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Friday, July 31, 2009

Episode 012 - Brewing Mead With Your Honey


In this episode, I discuss one of the best things a beekeeper can do with their honey, brew a delicious batch of mead. Mead is an adult beverage somewhere between beer and wine and dates back thousands of years. With just a few ingredients, a few pieces of basic brewing equipment, and some time, you too can brew a five gallon batch of mead.


Here are the links mentioned in the podcast:





Finally, here is my recipe, adapted from Papazian's Antipodal Mead recipe.

NKYBEEKEEPERS MEAD
(This will make roughly 5 gallons or 30 750ml bottles)

Ingredients:
15lbs Light Honey
Filtered Water
1 Package of Dry Champagne Yeast
Yeast Nutrient

Optional, but recommended:
Gypsym - Amount as recommended by manufacturer
Irish Moss - Amount as recommended by manufacturer
Yeast Nutrient - Amount as recommended by manufacturer
Acid Blend - Amount as recommended by manufacturer

Combine honey and water to equal 5 gallons in stainless steel pot. Add Irish Moss directly to pot. Boil for 15 minutes, removing scum and any other undesirable foam. Remove from heat, cover immediately, and allow to cool to room temperature (this may take several hours). Transfer to carboy. Hydrate yeast using one cup warm water, heated in microwave. Warm, not hot! Pitch into carboy. Add gypsum, acid blend, and yeast nutrient. Immediately seal carboy with airlock. Allow to ferment completely at room temperature for about 6 weeks or until airlock completely stops bubbling, and only after taking a hydrometer reading. Transfer to new container and allow to clarify for 6 months or more. Transfer as needed to clarify. Bottle, enjoy.


1 comment:

Chuck said...

Here are a few other resources to look into:

1. The Complete Meadmaker by Ken Schramm. Excellent book that covers all aspects of meadmaking and most of the best of contemporary meadmaking process.

2. gotmead.com. Lot's of good stuff there.

3. Hightest's guide to staggered nutrient addition at http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/FAQ/SNAddition.pdf This is a good way to make your mead ferment faster, cleaner, and be ready to drink soon.er

4. The Jamil Show on the Brewing Network had an interview with Ken Schramm about how to make mead. Check it out at thebrewingnetwork.com

Keep up the good work!