Puritan Pub

The world’s oldest alcoholic beverage, Mead, is a very simple brew to make. You only need the minumum of equipment and ingredients.  I usually start some about a month before Christmas.

You can use beer or wine yeast. I would recommend you get some champagne yeast.

Basic Quickie Mead

Ingredients:

2-3 cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 thin slices ginger
2-4 teaspoons orange peel
2 pounds honey
yeast
1/4 cup vodka or grain alcohol (to kill the yeast)

Procedure:

In a 1-gallon pot, simmer cloves (lightly cracked), cinnamon (broken),
and ginger. Add orange peel. The amount of orange peel will vary depending on the type of honey used. Use less orange peel with orange blossom honey, for example. Simmer.

Add water to bring volume to 3 quarts. Return to simmer.

Add honey,stirring constantly. Do not boil!

Skim off any white scum. If scum is yellow, reduce heat. When no more scum forms, remove from heat, cover
pot, and leave overnight.

The next day, strain to remove as much spice particles as possible. Pitch (put in) yeast. Replace pot cover.

Twelve hours later, rack mead to 1-gallon jug, leaving dregs of yeast.  I like the nice wide mouth pickle jugs.  They are easy to come by and you can eat the pickles.  Great for making pickled eggs as well - Mmmmmmm.

Top off jug, bringing to base of neck. Take a piece of clean paper towel, fold into quarters, and put over mouth of jug. Seal with rubber band.

Ferment for 36 hours, replacing paper towel whenever it becomes fouled.

Refrigerate 8-12 hours. Rack to new jug and put back in refrigerator for 12 hours. Add 1/4 cup vodka to kill yeast. Rack to fresh jug. Refrigerate 3-4 days. Bottle.

This is a quickie mead, drinkable in 2 weeks, however, it does improve with age. Aging at least a couple months is recommended. This mead is excellent chilled.

Primary Ferment: 2 days
Secondary Ferment: 2 weeks