View Full Version : Mead..
Tips, Tricks, Recipes, and Instructions on how to make it...
any knolage appreciated.. :wink:
Old jenny sack mead and brandy - 50 50 mix mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm
you dont know your even drunk but your ears will burn like the devil himself!
and then you fall down!
Great!
:lol: :biggthump
PM me and I'll send you a load of recipes.
I make up to 20 gallons a year.
If you want to be, go for eitehr Lurgershall or Stones Elizabethan.
And Old Jenny is FANTASTIC! And they're doing it again!!!!! (Lurgershall stopped it for some bizarre reason...)
Paganwolf
15-10-2004, 17:13
Old jenny sack mead and brandy - 50 50 mix mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm
you dont know your even drunk but your ears will burn like the devil himself!
and then you fall down!
Great!
:lol: :biggthump
:shock: i want some :shock: i gotta try that, add that to the next meet list Gary :rolmao:
Old Jenny and whisky mac are two of lifes little pleasures!
I would love to try mead so if anyone can post a how to guide i would be for ever grateful. :biggthump
Seems Jakunen is the man for the recipe - do you sell your mead Jak?
Seems Jakunen is the man for the recipe - do you sell your mead Jak?
Considering it contains alcohol and you have to pay tax on it I'm hoping the answer on here is a no :wink:
Paganwolf
15-10-2004, 18:54
well :wink: if you dont jak :wink: i wont have any off you :wink: if you get my drift :wink: ok :wink: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
beachlover
15-10-2004, 19:02
Try these recipes for mead. They come from a three shilling 1957 "home made country wines" book I have.
Rosehip mead;
Boil 3lb of rosehips in one gallon of water for 5 minutes. When cool, mash with the hands or a wooden spoon and strain through muslin. Make up to the gallon with boiled water. Add 4lb of honey and the juice of 2 lemons. Stir well to dissolve honey. When lukewarm add ½ oz of bakers yeast dissolved in a little weak marmite water (1/4 teaspoonful in ½ cup of warm must).
When fermentation is over stand the vessel in a cool place for a month, and then siphon into clean bottles and cork.
It does say that some meads are best kept for 7 or more years – Oh yeah!!!!!
Walnut mead;
To every gallon of water put 3 1/2lb of honey, boil them together for ¾ hour. To every gallon of liquor put 24 walnut leaves, pour your liquor boiling hot upon them, let them stand all night, then take the leaves out and put in a spoonful of yeast and let it work for 2-3 days then let it stand for 3 moths and then bottle it.
i'll try both of that.. :biggthump
right after i make normail mead. :wink:
I reckon iam going to have a crack at this meself,ive recently found all my dear old dads brewing gear up the shed in perfect condition so i imagine that will be handy.Anyone got a recipe for Birch sap wine because i fancy a crack at that too.
what kit do you need.. i have a bottom of the range home brew kit.. i dont need anything specil do i?? :?:
I made a batch years ago with no more than a saucepan, demijohn, bung, airlock and bleach ( plus honey and water ). I can't remember the quantities but it used only honey, took 2 years in the demijohn and 5 in the bottle. It was ready just in time for my finals and well worth the wait.
Rowan makes an exceptional addition to mead, so does wormwood if you want something spiced - but only in very small amounts or it's foul. Mugwort for some reason goes black with honey - not much use except for a bit of headology when someone wants the old witch doctor act .
Realgar
5 years.... but i want it now... :o):
you dont still have the recipe do you?
Sorry I didnt mean sell it ..... tut - I meant can I try some one day! :nana:
beachlover
16-10-2004, 15:07
Roger Phillips book- Wild Food says collect the sap in first two weeks of March with a bore hole, slanting upwards, 18" above container. Put in plastic tube ( his looks about 3/4" diameter) and leave in place with a tissue paper bung until you have collected about a gallon ( he reckons 2 litres in 24 hours ), then boil it up as soona fter collecting as possible, as it goes off.
Add 1kg sugar to the boiling sap and boilt for a further 10 minutes.
Put 200g chopped raisins in a sterile polythine bucket and pour in the boiling sap and sugar along with the juice of two lemons. Add yeast once it has cooled to room temperature and leave to ferment in the covered bucket for 3 days before transferring to demijohn with air lock.
Once fermentation has stopped decant into a clean demijohn, wait for it to clear and bottle.
Reckons its OK to drink after a month, but 6 months is better.
beachlover
16-10-2004, 15:26
When I posted the recipe, I forgot the important bit about plugging/corking the hole in the trunk afterwards! obvious, but thought it might avoid a plethora of additions to this thread!
I shall have a crack at that for sure this coming spring.
Seems Jakunen is the man for the recipe - do you sell your mead Jak?
No, at Lithril pointed out, I can't sell it. But I have been known to rent out bottles from time to time. Whatever is coinsidentally within the bottle, is however free...:wink:
do we get 5p back if we return the bottle?
You're showing your age there mate! (says he, who's only a couple of years younger...). 5p won't even pay for a cork...
Posting for the second time after my browser crashed... :angry:
My own simple recipe for mead (assumes you have a basic knowledge of wine-making)
4lbs honey
1 and a bit gallons water
Yeast, nutrient etc
Boil the honey and water together for at least 20-30 mins until they are both well mixed (if you don't boil it for long enough, the honey 'sediments out' in the demijohn).
Cool to body heat, add yeast and nutrients (nutrients are important here as honey doesn't contain the same ones that fruits do, which is what most wine yeasts are selected for. The best yeasts to use are sherry-type ones as these deal better with fermenting honey.
Pour into demijohns - don't worry if it takes a while before the airlocks start bubbling - it takes longer for the yeast to start fermenting honey - up to 36 hours before bubbling gets going properly.
Leave for at least 6 weeks - again, honey is slower to ferment than fruit, and continues fermenting at a slower rate for longer than fruit does (i.e the bubble rate slows a lot, but fermentation is still going on!
Rack, leave to settle again, then bottle. Keep for at leat 6months to a year, but probably drink within 2-3 years, as some meads start to lose flavour after a long storage.
To make methiglin (mead with herbs/spices) ad some cinnamon/cloves/nutmeg etc during the boiling - other variations include mint, caraway etc, but I've not tried these. To make melomel, boil some fruit in as well - rosehips, apples, strawberries/raspberries add a good flavour.
However, mead does take a long time to make and wait :-) - if anyone is interested I can post a recipe for spiced honey liqueur which takes about 1 hour from starting to drinking :o):
If you gonig to make mead get in touch with the local beekeepers association not only will the give you info and help, but if would ask nicely/give them a hand the may well give you the cappings when they extract the honey.
The cappings are the wax seals on the comb. These ust be removed before the comb is spun - fun but sticky job. When you take the caps of a fair amount of honey comes with it.
Soak the capping in hot (not boiling) to disolve the honey (4-5lb per gallon I use). This way you using the honey that cann't be bottled and you get a load of clean wax.
Its also cheaper buyign in bulk from them rather than a couple of quid in Asda's...