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I came looking for a Mead recipe....

12K views 38 replies 20 participants last post by  RonS 
#1 ·
Would it be OK if some Mead recipes where posted here?

I have a recipe page where I post, I'll give credit...
 
#4 ·
Here's my 'Blackberry Mead' recipe that's pretty tasty:
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Yeast: Gervin Wine Yeast - Varietal E
Ingredients:
2 tsp Yeast Energizer (tot. for 7 gal)
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient per gallon
4 tsp Citric Acid (tot. for 7 gal)
Technique:
Made up a yeast starter by rehydrating yeast in 50 ml water with sugar sprinkled on and a pinch of yeast energizer. It started in about 15 minutes and then mixed this with almost a quart of weak must.
Used 22 lbs of fresh honey for a 7 gal must (3.14 lbs per gal).
Initial O.G.: 1.122
Racked onto 7 lbs of blackberries (thawed, smushed blackberries)
Racked off blackberries two months later.
Final O.G.: 1.008 or 15% alcohol by volume.
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A couple of side notes.
The Gervin Varietal E yeast is hard to find in the U.S. - it's an English yeast and could possibly be ordered over the internet. (If anyone finds out how to do this, would you please be so kind as to inform me?). I received my yeast directly from an English friend. Champagne yeast could possibly be substituted but your specific gravity readings would undoubtedly be different than what is sited above.
Also, don't be in a hurry to rack AND bottle. It will produce lees for months - multiple demijohn (carboy) rackings will be required.
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General mead making notes:
Yes, there are an endless ways to make mead. The mead I've described is technically called a Melomel (that is, a mead made with fruits). Mead making takes a long time - actually, it's the ageing to maturity that takes so long. That's probably one reason home brewing mead is not so popular today as home brewing beer or wine making. This particular recipe is "drinkable" after about six months but taste great after about two years. I'm now down to just four 1.5 liter bottles from '97.
Mead goes through three fermentation steps:
1) the initial, very fast fermentation which usually completes within one to three days (again, depending on what recipe you use). This is the stage that ferments out the 'low level' sugars.
2) the second fermentation (for mead) takes several weeks to months to complete. Depending on the recipe (i.e., how much honey was used, what yeast was used, etc.), this second fermentation can take six months to complete. In it, the mid-level sugars are fermented out and lees will be produced but not on the same scale as the initial fermentation.
3) the third fermentation is a very long and slow process in which the high level sugars are {finally} fermented. This is why it's advisable to let your must stay in the demijohn until this last fermentation has completed. (Otherwise the punt of your wine bottles will be cover with the smallest, "dust-like" lees, over time). Those very fine lees are the result of the high level sugars being fermented in the bottle. Of course, it would be best to let your mead spend five years in an oak barrel...but who can afford those? <g>
 
#7 ·
BEEn Stung,
Not that much work; mostly "waiting" (and waiting and then waiting some more...). What little work there is, is right up front when you first mix up the must and that's only two or three hours worth.

Since distilling is against federal law all across the country, I rather doubt you'll get *anyone* to admit to that! ;)
 
#10 ·
You are right no beekeeper would make home brew.

However you may have met someone, who you forgot the name of, that knows all about it.
Just one generation back "everybody" made home brew. At least out in the country they did. I think that is why the fruit jar was invented.
 
#12 ·
>What is the appropriate setting for drinking mead? Are we supposed to wear a particular costume? I envision large rough-hewn wooden tables, torches lighting the great hall, wild game piled high, and mead served up in copper tankards by sultry wenchs who reply to untoward advances with a sharp backhand.


Been there, done that, It's called THE SOCIETY FOR CREATIVE ANACHRONISM, a non-profit educational group that recreates the midevil time period.

A good secondary setting is around the campfire where bards entertain with song and story.

Duke William V'tavia
KSCA, OL, etc.
 
#13 ·
BEEn Stung,
In some cases, you don't even have to go one generation back! (...so I've been told).
--
I've always kinda thought that mead should be served chilled (like a white wine). However I think in reality, in the epic poem of Danish warriors (Beowulf), I suspect it was just served "room temperature". The poem does describe some really mean drunks - even to the point of murders in meadhall brawls being quite common.
 
#17 ·
>I've always kinda thought that mead should be served chilled (like a white wine). >However I think in reality, in the epic poem of Danish warriors (Beowulf), I suspect it was just served "room temperature".

Room temperature in Denmark is roughly 45 degrees. :^). Lived one year in Oslo, Norway where a dorm sized refrigerator was standard. After a few months I realized the main refrigerator was what we in the US refer to as a 'balcony'. Drinks were served room temperature because anything else would resemble a frozen concoction.
 
#19 ·
The mental image I always conger up for these meadhalls was a bunch of Vikings returning to their favorite meadhall after a long, hard day of raping, pillaging and plundering. And there in this long "great hall" is a roaring fire blazing away in the fireplace at one end of the building (while the other end of the building was nearing subzero temperatures). And then some Viking picks his nose or makes a snide remark about some other Viking’s "wench" and before you know it, there’s a knife fight going on that would’ve put Jim Bowie to shame. As cheers are raised and the mead is splashing around in various tankards, other Vikings are taking bets as to who will end up dead that particular night.

(yeah…yeah…. I’ve know I’ve got a warped mind!)
 
#21 ·
Hello,
I recently purchased my first mead kit from brushy mountain. I've got my first batch brewing and need to rack in a couple of days per/instructions. The kit has a drain on the bottom of the fermentation bucket. Is this where you rack off the sediment from? Is there much sediment to rack off in mead that totally uses honey (13lbs) and no fruit?
Thank you
 
#22 ·
I'm not familiar with the "mead kit" you bought so I'm not really sure about the bottom drain plug you've described. (Sounds like that's the intent of it, however). The main objective is to not leave the mead in long standing contact with the sediment (lees). The technique I use, is to use a small, flexible suction tube and suction (rack) the mead off the lees into a new container.
The drain plug is just a hole in the bottom of the container, right? [i.e., it doesn't have any kind of tube that would tend to raise the "drain level" above the level of the sediment?] If it's just a hole in the bottom of the container, then it sounds like the idea is to drain off the lees and leave the mead in the original container. This container uses an 'airlock', right?
A mead made from just straight honey may produce more sediment than you might expect - or, at least, than "I" expected! Of course this is a very subjective judgment, as to how much you expect. Obviously, adding some fruit, greatly increases the amount of sediment. But even without any fruit added, you'll get a fairly good coating of lees developed over time. As I mentioned earlier, mead fermentation is a very slow process (that is, after the initial, fast fermentation that occurs). In a glass container (like a carboy or demijohn), the lees appear almost like dust in the bottom of the fermenting vessel. Even the slightest movement of the fermenting vessel will cause the lees to be disturbed and a small "dusty" cloud will be stirred up (this will settle again, after several hours or a day). This is why old wine bottles have the 'punt' formed in the bottom of the bottles. Back before the days of high pressure micro-filtering, (note: most "modern" wine bottles no longer have a punt), the punt allowed the lees to settle at the bottom of the bottle and made it easier to pour off the wine without getting the lees in the glass.
Good luck on your first mead!
 
#23 ·
Thanks for the info texbeeguy!
The fermintation bucket with the kit has a small spigot about 2"up from the bottom bottom of the bucket and no tube inside the bucket.I'm assuming this 2" space at the bottom is where the lees will settle.The kit has a screw type lid with a gasket and a hole at the top where the air-lock (half filled with water) goes. I think a glass caraboy would be better at checking the sediment level than this plastic fermintation bucket.Per the instructions you drain off the mead into another bucket (leaving the lees behind) clean out the lees in the fermintation bucket and pour the mead back in, close with lid and re-instal the air lock. Seems simple enough.
Thank you

[This message has been edited by sugar bandit #2 (edited November 08, 2003).]
 
#24 ·
Hi, first timer here. I don't yet Have bees so I have been lurking (and learning) for a few months.
"The fermintation bucket with the kit has a small spigot about 2"up from the bottom bottom of the bucket and no tube inside the bucket." What you are describing sounds more like a bottling bucket than a fermenter. The mead/wine/beer is usually fermented in a 6.5 gallon bucket or carboy (glass water bottle) then racked (transfered) to the 5 gallon bottling bucket at bottling time. The lees/trub stays behind in the fermenter. A short hose is attached to the spigot and the beverage is dispensed into the individual bottles through the spigot. I've omitted a few things for the sake of brevity. I have not used a bottling bucket as a fermenter because mine seeps through the spigot. In the time that it takes to ferment the beverage a little seepage can make a mess and create a real opportunity for infection if you bottle through the spigot. I've spoken to other homebrewers who have not had that problem.
A really good source of information is the rec.crafts.meadmaking newsgroup.
George
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the infor George,
The fermintation bucket that came with my kit doubles as a bottle filler. I could see how problems could ocur with this plastic spigot in the future. I will purchase some glass caraboys when I save up a little. I'm sure that whatever you pour the mead into while you clean out the lees will have to be sterile before the racked mead goes back in. This kit also uses additional campden tablets when its time to bottle. I'm facinated by the whole learning process. I've got much to learn and really appreciate the advice.
Thank you
 
#26 ·
Yup, glad to hear the various inputs on mead. I've made 4 baches over the last 5 years or so......and I have a few general comments: Making mead w/o boiling the wort retains the floral goodness we'all appreciate; Mead only gets better w/ age (but they're hard to keep your hands off 'em); and finally, there's nothing more satisfying then enjoying your own mead, made from your own honey, at night after completing a long day of bee work!!!
 
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