Basic Mead Making

The recipe I started out with was found here. I always thought cranberry and honey complimented each other. The pure unsweetened cranberry juice was about as pricey as the honey would be. Even with the "toddler of the house" monkeying with the air lock, I had very good results after about a year. I used more honey and didn't bother with the corn sugar. Typically the better the honey the better the end product. Don't a medal winning mead with bulk honey for baking that would avoid eating raw on toast or in tea.

Here is a basic run through of mead making and basic equipment.



More of the series can be seen here.

Let's Start out with the simplest three recipes:(5 gallon)

Dry Mead

* 12 lbs. of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or a suitable replacement)

Medium Mead

* 15 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)

Sweet Mead

* 18 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)

These three recipes are the simple and no problem way to make a basic and great tasting mead. The only difference between them is the amount of honey you put into the must.