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Indeed. Honey has been found, still edible, in ancient Egyptian tombs more than 3000 years old.

$35 for 12 pounds is a steal. I live in the Bay Area and the cheapest honey I can find easily comes from Safeway. They carry 5 pound tins of raw wildflower honey from a large local beekeeper and sell them for $16-$18 a pop (depending on time of year, spring and summer I've seen them fall to $12...

alternatively, are you aerating your mead? If it's the first 3 or so days, get a big ass spoon and stir that stuff up, or if you can safely do so, shake the carboy. The yeast needs the oxygen, and it'll help dissolve more of the honey.

Really? double it? I see. well, the instructions say 1/2 tsp per gallon, so I'll add 2tsp since I used 2 gallons of unfiltered apple juice. If I top this batch off with filtered juice (after I transfer from a 5 gallon to 6 gallon for the secondary, I want less alcohol and more sweetness, I...

I just looked up this information for my cyser (apples are loaded with pectin). Rule of thumb is 1/2 a tsp per gallon, add it to the heated must when you melt in the honey then add fruit. Let it sit til it cools, aerate the must, add your first stage nutrients and pitch your yeast.

Ok, I got my pectic enzyme today. From what I see, this stuff needs to be hot to activate? I 'm going to sanitize some equipment and take a sample of my must, heat it up, and add the enzyme to it, then pitch it.

Hops are added at different times, depending on how bitter, or what character you want in the beer. From my experience with beer brewing, I'd say either add it to the must/wort when mixing your honey (or boiling it, if you prefer old school mead making) and filter it out after racking primary...

I know that feeling. My 5 gallon batch of mead started at 1.120 gravity, and after a little over a week, it's now 1.029, I take a few sips from every gravity reading I do. I feel that hot alcohol when I sip mine too, and it's sitting at around 10+% alcohol. Still, I can tell this is going to be...

I guess patience really is a virtue. I went ahead and added 8 oz of strong oolong tea to the must. Those tannins will taste good later, assuming the mead ages nicely. Another gravity test and taste test: 12PM on the 18th: 1.029, and the must itself is starting to get some dryness to it. The...

Just to be safe, I added half a tablespoon of yeast nutrients last night, and that seems to have made the smell more pleasant. I think that Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast is very greedy for nutrients. Just took another hydrometer reading. Seems to be just below 1.040. The taste is VERY...

Hmm, I don't have any pectic enzyme right now, so I'll have to buy some. It's a pain to find this stuff at a place that doesn't charge outrageous shipping fees. Also, I was planning on adding the sparkalloid during the first racking, could I also add the enzyme then? Maybe they'd interact...

Well, I did buy some sparkolloid powder to clarify the mead. It's VERY opaque at the moment, but that's to be expected. The apple juice I used was completely unfiltered, so it's very very hazy. I figure I'll add the powder after the first racking, give it a month, and decide on whether or not...

I'm now 4 days into the fermentation of my first mead and I thought I'd share the recipe I used and maybe ask a question First off: 15 pounds local wildflower Honey 2 Gallons unfiltered apple juice about 3 gallons filtered and boiled tap water 3 cinnamon sticks (1") 5 cloves (3 cloves removed...