Mead recipe that would be ready for Christmas

[xpers]

Never made Mead. Never even tried it in fact. I have a few empty demijohns and I fancy making some that would be ready to drink at Christmas. I understand it takes a while before it is ready to drink but does anyone know a recipe for 5 litres that I could get going now that would be good to drink at Christmas???

Also how strong is it likely to be?

[DREADSKIN]

three jars of 500gram honey. one or two normal and one fancy (but not eucalptis or aussie honey) dissove it in a pot by pouring a kettle of hot water over it (dont boil as that may destroy delicate flavours) cup of strong tea (made with three or four bags) and the juice and rind of one lemon. shake and leave. will be ready by august, but will taste great buy christmas. you could add some christmas spices like cinemon etc for that xmas flavour. mead really is dead easy, even easier than jam wine.

[xpers]

three jars of 500gram honey. one or two normal and one fancy (but not eucalptis or aussie honey) dissove it in a pot by pouring a kettle of hot water over it (dont boil as that may destroy delicate flavours) cup of strong tea (made with three or four bags) and the juice and rind of one lemon. shake and leave. will be ready by august, but will taste great buy christmas. you could add some christmas spices like cinemon etc for that xmas flavour. mead really is dead easy, even easier than jam wine.

Great stuff! Thanks for that. A few questions:

Once the above is done do I just fill up the demijohn to the shoulder bang in an airlock and then forget about it?

Does it need racking once the initial fermentation is complete?

I have some Youngs high alcohol super wine yeast compound (includes nutrient). Will this be ok to use?

Cheers!

[DREADSKIN]

fill it up to about 5 cms below the top. when its finished fermenting rack it off, and top up to the top. now you can either just add water, or add water and a wee bit more honey. keep racking it off every three weeks or so until there are no more yeast deposits at the bottom of the dj. then you can store it in the dj, or bottle and store it till xmas.

and yes youngs high al is great stuff

[Tequilla6]

Here's a link to the recipe I found on-line, with pictures of the brew and final product.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=21531&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Not sure how it measures up with others but this is slightly sweet and has a nose of honey and a good taste of it too. Only bottled for a short while and I have only tasted what was in the glass as it was what was left over from the bottling but I guess the Mead will improve to a state of drinkability around August-Sept.

Looking forward to it.

[xpers]

Cheers guys!

I am going to give the Joe Mattioli's Spiced Mead a go as it sounds quite Christmasy!

Any idea what ABV this comes out as?

[Tequilla6]

OG was 1.113 and FG was 1.000 so it came out around 14% ABV,
Unfortunately Beer Engine doesn't go up to my OG reading (gives a ABV of 0%)

Please note Joe uses bread yeast and I used Cider yeast as I didn't want too sweet a Mead

[xpers]

I got my Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and Spiced Mead going yesterday.

Dead easy and I can't believe how quick it gets going! It's even more fun to watch fermenting that TC (you all know you like watching the bubbles!)

The only thing I changed was I used a basic wine yeast (as that was what I had) instead of bakers yeast and left out the cloves. I am guessing this will make it stronger and less sweet which I would prefer anyway.

Anyone tried this with a wine yeast?

[fatbloke]

I got my Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and Spiced Mead going yesterday.

Dead easy and I can't believe how quick it gets going! It's even more fun to watch fermenting that TC (you all know you like watching the bubbles!)

The only thing I changed was I used a basic wine yeast (as that was what I had) instead of bakers yeast and left out the cloves. I am guessing this will make it stronger and less sweet which I would prefer anyway.

Anyone tried this with a wine yeast?

Yes it will, but I'd still use 1 clove per gallon or something similar as you did say about wanting it "christmassy"!

You can probably afford to wait until the fruit has dropped - which can take sometime as it can hold a bit of the CO2, which will naturally drop out of it. Plus the use of wine yeast helps, as it flocculates much better than bread yeast.

Oh and you might want to get another gallon on the go as you'll invariably only get 4 bottles from a gallon, due to the fruit, sediment and racking losses. Hell, try one with Lime instead of orange....mine worked out quite nice....

regards

fatbloke

[xpers]

Yes it will, but I'd still use 1 clove per gallon or something similar as you did say about wanting it "christmassy"!

You can probably afford to wait until the fruit has dropped - which can take sometime as it can hold a bit of the CO2, which will naturally drop out of it. Plus the use of wine yeast helps, as it flocculates much better than bread yeast.

Oh and you might want to get another gallon on the go as you'll invariably only get 4 bottles from a gallon, due to the fruit, sediment and racking losses. Hell, try one with Lime instead of orange....mine worked out quite nice....

regards

fatbloke

I didn't add the clove as the wife hates them... I thought the cinnamon and orange would be Christmassy enough.

The mead has been fermenting now for around four weeks. It is still going although it is slowing down and starting to clear a bit. The fruit hasn't dropped but it is starting to look a bit manky, but the instructions say not to rack so I will wait until it clears.

Good tip about only getting four bottles due to the fruit etc. It seems pretty obvious but I just got caught out with the same thing with a rice and raisin wine.

I will do another mead. A lime one sounds interesting. I was thinking of kiwi fruit. Perhaps lime and kiwi fruit!