Mead-on-Cheap-art - 4/15/19
"How to Brew Mead on the Cheap" by Master William Brewer.
NOTE: See also the files: 1503-Eng-Beer-art, 16thC-Beer-p1-art, Making-Mead-art, Mead-Mkng-Tps-art, The-Egg-Test-art, mead-msg,MB-Mead-Brewg-art.
************************************************************************
NOTICE -
This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author or translator.
While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************
You can find more work by this author on his website at:
https://www.thefermentinglaurel.com
How to Brew Mead on the Cheap
by Master William Brewer
I recently got in an online dispute with someone who said it's impossible to make good mead without using modern brewing methods, and without using top-of-the-line equipment to brew in. I said, in fact, it's quite easy to get in on the cheap end of brewing to see if you like the process and want to do it more. Someone else asked how to make cheap, good mead. So here, as promised to Benjamin, are instructions on how to brew mead in a bucket.
Equipment you need to own to do this:
1. A Bucket at least 1 gallon larger than the batch of mead you want to make
2. A spoon
3. A pot large enough to heat half of the total batch of mead you're making (this can be borrowed in a pinch)
4. A clean towel that will completely cover the top of the bucket, large enough to drape over so it won't fall in
Equipment you need to buy/borrow to do this:
1. Corking Tool (Yes, you can insert corks with a pair of pliers, but that's a pain in the butt; borrow someone's corking tool)
2. Sanitizer (borrow an ounce of Starsan from a brewer, or use a capful of bleach per five gallons of water [more on sanitizing later])
3. Corks
4. Bottles (if you drink wine already, just keep some bottles -- approx. 5 per gallon)
5. Funnel, large
6. Cooking thermometer
7. Bottling bucket with spigot
Ingredients you need to buy to do this:
1. Honey (1 quart per gallon of water)
2. Sun-Maid Raisins (about 15 per gallon)
3. Fleischmann's Active Dry Bread Yeast (1 packet)
4. Water -- if you want a 5-gallon batch, buy 5 gallons; it's a 1:1 ratio (see "About Water" below)
Process:
1. Fill a sanitized (see below) drinking cup halfway with water. Add 3 tbsp table sugar and a few raisins. Pour in your yeast and stir it all together. Let it sit during the prep, but keep an eye on it because it can quickly foam over the top. Check it every now and again, and stir with a sanitized spoon if you need to prevent it from bubbling over
2. Pour as much water as you have honey into the pot and begin heating it on the stove
3. When it heats to boiling, drop the temperature back to medium-low, and add your honey to the pot
4. Stir the honey and water in the pot until the honey is completely dissolved (it will be really thick water, at this point)
5. Leave the honey-water on the stove on medium-low
6. Sanitize your bucket
7. pour the remaining half of your water into the bucket
8. Pour the hot honey-water from the pot into the bucket
9. Check the temp of the must (technical term for the unfermented honey-water mixture) to see if it is below 95F. If it is, continue. If it is not, cover with the towel and let it sit in a cool area until it is below 95F.
10. Once the yeast is below 95F, you want to thoroughly stir up the yeast starter you made in the cup, then pour it into the bucket along with the raisins
11. Place the towel over the top of the bucket (if you already used the towel to cool the wort in the bucket, go ahead and get a new one [see below])
12. After 4-48 hours, the must should be bubbling
13. Wait 7-10 days for the mead to finish bubbling
14. Gently pour into the bottling bucket, leaving as much of the lees (muck produced by fermenting yeast) behind
15. Put the top on the bottling bucket and let it sit for 3 days in the exact location from which you plan to bottle
16. Do not move the bottling bucket prior to bottling, or you will kick up the small amount of lees that transferred over and has settled to the bottom
17. Bottle the mead into sanitized bottles using the spigot on the bottling bucket
18. Insert sanitized corks into the bottles using the corking tool
19. Don't bottle the last bottle -- it won't be full, anyway; it's a taster. If it tastes good, I recommend aging for 3 months just to let the flavors blend and mellow; it it tastes sharp, tart, or reminds you of pine sap (also called "green"), proceed to step 20
20. Set aside in a cool, dark place to age for 6 months
21. Sample the first bottle. If it's good, the rest should also be ready.
About sanitizing:
Starsan is the best stuff most homebrewers can access for sanitizing. One ounce will turn 5 gallons of water into a sanitizing machine. It's a contact sanitizer, so you just have to dip the items you want sanitized. I recommend having a sinkful around on brewing day and bottling day. A cup of sanitized water right out of the sink will give you a place to set spoons and other small implements. A sink of sanitized water is great for sanitizing bottles and funnels and corking tools.
Bleach is the cheapest option most homebrewers can access for sanitizing. One capful will turn 5 gallons of water into a pretty decent sanitizer. Bleach water is not a contact cleaner, however; it requires a 30 minute soak to sanitize. Then you have to rinse with clean water to get the bleach off (bleach kills yeast). Dip, set for 30 minutes, rinse, then rinse, then rinse, then rinse again, and repeat until you no longer smell bleach on the item you're sanitizing.
About Water:
I could go on and on about water, using references from modern books and medieval. But I won't. I'll just say that, of your options, tap water will be fine for most brewers. If your water is heavily chlorinated, that risks killing your yeast, so you should get bottled spring water from the grocery store. I often use distilled water (my local water is terrible), but as I mention in 1503-Eng-Beer-art, I treat distilled water with hardening salts, which is beyond the scope of a "making mead on the cheap" document.
------
Copyright 2018 by William Wagers. <Wm.Brewer.OL at gmail.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.
If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.
<the end>