Traditional Mead

You will need

• Honey1.4 kg for a medium mead
• Yeast nutrient + a pinch of DAPstaggered, see method
• Waterto 4.5 L
• Wine or mead yeast1 sachet

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. Do NOT boil the honey — it drives off the aroma that is the whole point. Warm it just enough to dissolve into the water, and top to 4.5 L.

2. 2

   The lesson: honey is almost pure sugar and carries next to no nitrogen, so of everything you can ferment it is the HUNGRIEST for nutrient. A mead fermented like a fruit wine sticks, or finishes tasting harsh and 'hot'. The fix is staggered nutrient — add nutrient in three small doses over the first week rather than all at once, so the yeast is fed as it works.

3. 3

   Take a reading (about 1.100 for a medium mead), pitch a healthy yeast, and keep it warm and steady.

4. 4

   Add the first nutrient dose at pitching, the second a day or two in, the third a few days after that; then leave it.

5. 5

   Mead ferments slowly and clears slowly. Rack off the sediment as it falls, and be patient — this is a wine that punishes hurry.

6. 6

   Bulk-age six months at least before bottling; a year or two transforms it. Sweeten (stabilised first) for a dessert mead if you like.