I woke up this morning and decided to start a batch of mead. I am on the move a lot, so I decided to make a small batch that uses no specialized equipment and will be portable. Thanks to Joe Mattioli at http://www.gotmead.com, I found the perfect recipe for my travels.
Mead is a wine that is brewed using honey and water, and fermenting with yeast. Mead is incredibly easy to make. All of the ingredients that I used in making my mead can be purchased at the local grocers. The total cost of my ingredients came to around $20.
You will need the following ingredients to make 1 gallon of wine:
• 1 gallon of spring water (room temperature, do not refrigerate).
• 3 lbs of unprocessed honey.
• 1 balloon, (large enough to stretch over the mouth of the spring water jug).
• 1 package of Fleishmann’s yeast.
• 25 raisins (get a small box).
• 1 orange.
To make room for your ingredients, pour half the spring water into a clean container. Slice your orange, so you can fit them through the mouth of the spring water. Add the orange slices, twenty-five raisins, yeast, and honey into the spring water container. If your honey is too solid to pour, place the honey container in a bath of warm water. This will soften the honey and allow for an easier time when pouring it into the spring water. Fill the container up with the remaining spring water, leaving a couple of inches from the top. Put the cap back on the mixture and shake the container vigorously for a few minutes.
When the mixture is evenly mixed, you take the cap off and place the balloon over the mouth of the container. Poke a small hole in the balloon. This will allow for the gases to slowly escape, while preventing foreign contaminants from entering your mixture. If the balloon does not feel tight enough, you may need to use rubber bands around the mouth of the container to keep it on tight.
Over the next twenty-four hours, your balloon will start to inflate. Watch carefully to make sure the balloon does not inflate so large that it pops off. If you feel there is too much stress on your balloon, you can poke another hole to allow more gases to escape. When you are comfortable that your balloon will hold, place your mixture in a cool, dry place like a closet or a kitchen cabinet. The fermentation process will last two to three weeks. At the end of this period, the balloon will go limp.
Patience is the name of the game at this point. For your batch of mead to get really tasty, you will need to let it sit for at least two and a half more months. During this time, you will notice that the cloudiness disappears as the wine slowly clarifies. If you can stand it, allow your mead to process for six months and your taste buds will love you for it.
I am hoping to consume this batch of mead with my friends and family at a Peace Corps send off party. There is no telling when that will be, I am still playing the waiting game. The wait has been rather painless, because I have been keeping myself busy with fun projects and new experiences. Next on my immediate list is making kefir.
OK,I just made my mead and I’m left with 2 questions:
1. Are you supposed to have left over spring water?
2. Do you have to siphon the mead?
Thanks in advance!!! XD
Well, according to this recipe, you should have as much left over spring water as was displaced by the honey.
As for decanting, siphoning off would work, as would decanting through a funnel w/ cheesecloth in it as you’re mainly looking not to stir the sediment, or get the sediment in the final product.
Also as a note, this is technically a melomel due to the inclusion of the citrus fruit.
http://www.honeywine.com and http://www.gotmead.com are two other excellent sites for mead resources.
This is very up-to-date info. I think I’ll share it on Delicious.
I have extra kefir grains do you want them?
Started drinking the batch that i made a couple moths ago. It has a very tart flavour and is definatley high in alc content, two small glasses was enough to get a good buzz on. I just picked up some proper supplies, carboy, lock, etc, going to whip up another batch and try something different this time.
28th of May mine will be ready!
I don’t think I shock it enough though. Make sure to seriously mix your brew up before starting the process. And once you start, don’t move it or shack it up in any way.
If I were to bottle my mead, would I need to get an expensive filtering kit, or could I just run it through some coffee filters or something? I don’t mind a little sediment, but would hate for it to referment in the bottle and blow out the corks.
Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty intelligent stuff to say.
I’ll be watching you .
Instead of raisins us peachs apricots,,,,,, it leaves a very nice fruity taste
Reminds me of my favorite movie “The 13th Warrior”
We made mead back on Guam in 1944 only we called it “raisin-jack”. Just take a coconut and clean out hole in the top. Put a cork in it after adding a dozen or so raisins to the coconut in the milk. Hang it in the top of the quonset hut or tent, whatever your accomodations happen to be and wait for the cork to pop out. Now that’s cheap raisinjack, or mead. dr. dixie
Случайно наткнулся через гугль! Очень интесно
По моему мало развернутая мысль, хотелось б более обширно почиатать.
After the mead is done fermenting(after the balloon deflates), should I take the balloon off and replace the cap or leave the balloon on?
Eruvanna - The oranges are there to add some citric acid to the mix. So it still is technically a mead and not a melomel. it would be a mel if you added more orange and/or mashed it to impart a more orangey taste to the mead.
Talon - The raisins are there for extra food for the yeast as there isn’t too much of the food that yeast likes in honey.
Kenny - After the mead is done fermenting, you can keep the balloon on there. Actually you have to choices from there. You can keep it in the jug and let it clear and age “sur lie” (on the lees [which is all the yeast everything that settles on the bottom]) or you can rack (transfer to another jug/carboy) to get it off of the lees. If you rack it though, you will have to siphon it into the other container and not disturb any of the lees on the bottom. It will clear up a bit faster with racking, but will still have to age a couple of months (minimum) before enjoying or it will still have that alcohol bite/burn to it.
I have a batch of this going right now and it’s coming along nicely. The primary fermentation is slowing down and should probably be ready to rack in about a week. I’m actually planning on waiting a little longer until the oranges and raisins drop to the bottom of the jug before I rack it though. That way it’ll help get the most out of everything and with all the fruit on top of the lees on the bottom of the jug it’ll make it easier to rack without having to disturb the lees.
Next up… a batch of strawberry vanilla mead… Yum!
Is quick rise active dry yeast okay, or do I need to use the traditional stuff?
So, I started this recipe 3 weeks ago, and the balloon is still inflated. Sediment has collected at the bottom, and the color has started to clear up.
Can I let this sit for another few months before drinking? What are the next steps?
Alisha: The Fleishmann’s Active Dry Yeast is what I used for my batch. I’m not sure about the quick rise version though. I think that the quick rise and bread machine versions are different strains of yeast and may have some slightly adverse effects on the taste. You can always give it a shot and let us know how it comes along. It’d at least give us an answer on the “Is _____ yeast ok for this recipe?” questions that always seems to pop up.
Ira: To go over what I went over briefly in my last post… You can either let it age as is “sur lie”, in which case you don’t have to do anything until it’s ready to drink. Or you can rack it off into another container and let it age in there. Two different routes… your choice on which way you want to go with it. I personally am going to wait until the oranges and raisins hit the bottom too, and then rack it and let it age a little longer. (I’m not going to lie though… I really just want to take the balloon off and see how it’s coming along.)
Rally a great post. I’m definitely going to give this a try. For some reason I keep thinking about prison wine.
ЪБВБЧОП, дБЧБКФЕ ЕЭЕ РП ФЕНЕ!!.
A few questions -
Which is the preferred method: decanting with a funnel and cheesecloth; or racking it?
Also, I have a number of empty and washed out beer bottles with the closeable tops (i.e. Grolsch Lager). Is this type of bottle suitable storage for the last few weeks before I start drinking?
Adrian, I was just wondering about your strawberry vanilla recipe. Would you care to share, because that sounds damn good? No problem if you don’t, never hurts to ask though.
Ira: Racking is definately the preferred method, but the funnel/cheesecloth method should work just fine. You may need to do a couple passes with the cheesecloth though to get all the dead yeasties out.
As for the Grolsch bottles, as long as the seals are fine, they work great for bottling mead. Make sure the gaskets are still fresh though, or you’re going to have some problems. Worse comes to worse, just go to a local home brew store and pick up some new gaskets. They’re relatively cheap and that way you know it’s good.
Kelly: I haven’t gotten around to making it yet, but the recipe I’m planning on using (for a 1 gallon batch) is:
2.5 lb honey
1-2 lb fresh, frozen, thawed strawberries
1 vanilla bean, split
1 pkg yeast
Water to top (about 3 qts)
Dissolve honey in water at low temperature on stove. Put strawberries in a hop bag (or cheesecloth bag, or fresh pair of nylons will work too) and mash in your primary fermenter. Pour honey water over strawberries. Add yeast and shake for 5 minutes to oxygenate. Let ferment for about a month. When done fermenting, rack off of strawberries into a secondary (optional to rack onto more strawberries if you want a more potent strawberry flavor [I wouldn't go over board though... maybe just 1/2-1 lb of strawberries]). Also, when racking add split vanilla bean to secondary. Just split it down the middle and drop it in. No need to scrape it or anything. After another month re-rack it into another clean secondary. Let age and enjoy a couple months down the line.
Should be tasty and have good amount of strawberry flavor with vanilla and honey undertones. May finish up a little on the dry side, so before you bottle, you might want to taste and possibly back sweeten with a little extra honey (personal preference though).
As for the batch I have going now… coming along nicely. I thiefed a little bit out a while ago for my grandmas birthday. Despite being super young, after opening up for few minutes, it was already pretty drinkable. Half of my co-workers want some now. I almost want to start a batch at work so we can all watch it come along.
[...] Making Drink Mead Making 101 [...]
Just wanted to say thanks Adrian, sounds good, I’ll try to get some going soon.
if you forgot the raisins and the mix is only couple hrs old is it ok to pop the balloon of quick to toss em in?
Yea Logan. Should be fine.
thanks man. im lettin it sit till end of feb for my 21st. an traded the honey for the finished mead haha
A lot of of people talk about this subject but you wrote down really true words!
Can you go blind from drinking this? I read that methanol can cause blindness, but now I’m confused….
no this is honey wine not grain alcohol
Grain alcohol is still ethanol (the same alcohol in all drinkable beverages.) Methanol is sometime called wood alcohol, and is entirely different from ethanol and poisonous (and yes can cause blindness.) A number of alcohols are fermented from grain now. Vodka, though traditionally made from potatoes, is often grain alcohol these days. However, generally people referring just to ‘grain alcohol’ mean Everclear or another 180+ proof alcohol.
I thought this sounded interesting so I am currently trying to do it.. But It has been ~48 hours and my balloon has still not inflated. Did I do something wrong?
Patience my pretty, all will become clear in time.
Also yeast takes time to get to work in the winter at lower temperatures (if you are in the Northern Hemisphere)
Ahh, that’s probably it.. I have it fermenting in a closet that is probably the coldest place in my house. Not THAT cold.. But cold. Thank you
Whelp, did this recipe and made two gallons about a year ago. Some things I did were to rack into a secondary, through a funnel and two coffee filters. Let it sit in the secondary for about a month. Before I bottled I went through another two coffee filters. I also sweetened it a little before bottling. The bottles had some funk at the bottoms after everything was said and done - clearly dead yeast since none of it refermented in the bottle and I didn’t pop any corks. I figure since most of the beer I drink has funk in it, it’s not going to hurt. What do you know, it tasted fine. I only have one bottle left and I’m saving it for Superbowl, which is also my birthday.
I shared this recipe with a buddy of mine and I made three more gallons - blueberry, peach, and strawberrry vanilla. Let’s hope these go smoothly as well.
Hello!
I have a plan to make some mead to the summer and i love the idea with the balloon! How big shall the hole bee? Like a pencil point? thx for the good but easy guide!
Just like a little pin prick. Not to big or the balloon won’t inflate and then the nasties can get in.
Hi, Scott!
Thanks for the recipe. I started mine back on 01/24/10 as soon as I read about this. It’s now been around 7 weeks, and the balloon is still fully inflated. When I lean in close I still hear the fizzing of the yeast, though it’s not as active as it once was.
The only yeast we could find was the Fleishmann’s Rapid Rise Highly Active Yeast. Could this be attributing to its extremely impressive staying power? It’s starting to make me jealous!
Should I just leave it until it deflates, and then rack? The fruit is still floating, as well.
Thanks!
The balloon will be inflated for a while. If the yeast is still fizzing away it means it is still fermenting. It will start to slow down after a while, as once the alcohol content starts rising it will start killing off some of the yeast.
The Fleishmann’s Rapid Rise should work fine.
You could leave it until it defaltes or until the fruit drops. The fruit dropping will definately take a lot more time.
Just remember, the easy part is putting everything together and starting it off. The hard part is the patience and time required to wait for it to finish and age.
Hey, again!
A little update. A few weeks later the balloon finally down and I racked it once. I tasted it then, and it was strong!
I’ve since transferred it to its final gallon carboy just the other day. I tasted it, and it’s both smooth and sweet. You can taste the alcohol, but the sweetness cuts it so it’s not overbearing. A little sip did start to warm me, so I can’t imagine having more than a glass at a time!
I read about some of the others adding cinnamon and cloves to it. Is it too late to do that? It seems like this was added at the beginning of fermentation. I’d like to add it in now, but should I just wait and make a new batch with those ingredients added from the start?
Thanks a lot! Looks to be a fun summer coming up!
does it have to be unprocessed honey? all i can find is regular clove honey.
Unprocessed honey I’d recommend boiling in the amount of water you’re planning on using and then skimming the top. All the stuff that floats to the top in a foam with unprocessed honey is all random “gunk” that is taken out in the processed stuff. Regular clove honey will work fine though.
Thats a great entry, thanks for writing it. I’ve bookmarked your website and will look forward to reading more!
I started a batch about 2 and 1/2 months ago, and I added a few fun things like cloves and cinnamon sticks. My friend turned me onto the idea, and I really liked it, he put some mulling spices into his after filtering it with cheese cloth, and it turned out pretty well, I added the spices in the beginning, it should make it amazing. Oh, and I found that adding a shot of mead to a cup of hot apple cider is amazing, especially on a cold night. I highly encourage it. I did have one question, one of my bottles began to literally over flow from the extreme amount of bubbles being formed. I poured out a little bit to make some extra room in the bottle for the bubbles to form, this shouldn’t have any adverse effects should it?
The cloves I’d be careful with adding to much. With only a gallon of mead, you wouldn’t want to add more than 1 or 2. They may be small, but they sure are potent.
After my first batch finished up over the winter, I brought some to a boil in a pan with some mulling spices (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, etc.) and then mixed it with equal parts of room temp mead in a cup (after straining out the spices). Nothing like a nice hot drink on a cold night!
As for taking a little bit out, you should be fine. At the beginning you’re actually supposed to leave about an inch of room from the top (fill to the shoulder of the bottle), so that way when it does get all bubbly with the foam at the top you don’t have a big mess. I actually started a batch of a double berry melomel (berry version of a mead) with raspberries and strawberries a couple months ago. I’m making a 3 gallon batch in a 3 gallon carboy, and after the fermentation really started going it blew the airlock right off the top. Wound up getting berry puree all over the wall! So yea… depending on how much sugar you are starting with in there, you can definately get a big reaction going if you’re not careful.
Great info! Started my batch about two weeks ago, and patience isn’t my highest virtue! I’ve been trying to forget about it though. I went with two limes and dried cherries instead of the orange/raisin combo, hopefully this will be ok.
Quick question, can you explain the racking process with a little more detail? How am I supposed to pour it into a secondary without disturbing the funk on the bottom?
Thanks!
Good luck with the waiting! I know I had issues with it when I first started too. The lime/cherry combo should be fine. I’m thinking the limes might add a little of a lime flavor to it, but it might mellow out by the time it’s ready to drink.
So for the purposes of this mead you don’t necessarily have to rack it if you don’t want to. It’ll be fine aging “sur lie” (on all the “funk” at the bottom). Racking does make the flavor a little cleaner though. Without going to a brew store and actually picking up a racking cane and hose it becomes a little tricky, but there are still ways that we’ve all managed to do it.
A couple ways that I can think of off the top of my head… Coffee filters. Take a couple and then strain the mead from one container to another (make sure the new one is sanitary) through the filters. Might take a couple passes, but usually works pretty well. Cheesecloth works well… just fold it a few times so the holes aren’t that large and then do the same thing as weith the coffee filters. If you’re feeling adventurous you can always just try to pour it from one container from the other without disturbing the “funk” on the bottom. The last way is to stab a hole in the side of the milk jug, right above where is “funk” is. That way it’ll drain all the good stuff and leave all the rest. Be careful with this one though. When I did this recipe and went to rack it one last time I tried this one and I wound up losing a little of the mead. So unless you can get a good hole that isn’t going to dribble everywhere like mine did then the last one works well too.
Overall… good luck with your batch and keep us updated on how it’s coming along! Remember… Patience is key.
[...] and another similar one here: http://scottdavisanderson.com/blog/sustainable-vision/mead-making-101/ [...]
I got impatient and opened my first batch, I have another gallon brewing, but it’s been 4 months. It is absolutely amazing, I highly encourage the cloves and cinnamon, as stated above, don’t over do it with the cloves, but I put about 5-6 in and it came out delicious. I’m looking to start a new batch soon, is there any recipe someone recommends besides the recipe listed on this site?
I’m surprised the cloves weren’t to over-bearing with 5-6 of them in a 1 gallon batch. I would have just probably gone with 1 or 2. But that’s the nice thing with this… to each his (or her) own.
As for more recipes… just search around. GotMead.com and HomeBrewTalk.com both have amazing forums with loads of information and recipes. Just browse through there and find something you like!
Does all the equipment need to be sterilized for this recipe?
And, if so, how would it be done?
Thanks for the recipe, I hope mine comes out well. The only issue I have is that on my first batch I wast paying attention at the store and I working in low light (for the light it burns) so I accidental used grapefruit. They were small for grapefruit. but hay it may tern out well, I keep you posted I have 2 bottles going one ill open in 3 months the other in 6 both started on 08/01/2010. Then tonight(08/09/2010) I started another 2 gallons this, time with oranges.
P.S.
how much should the balloon inflate because its been a little over a week and the balloons stand up but are barley inflated.
P.P.S.
Well i just checked on my second batch, it has started to turn clear, the balloons are inflated and a honey color but my first batch is still foggy, pail, and and the balloons are still not inflating.