                                 Basic Small Mead

     Source: Cher Feinstein (crf@pine.circa.ufl.edu)

     Ingredients:

                       2-3           cloves
                       2 sticks      cinnamon
                       2 thin slices ginger
                       2-4 teaspoons orange peel
                       2 pounds      honey
                                     yeast
                       1/4 cup       vodka or grain alcohol

     Procedure:

     In  a 1-gallon pot, simmer cloves (lightly cracked), cinnamon (broken),
     and ginger. Add orange peel. The amount of orange peel will vary depend-
     ing  on  type of honey used. Use less orange peel  with orange  blossom
     honey, for example. Simmer.

     Add  water  to bring volume to 3 quarts. Return to  simmer.  Add  honey,
     stirring  constantly. Do not boil! Skim off any white scum. If scum is
     yellow,  reduce heat. When no more scum forms, remove  from heat,  cover
     pot,  and leave overnight. The next day, strain to remove as much  spice
     particles as possible. Pitch yeast.  Replace pot cover.

     Twelve  hours later, rack mead to 1-gallon jug, leaving dregs of  yeast.
     Top  off  jug, bringing to base of neck. Take a piece  of clean   paper
     towel,  fold into quarters, and put over mouth of jug. Seal with  rubber
     band.  Ferment for 36 hours, replacing paper towel whenever it  becomes
     fouled.  Refrigerate  8-12  hours.  Rack to new  jug  and  put back  in
     refrigerator  for  12 hours. Add 1/4 cup vodka to kill  yeast.  Rack  to
     fresh jug. Refrigerate 3-4 days. Bottle.

     Comments:

     This  is a quickie mead, drinkable in 2 weeks, however, it does  improve
     with  age. Aging at least a couple months is recommended. This mead  is
     excellent chilled.

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 2 days
     Secondary Ferment: 2 weeks


                             Prickly Pear Cactus Mead

     Source: John Isenhour (LLUG_JI.DENISON.BITNET)

     Ingredients:

                    20 pounds Mesquite honey
                    75-100    ripe prickly pear cactus fruits
                    2 packs   sherry wine yeast

     Procedure:

     See Papazian's book. This recipe was based on it.

     Comments:

     This  is Dave Spaulding's version that won the grand prize at the  1986
     Arizona State Fair.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.158
     Final Gravity: 1.050
     Secondary Ferment: 5 months


                                  Blueberry Mead

     Source: Jonathan Corbet (gaia!jon@handies.ucar.edu)

     Ingredients (for 6-1/2 gallons):

                       7-10 pounds fresh blueberries
                       1-2 pounds  corn sugar
                       1-2 ounces  hops (Cascades is fine)
                       10 pounds   honey
                                   yeast
                                   lemon grass tea (optional)

            Procedure:

     To  make 6-1/2 gallons of mead, Boil the honey, sugar, and hops  for  at
     least  an  hour (although boiling honey is not favored  by most  digest
     subscribers,  it works fine and is the method used by Papazian).  Clean
     berries  and mash well.  Put mashed berries, hot wort, and enough  water
     to  make  6-1/2 gallons into a fermenter. Pitch yeast. After one  week,
     strain   out  berries and rack to secondary. Ferment at least one  more
     month  and then bottle, priming with corn sugar and perhaps some  lemon
     grass tea. Age 6 months to a year.

     Comments:

     This mead usually comes out quite dry. This recipe makes 6-1/2 gallons.

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 1 week


                                  Peach Melomel

     Source: Michael Bergman (bergman%odin.m2c.org@ RELAY.CS.NET)

     Ingredients:

                            6 pounds     peaches
                            3/4 pint     elderflowers
                            2-1/2 pounds acacia honey
                            1/30 ounce   tannin
                                         Graves yeast
                            1/4 ounce    tartaric acid
                            1/4 ounce    malic acid

     Procedure:

     Press  peaches  (after removing pits).  Dissolve honey in 4 pints  warm
     water, blend in peach juice along with acid, tannin, and nutrients.  Add
     100 ppm sulfite (2 campden tablets). After 24 hours, add yeast starter,
     allow  to ferment 7 days before adding elderflowers. Ferment on  flowers
     for  3  days then strain off flowers and top off to 1 gallon with  cold
     water.   Ferment  until specific gravity drops to 10,  then rack.  Rack
     again when gravity drops to 5, and add 1 tablet campden. Rack again when
     when  a heavy deposit forms, or after 3 months, whichever comes  first.
     Add another campden tablet. Rack again every 3-4 months, adding a tablet
     after every second racking.

            Comments:

     This  recipe  is based on procedures outlined in Making Mead, by  Bryan
     Acton  and  Peter Duncan. They advocate the use of campden rather  than
     boiling because they feel that after boiling for a long time most of the
     essences  of the honey are gone. Read the "Basic Procedures" section  of
     Acton & Duncan for more info.


                                 Riesling Pyment

     Source: Jackie Brown (BROWN@MSUKBS.BITNET)

     Ingredients:

             4-1/2 pounds  wildflower honey
             5-1/2 pounds  partial blueberry honey
             2 tablespoons acid blend
             1 tablespoon  pectic enzyme
             4 pounds      Alexander's Johanissberg Riesling extract
             1 pack        Red Star champagne yeast

     Procedure:

     Boil  honey, acid, enzyme and Riesling extract for 1 hour (I have  since
     learned that honey is best not boiled; subsequent batches have been made
     by  holding  the  mixture for 2 hours). Cool and pitch  yeast.  Rack  to
     secondary after 8 days. Bottle after 4 months.

     Comments:

     This  is more winey than your straight mead, but very pleasant.  Medium
     dry  and  spritzig---very nice as a table wine. Those of you set  up  to
     crush  your  own grapes might try a grape honey mix. A  drink of  noble
     history!

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 8 days
     Secondary Ferment: 48 days


                                      Cyser

     Source: Arun Welch (welch@cis.ohio-state.edu)

            Ingredients:

                  4 gallons     fresh cider (no Pot.Sorb)
                  5 to 6 pounds honey
                  1 gallon      water
                  1 large stick cinnamon
                  5             cloves
                  2 pods        cardamom
                  2 packs       Red Star Pasteur champagne yeast

     Procedure:

     Simmer  the spices in the water for 10 minutes. Dissolve honey.  Simmer
     and  strain crud until there isn't any more. Transfer to primary,  along
     with  cider (this should bring primary to a good pitching temperature).
     Pitch yeast and wait 1 to 2 weeks for the foam to die down.  Transfer  to
     secondary. Ferment in secondary 3-6 months. Bottle and age another 3  or
     more months.

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 1-1/2 week
     Secondary Ferment: 3-6 months


                                   Wassail Mead

     Source: Mal Card (card@apollo.hp.com)

     Ingredients:

                         12-1/2 pounds light clover honey
                         4 teaspoons   acid blend
                         5 teaspoons   yeast nutrient
                                       wine yeast

     Procedure:

     Add honey, acid blend, and yeast nutrient to 2 gallons of water and boil
     for  1/2  hour. Add this to 1-1/2 gallons of cold water inthe  primary
     fermenter. Pitch yeast when the temperature reaches 70-75 degrees. Use a
     blow  off tube if you use a carboy. Allow fermentation to proceed for  3
     weeks  or  more  (up to several months). When the  mead becomes  fairly
     clear,  rack  to secondary.  Attach air-lock. Leave the mead to  sit  at
     least 3 weeks. When yeast settles to bottom and is clear, it is ready to
     bottle.  Adding 3/4 cup of corn sugar at bottling will produce a sparkl-
     ing  mead. Sparkling meads should not be made with an original  gravity
     higher than 1.090.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.100
     Final Gravity: 1.000


                                    Quick Mead

     Source: Kevin Karplus (karplus@ararat.ucsc.edu)

     Ingredients:

                           3 gallons    water
                           5 pounds     honey
                           1/3 cup      jasmine tea
                           1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
                           2 teaspoons  cinnamon
                           1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
                           1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
                           1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
                                        ale yeast

     Procedure:

     Boil  water, adding tea and spices. Remove from heat and stir in  honey.
     (Some mead makers boil the honey, skimming the scum as it forms).  Cover
     boiled water, and set aside to cool (this usually takes a long time,  so
     start on the next step).  Make a yeast starter solution by boiling a cup
     of water and a tablespoon or two of honey. Add starter to cooled liquid.
     Cover  and  ferment using blow tube or fermentation lock.  Rack  two  or
     three times to get rid of sediment.

     The  less honey, the lighter the drink, and the quicker it can be  made.
     1  pound  per gallon is the minimum, 5 pounds per gallon  is about  the
     maximum  for a sweet dessert wine. This mead is a metheglin because  of
     the tea. The yeast is pitched one day after starting the batch, the crud
     skimmed  about 10 days later, then wait 3 days and rack to secondary.
     Wait 2 more weeks and bottle---about 4 weeks from start to finish.

     Comments:

     Yield  is  3.1 gallons. Excellent clarity, fairly sweet flavor,  slight
     sediment, light gold color. An excellent batch.



                                    Sack Mead

     Source: Kevin Karplus (karplus@ararat.ucsc.edu)

     Ingredients:

                       3 gallons    water
                       16 pounds    honey
                       1/4 cup      keemun tea
                       1/4 cup      oolong tea
                       2 teaspoons  cinnamon
                       1/2 teaspoon whole anise seed
                       18 clusters  cardamom, crushed
                       20           allspice, crushed
                       1 inch       galingale root, crushed
                                    yeast
                                    unflavored gelatin (fining)

     Procedure:

     Boil  water, adding tea and spices. Remove from heat and stir in  honey.
     (Some mead makers boil the honey, skimming the scum as it forms).  Cover
     boiled water, and set aside to cool (this usually takes a long time,  so
     start on the next step).  Make a yeast starter solution by boiling a cup
     of water and a tablespoon or two of honey. Add starter to cooled liquid.
     Cover  and  ferment using blow tube or fermentation lock.  Rack  two  or
     three times to get rid of sediment.

     This recipe took about 6-1/2 months from brewing to bottling.  First
     rack
     took  place 15 days after brewing. 2nd rack 3 weeks later.  3rd  rack  3
     months  later. Gelatin added 1 month later. Bottled about 2--1/2  months
     later. Yield 3.7 gallons.

     Comments:

     Sweet, smooth, potent. A dessert wine. This is perhaps the best of my 20
     or more batches of mead.


                                    Mead

     Source: Carl West (eisen@kopf.hq.ileaf.com)

     Ingredients (for 1 gallon):

                      1 gallon     bottled water
                      2 pounds     generic honey
                      1 Medium     lemon zest and juice
                      1/4 teaspoon Red Star Champagne yeast

     Procedure:

     Simmer these together and skim off the scum as it rises. If you wait for
     it  all to rise so you can skim just once and you miss the moment,  the
     scum  sinks, never to rise again. Pitch yeast when cool and kept  it  at
     room  temp  (65-72)  for 5 weeks where it bubbled  about  once every  5
     seconds for the whole time.

     Comments:

     It  was still bubbling when I bottled. Yes, I plan to begin drinking  it
     soon, before it becomes a grenade six-pack.

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 5 weeks



                                     Melomel

     Source: Michael Zenter (zentner@ecn.purdue.edu)

     Ingredients:

                            16 pounds wildflower honey
                            5 gallons water
                            5         kiwis
                            3         star fruits
                            1 pound   cranberries
                                      acid blend to .45 tartaric
                                      MeV liquid mead yeast culture

     Procedure:

     Pasteurized the honey and fruit at about 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes,
     ran  through a chiller, pitched with VERY vigorous aeration.  Let it
     sit
     with the fruit in for 7 days, then rack off.

     Comments:

     Now  for  the weirdness. I pitched at about 6 PM. No real activity  the
     following  day  until  about 4 PM when all of the sudden, there  was  a
     violent eruption of foam out of the airlock. No warning at all.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.124



                                    Sweet Mead

     Source: Rob Derrick (rxxd@doc.lanl.gov) posted this recipe from C. J.
     Lindberg

     Ingredients (for 1 gallon):

                         5 pounds   Honey (Smith's brand)
                         1 teaspoon Citric Acid
                         1/4 pint   Strong Tea
                         1 package  Champagne Yeast
                                    Yeast Nutrient

     Procedure:

     Boil 1 quart of water, honey and citric acid for seven minutes. Then the
     add the tea and boil for five more minutes.  The mixture was then  added
     to  48  FL. oz. of cold water in the one gallon jug. The wort was  then
     cooled  overnight to 70 degrees. Add yeast and yeast nutrient.  Ferment
     for four months.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.153
     Primary Ferment: 4 months


                              Blueberry Mead Recipe

     Source: Jay Hersh (hersh@expo.lcs.mit.edu)

     Ingredients:

                  12 pounds    Wildflower Honey
                  2 pounds     blueberries
                  2 teaspoons  gypsum or water crystals
                  3 teaspoons  yeast nutrient
                  1 ounce      Hallertauer Leaf hops
                  1 tablespoon Irish Moss
                  2 packs      Red Star Pastuer Champagne yeast

     Procedure:

     Boil  hops, yeast nutrient and water crystals for 30 - 45 minutes.  Add
     Irish Moss in the last 15-30 minutes of the boil. Turn off the heat  and
     add the honey and the blueberries, steep at 180-190 degrees for 15  min-
     utes minimum (30 minutes is ok too).  Pour the whole mixture to a bucket
     or carboy and let cool (or use a wort chiller if you have one). Add  the
     yeast  at  the temperature recommended on the packet  (85-90 degrees  I
     think). Let it ferment. Rack the mead off the fruit after 6-7 days  (you
     can actually let it go longer if you like). Let ferment for 4 more weeks
     in  the secondary then bottle. Other people like to rack their meads  at
     3-4  week intervals and let it keep going in the carboy. I don't  think
     too  much fermentation went on after the first 4 weeks (I made this  in
     July  so it fermented fast), so if you keep racking you'll basically  be
     doing  some  of the aging in the carboy, otherwise it will age  in  the
     bottles.

     Comments:

     This  mead  had a terrific rose color. It took over 8 months to  really
     age,  and was fantastic after 2 years. It had a nice blueberry nose  to
     it, and quite a kick.

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 1 week
     Secondary Ferment: 4 weeks


                                   Standby Mead

     Source: Michael Tighe (tighe@inmet.camb.inmet.com)

     Ingredients (for 1 gallon):

                 1 gallon      Water
                 2 pounds      honey
                 1 Thumb size  piece of ginger
                 2 Tablespoons Orange peel (no white pith please)
                               Champagne yeast

     Procedure:

     Bring  the  honey and water to a boil skimming off the white and  brown
     foam  as  you heat it.  Simmer/skim for about 5 minutes  per gallon  (5
     gallons  = 20 min). When the boiling is almost done, add the ginger  and
     orange  peel. Cool (I usually let it cool "naturally"). Work with  yeast
     (Werka Mead Yeast is good, champagne or general purpose wine yeast  will
     do).  Bottle  after two weeks (while it's still sweet  and still  quite
     active).  Refrigerate the bottles after another two weeks (to avoid  the
     glass grenade syndrome and to make the yeast settle out of the mead).

     Comments:

     To  quote the original source: "It will be quick and pleasant from  the
     very start and will keep for a month or more." Other variations
     included:
     Add lots more honey and let it ferment till it stops. Bottle and wait  a
     month or more, you get champagne.

     Use some other citris fruit peel, such as lemon or grapefruit.

     Add some other fruit flavoring (crushed berries of some sort).

     Load  up on the ginger (my friend makes Death by Ginger by using  pounds
     of ginger per gallon!)

     Specifics:

     Primary Ferment: 2-3 weeks



                                 Honey Ale (Mead)

     Source: David Haberman (habermand@afal-edwards.af.mil)

     Ingredients:

                         4 pounds   Buckwheat honey
                         4 ounces   Styrian Goldings hops
                         7 grams    Red Star Ale yeast
                         1 teaspoon acid blend
                         1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
                         1 cup      corn sugar

     Procedure:

     Boil honey and 3 gallons water with 3 ounces hops for 47 minutes, add  1
     ounce  last 7 minutes. Before adding hops, skim off the scum that  rises
     to the top. Cool and pour into fermenter and top to 5 gallons.  Add acid
     blend, nutrients and re-hydrated yeast. When fermentation completes, mix
     with 1 cup sugar, a little yeast and bottle.

     Comments:

     This  was the very first beer I ever made and 7 years ago most people  I
     knew  didn't worry about the bittering units of the hops. I would  guess
     that they were around 3% AAU's. Red star was the main yeast used at  the
     time.  Yeast  nutrient is necessary since the honey does  not have  the
     required  food for the beasties. I used buckwheat honey because  I  like
     the  flavor. Do not drink this beer until at least 1 month after  bottl-
     ing.  Since  it is made from honey the ale improves with age.  A  bottle
     that  I  saved for 4 and a half years tasted so good that I wish  I had
     saved  more! The beer had a very nice honey aroma and flavor.  The  hops
     were enough to balance the sweetness. I don't think that I would  change
     anything except try to make more and keep it a while before drinking.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.031
     Final Gravity: 0.997


                                 Ginger Mead


     Source: Brian Bliss (bliss@csrd.uiuc.edu)

     Ingredients (for 6 gallons):

                     15 pounds     clover honey
                     181 grams     grated ginger
                     2 tablespoons gypsum
                     3 teaspoons   yeast energizer
                     1 ounce       Hallertauer hops (boil)
                     1/2 ounce     Hallertauer hops (finish)
                     4-5 pounds    oranges
                                   juice from 1 orange
                     1/2 teaspoon  irish moss
                                   champagne yeast (Red Star)

     Procedure:

     Combine honey, ginger, orange juice, 1/2 ounce of hops, and yeast  ener-
     gizer and bring to a boil. Remove a small amount of wort to be used  for
     a yeast starter (Allow starter to cool, and add yeast). Boil the remain-
     ing wort 30 minutes. Add another 1/2 oz hops and boil for additional  30
     minutes. Turn off heat. Cut 4-5 lbs of oranges in half, and squeeze into
     the wort. Toss in orange halves after squeezing. Let sit 12 min.  Strain
     into fermenter sparged into cold water, while removing the orange halves
     and squeezing the last bit out (with clean hands---very hot---ouch!).

     Comments:

     After several months it's just getting drinkable now. If I let a  bottle
     sit in the fridge for about a week, and decant very carefully, it's very
     good, and gives one heck of a buzz.

     Specifics:

     Original Gravity: 1.088
     Final Gravity: 0.998
     Primary Ferment: 12 days at 65--70 degrees
     Secondary Ferment: 1 month


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