Meades
An outside link,Mead made complicated gives you mead in details: recipes for making mead, the history of the drink, mead tasting, and the science involved in mead making.
Strawberry Mead
From: Bill Gomm Gomm@nbnet.nb.ca
Ingredients for 23 litres (I'm Canadian) (that's slightly over 6 gal --ed)
- 4 pound frozen strawberries
- 10 pounds honey
- 2 tablespoon of yeast nutrient
- 2 packages of champagne yeast
- Boil honey and yeast nutrient in a gallon of water for 15 minutes skimming off the scum
from the honey as it boils. You don't have to get it all.
- Put strawberries into primary add honey wort and let steep for 10 minutes.
add water. Hydrate one pkg of yeast as you would for beer and stir into wort. sprinkle other
package on the top of the wort.
- Transfer to secondary after 7 days. keep in secondary for 2-4 or 6 months transferring
routinely until clear. Bottle as per beer and let sit for two months before drinking.
- I generally make this beer in the summer for drinking in the following summer.
- S.G. don't know I brew for taste not alchol. But three of these on a hot day and you won't be needing much else.
- Rates:****
12 Steps Maple Mead
From: Dan Myers, (djmyers3@home.com)
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
- 1. Go to Sam's Club and buy a jug of Honey (~5lbs) and 4 jugs (quarts?) of Maple syrup.
- 2. Go to the supermarket and buy a can of frozen lemonade concentrate
- 3. Go to the good brew store and buy 2 packets of champagne yeast crown caps and corn sugar.
What the hell, buy some malt, grains, hops and yeast for your next beer brew while you're there.
- 4. Go Home.
- 5. Boil the honey in 2 gal water, skim off the crud.
- 6. When youâre done skimming, pour the maple syrup in and the frozen lemonade and shut the heat off.
- 7. Cool.
- 8. Pour in primary & add water to 5 gallons. Proof and pitch Yeast. Check O.G. which should be around 1.1. Yikes!
- 9. Rig Primary with blow off tube because this stuff will turn your dancing hat airlock into a
missile! After a few days, youâll think you have dead squirrels in the attic. It's your fermenter!
Blame the dog for the smell anyway because thatâs why you have him.
- 10. Rack to glass carboy after fermenting stops. Put it in the basement until it turns clear
amber and the F.G. should get under 0.
- 11. Bottle with 3/4 cup corn sugar. Use beer bottles.
- 12. Wait a few weeks and enjoy your sparkling beverage in a champagne glass. Serve with pancakes!
- Right out of the carboy, this stuff tasted like a good white wine with a very subtle hint of maple. This is going to get very interesting as it ages.
- Rates:****
Dry Metheglin
From: Eric Anderson, (mymanfryday@hotmail.com)
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
- 12 pounds honey
- 2oz of juniper berries
- 1/2oz of licorish root
- 1/2oz of bitter orange peel
- 1/4oz of coriander seed
- 1/8oz of ginger
- 5tsp of yeast nutrient
- 4tsp of acid blend (A blend of citric, malic, and tartaric acids)
- 1 package of dry champagne Yeast
- Bring water and crushed spices to boil. Boil for 30 min remove from heat sorce add honey. Place back on heat sorce and boil for 15 more minutes. Allow to cool. transfere into primary fermenter and pitch the yeast.
- Rates:***
