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soes anyone have one? I love love love mead but find it hard to get hold of, and when I do find it, it's expensive. so I figure, what's a better way to toast the sabbats than brewing my own mead from local honey and using that?!

but i have no idea how to begin and would really appreciate some help!!!
thaaaanks!!!

Evening Mrs F,

There are 3 recipes in CJJ Berths book. I haven't made it yet but its on my list. I have made some of his other wines and they turned out fine.

If you don't have or can't get the book let me know and I will type out the recipe for you.

If you were to make some drink half of it this christmas and keep the rest till christmas so it will have come into its own by then.

Cheers

Phil

Hi, MKG has some good recipes or if you can get hold of CJBerry first steps in winemaking theres some lovely ones in there too

Not necessarily for mead, I don't. I don't like the stuff. But I did make it a few times, a long time ago, which is how I know I don't like it. So here goes ...

Firstly, mead is temperamental because honey is temperamental - it contains natural bactericides which can sometimes act as yeasticides, too. Sometimes, then, it can be difficult to get a mead fermentation to start - or to continue. However, not always, so it's certainly worth having a go.

You'll need 3 pounds of honey to make a gallon of mead. But first things first - you need to give your yeast every chance to tackle the honey, so make a starter. That's a cupful of tepid water, a squeeze of orange or lemon juice, a heaped teaspoon of sugar and a level teaspoon (or one sachet) of wine yeast (brewers yeast or bakers yeast will NOT do the trick). Mix everything together, making sure the sugar is fully dissolved before sprinkling the yeast on the surface. Cover and leave in a warmish place for 24 hours. Now you have a huge and thriving yeast colony.

Add the honey to a couple or three pints of water in a large pan (warming the jars first in warm water helps the honey run a bit better), stir to dissolve, and bring to the boil - just. Let it go for a couple of minutes and then cover and remove from the heat to cool. You may or may not have some scum on the surface to skim off, but it doesn't matter a lot if you don't do the skimming.

When it's coolish, get it into your demijohn and top up with tepid water to about three-quarters full (REALLY - mead can froth like a world champion frother). Give it a good shake to get some oxygen dissolved (we're still giving that yeast every chance) and, when it's settled down again, add the juice of three oranges (the flavour helps) and a level teaspoon of yeast nutrient (optional, but better). Give it a gentle stir and then add the yeast starter and get an airlock on. Put the demijohn in your warmest place (I wouldn't advise the airing cupboard because of that possible frothing) and pay it a visit every day to check on progress. You may or may not see that frothing. If you do, you know you have a good fermentation. If you don't, you're looking for the famous bubbles through the airlock (which may not appear for three or four days). When any frothing has died down, GENTLY top the demijohn up to the shoulder with tepid water (don't shake or stir), put the airlock back on and then watch telly for a couple of weeks.

No matter what you read, DO NOT attempt to rack the mead before you're sure fermentation has finished. Doing so stands more chance of stopping the fermentation than risking a tainted wine (people get paranoid about this - I never rack anything until fermentation has stopped completely). When you think it's stopped, leave it for another week and THEN rack into another demijohn. Top up to about three-quarters of an inch below the bottom of the bung (you don't want any physical contact there) and leave for as long as you can stand. Or you can drink it immediately, but it will improve steadily for a year. I wouldn't bottle it right away, as mead can burst back into life unexpectedly - especially in spring.

What you'll end up with can be ...

... an extremely dry mead at around 15% ABV. If you get this, you may find you have to sweeten it to make it palatable. Use ordinary sugar syrup to do this, adding a little at a time until it tastes how you want it.

... more likely, a mead with some residual sugar at around 12 or 13 %ABV, which you can drink right out of the demijohn if you like.

There - that's the sum of my mead knowledge. Best of luck.

Mike

Sorry Mike, was going on the great advice you gave me previously for mead.

Can't remember that (where? where?).

But I can remember the mead I did make years ago - I just don't collect mead recipes or try it out any longer as I dislike the taste of unsweetened honey, if you see what I mean.

Mind you, in days of yore when sugar was a dream long in the future, I can see where those Vikings were coming from. After a couple of glasses (sorry, horns - picture a Viking with a little glass in his hand. Nope.), no-one could give a bugger about the taste.

Mike

Mike, you're my hero, thanks so much!!
I'm planning on starting some we can drink this Yule, and having some to drink next summer solstace and probably Yule too.

I LOVE mead. the sweeter the better for me!

Told you he'd know!!!! enjoy your mead, have found several sources locally to buy it...vanilla mead nom nom nom. From what I see you just pop a whole vanilla pod(?) in the bottle leave and enjoy when infused!

You know, I never even considered that with mead. Now I wonder ... a sweet mead infused with chili????

Could be wonderful. Or, equally likely, bloody awful.

Mike

Yep that was wicked a real punch to it. I was at a medieval festival and we tried many flavours

I made some quite a few years ago.

I used 6 jars of honey from the £1 shop.

Added enough water to fill my giant saucepan and boiled it. Then I added tea, lemon juice and yeast.

It never cleared properly, but was quite yummy!