Basic Dry Mead

Yield – Five Gallons

Basic Dry Honey Mead

First, prepare a yeast starter: 1 1/2 cups of orange juice at room temperature 3 teaspoons yeast nutrient 1 Packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

Mix the juice and yeast nutrient – the pitch the yeast into the starter.

Honey Mead Ingredients

14 lbs. honey

5 teaspoons acid blend

1 1/4 teaspoon grape tannin

Basic Mead Directions

Put the honey into a large pot, and double BY VOLUME (not weight) with water. Boil honey and water and remove any foam that appears on the surface.

(Unless you have an enormous pot, you will probably want to do the above in smaller amounts. I use 2.5 to 3.0 lbs of honey batches, boiling each batch and skimming off the impurities that result in foam instead of trying to boil all of the honey at one time).

Pour honey/water into a large (greater than five gallon) primary fermenter

Take a specific gravity reading. For the above, my specific gravity is around 1.072.

Add acid blend, pectic enzyme, and grape tannin.

Fill primary fermenter to five gallon mark with water.

Pitch the yeast starter into the primary fermenter.

In one week, check the Specific Gravity, and when it is below 1.010, rack into a three gallon carboy. Fit with bung and airlock.

On day 21, check specific gravity – if at 0.098 or lower, add 1/4 teaspoon of sulphite (or three campden tablets) after racking once again.

Rack every three months (adding three campden tablets at each racking), which will aid in clearing your wine. You may bottle after one year, The Mead should improve with another six months of ageing in the bottle.

Enjoy!