BrewHaHa

Mead

Mead!, that nectar of the gods, the Sumerians drank it,the Egyptians drank it, the Druids drank it.

(runnin' nekkid through the wuids,
drinkin strange fermented fluids,
it was good enough for the druids,
an' it's good enough for me.)

Passed along from one era to the next, the secret of turning honey into a heady brew is one of the great mysteries of life. ..

Actually, brewing mead is about as simple a process you can get. Heat some water, add some honey, pitch in some yeast, wait a year, and drink. OK, maybe not _that_ simple, but for some more complete instructions to making your own mead, try these.

I must stress that mead, like a good brandy, can take a while to mature. It is not uncommon for meads to be aged several years, and longer for some varieties.

Mead is simply honey, water and yeast. There are vaiations on the honey theme. There is Cyser, which is honey and cider. Melomel, which is mead with some other fruits. Metheglin, which is a spiced mead. There are others, but this is a good start.

For those of you who desire a quick 1 step lesson for the making of mead. Here's the simplest recipe I know. This makes 1 gallon, scale up for larger quanitities.

Cleanliness is the main concern, wash all utensils and containers well in a weak bleach solution, then air dry. Wash your hands thouroughly, and avoid touching the utensils or containers except when neccessary.

Ingredients

1 lb Honey, filtered
1 gallon Clean filtered water
1 pack of mead yeast, or if unavailable, use champagne yeast

Equipment

1 gallon jug with mouth about 1"-2" dia,
Stopper for above. (Rubber)
Fermentation lock, or length of plastic tube approx 2-3ft long, about 3/8" inner dia.

Warm the Honey and some of the water (about 1 qt) in a pot, bring it close to a boil, but don't boil it. Stir, until all the honey is dissolved in the water. Now let it cool to about 70deg F (you can stick it in the fridge to speed this up if you wish. add the yeast to the mix, (this is called pitching the yeast. ) and pour into the 1 gal jug, add enough water to bring the level up enough to allow an air gap after the fermentation lock is installed. An inch or so is al that is needed. Add the fermentation lock (after putting a little of the clean water in the lock to allow it to work). Now, wait a week or three, until the bubbles from the fermentation process slow down to about 1 per second. At this point, you can bottle the mead. Now all you have to do is wait at least 6 months, or more, Then enjoy.

Last modified: Wed Jul 7 07:48:31 PDT 1999