Easy Recipe?

Hey guys,

Relatively new to brewing, I've brewed 4-5 batches of beer and just started my first batch of cider. Next up I'm looking to start some mead. Does anyone have an easy recipe that is relatively quick? I don't mind waiting, but for my first batch ever I'd rather not wait a year plus.

Thanks in advance.

Connor

Quick & mead doesn't play well. No way around that. Drier meads will be a bit faster.

Agreed. The lower the abv the sooner the mead will be drinkable. My 10% mead was started 11/21/06, and it still needs several more months (though its coming along nicely). After false starts, stalled ferments, and general newbieness, my first mead (orange melomel) started on 11/11/06, is fermenting again like crazy, and will need months more to age after it's done. Patience, or in my case, a tendency to drop hobbies for months at a time and pick them up again later is key to mead.

Find a closet, stick the mead in it, and focus on brewing other things while it works. Opening the closet again in six months to a year and finding a kickass mead in it will be like christmas morning

mike

Check it periodically, though, so your fermentation lock doesn't go dry.

Here are some quick meads:

http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?op...=viewcategorysrecipes&category_id=69&Itemid=6

I have done Joe's Ancient Orange Cinnamon Clove Mead, but I let it age about 3 months vs the 1 month that is stated in the recipe. It was fantastic (was being the operative word because it's all gone).

There's also this old recipie (modified by Master Robyyan)

Original recipe (Digbie, p. 124):

Take nine pints of warm fountain water, and dissolve in it one point of pure white honey, by laving it therein , till it be dissolved. Then boil it gently , skimming it all the while, till all the scum be perfectly scummed off; and after that boil it a little longer, peradventure a quarter of ah hour. In all it will require two or three hours boiling, so at least one third part may be consumed. About a quarter of an hour before you cease boiling, and take it from the fire, put to it a little spoonful of cleansed and sliced Ginger; and almost half as much of the thin yellow rind of Orange, when you are even ready t take it from the fire, so as the Orange boil only one walm in it. Then pour it into a well glassed strong deep great Gally-pot, and let it stand so, till it be almost cold, that it be scarce Luke-warm. Then put into it a little silver spoonful of pure Ale-yeast and work it together with a Ladle to make it ferment: as soon as it beginneth to do so, cover it close with a fit cover, and put a thick dubbled woollen cloth about it. Cast all things so that this may be done when you are going to bed.

Next morning when you rise, you will find the barm gathered all together in the middle; scum it clen off with a silver spoon and a feather, and bottle up the Liquor, stopping it very close. It will be ready to drink in two or three days, but is will keep well a month or two. It will from the first, very quick and pleasant.



Master Robyyan's recipe:

Add one. pound of honey to 5 quarts of water, bring the mixture to a simmer and skim the foam as it rises, until there is no more foam, approximately 30 minutes. (Aelfwyn: though boiling the honey isn;t necessary.. ) Add approx. 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh ginger, the juice of one lemon, and 8 cloves, stuck into the lemon peel for easy removal. Boil for 15 minutes, then remove from the heat and cool to lukewarm. Place the wort in a jug, straining the ginger and lemon pieces out. Add 1/4 tsp. ale yeast, and fit a fermentation lock.

After 48 hours, bottle and store at room temperature. After 48 hours in the bottle, refrigerate.


I have to admit, I've not tried this, though once I get the equipment together, that's going to be my next batch. I get impatient...heh!

Actually, that's a good question - how many quarts are there in a gallon...or vice versa?

4 quarts in a US Gallon & 1 quart is just under a liter:

1 US quarts = 946.35295 milliliters

I've never heard of such a quick mead before. The alc content has to be pretty low, (beer levels) and I'd wonder about the body and overall taste. That's why I'm intrigued Anyone ever done this before? It honestly sounds to good to be true.

mike

Well, I'm giving it a shot now - I'll let you guys know how it turns out! I'm wondering if this is even going to start to ferment, though, with so little yeast added.

Aelfwyn said:

Well, I'm giving it a shot now - I'll let you guys know how it turns out! I'm wondering if this is even going to start to ferment, though, with so little yeast added.

Click to expand...

If the yeast is alive, it will ferment. It might take a day to be noticeable. Did you proof the yeast to make sure it was viable?

BTW, it would be safest to bottle this stuff in plastic bottles. Its not meant for long term storage. You make it and drink it.

Yeah, that's true......Yip, I did. Nothing noticable at the minute, but it's only been going 8 hours.

Yeah, that's a good idea. I've got some plastic bottles on standby, I'll use those. Like I say, I'll let you know how it turns out...*kicks her heels*

I used the Joes Ancient Orange as a base for mine. All the ingredient amounts are the same, but the steps are different.

Simmer cloves/cinnamon/nutmeg, allspice, and raisins in 1/2 cup of water for 15 minutes in a small saucepan., then add to the water/honey mixture. Simmering brings out more flavor from them. I let it ferment out for about 3 months before bottling. Doing several transfers during that time off of the sediment. Still have 2 bottles left and they're over a year old now. This one gets a helluva lot smoother with age. It's thick and VERY sweet. A lot better than Chaucher's Mead IMHO.