# Recipe for making Mead?



## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

C'mon you Vikings . . . . Anyone have a good recipe for making mead?


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## Tribal Warlord Thug (Jan 27, 2009)

Turtle said:


> C'mon you Vikings . . . . Anyone have a good recipe for making mead?


a good resource for making mead...simple and easy to understand. 
All About Mead Making :beercheer:


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## Sonnyjim (Sep 17, 2009)

Great Link, it certainly is a lot more easier to make than homebrew. Another good resource for recipes is one of this site's sister sites homebrewtalk.com


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## Floridain (Jan 7, 2010)

Joy of Home Brewing (3rd edition)
by Charlie Papazian

This book, also known as the homebrewer's bible, has some mead recipes. It also gives you a history of mead.


To make a traditional mead:

For a five gallon batch, Papazian says to use 15 lbs of light honey. I like orange blossom because I live in Florida, but Papazian says honey made from clover, mesquite, and alfalfa are also good to use. 

His recipe calls for 
5 gallons of water
1 Tbsp gypsum, 
1/4 tsp Irish moss
1 ounce wine yeast

and optionally
4 tsp acid blend, He says it give a subtle fruity character (it is up to you)

1/4 ounce yeast extract
He recommends that you use yeast extract because honey does not have a lot of nutrients for the yeast. He says that when making mead the fermentation process can get "stuck". Basically there is still plenty of sugar for the yeast to ferment, but the yeast stops working.


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## Floridain (Jan 7, 2010)

Sonnyjim said:


> Great Link, it certainly is a lot more easier to make than homebrew. Another good resource for recipes is one of this site's sister sites homebrewtalk.com


It can be very difficult to make a (primal) traditional mead. If you don't boil the honey (and some people don't) you can get different (sometime good and sometimes not desirable) flavors from wild yeast spores inside the honey.

The work involved with making the "wort" is certainly a lot easier because you don't need to boil hops for an hour. But the fermentation process can get a little tricky if your fermentation gets stuck.

Something to keep in mind is that wine yeast tends to likes warmer temperatures than beer yeast (depending on the yeast). Keeping your carboy at the right temperature can help avoid your yeast quitting on you. Some people mistakenly think the yeast has finished fermenting the mead and may bottle too early. This makes the mead sweeter and the alcohol content will be lower.


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## mitchshrader (Jan 3, 2009)

I make my mead on a base of organic apple juice, using top fermenting ale yeast for the first ferment, and champagne yeast for the second (after racking).. 

the racking removes dead yeasts from the first ferment, and makes a cleaner, brighter taste. 

Honey: wildflower is best, orange blossom next.. sweetgum works, and red clover.. alfalfa sometimes is too grassy. 

Basic recipe is 1 gallon water, 4 gallons apple juice, 1 gallon honey, 3 lbs unhopped malt syrup, ale yeast and champagne yeast. Adding two kilos of unsulphured muscat raisins after racking also adds wild yeasts, which provide interesting fruity overtones. Rack @ 11-12 days, add raisens and water & champagne yeast, ferment another 10 days (about), re-rack, & transfer @ room temp into flip-top bottles, age 1 month room temp and 4 months cellar. abv16% approx.


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