Mead!!!

oldMcDonald

Thanks to the two previous posters!! Looking forward to the recipes!

N9eav

Sweet Blackberry wine. (mead but no honey)

Pick blackberries and freeze them. You need approx 3-4lbs per gallon.

Buy some ingredients from the wine making shop.

Pectolase
Citric acid
Yeast nutrient
High alcohol yeast
grape tannin (optional)
straining cloth or bag
airlock and bung
demi john (borrow 2 or get them from the boot sale)

YOU MUST STERILISE ALL YOUR EQUIPMENT BEFORE USING IT TO AVOID SPOILAGE. A sterilising solution can be bought from the wine making shop.

PER GALLON (I usually make 5 at a time so multiply by 5 etc)

Place your frozen blackberries in a bucket, pour over boiling water to cover the fruit. (using frozen blackberries means the fruit lets out more juice and breaks down easily)

Add 1 tsp of Pectolase per gallon

When the contents of the bucket are cool add the following (per gallon)

3lbs of sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1tsp citric acid (juice of half a lemon will work too)
half tsp of grape tannin (optional)
1 tsp of yeast

Leave the contents for 3 days covered with a cloth or lid. Morning and evening stir the contents. After about 24-36 hrs you should see the fruit rise to the top and the fermentation well under way.

After 3 days (no more) strain the fruit from the liquid. I find this is messy so I do it outside.
Prepare a clean demi-john and large funnel

Place some of the bucket contents in the fine mesh straining bag and squeeze it out into the funnel. Keep doing this until you have used up all your bucket full.

You now have a part filled demi john of purple blackberry juice. Top it up to the neck with cool water and place the bung and airlock in the neck.

Put it on the worktop and watch it bubble away for about 2 weeks.

When it stops bubbling. You have to rack it off
This means removing the liquid from the sediment.

So without disturbing the bottle too much using a tube, syphon the liquid into a new clean demi-john leaving the sediment behind.

If you are into wine making you should have a specific gravity of about 1000 or less. Or taste it and it should taste dry and not sweet. The alcohol content will be about 12%

Add about 4oz of sugar to your new bottle of juice and watch it bubble away again.
The fermentation is still taking place and the wine is getting stronger and sweeter.

Keep repeating the racking and sugar process until it stops working. (At this stage the alcohol has killed the yeast)

Store it then for about 6 months or more. Continual racking (no more sugar) at this stage will develop a lovely clear sweet blackberry mead. Bottle it up and store in a cool place.

Try it with Strawberries, tinned peaches, pears and other fruits. Same rules really. 3lbs sugar per gallon, 3-4 lb fruits.

Any questions give me a shout

twink

okay will be back about lunchtime

Bargain_Rzl

Ooooh yum. I've never tasted mead, and TBH am nervous of trying it as I seem to have a weird sensitivity/allergy to alcoholic drinks which contain honey! I can't explain it, but Waggledance more than 1 pint at a time, or Columba liqueur (a bit like Scotch-based Baileys with honey) more than 1 measure at a time, makes my heart race and my face flush Doesn't seem to happen with any other alcoholic drinks, nor with honey in toast or in other recipes

freyaluck

I am am planning to make some mead as well as a range of other wines as I just got a load of wine and beer making kit off freecycle:D I have wanted to make wine for years, but never got round to getting all the stuff so was well chuffed when dp came back from picking it up with loads more than i was expecting. only 13 demijons:rotfl: :eek: 3 barrels and a huge box of all the other stuff i need plus 3 books on winemaking. I was absolutly chuffed to say the least.
Hopefully this time next year I will have a few nice wines and some mead yay
I do love mead at ant time of year, it has to be one of my favourite tipples.

twink

not sure if this is the one thriftmonster used, sure they will keep you right

Mead ( dry or sweet)

take 3- 41/2 lbs of mild honey, amount acc to dryness or sweetness you want
if a wine yeast is to be used have it activated and ready in advance
bring the honey to boil in 2 or 3 times its volume of water, stir with a stainless steel spoon until honey is dissolved, or it may burn, skim off any scum which rises

to the hot liquid add approx 1/2oz of citric acid and the yeast nutrient, you can add the juice of 4-6 lemons so that only 1/2 the yeast nutrient need be added

add the rest of the water when convenient, transfer to fermenting containers and add yeast when cool, a narrow neck and airlock are advisable
since there are 1 gall of water and 2 kilos of honey there will be about 9-10 pints of liquid

this will allow for a full gallon after racking, which should take place when the wine is beg to clear and a definite layer of sludge can be seen on the bottom, wine made now ( he puts this at the month of sept) would be worth drinking at christmas but would be better for keeping

he says in the recipe for dry mead it is important to use a good nutrient, since honey is deficient in essential minerals

Mead ( dry)
4lb english honey
1 orange
1 lemon
1 gall water
yeast and nutrient
pectic enzyme

put the honey into the water and bring to boil, pour into a bucket and allow to cool, add the juice of the orange and lemon, and the yeast ( pref a maury yeast) or all purpose and nutrient, put in demijohn with airlock, ferment to completion, can take longer than ordinary wine, and rack when no further bubbles are passing
mead should pref be matured for at least a year after this

hope that is okay, my dh made a lot of wine inc birch sap and a good one was made from tinned peaches

thriftmonster

Thanks Twink - it looks like the recipe I used. I can confirm that the tinned peach wine is good, althou gh I found it took closer to 6 months to clear.

twink

dh also tried his hand at beer too from scratch i remember the burco boiler was involved:D

oldMcDonald

N9eav and Twink, thank you!!

Lisa

N9eav

With mead, the honey you use will affect the taste. I would suggest buying from a local beekeeper. The honey tastes far better than the stuff in Lidls for example. IT may be more expensive, but worth it.
He may also be able to sell you cheaper honey, that is great for mead, but not quite clear enough for jars...