Let's Make Some Mead

Let's Make Some Mead

I love mead, a lot.  About eight years ago, I learned how to make it.

Be warned, some of my methods are divergent from conventional mead making wisdom and practices.

I make mead one gallon at a time.  I like doing it this way, and it works out well for me.

My Philosophy: I'm trying to make mead that is "like" the mead the ancient people would have made and consumed.

My beliefs about mead-making in the ancient times:

I believe the primary purpose for mead in the ancient times was twofold: to create the alcohol needed to add to the water that they were consuming to kill all of the things living in that water that would make people sick / die-- think Dysentery.  (I believe they had no idea why this worked, but they were observant and figured out that something about adding alcohol to water worked.  They weren't dumb). Getting a buzz, or drunk is a pleasant social thing to be sure, but not dying is a necessity.

Some General Notes On My Mead Making Process: 

My Equipment:  I use commonly available equipment for my mead-making.  I use a large glass pickle jar for my primary fermentation vessel.  I use one gallon glass cider jugs for my carboys.  Clear surgical tubing is used for transferring the mead from vessel to vessel.  I bought two rubber stoppers and two fermentation locks (bubblers) from Amazon-- all of which was less than $10.  I also bought a corking device and corks for long-term bottling.  I do have my special mead-stirring wooden spoon, but it's really just a wooden spoon that I only use when mead-making-- don't judge me.

My Workspace:  I do all of my work in my kitchen.  It has everything I need-- water, sink, dishwasher, stove, tools, etc... in easy reach.  On the upper wall of my kitchen I built a heavy-duty shelf-- it holds a lot of liquids which weigh about two pounds per quart.  This shelf is up out of the way of the day-to-day life of the kitchen space in family life.

On Cleaning & Sanitation:  Clean everything at every step.  I use really hot water and an all purpose cleaner with bleach in it.  You have to get rid of every trace of the bleach used during this step because bleach will kill your yeast.  Thorough rinsing, and even 24 hours of drying time is perfect.  I don't often wait the 24 hours.

On The Water:  Modern tap water has chemicals in it designed to make it safe, and good for us-- chlorine, fluoride, etc....  The presence of chlorine is bad for the mead-making process because it kills things that want to live in the water-- our yeast.  Removing the chlorine is easy.  You can boil it for a few minutes to make the chlorine evaporate-- it's the first thing that goes actually.  I like to just pour water from the tap into my pickle jar and carboy, and put them up on the shelf for 24+ hours.  This also makes the chlorine evaporate.  At this point your water is ready to use.

On Honey:  This is the expensive part of the process.  In 2023, the 2-3 pounds of honey needed to make a gallon of mead costs $13+. In the area where I live, there are several honey farming businesses.  I really prefer to buy their honey because it is made from the plants in the local area.  I believe locally farmed honey helps keep my physiology and allergies in tune with the air and elements that I am exposed to on a daily basis.  Plus, it supports the local economy.  Now, down from my soap box, I'll use any honey I can get, or have at hand.  My local super market has a brand that I like, which comes from elsewhere in my state, Colorado.  There is a lot of discussion about this among mead makers, but mostly, I am a tightwad.

On Recovering Hardened Honey: Honey is a truly miraculous substance.  When you have it for a long time, it seems to dry out and harden.  In truth it has not dried out, but rather, has crystalized.  Bringing it back to its liquid form is simply a matter of heating it up-- slowly and not too hot.  I put it in a double boiling situation using a saucepan and water on the stove.  Within 30-45 minutes it becomes just like "new."  Interestingly, some 3000 year old honey was recently found in a burial tomb in Egypt.  It was in a clay pot, and was hard as a rock.  The scientists placed the honey into a double boiler, and within hours it returned to free-flowing consistency.  No one dared to consume it because they had no idea what organisms it potentially contained.

On The Critters (Yeast): This is the interesting part for me.  The yeast are the workers that make the magic happen.  They eat the sugars in the mixture, and excrete the alcohol-- a process that kills them.

When I first began mead making, I "farmed" my own yeast by creating a "Ginger Bug."  This process involved going to the local organic food store, and buying a 'natural' ginger root that had not been irradiated.  In the USA, ginger root is de-germed by irradiating it-- who knew. I took it home, and without washing it, grated it into a couple of cups of de-chlorinated sugar water.  The sugar water had as much sugar in it as I could get to dissolve.  For the next seven days, I stirred the "Ginger Bug" twice a day.  After a few days, I noticed that the water foamed up after stirring.  After a week, the water was foamy all the time.  The foam told me that the sugar was being gobbled up by the yeast carried in the ginger root, and alcohol was happening. I used about 1/4 cup of Ginger Bug as the yeast source in my very first batch of mead.  In each successive batch of mead, I used 1/4 cup of the previous mead, with still-active yeast, to get the new batch started.

During the Great COVID Plague all of my in-person socializing was completely shut down.  With no socializing, I stopped making mead and my ongoing yeast colony died.  So, nowadays, I use a commercially manufactured wine-makers yeast for my meads-- D47.  When I'm making one batch after another, I still use 1/4 cup of the previous batch to start the new batch.

On The Fruit: Fruit is a necessity as far as I'm concerned.  It adds flavor, and some acidity to the mead.  Whatever fruit I choose for a batch of mead, roughly a cup of fruit is used in a gallon of mead.  I have used fresh and frozen fruit, and both have worked great.  Whatever you choose, slice it thinly, or smash it to maximize the rate that its juices blend with the honey.  

I have used lots of different fruit in my mead over the years:

• Raisins: Drop 10-15 of these little guys a every batch.  I don't know why, but every mead recipe I've ever read calls for them, so whatever...
• Apples: My favorite by far.  Rarely do I make a batch without at least 1/2 of a thinly sliced apple.  Often I use a whole apple.
• Oranges:  Nice flavor.  I typically put in about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of OJ in a batch.
• Pineapple: One of my favorite flavors.  I'll open a can of "pineapple in natural juices", and put in about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of the "natural juices."  I never use this and OJ together because that's a lot of acid.
• Pears: Use in place of apples.
• Peaches: Use in place of apples.

On The Spices & Other Flavors: These are added just to add flavor, and complexity.

• Cinnamon: I pretty much always use about 1/2 teaspoon.  It blends well with my favorite fruits, just tastes right to me.
• Cloves:  Very strong flavor.  Use sparingly.
• Hibiscus Leaves: I've used these a bunch because my favorite commercial mead has them.  They turn the mead very red, and add a nice flavor to the batch.
• Hops: I've never used them, but many commercial meads these days do.

On Storing & Aging: When I bottle it, I always put some masking tape on the bottle with the date of bottling.  I store it in my basement, under the stairs.  It sits there undisturbed for as long as I want it to age.  The longer it sits and ages, the more the flavors blend and mellow.  Even a harsh tasting mead, at the time of its bottling, tastes better with time.

On When To Serve-- WARNING: Controversy Ahead!

I believe there were two types of mead in ancient times: Short Meads, and Aged Meads.

• Aged Meads: The process to achieve these meads is simple to describe: Make the mead, bottle it, put it away for 2+ years.  They are smooth and mellow.  They are the best, and no one questions it.
• Short Meads: When you need/want to have the mead as soon as possible, you don't spend months making it, then bottle it, and put it away for a few years-- you make it this week, and drink it next week.  For years, this has been my primary method for making and consuming mead.  I have often referred to these meads as Viking Kool-aid.  I believe this type of mead was by far the most common in ancient times out of sheer necessity.  Short meads don't taste very good-- especially when compared to Aged Meads.  They are often quite bitter.  Would ancient people just have consumed these and just sucked it up with no regard to taste?  I don't think so.  
• And The Controversy...: There is a process in modern times referred to decanting.  You put the beverage in a pitcher, and mix things into it to make it taste better.  This is the process that I have used with my Short Meads for years.
• The Decanting Process: Put the Short Mead in a pitcher, bottle, whatever.  Add some more honey, fruit juice, and/or spices until it tastes good.  Consume.  WARNING-- if you add more honey or sugars, the yeast will wake back up, and get super excited.  So, don't leave it in a sealed bottle for long or the pressure may overwhelm it.

My Process As It Has Become: 

STEP ONE: In the primary fermentation vessel-- the big pickle jar-- add the following: 

• Fill 1/2 the jar with non-chlorinated water
• 2-3 pounds of honey
• Add fruit and flavors
• 1/4 cup of previous batch of mead OR 1/2 package D47 yeast
• Add more non-chlorinated water to bring the batch up to about an inch below the threads on the pickle jar

STEP TWO: Stir A LOT!!!  You want it thoroughly blended, and the honey dissolved.

STEP THREE: Put it somewhere warm.  

STEP FOUR: Take it out twice per day, and stir it a lot.  After a couple days, you'll notice it foaming after you stir it-- this is what you want-- it's fermenting.

STEP FIVE: After about a week, it's time to transfer it from the pickle jar to a cider jug for long term fermenting.  Use the surgical tubing, and gravity to siphon the mead from the pickle jar to a cider jug.  Be VERY careful to not put the tubing into the sludge at the bottom of the pickle jar.  The goal here is to transfer the mead only.  Try not to transfer any of the fruit solids, or the dead yeast sludge at the bottom of the pickle jar.  It won't really hurt if any of the sludge transfers, but clear amber mead sure looks good.

STEP SIX: Once you have transferred it to the cider jug, add more de-chlorinated water to bring the level up to a couple inches below the rim and shake it up.  Then, jam in the rubber stopper and the fermentation lock (bubbler).  Put the cider jug away, and ignore it completely for the next 2-5 weeks.  You will notice the fermentation lock begin bubbling pretty quickly after a day or two.  Over time, it will slow down.  When it's pretty much down to one bubble every hour or so, it's ready to bottle.  The longer it bubbles, the more booze your workers have produced.

STEP SEVEN: Use the siphone method to transfer it to the bottles.  Again, avoid transferring any solids, or the dead yeast sludge at the bottom of the cider jug.

STEP EIGHT: Put it away somewhere cool and dark.