Simple Mead

Mead
1

Hello all,

I’ve brewed cider and beer before and want to try a mead now. I was wondering if there’s a relatively easy way to make a good batch. I’ve been reading and the staggering of nutrients and multiple stirrings and so forth sound like it may get complicated and easy for a beginner to make a mistake and end up having to throw a batch away because of oxidation or something like that. Does anybody have any recommendations for a simple (but quality) mead in beginner’s terms? A melomel would be fine too.

Thank you in advance!

2

I’m not an expert, but I am preparing to start my second batch of mead and have been reading up on best practices for mead.

It seems to me that you can make mead the easy way or the fast way. The easy way of mead making requires more time. The fast way is more labor intensive. If you haven’t, you should read up on JAOM and BOMM.

FWIW, my mead that I’m going to start today will use the curt stock method that uses staggered nutrient additions.

3

I’ve seen a few BOMM recipes. I’ll check out some JAOM, haven’t heard of that before. Thanks!

4

+1 to the JAOM recipe. It’s really good, but can finish up awfully sweet. I’ve reduced the honey a little, and it still works fine.

5

I did a modified version of JAOM with Asian pears instead of oranges:

3# honey
1 gallon spring water
2 Asian pears
small handful of raisins
yeast (don’t remember the strain)

Throw all in a jug and shake like heck til mixed. Pitch yeast and let sit til drops clear (mine took 2 months). Bottle and let age a couple of months.

After 6 months it tastes kind of like a semi-sweet pinot grigio. Mine came out at around 13-13.5% abv.