Transcript Mead Making 101 - Iowa Honey Producers Association
Mead Making 101
(A Short Course)
By: Andy Hemken Bee & Mead Guy Big Bend, Wisconsin
Despite what you have heard, mead is the easiest alcoholic beverage you can make in your spare time. Not perfect, but easy.
Beekeepers are Natural Mead Makers
Chuck, Tony & Paul At the club yard
Mead
Worlds oldest fermented beverage Newlyweds drink mead during the honeymoon (first 30 days) to insure fertility Made from honey, water & yeast Mead is the root for other beverages Takes two years for the good stuff Is relatively simple to make with basic tools and materials Cleanliness is next to godliness
Why am I so thirsty when I had so much to drink last night?
“Other” Meads
Honey = mead Grapes = pyment Apples = ciser Fruit = melomel Malted grain = braggot Herbs or spices = metheglin Distilled mead = mead brandy Mead brandy + honey = honey liqueur
Mead Ingredients
Honey Mead will mirror the honey Water Spring water is best / no distilled, mineral, or chlorinated Yeast Dry / liquid / slap pack Other Fruit (freeze & thaw) / nutrient powder / etc
Yeast feeds on the sugars, and creates carbon dioxide and alcohol as waste products.
Equipment
Starting Mead
Honey Do not boil or heat the honey Mix water & honey to dissolve the honey Water Fruit or Additives Freeze & thaw fruit to unlock the flavor Yeast nutrient Check the Yeast specific gravity Record everything – – Important / progress Prepare the yeast ahead of time / add last start / each racking / finish
Starting Mead - continued 1 gallon / 3 gallon / 5 gallon / 6 gallon batch; or more Primary fermenters Bucket / fancy containers Temperature; 60° - 80° Keep everything sanitized Active fermentation may take a week or two – look at the bubbles
Recipes
15-20 pounds of honey for a 5 gallon batch Add water to make up starting gravity 10-20 pounds of fruit, depending on sugar content 10 grams of yeast nutrient Ciser or pyment, use fruit juice instead of water You are shooting for a balance of honey and flavor – don’t over power your mead Everyone has their own preferences
Common Fruit in Mead (fresh or juice, hand picked, store bought or bartered) Raspberry Cherry Black Currant Blueberry Strawberry Blackberry Cranberry Apples Grapes
Documenting the Process Write everything down You can recreate a great mead You can tweak a so-so mead Record what works and what bombed Keep the record with the mead Label your meads when bottling See internet blogs for troubleshooting hints
The Process
Storage of your working meads Racking: removing sediment Eventually the mead will get clear Keep the vapor lock full of water Oxygen is very bad for mead Mead may be drinkable in several months, but will be better at 18-24 months Meads should continue to improve with age
Racking and Sediment
Your Mead Area (my mead area) •Dark •Clean •Constant temperature •Store your stuff
Bottling Your Mead
Clean bottles, just like your honey containers – they hold something you worked hard for Can use wine, beer or other bottles Last racking before bottling Bottling bucket Corks – different kinds Create a good label; lots to choose from
Specific Gravity – What is it?
Water is 1.000
fruit juice is more / alcohol is less
Specific Gravity
Starting gravity = 1.080 – 1.120
Mine can be 1.170, depending on amount of honey Final Gravity Dry; 0.990 – 1.010
Semi-sweet; 1.010 – 1.025
Sweet; 1.025 – 1.050
These are guidelines Beer and wine websites have calculators
Oops -or, what the heck happened to my mead?
Use honey to sweeten a dry mead Blend a dry mead with a sweet mead May need to add acid, tartaric, acid blend Mead may go sparkling; not a bad thing Never throw out a mead; play with it
Bragging Rights Contests and judging can be a way to get constructive advice. Take a chance!
Iowa Homebrew Clubs A sample of sites Homebrew clubs are a great way to meet people, learn how to homebrew, and sample really good homebrew!
Ames, IA Ames Brewers League
Burlington, IA - Burlington MOB (makers of Beer) (319) 850-7143
Cedar Falls, IA – CRAZE
(319) 269-3080
Cedar Falls/Waterloo, IA -
(319) 273-2047
Cedar Rapids, IA Cedar River Association of Zymurgy Enthusiasts Cedar Rapids Beer Nuts
Cherokee, IA - Cherokee Brewers (712) 225-8160 Clear Lake, IA – North Iowa Wine Club (515) 357-2290 Corning, IA - Adams County Brew Crew (AC/BC) (641) 202-6823
Davenport, IA MUGZ2
(563) 326-9113
River's Edge Fermentation Society
(563) 320-9621 Denver, IA - Brewers of Bremer County (BoBCo.) (319) 560-2736
Des Moines, IA Iowa Brewers Union
(319) 290-7610
Iowa Homebrew Clubs More samples
Raccoon River Brewers Association
(515) 277-3231
Dubuque, IA GotMead International Brewmasters
(563) 556-4265 Elkader, IA - Turkey River Utopian Brewers (TRUBs) (641) 782-0986
Glenwood, IA Iowa City, IA – Keg Creek Homebrewers THIRSTY Marshalltown, IA -
(712) 527-7273 (319) 337-5742
MASH - Marshalltown Area Soiety Homebrewers
(641) 751-8598 Milford, IA - Okoboji Homebrewers Guild (712) 330-0465 Monroe, IA - Cenosilicaphobia Brewers (641) 259-2017
Northwood, IA Iowa/Minn. Society of Brewers (IAMNSOB)
(507) 325-1276
Oskaloosa, IA Oskaloosa Beer Brewers
(641) 676 5434 Schleswig, IA - Schleswig Wine & Bier Club (712) 643-5333 Sibley, IA - Yeastie Boys (712) 461-1113 Sioux City, IA – RASCALS (712) 258-0691 Surf the internet to find homebrew clubs