In need of a newbie mead recipe that is easy to make :)

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Elysium

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I love orange blossom honey and wanna make a few gallons of mead.

I am just wondering if you guys could give me a recipe which is easy to follow.
I have no temp control so I need an easy to get yeast (which ferments well, even at higher temp...talking about even 27-30ºC in the summer).

I am also wondering how people keep mead making sanitized. I saw people just put eveything in the same bottles and pour the yeast on top of that, and that's it. Is that sanitary enough to make good mead?
 
Have you made any mead before? BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) and JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orang Mead)....both recipes should be easy to find with a quick search, and will absolutely work if you follow the recipes....as far as fermenting temps, you want to keep it cooler than your summer temps given - the fermenting mead in the bucket/carboy/jug will be several degrees warmer than ambient temp, and that's going to be too warm, really. A "swamp cooler" is an excellent low budget way of controlling ferment temps (a big plastic storage container or such filled with water, have a supply of several frozen bottles of water of which you place a few in the water at a time and swap them out as needed, a t-shirt or sweatshirt or blanket over the fermentor - hanging down into the liquid to wick it up - and a fan blowing across the whole setup works wonders for the $$$ and time invested. Mead is very easy to make, you just need to keep temps from getting too high and have the patience of a saint....although BOMM and JAOM are ready far sooner than a typical mead if the recipes are followed, including yeast choices.
I wish you much success :)
 
fuelish said:
Have you made any mead before? BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) and JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orang Mead)....both recipes should be easy to find with a quick search, and will absolutely work if you follow the recipes....as far as fermenting temps, you want to keep it cooler than your summer temps given - the fermenting mead in the bucket/carboy/jug will be several degrees warmer than ambient temp, and that's going to be too warm, really. A "swamp cooler" is an excellent low budget way of controlling ferment temps (a big plastic storage container or such filled with water, have a supply of several frozen bottles of water of which you place a few in the water at a time and swap them out as needed, a t-shirt or sweatshirt or blanket over the fermentor - hanging down into the liquid to wick it up - and a fan blowing across the whole setup works wonders for the $$$ and time invested. Mead is very easy to make, you just need to keep temps from getting too high and have the patience of a saint....although BOMM and JAOM are ready far sooner than a typical mead if the recipes are followed, including yeast choices.
I wish you much success :)
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your reply. The mead forum seems to be slower than the beer one. :)

By the way....how come no one sanitizes when it comes to mead making? In none of the videos I have seen, people sanitize. Not even when it comes to making a starter. Why is that? Mead is less problematic than beer when it comes to sanitation?
 
Elysium said:
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your reply. The mead forum seems to be slower than the beer one. :)

By the way....how come no one sanitizes when it comes to mead making? In none of the videos I have seen, people sanitize. Not even when it comes to making a starter. Why is that? Mead is less problematic than beer when it comes to sanitation?
Click to expand...

Honey has natural antimicrobial properties. So no need to heat the honey. In fact, heat can ruin the honey's delicate flavors.
 
Elysium said:
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your reply. The mead forum seems to be slower than the beer one.
Click to expand...
You're welcome, and the "slowness" of the mead forum is likely just a reflection on the mead making process as opposed to beer....beer brewing is a rather quick affair, and if something seems wrong, there's relatively little time to attempt to fix it....mead making is a lot more relaxed due to the length of time to produce the final product, which gives you a more relaxed attitude towards possible problems, as there's always time to get it sorted.....and often, all it really needs is just more time to do it's thing :)

Elysium said:
By the way....how come no one sanitizes when it comes to mead making? In none of the videos I have seen, people sanitize. Not even when it comes to making a starter. Why is that? Mead is less problematic than beer when it comes to sanitation?
Click to expand...
Have never really noticed it, but, coming from a previous beer brewing background, I sanitize everything religiously, but I don't boil the honey for reasons stated above by MaxStout....Starsan is worth the $$$, have never, ever had a bad batch of anything due to sanitization problems
 
Elysium said:
I love orange blossom honey and wanna make a few gallons of mead.

I am just wondering if you guys could give me a recipe which is easy to follow.
I have no temp control so I need an easy to get yeast (which ferments well, even at higher temp...talking about even 27-30ºC in the summer).

I am also wondering how people keep mead making sanitized. I saw people just put eveything in the same bottles and pour the yeast on top of that, and that's it. Is that sanitary enough to make good mead?
Click to expand...

Simple recipe (1 gal) would be 3lbs honey & water to 1 gallon. Be sure to use yeast nutrient/energizer & DAP (diammonium phosphate), just follow the directions on the pkgs. As far as the choice of yeast strain goes, If you can control the fermenter temp, use whatever yeast suits you desired end product best. if not, I'd suggest using K1V-1116
http://www.lalvinyeast.com/strains.asp#

It should tolerate the temps you mentioned, but try to keep it in the coolest part of the building. Fermenting hotter could result in off flavors with any yeast strain. This strain will take the 3lbs/gal recipe dry though & will ferment to 18% ABV. If you want lower ABV or sweeter you'll need to adjust the recipe by increasing honey or by backsweetening or pasteurization.

For sanitation, I always sanitize my equipment & the must. I use Starsan on the equipment & Campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) for the must. Not doing so risks contamination.
Regards, GF.
 
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead gets my vote! I have tried several and never been a mead lover but after following that simple recipe, my wife and I both love it...as do the few lucky people that we shared it with. The warm orange/cinnamon/clove blend was perfect.
 
BowAholic said:
Joe's Ancient Orange Mead gets my vote! I have tried several and never been a mead lover but after following that simple recipe, my wife and I both love it...as do the few lucky people that we shared it with. The warm orange/cinnamon/clove blend was perfect.
Click to expand...

I really wanna try that recipe. Is there a calculator on the internet to calculate how much must could a Wyeat 1388 XL pack ferment at a specific gravity? I have used Mr Malty so far, but that might not be suitable for mead (no clue).

Cheers
 
Elysium said:
I really wanna try that recipe. Is there a calculator on the internet to calculate how much must could a Wyeat 1388 XL pack ferment at a specific gravity? I have used Mr Malty so far, but that might not be suitable for mead (no clue).

Cheers
Click to expand...
Original recipe for JAOM calls for Fleischman's bread yeast....all bets are off if a different yeast is used, although I'm sure it would be fine, maybe just take longer to age out??? Have no idea, have never made it...just sayin

"1 gallon batch


3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon
"
 
the JAOM recipe is perfect as is and all you do is add one pack of cheap bread yeast from the grocery store... I followed it to the letter and added the optional pinch of all spice... it's awesome!
 
Next batch of JAOM I do will have about half the orange peel get removed from the oranges before they go into the jug.

I found it a little heavy on the orange for my taste. YMMV, as will your oranges.

TeeJo
 

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