First Attempt at Making Mead!

I’ve never been a big fan of mead as any I’ve tasted have always been pretty sweet – that is until  last fall, when  I toured the Sap House Meadery in Ossipee, NH.  I tried their mead – which was dry & delicious!     When the owners talked about the ingredients needed to make mead,  I realized that  except for the yeast & yeast nutrient, I had everything I needed right  in my yard – the water, the honey & different fruits!

I purchased  “The Compleat Meadmaker” by Ken Schramm to read more about the process & what was required. Last week  I  went to a local beer & wine supply shop (the Kettle-to-Keg in Pembroke, NH) to buy the containers, airlocks, hydrometer & lots of other stuff – and last Sunday (2/19/17), I started my first batch.

Besides learning the process of mead making, I’m learning a whole new set of terminology like carboy  (glass containers used to ferment wine, mead, etc), must (the unfermented mead)  & trying to remember the things  I learned in high school chemistry  like  specific gravity (measuring the density of a liquid vs water – you use this to determine how much fermentation has taken place.) !

The video below shows what I’m seeing 3 days after adding the yeast to the must  – so far so good the yeasts are doing their job!

This first stage of fermenting will last 2-4 weeks after which I plan on splitting the batch into 2 or 3 smaller carboys – for the 2nd fermentation stage.  I’ll add strawberries to 1 carboy, blueberries to another  & leave the third as is  so that we can try different flavors. The second fermentation stage will  go for 4-5 months before the mead will be ready.

 

#Mead  #HoneyWine