Mead recipe needed

[Spike101uk]

So I'm looking to make a plain mead and looking for a foolproof recipe and basic instructions. Cheers

 

[Druss]

2 (454g) jars of clear honey
2 (2 litre) bottles of cheapo spring water
1 tablespoon of mixed dried fruit/raisins/sultanas etc
1 teaspoon all purpose bread yeast

Boil about a litre of water in a kettle, add both jars of honey into a big saucepan, pour the freshly boiled water into the saucepan with the honey (be careful as it tends to splash) and a little into each of the jars (slowly, until about half full) to get the remainder of the honey. Stir it all until fully homogenised.

Meanwhile, put the remaining one and a half bottles of water into a sterilised one gallon demi john, add the dried fruit.

Now add the honey/water mixture, again going pretty slowly so as not to temperature shock your demi john, it should fill up to just below the neck. Take a gravity reading at this point if you want, it should be around 1056.

Add the teaspoon of bread yeast and give it a good shake then fit the airlock and put it somewhere warm-ish, it should take about three to four weeks depending on how sweet you'd like it, I usually stop mine when the gravity reading hits 1010.

When it's at the right level of dryness/sweetness for you, get a large sterilised stockpot (it should hold more than a gallon) and (slowly) pour the mead straight through a sieve (to catch the fruit bits) into it, heat until it hits 75c, stirring (gently, so as not to oxidise) all the while to de-gas, but no higher as it will start to burn off the alcohol. This will be enough to kill the yeast and stabilise the mead.

Allow it to sit at 75c for about ten minutes then cool as quickly as possible, I usually float the stockpot in a sink full of cold water until it hits about 18c, then carefully pour into sterilized bottles.

This recipe is something I've developed over many years of mead brewing and it goes against common practice enough to be frowned upon by many purists, but the results have been phenomenal! I have used many different yeasts but I find bread yeast works quickly and gives a nice clean flavour. It should be good to drink anytime from a couple of weeks in the bottles but, like all mead, will improve drastically with age.

The final mead will be about 6.1% ABV, you can easily add another jar of honey initially if you want a higher final gravity and it should work no problem, I only brew it to that strength as I prefer to drink it by the pint (Skyrim style ).

 

[BrewMeHappy]

2 (454g) jars of clear honey
2 (2 litre) bottles of cheapo spring water
1 tablespoon of mixed dried fruit/raisins/sultanas etc
1 teaspoon all purpose bread yeast

Boil about a litre of water in a kettle, add both jars of honey into a big saucepan, pour the freshly boiled water into the saucepan with the honey (be careful as it tends to splash) and a little into each of the jars (slowly, until about half full) to get the remainder of the honey. Stir it all until fully homogenised.

Meanwhile, put the remaining one and a half bottles of water into a sterilised one gallon demi john, add the dried fruit.

Now add the honey/water mixture, again going pretty slowly so as not to temperature shock your demi john, it should fill up to just below the neck. Take a gravity reading at this point if you want, it should be around 1056.

Add the teaspoon of bread yeast and give it a good shake then fit the airlock and put it somewhere warm-ish, it should take about three to four weeks depending on how sweet you'd like it, I usually stop mine when the gravity reading hits 1010.

When it's at the right level of dryness/sweetness for you, get a large sterilised stockpot (it should hold more than a gallon) and (slowly) pour the mead straight through a sieve (to catch the fruit bits) into it, heat until it hits 75c, stirring (gently, so as not to oxidise) all the while to de-gas, but no higher as it will start to burn off the alcohol. This will be enough to kill the yeast and stabilise the mead.

Allow it to sit at 75c for about ten minutes then cool as quickly as possible, I usually float the stockpot in a sink full of cold water until it hits about 18c, then carefully pour into sterilized bottles.

This recipe is something I've developed over many years of mead brewing and it goes against common practice enough to be frowned upon by many purists, but the results have been phenomenal! I have used many different yeasts but I find bread yeast works quickly and gives a nice clean flavour. It should be good to drink anytime from a couple of weeks in the bottles but, like all mead, will improve drastically with age.

The final mead will be about 6.1% ABV, you can easily add another jar of honey initially if you want a higher final gravity and it should work no problem, I only brew it to that strength as I prefer to drink it by the pint (Skyrim style ).

I like that and am going to give it a go

Thanks for sharing.

 

[DocAnna]

Sharing my various bookmarks I keep on Mead which may help:

Recipes:
Simple Mead Recipes
Great reference site from basics, How to Make Mead at Home - winning-homebrew.com
...to more detail- this is a link to activated starters
https://experimeads.com/2018/03/26/making-a-mead-activation-starter/Brilliant blog on recipes for mead
http://madalchemead.com/category/mead-recipes/
Lastly the exceptional and remarkable Meadmakr tool box which I've used to calculate more complex schedules for nutrient addtions:
https://www.meadmakr.com/the-meadmakrs-toolbox/
Spice quantities reference for Mead:
http://madalchemead.com/quantity-spice-mead-chart/
Anna

 

[LED_ZEP]

Just remember that honey is low in nutrients for the yeast so there needs to be some in whatever recipe you decide on.
In @Druss 's recipe the dried fruit serves this purpose. I tend to add a little lemon juice or citric acid as another form of nutrient and to make the environment a little more acidic for the yeast where needed.

 

[ColinF]

The final mead will be about 6.1% ABV, you can easily add another jar of honey initially if you want a higher final gravity and it should work no problem, I only brew it to that strength as I prefer to drink it by the pint (Skyrim style ).

I haven't actually got around to my Supermarket Juice Wine making yet, but mead by the pint is sounding very tempting

 

[ColinF]

Does it need to be Bread yeast or will Youngs Super Wine Yeast do ?

Could you use wine stabiliser instead of heating in a pan ?

First time I've noticed the use of bottled water. What's the reason for that ? And should I be using it for wine too ?

Cheers

Colin

 

[Tavi-brewer]

Hi
I love mead and have made it for years in varying forms. It’s mother nature’s gift!
For the yeast Lalvin D47 or Mangrove Jack M05 are preferred to retain the complexity of the honey but bread yeast will work. But remember it’s ‘bread’ yeast for bread and you get a wispy thin annoying yeast cake that can take an age to rack and clear. Honey by nature is a preservative so for me just keep it as it is. The thought of heating the honey I find is counterproductive as most of the flavour and delicate notes disappear or vaporise. The delicate proteins and sugars are broken up changing its make up. That said, that may be what you want so who am I
Some advocate bottled water because not all tap waters are the same. Some are tainted, chlorinated or gassy due to high pressure. My tap water in Devon is lovely so never needed to but other areas differ.
There is so much great info on this forum so good luck sorting what works for you

 

[johncrobinson]

2yrs ago i did a mead with bread yeast. As an experiment.
Waste of time the result was far inferior in taste compared to wine yeast

And as for sediment well even the cat walking past could kick it up.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

There is an old saying about bread yeast and home brew -



Leave it on the supermarket shelf

 

[obscure]

2 (454g) jars of clear honey
2 (2 litre) bottles of cheapo spring water
1 tablespoon of mixed dried fruit/raisins/sultanas etc
1 teaspoon all purpose bread yeast

Boil about a litre of water in a kettle, add both jars of honey into a big saucepan, pour the freshly boiled water into the saucepan with the honey (be careful as it tends to splash) and a little into each of the jars (slowly, until about half full) to get the remainder of the honey. Stir it all until fully homogenised.

Meanwhile, put the remaining one and a half bottles of water into a sterilised one gallon demi john, add the dried fruit.

Now add the honey/water mixture, again going pretty slowly so as not to temperature shock your demi john, it should fill up to just below the neck. Take a gravity reading at this point if you want, it should be around 1056.

Add the teaspoon of bread yeast and give it a good shake then fit the airlock and put it somewhere warm-ish, it should take about three to four weeks depending on how sweet you'd like it, I usually stop mine when the gravity reading hits 1010.

When it's at the right level of dryness/sweetness for you, get a large sterilised stockpot (it should hold more than a gallon) and (slowly) pour the mead straight through a sieve (to catch the fruit bits) into it, heat until it hits 75c, stirring (gently, so as not to oxidise) all the while to de-gas, but no higher as it will start to burn off the alcohol. This will be enough to kill the yeast and stabilise the mead.

Allow it to sit at 75c for about ten minutes then cool as quickly as possible, I usually float the stockpot in a sink full of cold water until it hits about 18c, then carefully pour into sterilized bottles.

This recipe is something I've developed over many years of mead brewing and it goes against common practice enough to be frowned upon by many purists, but the results have been phenomenal! I have used many different yeasts but I find bread yeast works quickly and gives a nice clean flavour. It should be good to drink anytime from a couple of weeks in the bottles but, like all mead, will improve drastically with age.

The final mead will be about 6.1% ABV, you can easily add another jar of honey initially if you want a higher final gravity and it should work no problem, I only brew it to that strength as I prefer to drink it by the pint (Skyrim style ).

This sounds interesting I assume you could use a stabiliser rather than heating to halt the fermentation (although admittedly I‘m not a huge fan of using them seems to go against the ethos of mead to use them).


I only make mead on occasion and what I make I think the term would be sack mead. I use champagne yeast and make up to a gravity of about 1.113 (about 1.5KG of honey to a gallon) and just let it ferment out until it’s done, my most recent batch came to .999 about 15%. Should add I also include a tea spoon of yeast nutriant.

This makes for a very dry very strong mead and it needs a couple of years to condition it’s not for everyone, but if you are happy to brew bottle and forget may be worth a try,