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- Mead Brewing

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Mead Brewing Basics...

Making mead is actually one of the easiest brewing projects one can do. Here is a great description of how it's done by Rachel Watkins, moderator of the "Asatru" Yahoo group...

Heilsa All,

I've noticed a few comments now and then about mead being hard to come by in some areas, so now it's probably time for some intro on making your own homebrew mead. Ours usually comes out much better by far than the awful Chausers in the wine and loquor stores.

So, where to start on mead making. In our house, we keep it fairly simple, no additives, chemicals, or other products to speed up fermentation, clear the mead, change acidity or anything like that (I know some very experienced brewers who use many different things, but as I'm satisfied with how my mead comes out I don't plan on changing my methods).

Basic Supplies you'll need.
Two carboys of equal size. 5 gallon is standard, but they can also be found in 1 gallon, 3 gallon, 7 gallon, and 16 gallon (huge and expensive) varieties.

An airlock. This is a simple mechanism which keeps air from entering the carboy, and allows the CO2 to escape.

Racking cane. During the brewing process, you'll need to 'rack' the mead into another carboy two to four times depending on how it's going.

Bottles and corks. Or, one-gallon glass jugs with screw-on caps.


Ingredients you'll need for basic mead:
Honey (15lbs (very dry) to 25 lbs (sweet mead) for a 5-gallon batch) Water (however much it takes to fill the carboy, it's best to use a good bottled or filtered water) Yeast (I prefer sweet wine yeast, but there are also dry wine, sherry, champaign, and other yeasts avalible).

(yep, that's it)

Step one. Get a large stock pot, put about a gallon of water in it. Heat it to boiling then remove from the heat while you slowly stir in the honey(removing from the heat is to keep the honey from scorching when it hits the bottom of the pan) Return to the burner and simmer. There will be a bunch of gunk that rises to the top, skim this off as it comes up(this gets messy) and keep going until no more scum surfaces.

Step two. Let your "must"(this is the stuff you've just made) cool so it won't crack the carboy, then use a funnel to pour this into the carboy. Fill the carboy up the rest of the way with filtered/distelled/or bottled water.

Step three. Add flavorings if desired such as cinamon, nutmeg and cloves for a spiced mead, or pour in some cans of apple juice concentrate to make cyser (this is usually how I do it) adding about 12 cans of apple juice concentrate.

Step Four(can be optional). Use a Hydrometer to measure the specific gravity or potential alcohol percentage and write that potential alcohol percentage down and tape it to the carboy(when it's done brewing, you'll be able to find the exact alcohol percentage by again measuring the potential alcohol percentage and the difference between the numbers is the actual alcohol percentage.

Step Five. Add the Yeast when the must reaches room temprature. Twirl the carboy just a bit to mix the yeast and give it a good start, then cap on the airlock(with the water in the airlock) and put it away.

About every two to three months you'll need to re-rack to a clean carboy so the mead doesn't sit on the dead yeast sediment in the bottom too long. This will cause a sour taste. Mead can take six months to a year to be drinkable. You should let it age in bottles longer than that to develop a smooth flavor. It's done brewing when the airlock no longer bubbles even when shaken. After this point you can bottle the mead.

Hope this gets some mead going for those who haven't brewed before across heathenry. You can make all sorts of variations using various fruit juices instead of, or as well as, water(some friends of mine make Prickly Pear mead every year which turns out great).

In Frith,
Rachel Watkins

My First Mead

November 12, 2003

Yay! I finally got my first-ever batch of mead set up this Tuesday, November 11. If it works out to have a good flavor, I will christen it my "Einherjar Brew" ;-)
I did it over at the house of an SCA friend who has been brewing for about a year or so now. The recipe was a simple one...

About 12lbs of raw clover honey
About 4lbs of raw wildflower honey
Balance of filtered water (about 4 gallons) to fill a 5-gallon carboy
Cooper's Brand Dry Ale Yeast - 7 grams

The carboy was a gift to me from another friend. I had purchased my own funnel, air lock and cork, a long-handled plastic stirring spoon and the yeast at a hobby shop (the spoon and funnel are life-savers). My honey came from a local Menonite farm store and was about $2.30 per lb. My friend donated the remaining wildflower honey because he wanted to make sure I had the right honey/water ratio for a medium-sweet mead. This is important since we don't know exactly how vigorous the yeast I got will be. Now, I know this counts as "dry" according to Rachel's guidelines, but I have heard different ratios from different brewers and my friend seems to think 15 lbs is adequate. Like I said, it really depends on the yeast. Anyway if I get a dry mead, that's ok too.

Assembling the mead was really simple. We basically just set a steel pot on the stove and filled it with some water and set the heat on medium-low. We stirred in the honey until we had dissolved it all. Getting the last bits of honey out of the jars was a challenge and we ended up using some warm water as well as a large spatula. My yeast was a dry powder, so we made a starter of honey and water in a mug and let it revitalize for an hour or more as we worked.

Based on a SCA brewing class I had taken, I decided I did not want to boil my honey or even pasteurize it if avoidable. The reason being that these processes destroy the aromatics and also cause the honey to loose some nutrients the yeast will use. We did some token scumming of the honey as we went, but I expect the balance of the impurities to settle out in the carboy or in the bottles. Fine by me, even though it may mean I have a long wait till I have a clear product.

The first mistake we made was that we decided to eat some pizza while the airlock parts were being sterilized in a pot of boiling water. Ooops. They weren't warped quite enough to qualify as modern art. Luckily, my buddy has several extras.

Second was that one thing my friend likes to do is to nuke his water to make double-sure he has killed off anything living in it (may or may not be necessary since the water is filtered anyway). I saw no problem with this. However, it meant that our final mix in the carboy was pretty warm. I guess you usually add some cool water to the carboy first so that when the honey mix is added from the stove it gets cooled down. Well, a temperature reading of our finished carboy read about 100F. This was at around 10:30 pm and my wife and I really had to get home. Thus, I ended up taking the warm carboy home with its airlock in place and my yeast mix in a coffee mug. Annoying. I left the carboy on the porch for at least a half hour till it seemed to have come down to 80 degrees or less - safe temp for most yeasts. Then I added my starter and went to bed. In the morning, I had happy bubbles and a swirling that night produced a really cool eruption of gas. Looks like I am on my way.

Tomorrow I will swirl it once more. I am told that the yeast likes some oxygen at first to get going, but that you want to avoid adding air after that (oxidization is how vinegar forms). Swirling the must for a couple of days after assembling seems to be a safe bet. Then, just let it sit undisturbed and check the air lock once a week to make sure there is still water in it and happy bubbles.

I gather initial fermentation will take at minimum two weeks. I plan to keep the must in its carboy as long as possible. I may take a hydrometer reading after the initial ferment seems to have stopped (we took one at assembly time - 1.142 gravity). I don't want to rack it off until it looks like a good deal of sediment has settled out. I could be tempted to add some fruit when I rack, but it is probably wiser to keep this as a "straight mead" so I have a base line to which I can compare future projects. Anyway, I will play all this by ear and count on my friends to advise me as I go. Stay tuned!

February 9th, 2004 - 1st Mead Racked Off

Well, I racked off my mead yesterday and the results seem good! Fermentation had ended sometime around Yule, longer than I had expected. I had been a little nervous that I was letting the mead sit on the sediment too long and that this would affect my flavor. On the other hand, it took until now to have the major sediment really flat on the bottom of the carbouy.

I used a siphon and hose to rack off. The hose wasn't quite long enough to reach the bottom of the carbouy at first, so I had some splashing. I am hoping I avoided oxidization anyway. Time will tell. I lost about a pint and a half to sediment - this was the inch or so at the bottom of the carbouy that the siphon is designed _not_ to pick up. I poured the dregs into a couple of pint glasses and let them settle a bit. They tasted pretty good, despite the yeast and all. Taking a bit from the racked product itself confirmed that the taste is good; light, not too strong or too sweet. Seems I have succeeded in making a "medium" mead which is what I wanted. Color is pale and the product will have to sit a long time before it clarifies. This is because I used raw honey and did not boil. No worries. The advantage of using the raw and not boiling is clear - the aroma is very nice. Alcohol content seems good too - I got some halfway decent "legs" in the glass (those little rivulets of liquid that appear after swirling the mead) and you can certainly feel some warmth as the mead goes down your throat. My brewing buddy's hydrometer will tell us the real truth, however. If it isn't high, I'm not worried. Like I said, it does seem to have some kick to it, but it is overall very smooth and easy to drink (unlike some of my cordials!).

I am going to let it sit in the new carbouy a while and see if it clarifies. Maybe taste it again every so often to test. Not sure when I'll bottle, but I think it would be around May Day at the latest.

I am already thinking about my next project! I think I'll keep this batch as a "control" and start a new carbouy. I'll either make this mead again and then flavor it with fruit after the first racking, or I'll try making some "Queen Elizabeth's Mead" which is a super recipe.

But in the mean time, Hail Odin and Hail Sig for Brewers!