General How to make mead

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kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264
I love good mead but I've never made it or any alcohol
Want a cheap way to make pineapple wine and a great snack? Honey is insanely priced right now. Buy 24 cans of pineapple rings at the grocery store. Drain them and then throw the rings into a dehydrator, use the drained off juice for the recipe above.
 

Mutant

Citizen of the Infernal Empire
Oct 20, 2015
882
1,350
Never made meade but I do make my own kombucha and milk kefir although that's in a temp hiatus!
 

segfault

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2024
364
643
Christ you're not kidding about price. I was going to point you to Raw Honey, Beeswax, Royal Jelly, Propolis, Honey Straws, Honey Sticks for bulk honey, but they're almost all out of stock and a 3.5 gallon bucket of orange blossom is eye-wateringly expensive. I still have two half-empty 5 gallon buckets of honey from them along with a stockpile of acacia honey I'm saving for a special batch. I think I'll stick to making hard cider this autumn.

You can get 1 gallon (12lbs) from here Honey Products for.. well, not a great price, but not the worst for a raw varietal.

12lbs and change should be enough for 5 gallons of a 12-14% mead. Avoid buckwheat, almond, and goldenrod honey unless you know it's what you want for a particular recipe. They're a bit unusual tasting.

Remember guys, the economy is better than ever!
 

kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264
I was thinking about doing something to make some alcohol.
We harvest hundreds of pounds of fruit and berries each year and I'm tired of dried fruit and jams n stuff.

Fruit wine maybe?
Mead?
Maybe a small still operation?
BlackBerry and strawberry work awesome
 

segfault

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2024
364
643
I don't know, every fruit wine I've ever bought or made has just tasted like spoiled fruit. The only good ones all had a red wine base and fruit juice added after primary fermentation. Blueberry, blackberry, cranberries, all those worked with that kind of wine.

Now fruit juice added to a mead? That can work. I found a great deal from a Korean grocer for Asian pears, bought a couple cases, and I made a pretty decent mead with those. The pears I added during the primary fermentation, but pears are a bit of an outlier in that they contain sorbitol, which yeast can't convert to alcohol. So even when it ferments dry, there will be a residual sweetness from the sorbital.

But definitely experiment. There's a good book on it, "Making Wild Wines & Meads" by Gulling and Vargas.

A little warning about strawberries: the wine will NEVER clear. They contain a ton of pectin, and the amount of fining agent required to clear them will strip most of the strawberry flavor from the wine. But something homemade that you're drinking yourself? Who cares.

Take the plunge, especially with fruit wines and meads. You really don't need much equipment. Hydrometer, five gallon buckets, airlocks, and you can make something decent. If you get the bug, you can buy more equipment as needed to make better batches.
 

kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264
I don't know, every fruit wine I've ever bought or made has just tasted like spoiled fruit. The only good ones all had a red wine base and fruit juice added after primary fermentation. Blueberry, blackberry, cranberries, all those worked with that kind of wine.

Now fruit juice added to a mead? That can work. I found a great deal from a Korean grocer for Asian pears, bought a couple cases, and I made a pretty decent mead with those. The pears I added during the primary fermentation, but pears are a bit of an outlier in that they contain sorbitol, which yeast can't convert to alcohol. So even when it ferments dry, there will be a residual sweetness from the sorbital.

But definitely experiment. There's a good book on it, "Making Wild Wines & Meads" by Gulling and Vargas.

A little warning about strawberries: the wine will NEVER clear. They contain a ton of pectin, and the amount of fining agent required to clear them will strip most of the strawberry flavor from the wine. But something homemade that you're drinking yourself? Who cares.

Take the plunge, especially with fruit wines and meads. You really don't need much equipment. Hydrometer, five gallon buckets, airlocks, and you can make something decent. If you get the bug, you can buy more equipment as needed to make better batches.
A melomel is a great thing to experiment with as well
 

Rambo John J

Baker Team
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
75,086
74,239
I don't know, every fruit wine I've ever bought or made has just tasted like spoiled fruit. The only good ones all had a red wine base and fruit juice added after primary fermentation. Blueberry, blackberry, cranberries, all those worked with that kind of wine.

Now fruit juice added to a mead? That can work. I found a great deal from a Korean grocer for Asian pears, bought a couple cases, and I made a pretty decent mead with those. The pears I added during the primary fermentation, but pears are a bit of an outlier in that they contain sorbitol, which yeast can't convert to alcohol. So even when it ferments dry, there will be a residual sweetness from the sorbital.

But definitely experiment. There's a good book on it, "Making Wild Wines & Meads" by Gulling and Vargas.

A little warning about strawberries: the wine will NEVER clear. They contain a ton of pectin, and the amount of fining agent required to clear them will strip most of the strawberry flavor from the wine. But something homemade that you're drinking yourself? Who cares.

Take the plunge, especially with fruit wines and meads. You really don't need much equipment. Hydrometer, five gallon buckets, airlocks, and you can make something decent. If you get the bug, you can buy more equipment as needed to make better batches.
I had cherry and elderberry fruit wine made by a hippy that was unreal. Super refined and pure tasting and quite powerful. I don't want to ask to learn from her though because she is in recovery from booze. I've never had anything on that level since.
 

ArodJohns

Keep Your Rifle By Your Side
Mar 2, 2023
371
548
Where would I start if I wanted to make boring old Viking mead from the same kind of ingredients that they would have used?
 

kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264
Where would I start if I wanted to make boring old Viking mead from the same kind of ingredients that they would have used?
Honey, water, yeast. That's it. Want traditional? I would do open vessel like a frambois lambic.
 

Odinson

Member
Sep 6, 2024
8
14
I have been lurking since the collapse

I am currently sitting on 45 gallons of mead. 15 gallons are generic honey 10 gallons are cherry which is my favorite

My wife enjoys the blueberry which I also have 10 gallons of and then I have two of my father-in-law's recipes which are more herb based.


He taught me how to make it he was very involved in an old school Renaissance group. But I have thoroughly enjoyed it you can get drunk while bottling.


My favorite part is I feel like it's a different type of drunk I feel like you're almost tripping. Definitely not with store bought means but when you make it yourself it is a totally different High


I call having all the tools supplies and know how my apocalypse currency
 

ArodJohns

Keep Your Rifle By Your Side
Mar 2, 2023
371
548
Honey, water, yeast. That's it. Want traditional? I would do open vessel like a frambois lambic.
Thank you!

Do you have a link to the vessel? All I got when I searched is bottles of wine and a couple different beers.
 

Odinson

Member
Sep 6, 2024
8
14
Thank you!

Do you have a link to the vessel? All I got when I searched is bottles of wine and a couple different beers.
The Vikings used to make it in an open Barrel if you want to make it today non-traditional use a 5 gallon glass jar lift it up every couple days and Shake it for about 2 months minimum


I have ones I haven't touched for years though after the first couple months you can stop shaking them and just drink them whenever you get there
 

kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264

kvr28

Ghost of KVR
Nov 22, 2015
5,887
8,264
I have been lurking since the collapse

I am currently sitting on 45 gallons of mead. 15 gallons are generic honey 10 gallons are cherry which is my favorite

My wife enjoys the blueberry which I also have 10 gallons of and then I have two of my father-in-law's recipes which are more herb based.


He taught me how to make it he was very involved in an old school Renaissance group. But I have thoroughly enjoyed it you can get drunk while bottling.


My favorite part is I feel like it's a different type of drunk I feel like you're almost tripping. Definitely not with store bought means but when you make it yourself it is a totally different High


I call having all the tools supplies and know how my apocalypse currency
Good seeing you here bud