Mum's Meadery ~ with recipe :)

So I couple of times I have posted Mum’s Makery is temporarily Mum’s Meadery (I love making  Mead and love to make and share it with friends) … and a few peeps have asked about my recipe so I thought I would post it for everyone :) … Here is my recipe. It is a very basic one and I have only made it a couple of times but it has been good. I would suggest starting with a plain one like this for a first go and then you can always add different flavors on your next brew … I added cherries to my last batch a made blood mead :) 

I got most of my equipment from Wilkos (UK) 

First off you can do this one of two ways … 1) Directly in the DemiJohn or 2) You can use a fermentation bucket (or sterile bowl) to mix up the ingredients before pouring it in a demijohn with a funnel. 

I recommend the latter for anyone who has strength, grip or dexterity issues as doing it directly in the demijohn requires you to pick it up and swirl it to mix and the whole thing can be quite heavy. 

You can download this as a PDF by clicking HERE

Ingredients

Choice of spices / fruit ~ 

Tried ~ 1 cinnamon stick & 4 cloves

Tools & Equipment

STEPS

Sterilisation : 

PreHydrate the Yeast (optional) I don’t LOL

Put the yeast into some warm water (40-42 degrees)

Add Honey to your bucket or demijohn

If honey is a set, then warm it up until it is runny then pour into bucket (or demijohn) honey can be warm but not hot

Add Flavours 

You can add any spices / flavors you want to use at this point or ~ you can also make a plain mead and back sweeten it  after the fermentation process if you want to divide it up into smaller batches of different flavors

Add the juice from 1 lemon

Add ½ mug of very strong steeped tea (4 tea bags in 1 regular size mug)

Add Water

Add the stopper and airlock half filled with water

Leave in a warm place ...

Put on fermentation jacket (optional .. you can just wrap a jumper around it if it is cold lol) 

It should start to bubble within 24 hours (if it is cold) mine usually start bubbling within about an hour 

Leave for about a month keeping the demijohn warm

Fermentation must be complete before bottling ~ an aid can be used to ensure it has stopped but you are basically looking for it to stop bubbling pretty much completely. If it hasn’t finished it will carry on fermenting in the bottles and your corks will blow out .. haha (I use an aid to make sure it has definitely stopped!) 

Once complete Allow to settle in a cold place you can use findings to help clear the liquid

Syphon off the clear mead ensuring not to disturb the sediment 

Bottle in sterilised bottles, label and leave to mature for 6-8 months

So there you go .. I hope that it was easy enough to understand :) I haven’t made much and I am by NO means experienced but I like what I have made so I hope this stands you in good stead and don’t forget to let me know how you get on :) 

Cheers
Sam