I Wanna Make Some Mead

[Roebag]

I'm going to be making some Mead soon and have never made any. Does anyone have experience/recipes that most folks like?

Thanks

Rob

[robimus]

I took a few whacks at it, some decent and some were not easy to drink. My two best were a sweet strawberry/raspberry or a Saskatoon berry . Made one out of orange, cloves , raisins and bread yeast that was super easy and surprisingly good.
Try storm the castle I think for recipes or there’s a brewers forum on Tapatalk that has a whole section on mead . They are a really good resource for recipes and any questions you might have. Good luck 👍

[robimus]

Home brew talk is the forum.

[Colin_r6]

I have three aging right now!

One with Golden Raspberries and Fireweed Honey (From Nakusp).
One with Tangerines, Cinnamon and Cloves and Clover Honey.
One with Birch Syrup (from the Yukon) and Clover Honey, kind of an Acerglyn-Mead Hybrid.

All made with Lalvin Champagne Yeast.

The first one with the Fireweed Honey is pushing 4 years old. The other two are at about 18 months. The samples i've had so far have been amazing..

[Reeves1]

What is Mead
In essence, mead is defined as yeast-fermented honey water. Now if one should do an imaginative
thing such as add fruit to the honey water, the resulting fermentation is technically called a melomel.
With the addition of grapes, you have a melomel called pyment. Becoming intrigued? Well, hold on,
there's more. A mead infused with herbs and/or spices is called a metheglin. Honey and apple juice
combine to ferment and make cyser. Finally, a spiced pyment (melomel) is called hippocras.
Getting back to simple mead and present-day palates, one is likely to find that haphazardly
fermented honey water is not to one's liking. Traditionally, mead has been and still is a fermented
beverage brewed with the ratio of 1 gallon of water to 2 1/2 -4 pounds of honey, often resulting in a
prolonged fermentation and an intoxicatingly sweet and very enjoyable honey winelike beverage.
As the amount of honey is increased, more of the sugar content of the mead "wort" will not ferment
due to the fact that higher alcohol levels inhibit yeast fermentation.
If you can find commercially made mead, it's likely to be sweet, old and stale, smelling like wet
cardboard or old garbage. Rare is the find of freshly made mead in good "health." But, finding a
commercially made mead in your neighborhood store is improbable. To locate a commercially made
"spiced" or "fruit" mead was impossible up until the early 1990's, when meads began to catch the
fancy of some small breweries and brewpubs. Sometimes you may be fortunate enough to sample some
at a local small brewery. And what a treat it is.
It's another kind of "Relax. Don't worry."

[Reeves1]

Mead, Honeymoons and Love

Who would have thought that the bees, the moon and the magical brews of man could combine to add to the bliss, luster and memories of weddings?
Mead is a beverage of love. The drinking of mead has been held responsible for fertility and the birth of sons. This is where the tradition of the honeymoon got its start. If mead were consumed for one month (one moon) after a wedding, then in nine months a son would be born and the mead maker congratulated. The custom of drinking mead at weddings and for one month after initiated our present-day custom of the honeymoon.
Interestingly, mead drinking developed quite a reputation for its ability to increase the chances of bearing sons. So much so that a special drinking cup, called the Mazer Cup, was handed down from generation to generation. The couple who drank from the cup would bear sons to carry on the family name and increase the male birth rate, important in the days of constant war.
Fact or folly? Scientists have been doing animal experiments and have found they can increase the chances of bearing males by altering the body's pH. It is known that the acidity or alkalinity of the female body during conception can influence the sex of the newborn. Blood sugar levels do alter pH.
Mead is indeed a noble drink. For more than 5,000 years. Virgil, Plato, Plutarch, Zeus, Venus, Jupiter, Odysseus, Circe, the Argonaut, Beowulf, Aphrodite, Bacchus, Odin, Valhalla, the Sanskrit Rig-Veda, Thor, King Arthur, Queen Elizabeth I, the French, Greeks, Mayans, Africans, English, Irish, Swedes, Poles, Hungarians, Germans, present-day homebrewers and even the Australian Aborigines all likened part of their enjoyment of life to mead.
Centuries ago the making of mead was art, regulated by custom and statutes. The brewing of mead was not done by just anyone. Certain individuals were trained and held in the highest esteem for turning honey into the magic of mead.
Today every homebrewer has the know-how to become a dignitary and the maker of mead for those special occasions or for any occasion. The stronger versions keep for years, as does a good marriage.
And as for having sons, you will have to experiment on your own.

[Reeves1]

This book : https://www.amazon.ca/Complete-Joy-H.../dp/0062215752


Cover looks different than mine, which may be a first ed.

[CDN offroader]

My only real advice is be patient, don't even bother drinking it until it is at least a year old. I had a raspberry ginger mead from the book Reeves posted above that was phenomenal after about 2years(that is a good book).

[Reeves1]

Originally Posted by CDN offroader

My only real advice is be patient, don't even bother drinking it until it is at least a year old. I had a raspberry ginger mead from the book Reeves posted above that was phenomenal after about 2years(that is a good book).

Made the same. It was awesome after about 14 months !

Good thing about making your own is you can ferment it right out & have it dry, not sweet like in stores.

[antlercarver]

The word Mead is how you say honey in Ukrainian and some Russian dialects.

[Roebag]

This Friday is the day, as long as I can find some Champagne yeast in Red Deer which should be doable. Gonna try a orange/almond, Christmas spice, and some strawberry

[Etownpaul]

Originally Posted by Roebag

This Friday is the day, as long as I can find some Champagne yeast in Red Deer which should be doable. Gonna try a orange/almond, Christmas spice, and some strawberry

If you can't find it in store, I bought 10 packs of champagne yeast off amazon for $14 last week. I'm making cider from store bought apple juice.