Earl T. Mead

I started a gallon of mead tonight and thought I'd submit the recipe for your reading pleasure (or horror).

3# Kroger brand honey
1 tsp Kroger fast rise baker's yeast (Don't judge me on these first two, I'm poor)
5 bags Bigelow Earl Grey tea
~25 raisins

Steeped the teabags in 2 cups water (that's 480 mL for you European gents...but you knew that already) for 5+ minutes.....poured the tea into carboy.

Used an electric mixer to mix the honey with enough water to make it pourable and to aerate the bejeezus out of it. Poured that in the carboy.

Added raisins. More for an indicator of done-ness when they sink than for any practical purpose like tannins or nutrients, though they certainly can't hurt.

Added water from Brita almost to top.

Pitched yeast.

Filled to about 3 inches from the mouth of the carboy.

It is sitting in the sink with a paper towel over the top and when the yeasties calm down a bit I will pop on an airlock.

Now here is where you guys come in. What would you do different or how would you improve upon this? Other than using varietal honey or better yeast, of course. And if you have had Earl Grey mead before...how is it?

Is there really no LHBS in your area? Real wine yeast costs all of $1 for a packet.

That sounds like a reasonable recipe. No horror here.

I do agree with above, yeast is one of the cheapest variables you can control on a tight budget. Others will swear up and down that bread yeast is fine, though, and maybe you'll find that's your cup of tea (O U C wot I did thur).

Use a balloon poked with pin holes as your airlock. Then apply the cost savings toward your yeast future. It's too late now, but you're going to get hooked on mead making. Assemble your next batch with wine yeast; then, after racking that batch, you can dump a new batch onto the active yeast cake and double your investment! Repeat until you become the new mayor of Yeast Town.

I've been making mead for about a year now. I have carboys and airlocks, it just seemed dumb to me to order yeast on amazon and pay shipping that is like 3x what the yeast itself cost. There actually isn't a LHBS here, unfortunately. The one listed online and in the phone book has been closed for several years now. The closest one I have found is 2ish hours away in Atlanta.