What's a good, basic mead recipe?, Contributed by Kevin Martin Options

[Matt the Mead Ma...]

Thank you very much, Kevin Martin for providing this recipe and instructions for our FAQs!

The recipe below is a generic medium mead recipe that should produce a decent, drinkable mead. It is simple and provides an excellent starting point for later experimentation.

Ingredients
• 15 lbs. clover or wildflower honey (pleasant if neutral flavor and aroma for honey)
• Yeast (liquid: Wyeast sweet mead, Whitelabs sweet mead. Dry: Lalvin D-47)
• Yeast nutrient
• Yeast energizer
• Diammonium Phosphate (DAP)
• Acid blend (preferably a vintners blend) or lemon juice in a pinch
• Large pot or kettle for boiling
• 3 gallons water for pot
• 2 gallons water chilled
• Fermentation equipment
(Consult your homebrew supplier if you do not have equipment. This will include fermentation vessels, tubes, airlocks, hydrometer, thermometer, food grade sanitizers, bottles, stoppers or caps, and other miscellaneous parts.)

Generic Mead Kit Preparation Instructions
by Kevin Martin

The instructions below should be sufficient to allow a novice meadmaker to create a decent mead first time out.

This middle-of-the-road mead provides a good starting point for learning the methods needed for future, more creative, mead-crafting. Hopefully, these simple, cookie-cutter instructions will enhance the chance of success as much as possible.

Instructions
1. Mix the entire volume of honey with water to 3 gallons. This step will require a large pot (4 gallons or more).
2. Heat the mixture to 155-160 degrees Fahrenheit and hold for 15 minutes. This should pasteurize the honey sufficiently to help ward off infection.
3. Add yeast nutrient, yeast energizer and Diammonium phosphate (also known as DAP) per manufacturers instruction. This step is important because honey has a rather low nutrient and free nitrogen level as compared to malt or fruit juice.
4. Cool honey and water mixture (known as a “must”) to approximately 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The simplest method is to combine the 3 gallons of must with 2 gallons of cool water in the primary fermentation vessel. If you are familiar and comfortable with using ice-baths or wort chillers, feel free to chill the must in that way.
5. Aerate the must well by splashing it vigorously as it is transferred to the primary or by stirring vigorously with a long handled stirring spoon. The more oxygen at this point the better, as the yeast will need plenty of it during the initial reproduction phase.
6. Follow the manufacturers’ instructions to pitch either your proofed yeast (if using dry yeast) or your yeast starter (if using liquid culture).
7. Take and record the specific gravity of the must according to hydrometer instructions.
8. Attach airlock or blow off tube (depending on the fermentation vessel), according to standard practice.
9. Initial fermentation may be vigorous. When initial fermentation has slowed and the must begins to throw sediment, take and record a new specific gravity reading. Generally this will be between 2-4 weeks in the primary fermentation vessel.
10. Transfer the mead must to a sanitized secondary fermentation vessel. Many prefer to use glass carboys for this stage as the progress of the mead can be easily observed. If a problem begins to develop you are more likely to notice it.
11. Allow the mead to ferment, taking readings every 2 weeks or so. It is suggested that you invest in a wine thief to minimize loss due to samplings.
12. Once the specific gravity begins to stabilize the must is entering the last stages of fermentation. If, over the course of 3 readings 3-4 days or so apart, the specific gravity remains constant, fermentation is likely complete. For more assurance take the readings 1 week apart.
13. Take a small sample of the mead and taste it. If the mead is a little cloying (too sweet) or flabby (bland) you will want to add acid (in the form of acid blend or lemon juice) to taste. This step is purely subjective, and completely arbitrary acid additions at the beginning of the fermentation as USED to be recommended, can lead to unbalanced and unpleasant flavors.
14. For a still mead (no carbonation), add KMETA (Potassium metabisulfite) per manufacturers instructions and bottle. Many meadmakers omit this step after becoming comfortable with meadmaking and in fact consider it unnecessary. For a sparkling mead, add approximately ¾ cup corn sugar or ½ cup honey to the must to “prime” it and bottle.

Opinions vary on the required age of mead before consumption. Let your taste buds be your guide. As a general rule, the longer a mead ages the better it gets. Some suggest waiting at least 6 months before even opening the first bottle, others say a year.
A general fermentation/bottling time line for a mead, with appropriate nutrients added, could be as follows:
• 2 weeks in primary.
• 4-8 weeks in secondary depending on specific gravity, then bottle.
• 8 months in bottle before opening.
Some prefer to have the bulk of the aging occur in the secondary fermenter to help the entire batch be more consistent. This would mean closer to 10 months in secondary before bottling. The choice is yours.
Voila! Mead!

[lithiumion]

I think this will be delicious to taste.today i will say my mom to cook.