Making Mead

I use honey to make mead. Summer is the wrong time to make mead. If you want mead this fall, you'll need to start it now. Mead takes at least six months to ferment and clear properly. It also takes cooler temperatures (in the 70's, 80's tops) or the yeast will work too slowly. If you make mead, use champagne yeast. Never use bread yeast in any type of wine. Bread yeast will make alcohol, but it also leaves its own taste behind and it isn't pleasant. Get Yeast Nutrient, Sodium Metabisulfite (to sterilize the tools, not to use in the finished product), Acid Blend, and Grape Tannin from a wine supply shop. Use four pounds of honey for every gallon of wine that you wish to produce. Wild honey is the best, the stuff from the grocery store is a poor substitute. Adding the zest of one lemon and one orange to the must (the wine while it's fermenting) will improve the flavor. Start with one gallon batches, you'll lose less to mistakes. Start the mead in a two gallon food grade bucket. Clean, sterilize, and rinse the bucket well. Any stray bacteria will ruin the wine. Put the honey in the bucket and add enough boiling water to make a gallon. Mix well and let it cool overnight. Skim off any impurity that floats to the surface. Prepare the yeast using the yeast nutrient and add it to the must when it starts to foam. Add 1/8th teaspoon of the grape tannin, two teaspoons of the acid blend, and two tablespoons of the yeast nutrient at the same time. Cover the bucket with Saran Wrap and secure it with a string. It should have a two inch head of foam the next morning. Stir gently with a clean (I can't stress this enough) metal spoon every day until the foam settles down to a thin layer. Mix another yeast starter and add it to the must at this time if you want a stronger mead. I have a friend that refers to mead made this way as "Sippin' Mead". After the fermentation settles back to a thin layer, siphon the must to a gallon jug being careful not to get the dead yeast at the bottom of the bucket (you can't avoid it all, but don't get more than is necessary. Install an airlock (you can get these at the wine supply shop) and wait. Time is your friend. If you like, you start another batch in the bucket with a different combination of fruit zests, apple bits, agave nectar, of any other flavor you like. Label each jug and remember, be patient. The must will slowly ferment and become wine. A layer of dead yeast will accumulate at the bottom of the jug. When this layer gets to be 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, transfer the wine to a new jug and add enough distilled water to make a gallon. Avoid transferring the dead yeast, it will also add a bitter taste to the wine if it's left there too long. After a time, the yeast will die off (the alcohol level will kill it) and it will all settle to the bottom leaving a golden wine behind. Transfer this to bottles and wait at least two weeks before serving. New wine has "bottle sickness" from oxidation and it takes a while to clear out. I'd advize using synthetic corks since this eliminates the danger of the cork drying out. If the cork dries out it may not seal and the wine can become toxic from bacterial contamination. This is why wine is stored on its side. Above all, keep everything sterilized with a Sodium Metabisulfite solution.

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