I am currently taking a mead making class and it couldn't be easier. Much like homebrewing beer it requires a little specialty equipment and cleanliness, but other than that its like making a big cup of tea, pitching yeast on it, and then letting it ferment. A basic recipe is 3 cups of honey per gallon of water for a dry mead and 4 cups of honey per gallon for a sweet mead. You can use whatever spices, herbs, fruits you want. Since it is a class I used some of the herbs that my instructor suggested as to not be a stick in the mud. I started with 1 gallon of water to which I added fresh chopped ginger amd cinnamon sticks and boiled for 20 minutes. I then removed from the heat, added lavendar, lemon verbeena, and marjoram and let steep. Then dissolved the honey while it was still warm and racked into a 1 gallon glass jug. It is an herbal mead class so I would have felt bad if I didn't add herbs. When cooled to 75 degrees I added the yeast. Will let you know how it turns out. It will be about 2 months from start to finish. If I knew that it was this easy I would have started doing it long ago.
Mead
- Thread starter Gerry D.
- Start date
Gerry, If you haven't already pick up the book "The Complete Mead Maker" by Kenn Schramm. It's a awsome book about mead.
What yeast did you use?
P.S. If you need any equipment let me know. I have some I'd be willing to sell. Dutch Gold Honey is about 2 miles from my house.
What yeast did you use?
P.S. If you need any equipment let me know. I have some I'd be willing to sell. Dutch Gold Honey is about 2 miles from my house.
To be honest I'm not sure what yeast we used. I do know that he didn't activate it, he just dumped it in. I've been making my own beer for about 5 years now. Never made mead because I heard it was hard. Apparently not the case. Anways I checked on the mead and its bubbling away like its supposed to. Thinking about making a pumpkin mead for Christmas. Seems easy enough. I made pumpkin ale before so I'll just use the same method. Making my own beer and mead. Now all I need is a whisky making class. I'd never leave home. Right now Saturday is brew day and Sunday is Q day. My wife actually wants to go out to bars. I say, "Why? I have the best beer in the world right here. MINE!"
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gerry D.:
To be honest I'm not sure what yeast we used. I do know that he didn't activate it, he just dumped it in. I've been making my own beer for about 5 years now. Never made mead because I heard it was hard. Apparently not the case. Anways I checked on the mead and its bubbling away like its supposed to. Thinking about making a pumpkin mead for Christmas. Seems easy enough. I made pumpkin ale before so I'll just use the same method. Making my own beer and mead. Now all I need is a whisky making class. I'd never leave home. Right now Saturday is brew day and Sunday is Q day. My wife actually wants to go out to bars. I say, "Why? I have the best beer in the world right here. MINE!" </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Gerry, Making Mead is easy but time consuming. Mead takes a very long time to age out and mellow. Most Home Mead makers don't touch the Mead for at least one year because of all the alcohol in it it really needs time to mellow out. I have several Melomels and a Fall's Bounty Cyser here that are still in carboys for going on 2 years now, and 2 ciders going on 3. Pumkin Mead for next Christmas not this year unless you like the taste of rocket fuel. You should really get that book "The Complete Mead Maker" it has so much info in it and it's up to date.
To be honest I'm not sure what yeast we used. I do know that he didn't activate it, he just dumped it in. I've been making my own beer for about 5 years now. Never made mead because I heard it was hard. Apparently not the case. Anways I checked on the mead and its bubbling away like its supposed to. Thinking about making a pumpkin mead for Christmas. Seems easy enough. I made pumpkin ale before so I'll just use the same method. Making my own beer and mead. Now all I need is a whisky making class. I'd never leave home. Right now Saturday is brew day and Sunday is Q day. My wife actually wants to go out to bars. I say, "Why? I have the best beer in the world right here. MINE!" </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Gerry, Making Mead is easy but time consuming. Mead takes a very long time to age out and mellow. Most Home Mead makers don't touch the Mead for at least one year because of all the alcohol in it it really needs time to mellow out. I have several Melomels and a Fall's Bounty Cyser here that are still in carboys for going on 2 years now, and 2 ciders going on 3. Pumkin Mead for next Christmas not this year unless you like the taste of rocket fuel. You should really get that book "The Complete Mead Maker" it has so much info in it and it's up to date.