# Making Mead



## Ragnarök

Making Mead at a rudimentary level is not that difficult at all, and the process is fun. I made 3 gallons of Mead using the ingredients below.

3 cups of raw unprocessed honey
6.5 500ml bottles of spring water
1 package champagne yeast
1 tsp yeast nutrient

All the tools I used were: large pot, funnel, 3 1 gallon glass jugs, 3 air locks, small container for activating the yeast,1 gallon container to transport must to the funnel.

So here's what I did. First I sanitized everything tools wise and sanitized the entire working area. I did 1 gallon batches at a time. After sanitizing everything I heated a half bottle of spring water to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and mixed a little honey with the water then added to package of dry yeast to activate the yeast. While the yeast is being activated I combined 6 bottles of water and 3 cups of honey in the large pot. Heat the honey water to 100 degrees and pour into the transport container. Pour 1/2 the honey water into the sanitized 1 gallon glass jug via the funnel. Once 1/2 the liquid is in I poured the activated yeast into the jug. Once the yeast is in I poured the rest of the honey water on top. The last thing to go in was the yeast nutrient. Once everything is in I put to air lock on top to seal the jug.

The airlock is very important because it seals the fermenting mixture protecting it from turning into vinegar and protecting it from other wild sources of yeast and bacteria. An equally important feature of an airlock is to allow carbon dioxide an escape. In essence it is a pressure release device.

Last step in the job was to wrap the jugs in aluminium foil to protect it from the degrading effects of artificial light and sunlight. After wrapping in foil find a dark, dry and relatively cool place to store during the fermentation phase. I chose my bathroom cabinet because it maintains a more constant temperature than anywhere else in the house.









Above is a picture of the end product before I hauled it into the bathroom.


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## TG

LOVE drinking it


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## Ragnarök

The most fun will be seeing if it is good. Have to wait for 1 year before I can do this. Right now I'm ordering other ingredients and tools to make a quality drink.


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## AnotherSOFSurvivor

I rotate meads in my brews, have a dry mead thats been in secondary for 3 years im breaking open for christmas

My first ever batch I used pizza yeast lolololol....it was bad

sent from a paper cup and string via quantum wierdness


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## Ragnarök

3 years is a long time to wait. Pizza yeast lol...any yeast works from what I understand but it has dramatic effects on the flavor. I wonder what the Greeks, Romans and Nords used as their yeast...some research is necessary.


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## bigwheel

wow thanks. Looks good.


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## Medic33

wle hic I sjoosh, kraked a buttle of me mead -yup dank ta hole ting.


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## Sasquatch

I've been wanting to try this. Guess now I'll have to.


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## Jp4GA

My husband has a Mead and a Stout going right now. 








We were lucky to find a place with an outbuilding with a 1/2 kitchen. This place is great for brewing and canning.


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## AnotherSOFSurvivor

Jp4GA said:


> My husband has a Mead and a Stout going right now.
> View attachment 35537
> 
> 
> We were lucky to find a place with an outbuilding with a 1/2 kitchen. This place is great for brewing and canning.
> 
> View attachment 35545


Good use of a blowoff in conjunction with the airlock. I had a quad bach in secondary that blew the hell up, runoffs are pretty much mandatory for heavier batches.

sent from a paper cup and string via quantum wierdness


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## 8301

Because honey has so many complex sugars in it I don't bother with a blow off tube since it tends to ferment slowly. Now I've made some IPAs and Stouts that you really want to ferment somewhere like a bath tub because they can really bubble if the temperature is warm.

Adding a few raisins to the must helps introduce wild yeast but I just let mine sit out with no lid for a few days and later add a little distillers yeast to assure it fully ferments unless I'm making short mead. I've found most people prefer the sweeter tasting short mead and it's faster to make.


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## inceptor

John Galt said:


> Because honey has so many complex sugars in it I don't bother with a blow off tube since it tends to ferment slowly. Now I've made some IPAs and Stouts that you really want to ferment somewhere like a bath tub because they can really bubble if the temperature is warm.
> 
> Adding a few raisins to the must helps introduce wild yeast but I just let mine sit out with no lid for a few days and later add a little distillers yeast to assure it fully ferments unless I'm making short mead. I've found most people prefer the sweeter tasting short mead and it's faster to make.


How much faster?


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## 8301

inceptor said:


> How much faster?


Raising the temp from 68 to 78 degrees roughly doubles the fermentation speed but with honey mead it is still a slow process. To fully ferment long mead it can take 4+ months even at 76 degrees. Bottling unfinished mead (short mead) can result in exploding bottles so I add 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium Metaisulphite to 5 gallons of mead before bottling to kill all yeast. Northern Brewer - America's #1 Homebrew Supplier - Northern Brewer

True mead is very dry tasting and rarely found in a liquor store. By bottling before all of the sugars are consumed (or getting a high enough abv to kill the yeast) you can get a sweeter mead which most people seem to prefer.

history lesson... because it takes so long to make true "mead" long ago most common folk drank "short mead" which is sweater and much faster to make. 
lesson done...

I've clarified some of the meads I've made but I've found that after racking once a week before bottling the remaining slightly yeasty taste is better than the clarified mead. I tend to make my meads at about 15% abv for the dry mead and about 10% for the short mead. The book Making Mead like a Viking is where I learned most of this.


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## Ragnarök

Here's my latest batch with oranges added to the mix. Also added more honey and energizer.


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## Denton

Ragnarök said:


> Here's my latest batch with oranges added to the mix. Also added more honey and energizer.
> View attachment 39009


Get that out of the light! Wassamatter with you?


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## Ragnarök

I couldn't resist to take a picture . So excited to see if the oranges make a difference for the better.


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## Ragnarök

I'm ending secondary fermentation today, and bottling later today once all my bottles and corks are properly cleaned. This batch is a orange honey mead.

That is where I'm working from. Need to give it a couple hours for the orange pulp and dead yeast to settle back at the bottom.


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## 2guns

Stop teasing me!!!


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