This past Saturday was Mead Day! Mead Day is the first Saturday in August, so I was excited to get some mead started.
I recently moved into a new apartment, however, and got rid of all of my homebrewing supplies that I didn't want to pack and move. And I hadn't gotten around to replacing them yet. But, that shouldn't stop you if you want to start a homebrewing project.
So, in this post, I'm going to share a super simple way to make mead that doesn't require you to have any special equipment.
Ingredients
First off, the necessary ingredients list. This amount got 3 gallons started. I'm only showing two, because a family member did the third for their first batch of mead.
- Four 1 gallon jugs of distilled water
- 10 pounds of cheap honey (better honey = better mead. But this is super simple)
- 1 packet of champagne yeast. I had Red Star Premier Blanc laying around the house, but typically use Lalvin EC-1118. You can get this online or in a homebrew supply shop.
- Cheap party balloons
- Raisins
- Food Scale
- Funnels and measuring cup. (boil them to sanitize. You may or may not need them.)
Step 1 - Prepare the Jugs
Since most of our ingredients are going to be going from sealed containers into sealed containers, there isn't really a need to sanitize anything. But cleanliness is still important.
Empty SOME of the water in the 3 jugs you'll be using to ferment your mead in. With the types of jugs I used, I emptied the water to about 1 inch or so below the top of the label. Our goal is to make room to fit 3 pounds of honey in each jug. Use the water you empty for tea or soup or coffee or whatever. It won't be going back in.
Step 2 - Add Honey
This is where your food scale comes in handy. Add 3 pounds of honey to each of the jugs. If you like a less sweet mead, you can try as little as 2.5 pounds. After a few batches, you'll find your taste preference. Clean up any spills if you didn't use a funnel.
Step 3 - Top Off the Bottles.
If you're making 3 gallons with the ingredients list above, you have an unopened jug of distilled water. use this clean and sealed jug to re-fill the jugs you're fermenting your mead in.
As the fermentation process takes place, the yeast will make a foam on top of the must (your mead mix). So, save a couple of inches at the top to account for that so your jug doesn't overflow. Cap your jugs of honey and water, and shake them vigorously to mix as much as possible
Step 4 - Add Yeast and Raisins.
Add equal parts yeast to all three containers. One packet of yeast can typically handle 5 gallons of mead. So dividing between these three should be plenty. Add 5 - 10 raisins to help give the yeast something to start eating as well. The raisins won't affect the taste of the mead. Give it a gentle swirl or stir with a clean utensil to get the yeast incorporated into the mix.
Step 5 - Airlock
We're keeping it simple here today, so no fancy airlock. But we do want to allow the CO2 created by the yeast to escape while not letting air or contaminants in. The easy way to do this is with a balloon.
Use a pin to prick a small hole on top of the balloon for air to escape, then fit it over the top of the jug.
Step 6 - Stash It and Leave It Alone
From here you're going to want to put your mead in a dark, room temperature area. You don't want it too hot, nor too cold. Also, since we're using makeshift equipment here, you don't want it on a carpet or near your clothes in case the jugs burst. (That hasn't happened to me yet, but just to be cautious it's a good idea.)
If you don't have a hard floor to set them on, you can set them inside a clean plastic bin and that will help contain any mess.
After a couple hours to a day, the fermentation will be under way and you'll see bubbles in the mead, and the balloons will have some air in them. Things are working they way they should.
Finishing Up.
In about a month, or when the fermentation has slowed to nearly a stop, I'll syphon the mead from these containers into better jugs. I'll be using sanitized glass carboys with good airlocks on them for another couple of months of secondary fermentation. After that comes bottling and aging, posts for another time.
This is a fun hobby, and one I've missed since moving, so it was nice to get back in to it. Do you do any home brewing or fermentation? Tell me all about it in the comments!