8Feb/093
More Mead!
I made yet another batch of mead today. This batch had the usual 15 lbs of honey in it but this time I also added cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and two vanilla beans. It should prove delicious. We'll find out for sure in about a year.
July 22nd, 2009 - 22:54
I will bath in your mead.
June 11th, 2010 - 00:57
hey so my roommate and I are thinking of trying a mead, where would you recommend we start?
June 18th, 2010 - 16:46
The base recipe that I use consists of:
15 lbs of bulk wildflower honey from Sicilianos in Standale.
1 Teaspoon of gypsum
2 Teaspoons of Acid Blend
1 Teaspoon of Irish Moss
A couple teaspoons of yeast nutrient.
1 Vial of White Labs sweet mead yeast.
I heat about a gallon and a half of water to about 150-160 degrees and then dissolve the honey in it. I let it sit there for 15 or 20 mins and then set is aside. I use bottled water for this since I don’t boil it and it is hard to hide chlorine in mead. Alternately you could just get it out of the tap a day in advance and the chlorine will break down.
Next I take another three gallons and I boil it for about 10 minutes to sanitize the water. I put the gypsum, acid blend, irish moss and yeast nutrient in this water and that way the whole mess gets sanitized.
I turn off the heat, mix the two pots together, chill, and then pitch the yeast.
You should see pretty active fermentation for a couple of months. Once the fermentation seems to have settled down I’ll rack it to a secondary fermenter with less head space and let it sit.
You can bottle it when it clears but I’ve found that it’s worth waiting at least a year before you drink it. It will be okay before that but really starts getting good at a year.
Most all the meads that I’ve made so far are a variant on this recipe. I put bourbon and vanilla beans in the secondary a few weeks before I bottled once and that turned out really good. I steeped vanilla beans and some spices in the honey mixture above once and I’m still waiting for that to clear so I can bottle it.
Them most recent batch that I made has a little less honey and I added some maple syrup. Use your imagination. =)