thor fun and games

How to make Mead (thanks to Henry "Kodi" Mitchell!)

Basically you bring the honey water mixture (about 10 pounds of honey added to enough water to make a 5 gallon batch) to a simmer for a while to kill any nasties and then let it cool to around room temperature and add yeast. You put it in a sterilized container with a water lock on it and leave it alone for a few months. A water lock is a small plastic device that works much like a "P" trap on a sink. There is a small amount of water in it through which the escaping carbon dioxide can escape. If you completely seal the container it will blow up and leave a sugary mess for you to clean up.   That's the VERY simple version. Clean utensils are important...cleaned with bleach. And you have to pick the right yeast to get a good mead. All of the materials can be purchased in your local home brewing shop or over the net.   Actually I usually make a 2.5 gallon batch. I buy one of the 2.5 gallon spring water plastic containers from the supermarket. I take out enough of the liquid to make 2.5 gallon when combined with the honey (about 5 pounds, or 1/2 gallon). I throw away the excess water. I then put
the water I need into a large stainless steel pot (don't use aluminum) and add the honey. Stir well as it heats. Then I bring it to about 170 degrees F. Then I let it cool by placing the cooking pot in my sink filled with cool water. When the mixture comes down to about 95 degrees F or so I add the yeast and stir well. I then pour half of it back into the plastic container that the water came in. I cover the opening and shake WELL! The yeast needs the oxygen. Then add the rest and shake well again. Then cap it off and put your water lock on and put it somewhere around 60 to 70 degrees F. I needs to be in a darker area. Sunlight or bright florescent light will cause bad flavors. Leave it alone for a few months. When the bubbling in the water lock completely stops you can bottle it. I usually leave it alone in the bottle for another month or so to age it. The older it gets the better it is.   A couple of other things. Usually I mix some fruit or fruit juices in with the mead as I bring it up to temperature. The reason is that honey by itself doesn't really have all the nutrients that yeast really want to grow. A straight honey mead ferments VERY slowly. By adding fruit to it you will help the yeast to ferment quicker. You can also add a product called "yeast nutrients" which will let the yeast ferment a whole lot quicker. Some people say that this imparts some off flavors.
There's a lot more I can go into but those sites I gave you can explain it a lot better than I can. Generally speaking it takes me about one and a half hours to do the actual brewing...counting clean up. To bottle it takes me about 1 hour and most of that is making sure the bottles are sterilized with a bleach mixture. Wear old clothes when doing that! I don't know how many pieces of clothing I've ruined doing this. Take care and let me know if I can offer anymore info. Mead has a facinating history going back to and before the ancient Vikings. That's part of the reason I like it.
http://sca_brew.homestead.com/files/meadyeast.html
http://www.inetone.net/mshapiro/mead.html
http://www.aboutmead.com/
http://www.honeywine.com/