So what exactly is a mead? I realise its basically a honey wine, does that mean I can just mix honey and water, throw some champagne yeast in and let it go? Add a few fruity flavours, then enjoy? Or is it much much more complicated than that? Toying with ideas of the next brew I compile. Either gonna be a lightly flavoured, full bodied beer, a good dry cider or mead which I've not really ever even considered. I'm think one after the other, yet in which order?! Currently have a few heavier beer types bottled, so want something a little different..
yet to ferment...
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Well, sure, you can do that.
And you can make spaghetti sauce by opening a can of tomatoes and adding some parsley and salt.
Or, you can take a few more minutes and make a quality product with not much more effort.
Our mead sticky threads are really helpful for beginning mazers and starting with a bit of understanding of the yeast nutrient requirements would go a long way to making a good mead, even if just a very simple mead.
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
For a nice easy start, check out the recipe in chapter 6 a.k.a. JAO/Joe's Ancient Orange.
The Gotmead "NewBee" guide is pretty much all you need to get started. Yes, it's a bit of a read to plough through, but it answers most of the new mead maker questions, plus the JAO recipe, if you can make it as close as possible to the recipe (Caveat - to my taste, once it's done, it still needs to be aged for at least 6 months - but damn it can come out wonderful), then you'll have an idea, without too much hassle, and as you can get the ingredients from most grocery stores, you only need to find an appropriate fermenter (1 gallon jug of some sort).
Gotmead also has a "mega thread" (just check out the number of replies and page views) about it with various other Q's and A's about it.....
A good place too start.
Oh and don't forget, technically speaking, mead is really just a mix of honey and water, yeast - and a few more modern touches, like nutrient, energiser, etc. All of the ones that have fruit, spice or whatever ingredients have different names (often for historical reasons). Either way, there's usually plenty of info about most combinations that you can think of......
The Gotmead "NewBee" guide is pretty much all you need to get started. Yes, it's a bit of a read to plough through, but it answers most of the new mead maker questions, plus the JAO recipe, if you can make it as close as possible to the recipe (Caveat - to my taste, once it's done, it still needs to be aged for at least 6 months - but damn it can come out wonderful), then you'll have an idea, without too much hassle, and as you can get the ingredients from most grocery stores, you only need to find an appropriate fermenter (1 gallon jug of some sort).
Gotmead also has a "mega thread" (just check out the number of replies and page views) about it with various other Q's and A's about it.....
A good place too start.
Oh and don't forget, technically speaking, mead is really just a mix of honey and water, yeast - and a few more modern touches, like nutrient, energiser, etc. All of the ones that have fruit, spice or whatever ingredients have different names (often for historical reasons). Either way, there's usually plenty of info about most combinations that you can think of......
Joe's ancient orange is a good recipe, but substitute a decent wine yeast for the bread yeast.
My personal favorite is Narbonne 71-B which any decent LHBS should have. Don't go with champagne yeast your first time, unless you want a mead so dry its mouth puckering.
My personal favorite is Narbonne 71-B which any decent LHBS should have. Don't go with champagne yeast your first time, unless you want a mead so dry its mouth puckering.
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