Wild Mead

I'm almost embarrassed to say I've never tried to make mead before. Our club has made beer together and I've also made it with a friend but never ventured down the mead trail. I've recently come into a lot of honey from Michigan that my mom got me. Fingers crossed that I love because SOOO much easier than making beer. The recipe I am following notes (with subtle variations) I took from Chris Byrne's "Making Mead at Home" talk at the Farm to Fermentation Festival.

warming in sun

stirred together

Ingredients

Raw honey

Spring water

Directions

1-quart honey per gallon water equals abt 12% alcohol. This is a dryer mead.

Add 1-quart honey to gal container then fill with water. Warm in sun to stir together. Bring inside and add fruit (optional).

Stir 3x a day or more.

When starts "sizzling" give it a day or 2 and keep stirring. Strain or not strain into container (apple juice jug) up to you. Add water to fill bottle to bevel​. When ferment starts tapering off then measure it with hydrometer.

Trick to fresh mead that doesn't have to sit for a yr: hydrometer reading will start at 1.12 (you do not have to measure this, it is always 1.12). Stop it at 1.02 and bottle in fling top. You can racket if want more clear.

Bottle in fling top. Leave 2-3 weeks. 60-70 degrees best for ferment.