Recipe for first time making mead?

[lmarkis]

Hey ya'll!

Taking two weeks off from brewing and wanted to get my feet wet and make a 1 gallon batch of mead. Because you all are experienced in this, is there a great 1 gallon sweet and dry mead recipes you would suggest for my first time that would hook me? Doing a smaller batch would allow me to try each kind to see what I and my wife like.

I know it has to ferment for some time, I read the recommended aging is 1 month/per 1%ABV. So I'd like to get it together and let it begin the process now rather than later.

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Well for an easy sweet JAOM; Cant be beat (check it out, that rhymes) Just google JAOM and you'll find the recipe, it must be on every brewing forum with mead on the web. You can also make a dry variation buy cutting the honey to 3 pounds and pitching a stronger yeast like EC-1118, Red Star Premiere Cuvee, or Red Star Pasteur Champagne. This way you can try the same mead dry and sweet without separate variables like not liking certain fruit notes or what not.

 

[lmarkis]

Thanks Marshmallow Blue. That's exactly what I was looming for. Can't wait.

 

[Arpolis]

Oh please do not do a JAOM dry. The traditional JAOM un-modified lack the honey and yeast is terribly bitter and off thanks to the white pith in the orange. JAOM is a sweet desert mead and should be expected to stay that way. If you want a dry recipe that is good for a beginner look at Joes quick grape mead which is from the maker of the JAOM.

But I do second JAOM as a 1st try. It is great as long as you follow directions exactly.

Click here for the Quick grape mead

If you can not get a hold of the buckweat honey then any really dark raw honey should work. I have also seen some people substitute the buckwheat honey for caramelized honey. Just add the 1# of honey to 2 - 3 cups of water, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a minimum and slow boil for an hour and a half. "Carefull honey expands 4X it's original volume when you boil it"

Let us know how it goes.

 

[fatbloke]

Best place for the recipe is chapter 6 of the "NewBee" guide over at the gotmead forums (its linked in the left hand yellow dialogue/links box on front page). Because not only do you get the recipe but the new mead maker guidance too.

 

[lmarkis]

Thanks again for all the great info. I think it will make the JMAO and the grape mead in 1 gallon containers.

I may be jumping the gun here, but where can I look for a recipe where I can incorporate peaches? I live in SC and we have a mighty fine peach season. It sounds like it would go great.

 

[Arpolis]

Well wine and mead are closely related so most wine recipes translate well mead recipes with only a couple considerations. Honey is naturally acidic so I normally do not add acid blends to mead where you would in wine. Also honey is only about 83% of it's volume as fermentable sugar so you use more honey then you would sugar.

So if I want to get an idea on what would work for a new mead recipe I usually Google "Jack Keller peach wine" or what ever other flavor you want to try. Jack Keller has a stellar web site with hundreds of great well tested recipes with instructions on how to put the wine together. I just take the wine recipe and change sugar to 2-3 pounds of honey per gallon and get rid of the acid blend. If the recipe asks for grape tannin I substitute that with black tea loos leaf in the primary or a cup of brewed tea per gallon to add tannins.

So keep the above in mind and check out Jack Keller's site and you can infer a good recipe for most any flavor.

If that ever fails or you want to look at multiple sources Gotmead.com has a great list of recipes for many types of mead. For a peach mead you want to look up what is called a "Peach melomel" which is a peach fruit mead is all that means.