• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Gonna Make Me Some Mead

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Loyalist Dave

Cannon
Staff member
Moderator
MLF Supporter
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Messages
15,978
Reaction score
14,037
Location
People's Republic of Maryland
Hey folks,

I got a line on some bulk wildflower honey for sale, so I'm going to pick up 5 lbs. for $11.00 and turn it into four gallons of mead.

5 lbs. wildflower honey
4 gallons water
1 ounce yeast nutrient
5 campden tablets
8 ounces of dry, dry mead yeast

Should produce 18 bottles of mead at about 5% ABV. After fourteen days of fementing I shall rack it off into the bottles, and let them sit until the Christmas season. :wink:

IF I like the quality of the honey, I'll share the source with the forum. I hate mentioning a source for something like food or drink without sampling the product first, know what I mean?

LD
 
5 campden tablets?... :shocked2: You don't need any for mead....unless you're using it to de-clorinate your water.......

Your OG should be about 1.053
If you let it ferment dry using a champagne yeast it will finish with an ABV of about 6.8% alcohol.

That's pretty mild for a mead in my opinion...I like my meads from 12% on up.

8 ounces of yeast? are you using liquid?

Consider carbonating some bottles.....Sparkling mead is very nice.
 
I would add more sweetness, a little low in alcohol, more like a good beer like that. I never used campden tablets. You might want to check a few recipes, I recall adding some lemon/oranges I believe.
 
Yeah it will probably be a liquid yeast..., and the basic recipe that I found for "testing" a new source of honey recommended the campden tablets..., probably was using chlorinated water. I will skip to using spring water, and forego the campden.

On the other hand, concerning yeast, I have made a small batch in the past, with different honey in with a common, top fermenting, ale yeast. I called it Viking Mead, since those boys probably started drinking it when it was done, no aging, and a wild, top fermenting yeast would've been what "worked" their mead. It was a little harsh, on the back of the throat, just a little burn, but the fellows drinking it didn't seem to mind (they drank all the bottles; I didn't get a chance to age it). It was about 6% if my hydrometer readings were good.

LD
 
I used to travel a lot for my work. Listened to books on tape a lot. Got Beowulf on tape one time. Had to pull it out. I enjoy reading epic poetry, but hearing it read was very powerful. It wasn’t far in to the story the road became fuzzy. I was in a mead hall banging on an oaken table at my favorite parts. Bring on the mead :thumbsup:
 
The bulk price is low be careful if it is not USA honey. Places especially like China have tainted and not pure honey

Fleener
 
I dont know if you have made mead before or not. I have made one batch several years ago. The mead was not that good.. Several years latter, I have opened some of the bottles, and it has aged into a very good drink.

I have 3 or 4 gallons of honey from last year yet that I have been thinking about making some.

This is the first year in quite a few, that I am not keeping bees.

Fleener
 
Age makes the best mead. The last we opened was 3 years old and was smooth and tasty.

Waiting on 2 6 gallon jugs that are nor 2 year and 1 year. Next year is for some good drinking.

This year is for the Raspberry cordial/liqour at 75 proof.
 
Ok so I bought two samples...,

One is a mixture of honey and corn syrup, without vanilla, and that is a USA product..., which I got just to see what it was all about, and maybe to add to a beer recipe to produce a Honey Ale...,

BUT the cool thing is that the wildflower honey for the mead is out of Lancaster PA..., and with shipping was like $2.80 per pound.

LD
 
Dave, little info for you. I was able to find a new vendor for the American Frontiersman Magazine and picked up the new issue. There is a three page article on making sweet mead recipe that I just started reading. If you get a chance check it out, looks interesting. Hope this helps Art
 
Was at a nearby close out chain store (Ollie's) and in the myriad of books for sale was a recipe book of about 60 color pages on how to make mead. I am not a big drinker anyway, so this thread was what made it catch my eye. (although I stopped and splurged on a couple cases of Molson for Saturday when we have a bushel of steamed Maryland blue crabs being delivered.)
 
Back
Top