How to Make Homemade Mead

How to Make Homemade Mead

So you’re looking to make some homemade mead? We think that’s great! 

While we have been making mead for many years now, we still had to start somewhere. 

The best thing about this is that homemade mead is actually pretty simple to start, but it can take a while to get perfect. It’s not uncommon for your first batch to taste more like rocket fuel than sweet honey wine. 

Preparation

In order to get started on the right foot to make homemade mead, you need the right equipment. So before you start running off to the store, here is a list of equipment you need to make the best mead possible.

  • Sanitizer

  • Large pot and spoon (usually stainless steel is best)

  • Funnel

  • Glass jug with airlock and rubber stopper lid

  • Cooking thermometer

  • Fermenting bucket (if making a large batch)

  • Auto siphon and tubing

  • Bottling wand

  • Home brewing bottles with flip caps

If you don’t want to buy everything separately, which we understand since it can get a bit pricey, there are a few places online you can buy full kits from for those that are just beginning their home brewing experience.

Ingredients required for Making Mead

For those of you just starting out, you really only need three ingredients:

  • Honey - 2 to 3 pounds per gallon desired (if you want to use distilled honey, you can, but raw honey tends to work best)

  • Filtered water 

  • Fermenting agent (usually champagne yeast)

Once you get comfortable with the basic process, you can expand your flavors and include different fruits, herbs, or other ingredients to affect the taste and/or dryness of the end drink.

Mead Recipe

Before you begin to mix your ingredients, make sure all your equipment is sanitized. You don’t want any bacteria to get mixed into your homemade mead and ruin the entire batch. Everything that ends up touching the liquid needs to be sanitized thoroughly. 

1. Heat Your Water

In your pot, if you are only looking to brew about a gallon of homemade mead, heat about half a gallon of water to about 170˚F (about 76˚C). This will help remove the impurities in the water, while not making your water so hot that it would burn the honey once you add it in. 

Use your kitchen thermometer to get to the right temperature and then remove it from the heat.

2. Add Honey

Since we’re only focusing on making a gallon right now, we’ll focus on just using about 2-3 pounds. Keep in mind that the more honey you use, the sweeter it will be. 

Add the honey to the hot water and stir with your spoon until the honey is dissolved. Once dissolved, bring the honey water mixture to a simmer. You want the mixture to be between 140 and 150˚F (between 60 and 65˚C). 

Remove from heat again.

Here is where you would also add any extra ingredients for any flavors you want in your homemade mead.

3.  Add Fermenting Agent

Use your thermometer to check when the mixture gets before 90˚F (32˚C). At this point, mix in 1 1/2 tsp of your fermenting agent. We would normally recommend champagne yeast. If you’re using prepackaged yeast, use about 1/5 of the package. 

4. Transfer Mixture

At this point, you have the beginnings of must. In order to make sure your homemade mead is successful, you need to quickly transfer the must into your glass bottle. Pour the must into the bottle through the funnel, you don’t want to make a mess and lose that precious drink. 

Once transferred, make sure your homemade mead is sealed completely. Without the seal, the yeast can’t work properly and allows bacteria and dust to potentially ruin the entire batch. 

If the must is a bit foamy, that’s okay. This is a normal reaction when the fermentation process has begun, in fact, it’s normal to have that increase within about 24 hours as well. 

Make sure you periodically check your drink and make sure your airlock remains clear. Because of the pressure building at first, a clogged airlock can potentially lead to an explosion. If it is clogged, clean it out and seal it again. 

5. Enjoy!

After about six weeks, the foaming should have either slowed down or stopped entirely. At this point, it’s ready to taste, bottle, and enjoy! 

Before you bottle your homemade mead, give it a taste to see if it’s to your liking. 

Using the funnel, go ahead and transfer the finished mead into your bottles to enjoy later.

While You Wait

Now, if you have only gotten to step 4 and are waiting for your own homemade mead to ferment, come on down to our mead hall and get a taste of what we have created! Come enjoy great drinks, grand adventures, and fantastic entertainment in our mead hall in Vista!

SKAL!


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