Mead "Brew Along" Possibility

[British Red]

I have over the past 7 or so years "passed around" a good few bottles of home made drinks - from blackberry brandy (that Mr Fennah just "bumped" as its become a seasonal favourite, through elderberry port, "mulled wine syrup", scumble, "suicider" and various hedgerow wines and beers. A number of these have formed the basis of "pictorials" that I have posted up on the site.

Anyway, as a number of people here know, I have also been making mead and "mead based" drinks for many years, but it occurs to me that we don't seem to have a decent tutorial on the site for mead making, but I am aware that it is somewhat of a "campfire favourite". Its not a drink for the impatient (done properly), but for those with some patience, it can be a rewarding thing to make.

So I thought a sort of "brew along" tutorial set for mead might be fun. If anyone wants to "play along", you will need a demijohn (or five litre water bottle form supermarkets), an airlock and bung, and 3lbs of honey. There will also be a number of other ingredients needed according to the recipe. For those who don't want to buy large amounts of home brew ingredients, I can supply enough to make one batch of mead (rather than buy huge quantities that have a limited shelf life).

If there is any interest in doing this, I'll post up three recipes:-

Mead (probably a sack mead) - a basic fermented honey recipe
Melomel - a recipe for a fruit flavoured mead
Metheglin - a recipe for a herb / spice flavoured mead

I can publish up front the materials needed and supply the small amounts of odd stuff like acid blends and yeast nutrients if anyone wants enough just to try making a single batch.

If this is of interest to people, please let me know. If a straightforward "tutorial" (published in one piece after everything is completed) would be preferred, I'm happy to do that too.

If either approach ("brew along" or "tutorial") is of interest, do let me know in this thread and I will do one of each type in "small batch" proportions that people can follow

Red

 

[Man of Tanith]

Me.
Any and all would be interesting Hugh.

 

[Balloonatic]

I'm in! Basic mead sounds good and I do have two demijohns in need of a purpose!

 

[Two Socks]

I would like to play along as well. I will try to find all the necessary bits, but I think I`d like to buy the ingredients from you if that is ok. I think that even if the international shipping is included it is still better than having to source it and have too much of everything. At the moment the only thing I know where to get is the honey

 

[mousey]

Sound very interesting - I would like to play along, I have been meaning to brew some beer and or wine for a while now [I unfortunatley always seem to have something else I need to do ] maybe this would be a bit of inspiration for me

even if I can't play along in real time I'd definatley be interested in a tutorial at the end of it.

 

[British Red]

Well the primary ferments are on and photographed.

I'm sure you know that mead is "plain", when you add fruit you get a "melomel" when you add spices you get a "metheglin".

For the tutorials I decided not to go too fancy, so we have:

Sack mead (medium sweetness - not dry, not sickly)
Strawberry melomel (using our own strawberries)
Vanilla Metheglin

I'll upload the photos when I get a minute and I think start three threads (one for each brew)

Sound okay?

 

[JohnC]

Id b interested in this, just need to persuade Jane to let me try brewing

 

[Two Socks]

Sounds good Red. I`ll go order some flasks and airlocks.

 

[nunzionuk]

I have all but the honey.. and likely yeast.. unless tis the same as wine yeast?

 

[EarthToSimon]

I'd be really interested in this, Been thinking about brewing some for a few months now. Just having trouble finding enough raw honey locally that isn't so expensive.

 

[British Red]

I have all but the honey.. and likely yeast.. unless tis the same as wine yeast?

Wine yeast will work just fine

 

[HantsScooter]

I got asked a few years back to make a batch of mead for a freinds medieval style wedding. Given that they asked for 5 gallons I must admit to using Asda smart price honey. Took something like 19 tubs and a fair bit of patience just transfering it all into the fermenter. Thankfully it turned really well, with a little fortification to help with the residual sweetness, and aided a seriously rambunctious night.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[forestschoolmatlot]

Sounds great, just got to get everything, except the honey!

 

[PeterH]

As alcohol has the potential for very serious medical consequences here I wont be "brewing along" but I am certainly interested in seeing how it goes thanks for doing this it sounds good.

 

[ozzy1977]

Sound like a cracking good idea

 

[Two Socks]

I just read the first tutorial with interest, but here it has kindly been pointed out to me that I have no idea where I`ll be in a years time and that such a long project would not be a good idea. I`ll still folow these threads and will come back to them for future reference. For now I think I will look for another brewing project to get me started. Something that can be done within two or three months.

thanks for these threads Red.

 

[British Red]

Good idea - try the elderberry port recipe - couple of months start to finish and a solid favourite!