Mead....any recipes please???

[northepaul]

Hi all
I have wanted to make it for ages, but wondered if anyone had any tried and tested recipes please?

I managed to get a largish quantity of honey.....(by largish I mean 2LB, but its quite expensive! )
Just wanted some opinions etc....

Thank you xx

[Feral007]

I'm hoping the Bee man will turn up again this spring and want to use my paddocks to home his bee's for a while - always leaves a bucket of honey when he leaves. 10 litres of it.

[lainey lou]

Morning!
I used the following recipe a few years ago (which I think I got from here) and it worked out pretty well, give it a go.....

Ancient Orange Mead
1 gallon batch

3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon

Process:
Use a clean 1 gallon carboy
Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy
Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- You're not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.





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[veggiechicken]

Beekeeping friends make their mead with the washings of straining cloths, wax and all the other residues you're left with after filtering and bottling honey! Blummin luvly it was too

[redser]

Sounds good. But I had read it takes a long time (1-2 years) to make. How come this one works out quicker?
Cheers

[Kleftiwallah]

Don't stop at Mead, why not try Methalglyn, a herbed mead?

Cheers, Tony.

[northepaul]

Sounds great, thanks.
Unfortunately I only have 2lb but I suppose I could modify the quantities to suit?
Is a carboy a demi john?

Unfortunately VC I dont know any bee keepers to get scraps off...maybe one day

[veggiechicken]

You've reminded me that I have some plastic boxes of honey and wax cappings in the airing cupboard. Must have been there for 10 years perhaps I should open one up and have a look

[lainey lou]

Sounds great, thanks.
Is a carboy a demi john?

Yes it is.

[Kleftiwallah]

I remember a demijon as a glass container holding a gallon. A carboy that held acid for batteries, within a cage and supported on a wad of straw. It was a gurt thing usually in a dark corner of the high street garage.

I found one while out in Hong Kong and made a terarium from it, as we have now left H/K I wonder what became of it?

Cheers, Tony.