Mead Recipe - or two...

A mead recipe is traditionally honey and water and yeast fermented and bottled. I have seen a lot of recipes for mead that are really melomel or metheglyn. But that is okay... it is so fun to experiment and whatever you want to call your creation is fine with me!

Here are a couple of mead recipes that I have in my box. I am not sure where they came from but I will share them with you.

If you have a recipe you want to share feel free to contact me.

Traditional Mead Recipe

2 1/2 pounds Honey

7 pints of Water

3 tsp Malic Acid

1 1/2 tsp Tartaric Acid

1/4 tsp Tannin

1/4 tsp Energizer

1 crushed Campden tablet

1 pkg of Champagne yeast

(If you want a sweeter mead then increase honey to 3 1/4 pounds)

In your primary fermenter add your honey to 1/2 gallon of warm water with your acid and tannin added. Stir until your honey is dissolved. Add remaining water and ingredients except for your yeast.

Cover your fermenter and wait until your S.G. reaches 1.040. This will take a week or so.

Rack your wine off of the sediment (syphon into your secondary fermenter) and attach your airlock.

When your S.G. has reached 1.000 then your fermenting is done. This will take about a month or so.

Rack your wine again, reattach your airlock and let it set for another month or 2.

Keep reracking your mead until it is clear. Usually 3 rackings is good.

Now... go ahead and bottle... You will want to let your mead age for at least 1 year... 2 is better and 3 is best.

Mead Made With Maple Syrup

8 qts maple syrup (bulk grade B dark) 5 tsp yeast nutrient

Champagne yeast

Hydrate the yeast in a separate bowl of lukewarm water that you have added a pinch of yeast nutrient and a teaspoon of syrup to.

Mix the maple syrup with two gallons hot water in your primary fermenter and stir until your syrup is dissolved.

Then add three gallons minus two cups of cool water and stir some more to mix and oxygenate the water.

Check the specific gravity (S.G.) to ensure it is at least 1.105 (15% potential alcohol). Add more syrup if the desired S.G. was not reached.

Add the yeast and remaining yeast nutrient.

Cover and ferment for 7 days.

Rack your mead into your secondary fermenter or carboy and add your airlock.

Your S.G. should reach 1.000 in about 30 days.

Rack your mead into a clean secondary and then let your mead age until it clears. This will take 2 - 3 months.

Volume will decrease as the syrup is fermented. Rack into a 6-gallon carboy, top up, and reattach airlock.

Wait 30 days and taste. If it is too dry, stabilize and add another cup of syrup, stir, and taste again.

Wait 10 days. If no sediments form, rack into bottles.

If sediments form, wait another 30 days and rack again.

If sediment-free for 30 days, go ahead and bottle.

Let your mead age 1-3 years... 3 years being best

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