Easy Mead?

Can I really make an easy 1 gallon batch of mead with only 2-4lbs of honey, water and champagne yeast or do I need something more. I’m looking for simple

 

that is plenty of honey, and that yeast should work, but some yeast nuetirent would be good. The typical is to buy yeast nutrient or yeast energizer from the lhbs. If you don't have a place to easily buy that, I think cream of tartar can be used, and one I've not tried, but makes sence since yeast energizer is yeast hulls, to get some bread yeast and boil it (killing the bread yeast and creating clean dead yeast for your champagine yeast to eat).

?Lastly you might want to put in 1 cup of tea. The tanins from the tea help prevent the mead from having a 'insipid' flavor - aka dull, boring or just lacking (lacking what I don't know my self).

Also 2 lb of honey/gallon=dry mead. 3lb/gallon = typically sweet mead. 4lb honey/gallon= instanely sweet/stuck fermentation.

Anyhow if I were you, I'd get a pack of yeast from the store, put it in boiling water (only a few mins) and make a cup of tea and combine that with about 2 -2.5 lb of honey (up to 3 if you like sweet).

 

Mead is just yeast, water, and honey. Anything else is up to you. Make sure everything is quite sterilized though. The amount of honey you use will determine sweetness... about 2.5 pounds for dry, 3 pounds for a medium sweet, and 4 will get you something quite sweet, or with a high ABV depending on the champagne yeast you use.

 

Look for the recipe Joe's Ancient Orange (JAO) Mead. It uses 3.5 lbs of honey and will be perfect.

 

Most of us put in nutrients to help the yeast. But you couldn't get simpler. Just warm the water, mix honey, stir well to put some oxygen in, then take a temp reading, if under they yeast tollerance, usually around 98 degrees, then toss in the yeast.

I like taking powdered yeast into a plastic cup with a bit of room temp water and just a squirt of fruit juice or a touch of sugar mixed in and let sit for a few minutes. That way you can get the yeast ready and make sure your yeast is alive. It should foam up a bit. This is what I am doing while the rest is cooling a bit more. Then just toss the yeast in, give a good stir, and put in your ferment container with an airlock.

Check back in a month to see if bubbling has slowed, if so, rack to another contaner and then let sit for 5-6 months or so until clear. Then either bottle or rack again, Then forget about it for about 8 months. That's aging. Then done.

Mead is really the easiest fermentation out there. You can get more complicated from there but that is a choice. Lazyness rules here.

Only thing not to be lazy on is sanitizing your gear before using it. Then your's good.

Matrix

 

Agreeing with all of the above, except I like to add -

If you don't have yeast nutrient, try raisins.. yeasts like raisins, because they're bred to eat wine grapes.

-- makes me feel all subversive

 

or boiled bread yeast, or vitamin B1 tablet crushed, or Marmite, etc etc........