It’s interesting that home brewers consider mead to be part of their “territory”. Being that I don’t make wine or belong to a home vinters club, I don’t know if the vinters celebrate mead at all. The BJCP includes mead and for that we should all be very glad. Not only is mead an absolutely amazing drink, it is quite easy to make. Experimenters beware! Making mead will consume you forever! There is no end to the different kinds of meads that can be made. If you are wondering what it tastes like, simply come to the next meeting where we will be trying some fantastic meads made by club members. Expect a delicate drink that offers a wide variety of flavors for you to enjoy. I actually close my eyes when I drink mead.

Mead is simply a mixture of honey and water fermented over a much longer period of time than beer. There are a few tricks to making incredible mead that you should consider before your first attempt:

What kinds of meads exist?

A look through the BJCP, Internet, and various books can give you a more complete answer, however I’ll give you a quick and dirty low down.

• Traditional Mead: These are made of honey, water and yeast. They are the easiest to make, and I believe, the nicest. A traditional mead showcases the honey used, revealing the subtle characteristics. These can be made still (uncarbonated) or sparkling (carbonated). As well, they can be dry or sweet. Many mead makers vary the mead by changing the honey itself. Honey varies depending on the flowers, bees, climate, etc. I recommend using only high quality honey from a bee keeper if you want an amazing product. Typical store bought honey won’t make a mead to be proud of.
• Metheglin: Spiced mead is another favorite style of mine. I prefer to make a traditional mead, spice it in the glass, tasting along the way until I get a good compliment of flavors. After that, I scale it up and add the spice mixture prior to bottling. Favorite spices for me are nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, ginger, and many others.
• Melomel: Mead mixed with fruit. Experimenting with various fruits can produce a wonderful concoction. I buy fruit juice that has been sterilized in the cardboard 1 liter boxes and add it during the rack to the secondary. Specific types of melomel include Cyser, a mead mixed with apple and Pyment, a grape juice mead.
• Braggot: Mead mixed with ale. Braggot is a wonderful multidimensional balance of malt and honey.

How do you make it?

There are so many different opinions on the best way to make mead that it’s not easy to say any one particular procedure.

• Obtain some high quality honey, approximately 3 pounds per gallon of mead.
• Heat up the water ( I use 50:50 tap water to RO water with added yeast nutrient and acid blend) to boiling and add the honey. At this point I would highly recommend adding Irish moss to aid in clarification.
• Mix the honey in well, crash cool and add to the primary fermenter. The resulting mixture is unfermented mead, or must. I don’t boil the must because I don’t want to lose the subtle aroma from the honey, however some excellent mead makers do boil the must.
• Add Lalvin EC-1118 dry yeast to warm water until you see activity and then add it to the must. This champagne yeast does an excellent job of fermenting it down to a low finishing gravity, and thus making a dry mead. For sweeter mead use Chardonnay yeast.
• Aerate the must, add an airlock and allow the must to ferment for several months to a year before racking to the secondary. Store in the secondary for another equally long time and then bottle. Good mead usually takes about a year for me. The yeast nutrient speeds up this process however.
• Bottle and age. Mead can last many years, and some enthusiasts believe that most mead will not reach its peak until 5 years old.

I can come home from work and get the mead finished and the brewery cleaned up well before bedtime without any worries. Compared to brewing, mead making is very fast, and in my opinion, equally enjoyable. Experimentation is the next natural step, making this hobby one that will persist for many more mead making sessions. Good luck!