When it comes to mead, is there such a thing as 'too simple'?

[Druss]

There seems to be a lot of stigma in the brewing community over 'rushing' mead. I've been a home brewer for about 25 years, an avid mead brewer for the last six or so years, I pretty much stumbled upon this approach a few years back after several mediocre attempts using the traditional process and now it's all I do!

I wanted to do it all quicker, simpler and most importantly, with all natural ingredients.
I know this is going to be pretty divisive and I can hear the more 'by the book' brewers gnashing their teeth over it now.

If you use just 2lbs of clear honey, supermarket's own yields good results (in my experience, it's best to homogenise it in freshly boiled water), four litres of bottled water (I use the cheapest supermarket spring water), a tablespoon of mixed dried fruit and a teaspoon of bread yeast and when it hits a specific gravity of about 1010 (my personal preference, drier or sweeter is fine...I know that only makes it about 6.1℅ ABV but I like to drink it ice cold and by the tankard, Skyrim style) heat it to 70°C to halt the fermentation, rapidly cool in a sink full of cold water then bottle and wait about two weeks (a month is better, but after about a fortnight it will be great!) for it to settle, the results will be phenomenal and that approach is SO cheap and easy.

 

[obscure]

If it works I would be very tempted to try this method myself. I’m not a fan of using additives to stop fermentation early which tends to make my mead very dry so heat treating to end fermentation would be very tempting if it works, and produces something decent.

 

[Druss]

If it works I would be very tempted to try this method myself. I’m not a fan of using additives to stop fermentation early which tends to make my mead very dry so heat treating to end fermentation would be very tempting if it works, and produces something decent.

I've been doing it that way for about five years and I've had near perfect results every time, I have my 33rd & 34th batches brewing right now, at less than £3 per gallon it can't be beaten, it's really made me an insufferable 'mead person'

 

[DrRenart]

I made some mead last 2 years and found my batches far too sharp after few weeks ... It wasn’t the most enjoyable experiment ... So last year I was about to drop all my bottles in the sink. Then I tried one. Wonderful. Prosecco or Champagne like (was fizzy). After one year ageing.

Now I have to say I’m really on the side of ageing everything ... can you give more details about your ingredients ? I’m very interested to speed up the process /-)

 

[Druss]

Now I have to say I’m really on the side of ageing everything ... can you give more details about your ingredients ? I’m very interested to speed up the process /-)

It can be a little sharp in the early days, I find it heavily depends on the honey, even consistently using the same one from the same supplier can differ drastically in the finished product.

I do have several bottles that are a few years old and when I've tasted them the difference is obvious, much smoother and more rounded, but I think it's really just a case of trying different honeys to find one to your personal taste.

I tend to alternate between three different supermarket brands (Asda, Morrisons and Tesco...I did use the value stuff once...safe to say the resulting mead wasn't particularly pleasant) and although it took quite a bit of trial and error, I can usually tell nowadays from a quick spoonful, which one will make the best mead.

As with most recipes, the better the basic ingredients are the better the final result will be, at the moment I'm using honey, bottled spring water (value) and dried mixed fruit from Tesco with about a teaspoon per gallon of Allinson bread yeast. Just bottled a batch a couple of days ago and the little sample I had from that was very promising.

 

[stan.distortion]

A friend found a couple of bottles of mead he made 3 years ago, real basic stuff, 3 jars of the cheapest honey on the supermarket shelf and an orange (ok, not mead...) and it was frickin gorgeous. I hadn't made mead because everything I'd tried before that was vile but i'd got a batch going in a demijohn 2 days after. Same with all the rhubarb wine I've made in the past, I'd sooner drink listerien when it's young but after a year it's pretty good. That was all really basic stuff, if I'd followed someone's recipe who's been there before and tweaked with raisins, lemons etc. I've no doubt it would be pretty damn good a hell of a lot sooner but time heals all.