I've spent the last few weeks running around asking everyone if they had a winemaking kit that I could borrow. Many of the recipes I had found required one of these kits, along with a massive amount of supplies (one even included 12lbs of honey) and complex recipes. As someone who knows nothing about wine making, or mead making, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. Then, I recruited my pops. He managed to find a recipe that did not require a wine kit, or even any complex materials or recipes. All you need is a quick (and cheap) stop at your local supermarket.
The supplies costed less than $30 and consisted of :
3lbs of honey (pure and unprocessed)
1 gallon of spring water
1 orange
25 raisins
1 package of Fleishman's Yeast
1 balloon
(If you don't already o
wn it, bleach for disinfection purposes)
I have read several accounts which have claimed bread yeast ruins the mixture and makes the mead taste "nasty". I was surprised when this recipe called for Fleishman's (bread) yeast, but I went along with it anyways. I am most apprehensive about this aspect of the recipe, but only time will tell who wins the yeast debate.
Here are the directions:
Sanitize everything that will come in contact with the supplies. I read that you should use no more than 1 tablespoon of bleach per 1 gallon of water. With this I washed the cutting board, knife, and safety pin (which I use to poke a hole in the balloon). I used HOT water to rinse off the oranges as well as soak the honey.
+Pour half of the water out of the jug and into a clean (sanitized) container.
+Cut the oranges into small slices and put
into the jug
+Add 25 raisins into the mixture (I don't know how arbitrary this number is, all I read was not to leave the raisins out, they're not for flavor, they are for the yeast)
+Add 3 pounds of honey
+Add 1 package of yeast
Replace the cap and shake for 5 minutes (this is the most difficult part, but also the most important, so be prepared for a nice arm workout!)
Then, remove the cap, place a hole in a balloon and stretch it over the opening of the jug. This will slowly inflate (according to the website, between 1hrs -24hrs you'll see the balloon begin to inflate, it took mine about 3 hours).
The site states that if the balloon gets too big, its time to poke another hole or two into, you don't want the balloon to explode, this will leave your mixture open to contamination. Within the first couple of days, monitor it to make sure that the gasses are escaping and the balloon isn't about to explode. I had to poke three holes into the balloon until I was satisfied I wasn't going to have a kitchen with honey spatter all over the walls.
What I have to look forward to:
After around three weeks the balloon will no longer be inflated and I can either leave the fruit in the mixture, or move the liquid to another empty jug and strain out the oranges and raisins (this will help it to clarify quicker). After a few months the mixture will loose its cloudiness, and then it's time to enjoy!
I'll check back and let everyone know what's happened after I "rack" the mead (take out the fruit and switch containers).
This recipe was taken DIRECTLY from
The Joy of Mead. If you like what you've read above, I suggest that you go to this site and follow Will's directions step by step.
I have contacted Will with questions and he is prompt and informative. I suggest you do the same.
I won't know how well the recipe works for another few months. When it's time to pop bottles, I'll have a party! Viking hats, kilts, or green tights are mandatory.
