are most home brew ones also intended to come out sweet?

Depends how much honey you put in. 3lb comes out dry, 5lb comes out really, really sweet. Of course the yeast you use makes a big difference too. If you're going really sweet you need to add some of the honey later.

Want me to add a mead article to my ever increasing to do list?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28126
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 5:15 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

Want me to add a mead article to my ever increasing to do list?

Yes Please, I don't see why i should be the only one with an increasing list

actually I think a lot of people on the site seem to be getting a list

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 5:21 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

Yes Please, I don't see why i should be the only one with an increasing list

actually I think a lot of people on the site seem to be getting a list

Well, yes, we all seem to be picking up more and more articles to write.

Next comes the flower and herb wines one, followed probably either by recipes for nettles or foraging by freshwater (haven't decided), then I might get on and do more for ethocal shopping in Cambridge before starting on Wild Food in May... Does it ever end?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 5:55 pm Post subject:

Blackberry mead brandy is also very good. A couple of years ago we made a basic blackberry wine using slightly random honey from our hives instead of sugar (ok, its a melomel really, but mead is easier to say), anyway, it was nice, but not marvellous, so we cut it half and half with cheap brandy, and now its bloomin marvellous! Will be even nicer in a year or three.

We usually use up to 6lb of honey per gallon of water, plus nutirents and a little acid and ferment out for a strong dry mead. Sweet mead can be nice but its often too strong. I belive the commercial mead manufacturers don't use all honey either, I have heard that most use equal parts of sugar and honey, which gives the flavour but a cheaper wash that finishes faster, and which may be a consideration if you don't have cheap honey available or want to experiment with a few different recipes.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 9:16 pm Post subject:
My mead from last summer is ready now, and is quite dry in taste as that's how I like it. I use a very simple recipe - honey, water, yeast and one egg white, that's all. I made methyglin too, which is very good, with a slight medicinal taste, so you feel it is doing you some good as well as making you happy. Very strong, both of them.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 9:20 pm Post subject:
When do you use the egg white?

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 05 9:40 pm Post subject:
Whisk one egg white in per gallon as it is heating up. Helps to clear it.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 1:53 am Post subject:
When we say "strong", what are we talking here?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 7:28 am Post subject:
Well, when we make mead we commonly get 13-14%

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 11:08 am Post subject:

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Recipes, Preserving, Homebrewing	All times are GMT Page 1, 2, 3 Next
Page 1 of 3

View Latest Posts