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From: ralf@cs.uq.oz.au (Ralf Muhlberger) Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing Subject: Re: Wanted: Mead recipes [long] Message-ID: <12227@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> Date: 1 Mar 93 21:20:39 GMT Lines: 844

STOKKE@NDSUVM1.BITNET writes:

>Some friends recently invited us to their annual wild game feed, and during >the meal, the conversation eventually wound its way around to our recent >exploits into the area of home brewing. In response to our boasting, we have >been asked to provide beverages suitable to the vension and wild fowl menu >for next years feast. After careful consideratin, it was determined that >a flagon of mead would be the natural choice. We are therefore searching >for a recipe or the location to purchase the appropiate materials to make >this beverage. If anyone has a recipe, or any other info they think we might >need, we would love to see it posted or e-mailed to stokke@vm1.nodak.edu. >Thanks for the help.

>Sincerely,

>Moose and Rocko ( aka Brian Runge and Tom Stokke )

I recently sent the same request to the recipes newsgroup, and received several replies, which I'll post at the end here. My thanks again to everyone who mailed me with recipes. I'll start brewing soon :-)

Ralf -------------------------------- cut here --------------------------------

Date: Wed, 21 Sep 88 02:23:45 mdt Subject: Mead Recipes -- AT LAST! Original-From: <mhalley%MUN.BITNET@CORNELLC.CCS.CORNELL.EDU>

Ye Olde Batte's PROVEN Recipes

Basic Metheglyn

(Took First Prize at Homebrewers Competition) Put three pounds (1 quart) light honey to about a gallon of water and heat to just below boiling. Skim off as much as you can of the white froth & discard. Add a palmful of whole cloves, a handful of stick cinnamon, and a couple of palmfuls of whole allspice. Add the zest (thin outer peel) of one medium-large orange. Remove and discard the white pith from the orange and crush the remainder into the pot. Add one cup double-strength black tea (two teabags to one cup boiling water). Keep the whole mess at steaming (NOT BOILING) temperature for two to five hours. Cool to lukewarm ("baby-bottle" or "blood" temperature) and strain or rack (siphon) into one or two large bottles, filling only to the "shoulder" of each bottle. Add one or two tablespoonfuls of dry yeast to each bottle and attach airlock. (Mead is the ONLY fermented product it is not only safe, but often preferable to use bread yeast to manufacture). You may want to leave the bottles "unlocked" for 12-24 hours to give the yeasty-beasties a headstart. Leave in warm, but not hot, place for 7-21 days, or until airlock "breaks." Rack into clean bottles. You may top up with clean water, if you wish. This lightens the flavour and assists in the mellowing process. DON'T use processed city water! Age in cool spot for AT LEAST six weeks -- it can safely go for a year. Rack once more when it looks clear, and be sure always to leave all the GUCK in the bottom of the bottle whenever you rack. ENJOY IN MODERATION -- NOTHING is as bad as a mead hangover!

Wylde-Rose-Petal Metheglyn

Use basic recipe as above, but reduce cloves to 5 or 6 large -- count 'em -- and add one whole nutmeg, split in half, and one or two one-pint ziploc bagfuls of fresh (or frozen) rose petals. Wild roses are the best for this, as they are more fragrant; the red or pink have more flavour than the white. When you pick, go for the newly opened or just opening flowers; take ONLY the petals; pack 'em as tightly in the bags as you can. They store well in the freezer until use (but not overlong). This recipe makes a smaller volume of product than the basic, but the bouquet and flavour are unique and delightful and the colour is GORGEOUS!

Melomel/Cyser

Use basic recipe, but eliminate allspice, scant other spices, add a nodule of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut in pieces; omit the tea; use a tad more yeast; and REPLACE THE WATER WITH FRUIT OR BERRY JUICE. It's unusual, but "Gran' shtuff!" When apple juice is used, it can be called cyser. Make sure juice is fresh and has NO preservatives or "spoilage retardants," 'cause it won't ferment if it does. Cyser or pear melomel are FANTASTIC when drunk warm in the winter. Glenn & Faith's Rose Petal Wine Pick 4-8 quarts rose petals (firmly packed) 10 days to two weeks after last spraying and let cold water run over them for ten minutes to wash off any residual gunk. Bring two gallons of water (the GOOD stuff) to a boil, put petals in a crock, and pour the boiling water over them. When it has cooled, squeeze the petals thoroughly by hand to get all the scented liquid out. Strain the result into an enamel pot, squeezing out every drop of juice, add 6-8 pounds of sugar, bring to SLOW boil, and brew for 20 minutes or so. Pour back into CLEAN crock, let cool to lukewarm, dissolve 1/2 ounce yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, and add. Cover. (Air-lock should be applied at this point, if you have one.) Let ferment 14-21 days. Rack off. Let stand until clear. Re-rack and bottle. Age for AT LEAST a year. SERVE COLD!

Rowanberry Wine (I FOUND IT!)

Gather berries when ripe and dry. Pick clean from stalks and place in large container (a plastic beer bucket is excellent). Cover with boiling water and let stand 4-5 days, muddling occasionally. (It takes about 2 1/2 lbs. berries per gallon of water.) Strain off liquor, measure, and allow one pound sugar per gallon. Put sugar in large vessel, pour in liquor, stir until dissolved, add one ounce crushed fresh ginger root, and leave to ferment 10-12 days (or longer if still actively working). NB: You may add yeast and/or nutrient if you're more interested in success than in tradition. Close tightly and allow to age 6 months before bottling. Store in cool, dry place. NB: Rowan, called "dogberry" in some places, and "rountree" in others, is actually the European mountain ash. Native North American mountain ash will work, but not as well. The product is fairly astringent, but good, and the colour is lovely. Now, who's going to get back to me with the elderblow recipe?? You have all my secrets that I can send in the mail.

Toast (Spanish): Bendito sea el arbol De donde sacaron la madera De que hicieron el cabo del martillo Con que clavaron la pila En que te bautizaron.

>Blessed be the tree >From which they took the wood >From which they made the handle of the hammer >That nailed the nails into the font >Where you were baptized.

This is to be said in one breath and one's glass must be emptied before one is allowed to inhale again.

Love yez, Ye Olde Batte From: The Cooking of Scandinavia/ Time Life Books (c)1968

SIMA Lemon-flavored Mead (Finnish)

To make 5 quarts

2 large lemons 1/2 cup granualated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 5 quarts boiling water 1/8 teaspoon yeast 5 tsp. sugar 15 raisins

With a small, sharp knife or rotary peeler, carefully peel off the yellow skins of the lemons and set them aside. Then cut away the white membranes of the lemons and discard them. Slice the lemons very thinly. In a 6 to 8-quart enameled or stainless-steel bowl, combine the lemon slices, lemon skins and the two sugars. Pour the boiling water over the fruit and sugar, stir, and let the mixture cool to tepid. Then stir in the yeast. Allow the Sima to ferment, uncovered at room temperature for about 12 hours. To bottle, use 5 one-quart bottles with very tight covers or corks. Place 2 teaspoon of sugar and 3 raisins in the bottom of each bottle. Strain the Sima through a sieve and, using a funnel, pour the liquid into the bottles. Close the bottles tightly and let them stand at room temperature for 1 or 2 days until the raisins have risen to the surface. Chill the sealed bottles until ready to serve.

I hope this is what you were looking for.

Don Havens d.havens@dartmouth.edu

Ralf,

Things about Mead.

The less honey, the lighter the drink, and the quicker it can be made. 1 pound of honey per gallon of water is the minimum, 5 pounds per gallon is the maximum for a sweet dessert wine. If you add dark berries to the mead mixture it will tend to mature earlier. Some say that it takes at least 1 year for a mead to age properly and others say 4-5 years. I have found that 6 months to 1 years is a good period. There are several books out there that talk about making mead. I do not recall the exact title but any local homebrew shop should have them.

If you want more just post on the homebrew group.

Relax have a homebrew.

Kent Reinhard Space Telescope Science Institute.

Recipe: Mead - "Same As It Every Was"

3 gallons water 5 pound honey 2 teaspoons yeast nutient 1 ounce hops (Cascades) 1 package yeast (champagne, wine or ale)

In pot boil honey, water, nutients and hops for 30 minutes. Let cool to about 100F and then add yeast starter. I usually find it easier to mix the yeast with warm water and then pour into the container. Let mixure sit for 7 days and then transfer the liquid to another container. Allow this to sit for 1-2 months covered and at room tempeture. Rack to your choice of containers.

If you are not famiar with the brewing process you should try to pick up some books on it before you start with.

Hi Ralf,

-------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ralf@cs.uq.oz.au (Ralf Muhlberger) Subject: REQUEST: Mead Date: 23 Feb 93 07:00:27 GMT

Well, that pretty much covers it in the header. Does anyone have a recipe to make that medieval delight, mead?

Thanks already, go placidly,

Ralf --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am sending you a compilation of recipes from the net on making mead. I think these all came from rec.food.drink. Good luck!

Toki

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toki Noguchi |Take a pinch of this and a shake of that HP Santa Rosa, MWTD |And a splash of something good. Archaeologists date anything! |'Cause a cook just knows by the twitch of tokin@hpmwmat.HP.COM |her nose, the way a good cook should.FraggleRock -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mead Recipes

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From bemo@spacsun.rice.edu Thu Aug 8 16:40:01 1991

The following is based upon my own experiences in brewing, and information that I have gleaned from various publications on wine and beer-making. First, I will deal with 'long' meads, and then quicker 'short' meads for the impatient at heart.

Mead is really not that difficult to make. I am hardly a wizened master (having only 6 gallons of production under my belt, so to speak), but I will venture to state that anyone patient and clean enough by nature can make quite a nice brew at home. First, let me say that it is much easier to do if you have a homebrew supply store in town. It is possible to get everything you need mail order, but nothing tops the convenience and inspirational value of actually browsing in a store. All that you would need to get from there is the yeast and airlocks; anything else could be found or substituted from other sources. So let's get to basics. Get lots of honey, preferably clover honey (try your local 'health food' store; mine has bulk honey for 1.19/lb., although it is not clover). Use from 2-4 pounds per U.S. gallon of water, depending on your desired sweetness and alcohol level. 3 pounds should get you a slightly sweet white wine-ish mead. Boil the honey in the water, skimming off the grayish-brown foam which will form on top, until the foam is no longer formed at a rapid rate (I usually wait until it takes about 2 minutes to form enough foam to skim effectively.) Now you need to add some fruit; for 2 gallons, I usually add a lime and an orange, with about 1 oz. of ginger to boot. You can use any citrus you like, in almost any amount you like. The purpose of this, besides taste, is to balance the wine; it also prevents oxidation later on. Cut it up, throw it in, but remember to minimize the amount of white pith that goes into the pot, as it adds an unpleasantly bitter taste to the wine. I usually grate some peel into the pot, then squeeze in the juice, with some pulp thrown in as well. Peel the ginger, cut it up, throw it in; grating will utilize more of the ginger, but makes it harder to strain out. Also, nothing beats the zingy taste of ginger boiled in honey water! What the hell, eat the fruit too, it's good for you. OK, so you have some hot pre-mead, now what? Let it cool, preferably covered, until you can handle it reasonably well. Now you need a narrow-necked container, preferably glass. I use 1-gallon apple juice jugs. There are also large plastic tubs, with a tight-fitting lid that has a small hole drilled in it for the airlock, which works equally as well. These are available at homebrew shops as well, and are especially helpful for those big batches. The key to preventing any unwanted contamination of your mead is cleanliness. Clean and sterilize your container, with either sodium metabisulphite (also at HBrew shops) or with a bleach solution (no more than two tablespoons per gallon of water). Chlorine bleach will kill the nasty organisms, but requires a lot of hot water rinses of the container afterwards. Sodium metabisulfites are the sulfites in commercial wines, but they only inhibit growth, and can also cause allergic reactions. So if you can't drink commercial wines without a reaction (except, of course, that pleasant drunk feeling), go with the bleach. One could also attempt to use heat to sterilize the equipment (say, the heat-dry cycle of a dishwasher), but personally I do not recommend this,as it canhave a disastrous effect on the glass (and anything in range if it breaks apart). Once it is sterilized and well-rinsed, fill your container with cooled mead. Try to strain it as you fill; bits of fruit pulp and peel should not be allowed to remain while fermenting, as it may start to decay and spoil all your effort. Cover and alloe to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, prepare your airlock, sterilizing it as you did the container. Fill it halfway with either water or sulfite solution at the appropriate strength (check the package), and definitely NOT with bleach solution. Removing the airlock or pressure changes may suck some of the solution into the mead, and the bleach would make it undrinkable. Sulfite solution is preferred (since water could be infected by the dreaded vinegar fly), and it won't poison the product. When the mead is fully cooled, you can now add the yeast. It is considered best to take a little of the mead in a beer bottle, add the yeast packet, and let it start off to the side before adding it to the entire batch; this becomes really necessary if your batch is in several jugs, instead of just one. Also, it is very important to use a yeast nutrient, which should be right next to the yeast when you buy it. You will need about 1 teaspoon per gallon, since honey is extremely deficient in the chemicals necessary for yeast to reproduce. The choice of yeast could be important; most meadmakers steer clear of ale yeasts, since they have a low alcohol tolerance (9%?) and reportedly impart an unwanted flavor to the mead. I myself have used ale yeasts, with no undesirable effects. Preferably, one should use a mead yeast, but if not, a wine or Champagne yeast work just as well. Now you just add the yeast and nutrient, and fit the airlock over the mouth of your container (a variety of sizes of rubber stoppers are available, so don't be concerned with whether ornot your bottle is the 'right' size for the airlock. Be sure to test your stopper first, to see if it will hold the seal). Put it in a corner somewhere, and watch it go. I have had experiences where the fermentation was so violent that mead foam was forced through the airlock. It is not that large of a concern; just clean it up every once in a while,fill the airlock again(see why you don't want bleach!), and reseal the container.This is another reason to strain the mixture; you don't want to block the airlock, or your meadmaking could soon become an experiment in bomb making! Check on it ever once in a while, to make sure the carbon dioxide is escaping. It will soon calm down, and the soft, steady bloop sounds which brewers all cherish from their airlocks will soon sing you to sleep. The hardest part is now upon us -- waiting. Mead takes excrutiatingly long to ferment, since the sugars in it are so complex. This is when it is handy to have a hydrometer, which is just a cheap device to measure the specific gravity (and hence the sugar content) of your brew. If you have one, read the enclosed instructions;if not, don't worry about it. You will just have to be more patient and observant is all. Watch your mead; a layer of yeast will fall to the bottom of your container (so clear glass is preferable). When the layer is substantial, you will want to siphon the mead into another container, so that the dead yeast there will not break down and spoil the mead. This will take on the order of two to three months, and then again in another two to three months. After these two transfers (called 'racking'), the mead should be 'clear'; if it is cloudy, the yeast haven't finished yet, so let it sit some more. If the mead is clear but bubbles are still visible, the yeast haven't finished yet. If no deposit forms, it is clear, and no bubbles are visible, then the yeast are probably through, and you can bottle. Sterilize the bottles that you plan to use as you did the other equipment. Since mead sometimes fools you into believing it is done, Champagne bottles are preferable. If any bottle fermentation does take place, you do not want it in regular bottles, or without the cork wired down. If you wish, regular bottles can be used, but be sure to use a wine stabilizer,and only after fermentation is complete. Until you are experienced, better safe than sorry (and messy). Siphon your mead into the bottles and cork. Plastic corks are just fine to use, and are reusable. Cages are also reusable, to a point, if you have trouble getting new ones. If you've done it all right, no sediment should form, and you should have a fine still mead. If not, bottle fermentation has taken place, you have a little sediment around the punt of your Champagne bottle, and you have fine sparkling mead (or else you've cleaned up your winerack, if you used a regular bottle). Age as long as you can stand, up to two years, but open one fairly early, as reward and to check for bottle fermentation. To intentionally make sparkling mead, you need to have made a low-alcohol batch (I'd say <= 2.5 lb/gallon), and you really should buy a hydrometer to tell you when it is finished. In this case you must use a high-alcohol wine yeast; ale yeast will not work. When it is, remove a small portion of mead, boil it, and add some sugar to the boiling mead, cover and cool, and add back to the batch. I do not have the reference that I want nearby, but for beer the amount is 4 oz. per gallon, so that should be about right. Less is OK, more is not recommended. Then bottle in Champagne bottles (or beer bottles -- Grolsch bottles are very good for this, and replacement seals are available). Wait a few weeks (longer if honey was used), chill, and pour the mead carefully off of the sediment (you Chimay ale drinkers know what I mean). This is why you may want to use less sugar in the bottle than 4 oz; the bubbles released when opening can force the sediment off of the bottom of the bottle and into your glass, so fizzy mead becomes fizzy yeasty mead, which can be comestibly and gastrically unpleasant. Once you have a few batches under your belt, you can add fruit, hops, more ginger, whatever you think would taste good. Amounts are generally a pound or so of fruit, an ounce or so of hops, per gallon. Experimentation, though sometimes yielding unfortunate results, is the key to getting what you want. However, if fruit is to be used, do not boil it (it may jellify), and if you can, sterilize it with sulfites and add pectic enzyme to the brew. Crush it, add it, and make sure that it does not clog the airlock.If you use hops, I suggest a mild variety like Fuggles or Cascade. More bitter hops could be used, but I would relegate them only to the quick sparkling meads,where the beer quality is more pronounced and less invasive than in wines.

Now that you have made a long mead, you'll need to make a quick mead to drink while you wait. Use about 2-2.5 lbs of honey per gallon; any more, and the yeast may take to long, depriving you of the relatively quick satisfaction you seek. Also, I suggest using an ale yeast, despite all convention. After all, you are essentially making honey beer here, not wine, which by its very nature needs to be delicate and well-aged. Do that mead thing just like before. Allow vigorous fermentation to run its course. In ten to twenty days, the mead should have settled down. Ale yeast is a top-fermenting yeast, so it works best in a warm environment. Because we want to arrest fermentation, we need to cool it. Find a place in your fridge where the bottle can stand up with the airlock init, and stick it there. The yeast will slow down and sink, and thus the mead will start to clear. When it is clear, bottle in either beer or Champagne bottles, and leave it out for a day or two if you want it carbonated, then refrigerate. If you wish, wait a little longer, then transfer it instead into a plastic thermos, and drink it quickly. If it's too yeasty, next time wait longer. Wait a week for the sediment to form, then drink. Do not wait too long; bottle fermentation will soon make the mead gush out of the bottle when opened, mixing the yeast back in the mead. If this starts to occur, you must rebottle or face the consequences. The longer you can wait until bottling, the more unlikely that you end up with little mead time bombs in your fridge. This is the other reason for using ale yeast; its low alcohol tolerance will end fermentation earlier than wine yeast, lowering the danger limit to your bottles (and you). As anecdotal evidence, I relate the story of my ginger beer, which when opened, put a plastic Champagne cork imprint on my ceiling, followed by the entire contents of the bottle, which then proceeded to ginger-bathe my entire kitchen. (By the way, the kitchen smelled great). I then had to go in the back yard and defuse the remaining four bottles, hitting the back fence three out of four shots. Sparkling mead demands respect, and usually gets it from whomever it wishes. Aged sparkling mead is sparkling mead with an attitude. Really old sparkling mead doesn't kill people, people kill people. I know people who would rather rip their own heads off than open a bottle of really old sparkling mead. After several batches of quick mead, it will become apparent what variations to try, and which of these you wish to try with your long meads. Once again, I stress the virtues of experimentation, especially with these quick meads, in which you have invested a lot less waiting and bother, and hence won't be so disappointed if something goes awry. The best laid plans o' mice and mead...

While this discussion is by no means a definitive guide on meads, I feel that it should clear up some misconceptions on the subject, some of which have been propogated through folios and articles within the SCA itself, including the first Knowne World Handbooke, which I feel really shows it age in this topic. The technology and literature on the subject of homebrewing has increased severalfold since its penning, and it would be folly to discount it only on the basis of period accuracy and perceived complexity. Become the life of the barony, and earn the respect of your heavy fighters. Kiss up to the king, and bring your wares to the war. Everybody loves a brewer!

Voue'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian D. Moore (Voue' Alechec)| Homebrewing -- the only sport open exclusively Space Physics and Astronomy | to anal-retentive alcoholics. Rice University, Houston TX | Relax -- have a home brew. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From gary@cdthq Tue Jun 19 21:18:14 1990

boutell@freezer.it.udel.edu (Tom Boutell) writes: > Can anyone provide me with a recipe for mead? I'm curious about the > possibilities. Thanks!

Sure. From "First Steps in Winemaking", by Charles J. J. Berry:

Ingredients: 4 lb honey 1 orange 1 lemon 1 nutrient tablet pectic enzyme yeast 1 gallon water

(Makes one gallon)

Put the honey in the water and bring to a boil. (I understand that many people disagree, and only bring it to about 165F.) Pour into your primary fermentation vessel and allow to cool. Add the juice from the lemon and orange, yeast, and nutrient. Fit an airlock and allow to ferment to completion--this is liable to take much longer than most country wines (as he calls them)--and rack when no further bubbles are passing thru the airlock. (If you can stand to...) mead should be matured for a year.

I've made three batches of mead, using this basic recipe. For your primary fermentation, go straight into a carboy. One batch of mine was so vigorous it bubbled out thru the airlock, something I've only had happen one other time. I experimented with more honey in my second batch, and results were not good; oversweet. If you know a beekeeper, you need about 1 gallon of honey to make 5 gallons of mead. It's possible to substitute a tablespoon or so of citric acid for the lemon and orange juice, or use frozen concentrate.

The mead I made was popular, and I've another gallon of honey ready for the next batch....

Gary Heston, at home.... -----------------------------------------------------------------------

>From gary@cdthq.UUCP Thu Jan 17 18:40:22 1991

euclid@lindy.stanford.edu (Stephanie Moore-Fuller) writes: > [ Gary mentions that he buys honey to make mead ] > > Would you be willing to post your mead recipe?

Well, it's one of those things that's made in many variations over a common base, by adding small amounts of spices or flavorings.

Briefly, to make a 5 gallon batch of plain mead, start with one gallon of honey (about 10-12lb, I think--my suppliers just use 1 gal syrup jugs). Pour about a quart into a pot with about a half-gallon of water, and heat until it's warm enough to pasteurize it (I use raw honey from local beekeepers), say about 170F (77C). Some recipies say boil it, some say don't ever... I've used both, but not closely enough to pass judgement. The two batches in the kitchen now were not boiled. I covered the pot and turned off the heat, to let it sit for a few minutes at temperature. Note that you should be stirring almost constantly to dissolve the honey, and keep it from scorching (this is the only real pain about mead making, very simple otherwise). Allow it to cool to about room temp (I pour it into another pot in the sink, with cold water running around it. Cover the pot to keep the mix from being contaminated by airborne dust, yeasts, or bacteria.). When cool, pour into your primary fermentation vessel (I use a 5 gal glass carboy), and repeat with all the honey (the objective is to not end up with not more than 4.5 gallons of the honey-water mixture, you should add water to this level--but NOT to the 5 gal mark, yet!). Add 5 winemaking nutrient tablets, or juice from one lemon, and yeast. Some people use Champagne yeast; some use other wine yeast; strange people like me use Fleishmanns' Rapid-Rise. Your choice; you'll get higher attenuation with the Champagne yeast, at $1 or so a pack, the Rapid-Rise is cheaper, and works OK for me. (To the brewers/vintners out there: I've been flamed already; it didn't make me change. Don't bother....:-) )

Put an airlock-and-stopper assembly (about $2.50 total, here) in the carboy. Fermentation should be noticable within 6-8 hours, and roaring in 24. It takes about 10 days for primary fermentation to finish (this is the most vigorous stage), which you can determine by the 1.5-2" layer of sediment on the bottom and a marked reduction in activity (one glub per minute thru the airlock, instead of twelve per minute). I siphon the clear liquid (looks like tea in color, darkness varies depending upon the honey) into another carboy, add water to the 5 gallon level, install the airlock, and let it proceed thru secondary fermentation. This will be at least 2 weeks, and can be allowed to run for months, if you're not in a hurry. If you get a lot more sediment, siphon it again (this is called "racking" or "racking off" in the winemaking world). My secondaries seem to throw less than 1/2" of sediment.

When it's done (or you can't wait any longer) add 5 Campden tablets (75/$2.50) to kill off the last of the yeast (unless you're trying to make sparkling mead, in which case you should know what you're doing). Give them a day to work, then bottle. I've started using 16oz soft drink bottles, since they're cheap and convenient. I start drinking mine at this point, you may want to age it for a while.

That's basic mead. My current two batches are spiced, with a little cinnamon and nutmeg (in one, boiled in one batch of mix, in the other just tossed into the primary), to see how they'll come out. Other spices can be used to your taste; fruit can be added (cherry and blueberries that I've heard of, I may try blackberries next time) and it becomes a melomel instead of just mead. There are at least as many variations as there are people making it. Smaller batches are possible, of course; 5 gallons are convenient for me. My sources want $10 for a gallon of honey; beyond that, nutrients and Campden tablets add perhaps another $.50 or so, to yield about $2.10/gallon material cost. It takes me about an hour to start a batch, and 10 minutes or so each time to rack it. You end up with an interesting beverage, somewhat stronger than beer, at about $.20/12oz serving.

Normal brewing/vintning sanitary proceedures apply, of course, but that's another message about this size that you can read in any wine/beer making book.

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll be glad to help--I've found this to be an interesting hobby, producing something I can use :-) without requiring large investments in equipment (if you find carboys at flea markets, you can get started for as little as $20, depending on their cost), huge amounts of space (I do this in my kitchen, which isn't very large), or lots of effort.

Enjoy!

Gary Heston, at home.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From klier@iscsvax.uni.edu Sat Aug 22 20:49:07 1992

Don't know about authenticity, but here's one from my undergraduate microbiology lab manual-- the mead was well received by class members, in contrast to the wine and beer we made...

1/4 orange 1/4 lemon 1/2 lb honey nutrient solution* 1 500 ml flask with air trap to fit flask** Yeast starter culture: Maury yeast or all-purpose wine yeast 1 hydrometer

Add honey to 250 ml water and bring the solution to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent carmelization. Allow the solution to cool, adding juice from orange and lemon quarters, then yeast and nutrient solution. Adjust specific gravity of solution to 1.093 (12-13% potential alcohol). Place solution in flask and add air lock. Ferment until no more CO2 is evolved. Rack mead into another container when completed.

*nutrient solution: 4 gm (NH4)2SO4 + 0.5 gm MgSO4 + 2 g KH2PO4 dissolved in minimal water. Use the entire quantity for 1000 ml mead; use proper proportion for other amounts.

**the air trap is just a rubber stopper with a piece of plastic or glass tubing bent down to fit into a container of water.

From: DP Durand, PA Patee, FD Williams & PA Hartman. 1973. MELE. Iowa State University, Ames, IA. Kay Klier Biology Dept UNI ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From jtn@nutter.cs.vt.edu Tue Sep 1 08:35:52 1992

A couple of people emailed me requests for the recipe I use for light meads, so I thought it might be worth posting. Actually, it's not mine, it's Kenelm Digby's; but his copyright expired a while back... ;^}.

And here it is:

Take nine pints of warm fountain water, and dissolve in it one pint of pure White-honey, by laving it therein, till it be dissolved. Then boil it gently, skimming if all the while, till all the scum be perfectly scummed off; and after that boil it a little longer, peradventure a quarter of an hour. In all it will require two or three hours boiling, so that at last one third part may be consumed. About a quarter of an hour before you cease boiling, and take it from the fire, put to it a little spoonful of cleansed and sliced Ginger; and almost half as much of the thin yellow rind of Orange, when you are even ready to take it from the fire, so as the Orange boil only once warm in it. Then pour it into a well-glassed strong deep great Gally-pot, and let it stand so, till it be almost cold, that it be scarce Luke-warm. Then put to it a little silver-spoonful of pure Ale-yeast, and work it together with a Ladle to make it ferment: as soon as it beginneth to do so, cover it close with a fit cover, and put a thick dubbled woolen cloth about it. Cast all things so that this may be done when you are going to bed. Next morning when you rise, you will find the barm gathered all together in the middle; scum it clean off with a silver-spoon and a feather, and bottle up the Liquor, stopping it very close. It will be ready to drink in two or three days, but it will keep well a month or two. It will be from the first very quick and pleasant.

*****

Notes:

(1) I have gone anywhere from 9/1 water/honey to 11/1, depending on the desired strength.

(2) I generally let it go more like 3-4 days than 2-3; at the end of that time, I refrigerate it.

(3) If you are _really_ thorough in the skimming, you really _don't_ get any significant scuz in your mead, and it doesn't need any other racking.

(4) Notice that apart from a teaspoon of sliced fresh ginger (_not_ ground dried) and a few slivers of the outermost peel of orange, there are no spices or flavorings. This is a very good mead to use to discover what kinds of honey and yeast you like best, since there are few confounding flavors.

(5) This stuff was never exposed to oak casks, so there is no need for anything to make tannin.

(6) This stuff was simply let set a few days in a big glassed container, then bottled (using 17th century bottling methods). You don't need fancy equipment of any sort.

(7) DON'T USE BREAD YEAST! -- But I think I've mentioned that.... ;^}

Enjoy!

-- Terry Nutter Blacksburg, VA jtn@vtopus.cs.vt.edu (703)552-1598 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From schuldy@progress.COM Mon Aug 24 06:14:25 1992

rec.brewing will have many more than these, but let me try to stick to the historic angle.

Digby's recipe book, gives a number of historical mead, metheglin (spiced mead and honey) and melomel (fruit juice and honey) recipes. If you read all of them, you can even find a certain amount of technique. The major difference between making mead then, and now, is our knowledge of cleanliness, yeast culture, and a burning desire for consistency that we can satisfy.

Given my own peculiar combination of desires (I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism), I am willing to use modern notions of cleanliness, but not modern ingredients nor techniques. Since mead is nothing but honey and water, and was usually aged in oak barrels, here is a cobbled together recipe that will work reasonably well.

approx 3 pounds of honey (aka 1 quart) (from Digby) 1 gallon of water 1 Tablespoon of Oak Bark (my idea of how to fake oak aging.) (My local health food store sells it in bulk, as White Oak Bark.) Yeast (I always use champagne yeast)

tools: Large pot, wooden or plastic spoon, cheese cloth, funnel, bottles, siphoning tube, some method of capping bottles (corks, champagne corks, or bottle caps and a capper), string. Labels for the bottles, fermenting container (I use one gallon cranberry juice bottles.) Cork and fermention lock.

The rest is technique. Wrap the oak bark in cheesecloth, and tie it shut. Put one gallon of water in a pot. Stainless steel or enamel or glass. Aluminum is not historical, and taints the flavor. Cast Iron is historical, and ruins the flavor (:-). Use an inert spoon to stir with, too. I use wood. Throw in the oak bark.

Digby suggests that you use the following method. Measure the level of the water with your spoon. Add the honey, and boil until the level returns to one gallon. I like this technique, and always use it. However, I add the honey after the water is hot or boiling, since it mixes better.

For the new brewer, don't just dump in the honey, since it will sink to the bottom of the pot, and burn. Mix it in well. I use very high quality honey, that costs a fortune. The brewer in my area with a better reputation uses generic store brand. (Hi Michael) Use what makes you happy. (:-)

As you wait for the water to return to the lower level, skim off all foam and gunk, and throw it away. The more of this bitter gunk you chuck, the better the mead will taste. Some folks swear to never let your honey-water mixture boil, others always do. Pick your method.

When done, throw away the oak bark, and let the liquid (must) cool. Put it in a sterile one gallon container. I sterilize with Bee Brite (an oxygenating bleach). You can also use a super-weak bleach solution. In either case, rinse very well. When the liquid is cool enough that you can leave your hand in contact with the outside of the container it is in, pour it (through a sterilized funnel) into the container. Add yeast.

I use champagne yeast. It seems to be more robust in the face of missing nutrients than other yeasts, produces more quickly, and has a nice flavor and a high alcohol content. I have used other yeasts, and never had problems (although actual mead yeast can take a week or more to start up).

Put a sterile fermentation lock on the container, and wait. Bottle when the bubbling slows to one every 5 seconds or so. Using a hydrometer to measure the alcohol content is very useful, but I never have (neither did Digby).

I rack (siphon the good mead at the top off, leaving nasty dregs behind) at least once during the fermentation, and usually again when I bottle. It's just easier to have a bottle with no gluck in the bottom to pour out of when I bottle.

One gallon makes about 10 beer bottles worth, or a little more than four champagne bottles worth. You can spice mead (metheglin) with all sorts of things. I've used (in various combinations) oranges, lemons, rosemary, lovage, nutmeg, mace, cloves, ginger, peppermint, cinnamon, and other assorted things. I've tasted rose mead, and it's very nice. We can talk about other things when I have a bit more time...

Advise, or comments from other brewers, cooks or would-be brewers and cooks are strongly encouraged. Hints on fruit meads are nice too. I've got a handout on fruit meads on line, and would post it at the slightest provocation. I've recently made a terrible peach mead, and would love to find out if it was the peaches or me, for example. (One batch doesn't prove much).

Mark Schuldenfrei (In the SCA, Tibor) -- Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@progress.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From schuldy@progress.COM Tue Aug 25 06:03:24 1992

Julie Kangas asked me to post my fruit mead recipe. Here it is. I feel a little guilty, since it is mostly a technique born of necessity, rather than research. I don't do anything that couldn't have been done historically, but that in no way proves that it *was* done that way. This has worked for me with both raspberries (which was awsome), and strawberries (good, but I would have liked it better if I bottled it sooner).

------------- This recipe does not bother to teach basic mead-making technique.

This recipe produces a fine, clean fruit flavored mead, with a good sweetness, and minimal interference. It can be drunk within one week of bottling, and does not keep more than 3 months.

2 quarts of water 3 lbs Honey 1 Tbs White Oak Bark 1 package Champagne Yeast. 3 cups of clean fruit (ie 3 half pints of raspberries)

Cheesecloth for spice bag and straining String for tieing spice bag.

Boil 2 quarts of water, with the oak bark in a spice bag.

While the water and spices reach the boiling point, clean the fruit, slice it, and crush it with a fork. Save all the juice. Make sure the fruit can fit through the neck of the funnel you will be using.

Add the honey when the water is boiling, and skim and reduce to original 2 quart level. Once the must is finished, turn off the heat, remove the spice bag, add the fruit, and cover. Let the temperature reduce to 150 degrees (takes about 45 minutes in my enamel and steel pot). Add the whole thing to your primary fermenter.

Do not top off with water! The carbonation will force the fruit to the top of the fermenter. If there is no room for the fruit to float out of the must, it will plug the fermentation lock, and spill onto the counter.

Leave the fruit in for about a week, or until the fermentation slows substantially. Boil some fresh water, and let it cool until it can be added to the yeast without killing it. Transfer the must to a secondary fermenter, straining through a doubled cheesecloth to catch the fruit. I like to squeeze the leftover juice from the fruit, too. Top off with the cooled clean water to a normal level.

I rack it twice more. The first time I rack, I added more water. Let it run until still, and then rack again. Bottle into about 12 beer bottles or 8 Grolsch bottles. Serve cold after 1 week.

If you want a fizzy mead, as I did, you need to be aware that there are two basic reasons why mead stops bubbling. Mead stops fermenting when the sugar is gone, or the alcohol level has topped out. If you want a bubbly fruit mead, taste the mead before bottling. If it is still sweet but very alcoholic, add a little water before bottling, to restart fermentation in the bottle. If the mead is dry, add a little sugar (No more than 2 teaspoons per gallon) to the entire gallon before bottling. It all will depend on the sweetness of the fruit. With three pounds of honey, it is quite possible you will hit both endpoints at the same time.

schuldy (Tibor in the SCA) -- Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@progress.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >From cgallagh@goya.helios.nd.edu Wed Apr 8 14:28:21 1992

You can make a sweet mead or a more dry mead - it's totally up to you.

There are several books which contain recipes for meads which usually turn out good. Here is a recipe I got from the net. It should turn out pretty good.

FireHouse GingerMead ----------------------

Makes 5 Gallons.

=========== 1/4 tsp Irish Moss Clarifying Agent 3/4 cups Corn Sugar for bottling 1 1/2 lbs Corn Sugar 7 1/2 lbs Wildflower Honey 2 tsp Gypsum (CaSO4 - Calcium Sulphate) 1/2 tsp Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C Crystals) to prevent oxydation 4 oz Freshly-grated supermarket ginger root 3 tsp Yeast Nutrient 1 pkg Champagne Yeast (redstar) 1 tsp Liqued Smoke

Add everything except Yeast Nutrient & Yeast to water in Brew kettle to make 4 Gal. Bring to boil and boil for 15 minutes, skimming off albumin proteins as they form on the surface. Cool and sparge (strain) to 5 gal. carboy. Sparge with hot water (sparge through strainer filled with used ginger) to make 5 gals. Add Yeast Nutrient and Yeast to carboy. Add 3/4 cups corn sugar during bottling.

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