Mead sour how to fix. Homemade mead in two right ways. Strong mead - recipe

One of the many advantages of mead (a low-alcohol honey drink with a strength of 1-16 degrees) is the possibility of preparing it at home.

Of course, we are not talking here about the home production of honey mash in industrial volumes, but each of you can easily provide yourself with a dozen or two soul-warming half-liters this way.

Monastic honey for drinking

Ingredients

1. Honey - 3.25 l
2. Water - 6.5 l
3. Fresh hops - 75 g
4. For tea essence: 1 tsp. tea leaves and 1 cup boiling water

Cooking method

1. For the preparation of honey, the best, pure honey is taken, without the slightest admixture of wax.
2. Take a well-tinned iron or copper cauldron, pour honey and water into it, stir and put on the stove.
3. Once it boils, simmer for 3 hours on an even, light heat. Then put hops in honey, tied in a bag of loose fabric. Tie a sinker to the bag so that it lies at the bottom of the boiler.
4. Hops should be boiled for 1 hour. Then add hot boiled water to the original volume (that is, add boiled liquid), boil again, set aside and cover.
5. While the honey is still quite warm, strain it through a thin linen or gauze into a wooden or glass dish, but in such a way as to fill it 4/5, cover it with a cloth and put it in a warm place (from 18 to 20 degrees), in the winter by the stove, and summer in the sun. After 2 days, the honey begins to foam.
6. If the honey is kept at a lower temperature, it will not ferment, but will start to mold. The warmer the place, the sooner the honey will be ready. This usually takes 3-5 weeks. After 3 weeks, you need to listen: if the honey is very noisy, leave it on, if it stops hissing and you can already smell the honey and alcohol, then it is ready.
7. If you want to have stronger honey, you need to let it stand warm until it stops sizzling, and if you want to have honey that is weaker and sweeter, you can strain it when it still sizzles.
8. Before straining honey, you need to pour a glass of tea essence into it. Do not interfere with the honey liquid, but carefully drain it, filtering through a flannel or several layers of gauze, repeating this even several times until the honey is completely clean and transparent. Honey strained in this way is good for consumption, but after six months it will be better, and after a year it will be excellent. The longer it sits, the better it will be.

Mead straight

Ingredients

1. Water - 3 l
2. Vodka - 125 ml
3. Honey - 1 kg of honey
4. Yeast - 50 g yeast
5. Cloves - 4 grains
6. Ground cinnamon - 8 g
7. Violet and cardamom - 5 g each
8. Melissa - 3-5 g

Cooking method

1. Heat water, add, stirring, honey, boil over low heat until the consistency of molasses. Remove from heat and strain.
2. Pour the liquid into a wooden barrel, put and stir the yeast.
3. Let the drink ferment, pour in vodka and add spices in a cloth bag.
4. Leave to infuse for 1 month, then strain and pour into bottles for storage. Seal tightly, keep in a cold place.

Mead South

Ingredients

1. Water - 3 l
2. Honey - 1.5 kg
3. Light raisins - 200 g light raisins
4. Hops - 30 g
5. Brewer's yeast - 1/3 tsp

Cooking method

1. Place the hops in a cloth bag, put in water, put a bowl of water on the fire and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to the weakest and evaporate the liquid by a third, without letting it boil.
3. Take out the hops and transfer to a small amount of cold water, then squeeze well, add the squeezed liquid to hot water. Dissolve honey in the same water.
4. Measure the honey liquid, transfer to a large saucepan, pour in the same cold water three times more than honey water. Let it boil, stirring constantly, cook at a slight boil for 40 minutes, strain hot.
5. Wash the pan thoroughly, pour the honey liquid back into it and boil until the volume is reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat, cool, add brewer's yeast and raisins.
6. Pour honey into a wooden barrel, let ferment in a warm place (about 10 days) and rearrange for 4 days in a cold place.
7. Pour the finished drink into bottles, cork tightly, stand before drinking for 90 days.

birch honey

Ingredients

1. Birch sap - 3 l
2. Honey - 500 g honey
3. Rye (black) bread - 1 slice
4. Liquid yeast - 20 g

Cooking method

1. Pour honey into birch sap, stir, bring to a boil over low heat.
2. Boil for an hour on low heat, then cool until warm.
3. Coat rye bread with yeast, put in syrup and leave in a warm place for 1 hour.
4. Add a little more yeast if the honey doesn't start to ferment.
5. From the moment the fermentation begins, remove the bread, cover the dishes with a cloth, keep in a warm room until the end of fermentation.
6. Pour the drink into bottles, cork and store in a cool place. Use after 120-150 days.

vanilla honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 5 liters of water
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Sugar - 1 kg
4. Hops - 50 g
5. Yeast - 15 g
6. A bag of vanilla sugar - 1 pc.

Cooking method

1. Mix yeast with 40-50 g of sugar, pour in a little water, grind thoroughly, leave to approach.
2. Pour cold water into a saucepan, add all the sugar, vanilla sugar, add honey and hops and put on fire.
3. Let it boil, boil for a few minutes and cool.
4. Mix with yeast, leave for fermentation in a warm place for 4-5 days (until the hops float to the surface).
5. When foam appears, strain the drink, pour into bottles, cork tightly and insist in a cool place for 14-15 days.

cherry honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 500 ml
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Cherry - 2 kg

Cooking method

1. Wash ripe berries, dry, carefully remove the seeds.
2. Heat water, pour in honey, stir and cook, stirring and removing foam from the surface.
3. Cherry berries are placed in a bottle with a narrow neck, pour honey syrup and close the neck with a wet cloth.
4. Leave for 3 days in a fermentation room. Then tightly cork the bottle, rearrange in a cool dark room.
5. Insist before use for at least 90 days.

Cherry honey alternative recipe

Ingredients

1. Water - 1 l
2. Fresh cherry - 1 l
3. Honey - 1 kg
4. Yeast - 50 g of yeast,
5. Raisins - 50 g raisins
6. Cloves and ground cinnamon - 10 g each

Cooking method

1. Pour water into a saucepan and boil. Add honey, stir until completely dissolved, put back on the fire and cook for 5 minutes. Remove foam.
2. Remove the liquid from the heat, cool to room temperature, pour in the cherry juice and put spices in a bag (can be made from medical gauze gauze). Also add raisins and yeast diluted in a small amount of water.
3. Stir gently, let ferment for 3 days (keep warm) and strain.
4. Pour into bottles, close tightly with corks, keep before use for 12-20 days in a cool place.

ginger honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 4.5 l
2. Lemon - 2 pcs.
3. Light honey - 2 kg
4. Yeast - 25 g
5. Hop cones - 25 g
6. Ginger root - 14 g
7. Gelatin - 7 g

Cooking method

1. Wash the lemons, pour boiling water over them, squeeze out the juice.
2. Cut the peel of lemons into small strips.
3. Boil water, dissolve honey and add hops, chopped ginger root, lemon juice and peel.
4. Boil over low heat for no more than 45 minutes, strain and pour into a wooden barrel or dark glass bottle.
5. Add yeast to warm liquid, stir gently and leave to ferment for 35 days.
6. Dissolve gelatin in 100 ml of water, pour into honey liquid, mix everything and tightly cork the dishes, insist for 175-180 days.
7. Pour the finished honey into bottles and close the corks well, tying the wire on top.

Raspberry honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 3 liters of water
2. Fresh raspberry juice - 180 ml
3. Honey - 500 g honey
4. Hops - 15 g hops
5. Yeast - 10 g
6. Dark raisins - 2 pcs. on a bottle.

Cooking method

1. Boil water, dissolve honey, put on fire and bring to a boil.
2. Cook over low heat for about 2 hours. Put half the amount of hops, then boil for another hour and strain the honey.
3. Mix the second part of the hops with yeast, let rise, add the mixture to a slightly cooled liquid along with raspberry juice.
4. Let the drink ferment, strain, pour into a bottle and cork tightly. Keep the drink in a cool place for 12-14 days.
5. Carefully strain, pour into bottles for storage, adding 2 raisins to each. Cork bottles and store in a cool, dry place.

mint honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 1.5 l
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Molasses - 100 g
4. Fresh mint leaves (for example: peppermint) - 50 g
5. Yeast - 25 g yeast
6. Gelatin - 5 g

Cooking method

1. Melt the molasses in 500 ml of water, add mint leaves, let it boil for 10 minutes.
2. It is good to heat the remaining water, dissolve the honey in it completely, put on fire and boil for several minutes.
3. Pour in a mixture of molasses and mint leaves, stir, let it boil once, remove from heat.
4. Cool to room temperature, strain, add yeast and leave to ferment for 3-4 days.
5. Then put pre-dissolved gelatin, keep in a cool place for 2 days, pour into bottles, close tightly.

fruit honey

Ingredients

1. Fresh fruit juice - 3 l
2. Honey - 1 kg of honey
3. Yeast - 50 g

Cooking method

1. Pour fruit juice into a saucepan and heat without letting it boil.
2. Remove from heat and immediately dissolve honey in it. Let the liquid cool down well.
3. Separately, dilute the yeast in a small amount of water or juice, then pour into the liquid and mix.
4. Leave at room temperature for 1-2 days, then pour into bottles and cork tightly.
5. Keep before use 14-20 days in a cool place.

berry honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 1 l
2. Honey - 2 kg
3. Pitted cherries - 1 kg
4. Strawberries - 1 kg of strawberries
5. Rye bread - 100 g rye bread
6. Brewer's yeast - 50 g

Cooking method

1. Rinse ripe and high-quality berries, dry them, remove the seeds.
2. Mix berries with honey and mash.
3. Pour in warm boiled water, put a piece of rye bread mixed with yeast.
4. Leave to ferment for 15-20 days, drain the liquid into another bowl, put it again in a warm place for 7-12 days. Ready honey can be consumed immediately.

strong honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 4 l
2. Honey - 600 g
3. Dry yeast - 5 g
4. Port wine or cognac - 40-60 ml

Cooking method

1. Boil 1 liter of water, dissolve honey well and mix with the remaining cold water.
2. Add yeast, stir, leave at room temperature for 14 days.
3. Add an alcoholic drink to taste, stand for another 14-15 days.
4. Close the container tightly and insist in a cold place for at least 180 days.
5. Pour the finished drink into bottles for storage, keep in a cool place.

If you have a mead recipe that is not listed above, please share it with me via the feedback form. Let's collect all the recipes together!

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Mead at home is a recipe for making an intoxicating drink from natural honey, which can be performed according to authentic old technology or using ideas adapted to modern conditions. The result will be an alcoholic drink of different strengths with subtle honey notes.

Medovukha - benefits and harms

Which is due to the bee honey used for its preparation, when consumed in moderation, it will have a beneficial effect on the main body systems and improve health.

How to make mead?

Cooked classic mead at home is low-alcohol and has a strength of 7-10%. It is preferable to use honey with a rich taste, aroma, exclusively natural and high quality to create a drink. The composition of spices can be adjusted to taste or even leave only hop cones.

Ingredients:

• honey - 1 kg;
• water - 7 l;
• pressed yeast - 75 g;
• hop cones - 15 g;
• cinnamon and nutmeg - 3 pinches each.

Cooking

1. Mix water with honey and heat with stirring to a boil, removing the foam.
2. After 1.5 hours of boiling, add hops and spices to the satu, boil for 10 minutes, remove the container from the heat.
3. After cooling, full up to 28 degrees, diluted yeast is mixed in, left warm for 2 days, and then poured into a container under a water seal.
4. At the end of fermentation, the mead is filtered and bottled.

Carbonation of mead at home

Mead at home is a cooking recipe that may include an additional step such as carbonization. Through its implementation, it will be possible to fill the honey drink with gas bubbles, so that it will become similar to champagne or other similar alcoholic carbonated drink.

1. For carbonation, a tablespoon of honey is added to each bottle of strained fermented mead. The containers are sealed and left for 5 days.
2. You can carbonize the finished drink with the wort selected before fermentation (10% of the total). It is added to the finished mead, after which the drink is bottled, corked, and a day later it is cleaned in the cold.
3. Mead carbonation can be done by adding fructose or dextrose to the finished drink, after which the corked bottles are left for 3-5 days.

Mead at home - a simple recipe

Mead, the recipe of which will be presented below, does not require long boiling, it is prepared simply, it turns out to be soft in taste with pleasant honey notes. Yeast must first be diluted in a small volume of warm liquid, and then added to the satiation that has cooled under the lid to 30-40 degrees.

Ingredients:

• honey - 350 g;
• water - 2 l;
• yeast - 1 teaspoon;
• hop cones - 5 g;
• cinnamon and nutmeg - a pinch each.

Cooking

1. The production of mead begins with boiling purified water.
2. Add honey and stir the contents of the pan until the product dissolves completely in boiling water.
3. After 5 minutes of boiling, add spices and hops, cover the container with a lid, turn off the fire and leave the bowl until the contents cool.
4. Diluted yeast is added, the base is poured into a fermentation tank under a water seal for 5-7 days.
5. Ready mead is bottled.

How to make mead from old honey?

Another proven popular recipe for homemade honey mead will allow you to get an unusual sweet and sour alcoholic drink with honey notes. To traditional components in this case freshly squeezed cranberry juice is added, and old or fermented honey is used.

Ingredients:

• old honey - 1 kg;
• water - 5 l;
• cranberry juice - 5 l;
• yeast - 100 g;
• cinnamon, cloves and cardamom - a pinch each.

Cooking

1. Dissolve honey in water, boil for 15 minutes, cool to 30 degrees.
2. Add cranberry juice, spices, yeast, stir and leave to ferment for 3 days in the heat.
3. The container is taken out to a cool, darkened place for 3 weeks, after which the drink is bottled.

Homemade mead recipe without yeast

Homemade mead at home without yeast, the recipe for which will be presented next, will have a pleasant carbonated texture. There is wild yeast on the surface of unwashed raisins, which will become the activator of the fermentation process, so in this case it is impossible to wash the component.

Ingredients:

• honey - 1 kg;
• spring water - 10 l;
• raisins - 500 g.

Cooking

1. Honey is dissolved in water.
2. Lay raisins in honey water, leave in a warm, dark place until the end of fermentation.
3. The overplayed bottle is bottled in dark bottles, corked and placed in a cool place for 3-4 months.

Non-alcoholic mead - recipe

The traditional Russian drink mead is characterized by an alcoholic degree, which does not allow tasting the drink for those who, for one reason or another, do not drink alcohol. The following recipe will allow you to get a non-alcoholic version of the drink, containing no more than 1% alcohol. The technology of its creation is simple, unpretentious, but long.

Ingredients:

• honey - 2 kg;
• spring water - 1 l;
• fresh cherry - 4 kg.

Cooking

1. Water is mixed with honey, let it dissolve completely.
2. Unwashed fresh cherries are added, after removing the seeds from them, leave the mixture to ferment in a dark place, covered with gauze.
3. Then non-alcoholic mead is bottled, hermetically sealed and left in a cool place for 3-4 months.

Strong mead - recipe

If you need the right mead recipe at home to get a high-strength drink, the option presented below is the best way to implement the idea. Together with honey, granulated sugar is added to the composition, which, when interacting with yeast, will fill the drink with an additional degree.

Ingredients:

• honey and sugar - 1.5 kg each;
• water - 10 l;
• hops and spices - to taste;
• yeast - 100 g.

Cooking

1. Honey is completely dissolved in warm water, then sugar.
2. Yeast is dissolved in a small amount of liquid, mixed with sweet honey water.
3. Leave the container with the fermentation mixture in a dark place for fermentation for 7-10 days.
4. The drink is bottled, placed in the cold for aging for another 2-3 months.

spiced mead

Cooking mead according to the following ancient recipe will provide an opportunity to taste an exquisite spicy drink with notes of ginger, cloves and citrus. Among the traditional additives are cinnamon, hops, nutmeg. The use of wine yeast will get rid of the unpleasant aftertaste obtained after fermentation on a baking additive.

Ingredients:

• honey - 2.5 kg;
• water - 7 l;
• hops - 12 g;
• nutmeg and cinnamon - 1 teaspoon each;
• allspice - 12 pcs.;
• cloves - 8 pcs.;
• ginger root - 40 g;
• citrus zest - 2 handfuls;
• wine yeast - 2 teaspoons.

Cooking

1. Honey is mixed with water, boiled for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Replenish the volume of water to the original, add spices and hops, boil for 40 minutes.
3. The wort is cooled to 30 degrees, diluted yeast is mixed in, poured into a fermentation tank with a water seal and left for 2 weeks.
4. The drink is drained from the sediment, put on fermentation.
5. Mead is bottled, placed in the cold to age for at least a month.

Vodka mead - recipe

It is elementary to prepare mead on vodka, without requiring long fermentation and aging. Honey is mixed with alcohol, infused for a week. For additional taste, citrus juice, spices, fresh or dry aromatic herbs are added to the drink. It is important at the same time to choose an alcoholic drink of exceptionally high quality.

Ingredients:

• honey - 300 g;
• vodka - 0.5 l;
• mint - 3-5 leaves;
• lemon - 1 pc.

Cooking

1. Add honey, lemon juice, mint leaves to vodka, mix thoroughly.
2. Leave the mixture in a tightly closed glass container for 5-7 days, shaking from time to time.
3. The finished drink is filtered, filtered, poured into clean bottles and stored in a cool place.

Mead on alcohol

Making mead at home according to any recipe can be completed by adding alcohol, giving the drink the desired strength. The latter will depend on the amount of additive diluted with pre-boiled water in a 1:1 ratio. The composition can be supplemented with any other spices of your choice.

Ingredients:

• honey - 400 g;
• water - 2 l;
• wine alcohol - 150-250 ml;
• yeast - 1 teaspoon;
• hop cones - 10 pcs.;
• spices.

Cooking

1. Honey is dissolved in warm water, boiled for 30 minutes, removing the foam.
2. Cool the brew, add hops and yeast, leave to ferment for 3 days.
3. Lay spices and wait for the end of fermentation for about 5-7 more days.
4. The drink is filtered, bottled and left to age for a month.
5. Before serving, the mead is brought to the desired strength with alcohol.

What do they drink mead with?

Having prepared delicious homemade mead with your own hands, it's time to get acquainted with the rules for serving the drink and the traditions of its use.

1. It is preferable to serve mead as an aperitif before a hearty and hearty meal in order to increase appetite, increase the secretion of gastric juice and thereby speed up the digestive processes.
2. An ideal light snack for mead is pickled apples, cranberries, cloudberries, lingonberries, salted watermelons, pickled cucumbers and other pickles.
3. In addition to pickles, dried, smoked or salted meat, all kinds of fresh vegetables, sweet and sour fruits and berries are served with the drink.
4. An appropriate snack would be pastries with meat, cheese and cottage cheese (sweet and snack).
5. It is not recommended to serve mead with fish and seafood, which, as it is believed, are completely unsuitable for the taste characteristics of such a drink.

How long does mead keep?

As mentioned above, mead should be consumed in small portions, which makes it necessary to ensure proper storage conditions for the prepared drink.

1. The ideal containers for the preservation of intoxicating honey drink are glass bottles, bottles and jars. In Russia, the drink was stored in oak barrels, which only improved its taste.
2. Hermetically sealed containers are placed in the basement, cellar or cool pantry without access to light.
3. The shelf life of mead can vary depending on how it's made, and averages 5-7 years for yeast versions and 15-20 years for non-yeast versions.

The historical memory of peoples often presents surprises. For example, if you conduct a survey among the population of Russia about national alcoholic beverages, then the answer will be unequivocal - vodka and moonshine. Hardly anyone will remember mead - a truly Russian, with a history of several thousand years, an intoxicating drink.

Cooking technology

How to make mead was known in ancient Russia. It was prepared, according to those recipes and technologies, for a very long time, for 20-30 years. To do this, honey diluted in water was poured into a tarred oak barrel and buried in the ground. The drink turned out to be both tasty and intoxicating and, most importantly, healthy. No wonder the newlyweds had to drink it regularly for a month in order to give birth to healthy offspring. Hence, by the way, the expression: "honeymoon".

In the era of Peter I, the recipe for making a drink from honey was radically changed. To speed up maturation, hops were added to it. A month later, a fragrant intoxicating drink was obtained. However, two surprises awaited the mead makers along the way:

Firstly, when making a low-alcohol drink (7-10 degrees), the wild strain of yeast contained in honey did not always die in the produced alcohol, as a result of which the strength grew (up to a maximum of 14 degrees), but the amount of honey vinegar also grew. As a result, a rather strong, but acidic alcoholic product was obtained, unsuitable for use.

Secondly, the growth of bacteria that cause souring of honey diluted with water. Colonies of microorganisms are initially present in all grades of this product. Mistakes in temperature regimes during the fermentation of mead led to their reproduction. Yeast begins to actively develop at 22 degrees Celsius and above.

At lower temperatures, they grow weakly. As a result, little alcohol is produced, which has a detrimental effect on pathogenic bacteria. For the latter, the temperature regime below 20 degrees is the most favorable for reproduction, not to mention the fact that honey is an ideal nutrient medium.

The solution was found by changing the technology of mead preparation. A mixture of honey and water simply began to boil, during which bacteria and microorganisms died. But the heat treatment of a sweet product destroys enzymes and vitamins, due to which it loses a significant part of its useful and medicinal properties.

Therefore, you should clearly understand what you need to get at the output.

If it is a fragrant alcoholic drink, then pasteurization is required. If you want to get both a medicinal and an alcoholic product in mead, then you should turn to recipes for fermenting honey without boiling.

The modern technology of making mead at home was refined in the 30s of the XX century. The Bolsheviks, due to the large amount of unripe honey, had to remember how to cook mead from a substandard product. They improved the process of making mead.

It includes three phases: fermentation, aging, bottling.

Fermentation. At this stage, a fortress appears in the honey solution. Yeast, processing the sugars of honey, are actively developing. Their growth is accompanied by the release of alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Important: the carbon dioxide released by the yeast, when interacting with oxygen, forms honey vinegar, which spoils the mead. Therefore, it should be prevented from getting into the container where the wort is fermenting, air supplying oxygen. This is achieved with a water seal or a rubber glove.

The fermentation process proceeds rapidly. The composition is cloudy and hissing. As sugar is produced, the mead brightens and calms down. At the bottom, a sediment from the spent yeast forms. The end of the fermentation process can be determined in two ways:

• With a burning match. It does not go out over the surface of the honey drink when the fermentation is over. Otherwise, carbon dioxide will extinguish it;
• With a water seal or a rubber glove. If bubbles do not enter the shutter water or the glove lies on the container, then the yeast has completed its work.

The strength of mead depends on the amount of sugar in the feedstock, the concentration of yeast in the wort and the temperature regime during the fermentation process.

The strength of the finished drink during the fermentation process can only be increased up to 14 volume fractions of alcohol. With such a fortress, the yeast dies, and the process of converting sugar into alcohol stops.

To achieve maximum strength, temperature conditions and the required concentration of yeast should be observed. Sugar for these purposes, as a rule, is enough. Lack of yeast will not allow to process the existing sugar, and their excess will give the drink a cloudy look.

It should be noted that the existing recipes for homemade mead provide that at the end of fermentation, the strength of the drink should be 6-9 degrees. To increase the proportion of alcohol in it, you should either significantly reduce the amount of water in the recipe, or dilute the mead with alcohol (vodka).

Infusion. Ripening time depends on the recipe and cooking technology. It can vary from 5 to 30 days, and according to individual prescriptions - up to several months. Insisting, the drink is filled with aroma, acquires a more delicate taste, becomes stronger.

In order for mead to ripen, completely stop fermentation and precipitate yeast residues, it must be poured into glass vessels or plastic bottles. Close tightly, put in a cold place. So that during repeated fermentation the corks from the pressure of carbon dioxide do not knock out, it is necessary to underfill the container by 5-6 cm, and also periodically bleed the accumulated gases. At the end of the infusion, the mead is saturated with a specific taste and aroma.

Filtration and bottling. This is the final stage of making a honey drink. To get rid of sediment and unsettled impurities, the drink is carefully filtered through multilayer gauze so as not to shake the sediment and poured into a container for further storage.

Preparation of ingredients

To cook mead at home, you need to have two main (honey and water) and a few auxiliary (yeast, hops, spices, fruits) ingredients.

Theoretically, every novice mead maker knows how to make mead at home. Problems begin when it is necessary to use theoretical knowledge in practice. And the first thing he encounters is the right choice of honey for an intoxicating drink.

Honey. Each type of honey has its own unique color, taste, smell and aroma. Naturally, the organoleptic characteristics of mead will also depend on the quality of the raw material. Therefore, varieties of honey with a slight odor (melilot and fireweed) disappear immediately. You should refrain from using chestnut honey - it gives the intoxicating drink a bitter aftertaste.

By color, it is best to use light types of a sweet product. Then mead turns amber in color. Dark varieties (buckwheat, angelica) give the drink a caramel shade and a tart taste.

Honey must be natural, without additives and impurities, and without signs of fermentation.

Water. For a honey drink, clean, soft drinking water is taken, preferably from a spring. The degree of water hardness largely determines the quality of the final product. If the concentration of calcium salts in it exceeds the average level, then it is bitter and smells unpleasant. In addition, the development of yeast bacteria is slowed down in such water. Boiling reduces the hardness of water - salts will precipitate.

Yeast. Yeast is taken natural (wild) or artificially grown (wine, confectionery). Industrial yeast, dry or pressed, must be of high quality - ferment well. Experienced mead makers advise putting a few wild relatives into the wort with ordinary yeast. They speed up fermentation. Natural yeast is found in fruits, hops, rye flour, raisins.

To give honey mead a specific taste and aroma, additives from spices, seasonings, berries and fruits are often used. Combining them in various combinations, you can get a huge number of types of drink.

Citrus zest and oriental spices (cloves, cinnamon) are perfectly combined with honey. A pleasant taste is obtained by adding various juices to the drink, for example, cranberries, cherries, apples.

Preparing a boiled drink

How to make mead at home? To help, we provide step-by-step instructions for a boiled (heat-treated) drink.

1. We breed yeast. To do this, we lower them into sweetened and heated water for about 1 cup. In about an hour they will "earn". This can be seen from the bubbles on the surface of the water.
2. We dissolve honey in water - the proportions depend on the recipe. Boil in an enamel saucepan for 5 minutes. This is enough to pasteurize the syrup. Longer boiling kills the aroma of honey. In the process of boiling, it is necessary to constantly stir the contents of the pan in order to sweet product didn't burn. Carefully remove the foam that appears on the surface. It is dangerous to leave boiling honey unattended. It quickly ignites, scattering fiery splashes with a crash.
3. Add flavorings to the finished syrup: ground cinnamon, hop cones, nutmeg, etc., if the recipe provides for it.
4. Cool the syrup to a temperature of 30-35 degrees.
5. Adding yeast to it. We mix. We cover with gauze so that insects do not get in. We put the finished wort in a warm place, with a temperature of at least 20 degrees. If there is no such room, the wort container can be heated using electric heaters.
6. With the beginning of fermentation, after 1-2 days, pour the mead into a container with a small neck for full fermentation. We close the neck with a water seal or a medical glove with fingers pierced with a needle to prevent contact of carbon dioxide with air.
7. At the end of the fermentation process, after about 5 days, we put the mead to infuse (see infusion).
8. At the final stage, the drink is filtered and poured into storage containers (see filtration and bottling).

Important: hops can be used as a flavoring agent, then it is added to boiling syrup, and in the form of natural yeast. In this case, it is lowered into a honey solution cooled to 35 degrees. In the case of yeast, many recommend dropping the hops into the mead in a gauze bag.

Preparation of the set mead

To obtain a hop product with medicinal properties, you need to know how to put mead without pasteurization. Here you need to perform a few simple operations:

1. Dissolve honey in cold, unboiled water. Stir until there is no sediment at the bottom.
2. Depending on the recipe, we add wild, in the form of raisins, hops, berries or wine (beer) yeast.
3. Pour the fermented drink into a container with a narrow neck and tie it with gauze so that insects do not get inside.
4. We put the vessel in a warm place and leave it without movement. After 2-3 days, sluggish current fermentation will begin.
5. With the onset of an active process of processing sugar into alcohol, we remove the mead from the sediment and filter it.
6. Pour into dark bottles, cork tightly and set to ripen.

Important: when introducing wild yeast, do not wash their carriers: berries, hops, raisins.

Mead Recipes

In order to subsequently be able to easily navigate the methods of preparing the drink and its types, we classify mead into the following types.

Depending on the degree of heat treatment, mead can be:

• hearty or boiled (boiled);
• set (without boiling).

According to the strength of the drink:

• low alcohol;
• fortified.

By saturation with carbon dioxide:

• non-carbonated;
• carbonated.

According to the composition of additives:

• natural;
• fake or improved.

Type of yeast:

• with wild yeast;
• with confectioner's yeast.

You can cook mead with your own hands according to various recipes.

Classic mead

A classic mead recipe will require:

• honey - 160 g;
• water - 1.05 l;
• hops - 3 g;
• dry yeast - 12 g;
• cinnamon - on the tip of a knife;
• nutmeg - on the tip of a knife.

Prepared exactly according to the instructions for boiled mead.

carbonated mead

From mead you can make sparkling wine, very similar to champagne, but with its own taste and aroma. To do this, after the completion of the first fermentation, we filter the honey drink and pour it into glass bottles. Adding there natural honey at the rate of 35 g per 1 liter of wort and put in a warm place for 8 days.

Natural honey yeast will resume fermentation, saturate the drink with carbon dioxide. At the end of the specified period, we transfer the bottles to a cool place for infusion. After a week, the sparkling wine is ready to drink. To prevent the cork from being knocked out of the bottle during the second fermentation, it should be strengthened, similarly to a Champagne cork.

Mead without boiling

How to put mead without heat treatment is described in detail in the instructions (see above). Ingredients may vary. Here are some recipes.

Recipe number 1. The simplest mead recipe is 2 liters of drinking water, 120 g of flowing honey and 20 g of dry yeast.

Recipe number 2. Royal mead. For her you need:

• drinking water - 1 l;
• honey - 40 g;
• raisins - 30 g.

Pre-raisins are soaked for 2-3 days, and then everything is according to the instructions for the mead.

Mead without yeast

Medovukha without yeast can be both hearty and spicy. Industrial yeast replaces hops, raisins, berries. Here are some recipes.

Recipe number 1. The following components are required:

• water - 2 l;
• honey - 0.2 kg;
• perga - 100 g;
• lemon - 2 pcs.;
• raisins - 100 g;
• cinnamon - to taste.

Squeeze out the juice from the lemon. Mix all the components of the drink. Let's wander. Further actions in accordance with the instructions for the set mead.

Recipe number 2. We take 2 liters of water, 400 g of honey, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of hops and cardamom. Cooking according to the instructions for a hearty mead in which hops are yeast.

strong mead

To prepare a strong honey drink, it is enough to change the ratio of water and honey, bringing them to the form of 2: 1, and also add 5 g of dry yeast to each liter of the composition. Everything else according to the instructions for hearty mead. Note that such manipulation with water is allowed in all recipes for boiled mead.

Mead from old honey

Very often a separate recipe for making an intoxicating drink from old honey is given. Indicate the following ingredients:

• water - 10 l;
• honey - 1.5 kg;
• hops - 10 cones;
• yeast - 3 g.

Then everything is according to the instructions for boiled mead. The drink can be made effervescent or fortified, to the taste of mead. Such honey can be used for any recipe. When the mead is placed, it is pre-dissolved.

Medovukha with alcohol and vodka

Fans of fortified drinks can increase the strength of mead with alcohol or vodka. It is enough to add strong alcohol to the finished drink (after filtering) and let it brew for another 5 days. However, there are two very important points here.

1. If the final strength of the mead does not exceed 19 degrees, then pour the alcohol-containing liquid into the honey tincture. If you want to get a unique alcoholic drink with a strength of 28-40 degrees, then, on the contrary, pour mead into alcohol or vodka. The explanation is simple: any liquid, passing through a point of 20 degrees of strength, undergoes a violent and rapid chemical reaction, with the release of a large amount of heat and the formation of fusel oils and various poisons. In this case, a wild hangover is guaranteed.

2. You can add alcohol to a honey drink at any stage of its production. But, nevertheless, it is better at the end of the technological chain. Then the mead is soft and fragrant.

cherry mead

To make Cherry Mead, you need the following ingredients:

• drinking water - 5 l
• cherry juice - 3 l;
• natural honey - 2 kg;
• yeast - 200 g;
• cinnamon - 10 g;
• cloves - 10 g.

You can prepare a smaller amount of drink. To do this, all components should be taken in proportion to the main recipe. Production according to the instructions for hearty honey. The only thing that should be changed is the term of insisting. It is 21 days.

Young honey mead

The situation with young honey is similar to that with old honey. It can be used in all recipes without limitation. Yet, in some cookbooks the following recipe is given:

• water - 5 l;
• honey - 0.4 kg;
• raisins - 100 g;
• juice from 3 squeezed lemons;
• wine yeast - a teaspoon;
• wheat flour - 3 tbsp. spoons.

Cooking according to the instructions for boiled mead.

apple mead

Preparation is similar to cherry mead. Naturally, cherry juice is replaced by apple, from sweet and sour varieties. Sometimes 30 g of sugar is added, which affects the strength of the drink.

Storage of mead

Store the finished drink should be in wooden barrels, glass containers, plastic bottles. Metal containers must be excluded. Vessels with fragrant mead must be hermetically sealed. For storage, you can use the cellar or basement.

Knowing the recipe for mead at home, you can quickly and correctly prepare this magical drink.

Along with the flourishing of beekeeping in Russia, people began to learn how to make mead. This drink is very old. He changed the recipe and cooking technology many times. Some ingredients disappeared, and new ones took their place, and only two components remained unchanged - water and honey.

Previously, the drink was low-alcohol, since it was created only to give vivacity and freshness - they did not intoxicate themselves with it. But lovers of strong drinks found a way out: add alcohol to the finished mead. The result was over 70% vol. However, such recipes will not be considered in this article.

Homemade mead without yeast

Attention! This method is a modern analogue of how this drink was prepared in Russia, so it is only suitable for patient people.

Ingredients:

• distilled water - 1000 ml;
• heather honey (necessarily natural) - 350 g;
• raisins - 500 g

Cooking process:

1. Pour water into a saucepan, place on high heat and boil for two minutes.
2. Reduce the heat of the container, add honey to the liquid. Mix thoroughly until a homogeneous state is achieved.
3. Remove from fire.
4. Pour the raisins into the container for the fermentation of the future mead - it will replace the yeast. Pour the contents of the pan (it is important that it does not have time to cool).
5. A water seal is not needed, it is enough to close the neck of the container with a gauze bandage.
6. Take the container to a warm place (you can put it near the battery, but not too close).
7. The drink ferments for two days. Then the mixture must be passed through a cotton filter to avoid sediment, and bottled for further storage.
8. Place containers with mead in the refrigerator for three months. Before you try the drink is not worth it - the taste will be extremely unpleasant.

Recipe for mead with spices at home

Proportions (components):

• lime honey - 1000 g;
• distilled water - 3000 ml;
• hops - 7 g;
• nutmeg - 5 g;
• fresh ginger - 11 g;
• dry wine yeast - 6 g.

How to do:

1. Prepare the base - full. To do this, melt the honey in a steam bath and add it to slightly warmed water (up to about 30 degrees). Mix ingredients thoroughly.
2. Use a spoon to measure the level of liquid in the bowl and place over low heat. Wait until it boils, periodically shaking the contents of the container to avoid burning the honey.
3. The foam that forms on the surface must be removed until it stops appearing on its own. The higher quality raw materials were used, the less scale will be released.
4. After an hour, pour spices. For convenience (so as not to catch the spices from the liquid at the end of cooking), pour the seasoning into a gauze napkin, wrap it up and throw the resulting bag into the water.
5. Measure the amount of liquid after boiling and add more water to the level that was recorded at the beginning of the preparation of the drink. Keep on low heat for 35 minutes.
6. Remove the satu from the stove, leave to cool at room temperature to 30 degrees.
7. Scoop up a glass of future mead, dilute wine yeast in it. They are more suitable for creating homemade alcoholic drinks - this way the mash is better.
8. Pour the liquid into bottles, add yeast diluted in satiety. Install a water seal on the container and take the container to a warm place.
9. When the fermentation process is over (approximately 14-30 days), the mead should be passed through a cotton filter to get rid of turbidity and sediment.
10. The drink is ready. If necessary, its sweetness is adjusted by adding fructose. Its amount is calculated based on the taste preferences of the taster.

How to make honeycomb mead?

The cooking process according to this recipe is very simple, but it also requires a long exposure of the finished product. Not suitable for special occasions”, because if the result is unsuccessful, it will be a pity for the time spent.

Would need:

• honeycomb - 0.5 kg;
• bee perga - 0.3 kg;
• spring water (distilled or melted) - 2050 ml.

How to do:

1. Prepare a clean container for storing the drink during fermentation. Pour distilled water into it. It is better to use just such (or key), because without the boiling procedure, the melted liquid collected in the city is not a very pure product.
2. Place honeycombs and bee bread in the same container, mix thoroughly until the maximum possible homogeneous consistency is obtained.
3. Due to the difficulties associated with boiling the wax, the ingredients are not subjected to heat treatment. When heated, they begin to burn to a warm surface, because of which you can easily lose dishes. Therefore, immediately after stirring, the bottle is equipped with a water seal and carried away to roam in a suitable room.
4. The recipe does not involve the use of yeast, so the process will take at least 1.5 months. It is recommended to stir the liquid periodically.
5. At the end of fermentation, pass the mead through two filters of three- and two-layer gauze: to remove wax and cloudy sediment. Pieces of honeycomb, however, will quickly clog it, so it is more logical to use cotton wool.
6. Pour the strained drink into glass bottles. Seal them tightly and move to a dark, cool place. A cellar or basement is ideal, but a refrigerator and a balcony are not the best storage options, as light on the mead will spoil its taste.
7. The readiness of the product will come after about 4 months of exposure. If done correctly, the drink will be light and refreshing.

The mead turned out too sweet - what should I do?

Preparing such a drink at home is a painstaking task and not everyone can handle it. The first time to carry out this task adequately comes out of the few. Even following the recipe is not a guarantee of good taste, because the criteria for evaluating alcohol are always different. And it is not at all surprising if, in the end, homemade mead did not live up to expectations.

Often the drink is bitter, sour or cloying. The last thing people complain about the least, because too much sugar gives such an effect. That is, the next time you prepare honey, you will need to put a little less.

In addition, homemade alcohol ferments worse if the sugar concentration is too high. Therefore, it is definitely not worth overdoing it with the main ingredient, especially since nothing can be done with ready-made mead. Is it possible to dilute it with another drink or completely distill it into moonshine.

What to do if the drink is bitter?

This problem happens in two situations:

• based on a recipe with a high content of hops in the ingredients;
• the drink fermented, as a result of which the percentage of the fortress increased.

Fortunately, this problem is solvable. It is enough to add honey diluted with water (calculate the amount to taste). But it is important not to forget that this substance is first boiled for half an hour and only then poured into homemade alcohol, leaving it to ripen.

Why is mead sour?

It is no longer the recipe that is to blame for such a mistake, but the negligence of the person who took up the preparation. In this case, there can be a lot of shortcomings:

• leaky container;
• too fast fermentation;
• inconsistent addition of ingredients;
• insufficient cooking time;
• using the wrong yeast.

To properly make mead at home, you should get a water seal, take only high-quality components and spare no time.

Having learned how to prepare this drink, you can take on the creation of your own recipe. But for the best result, it would be nice to still follow some recommendations:

1. Choice of honey. It is worth giving preference to fragrant varieties: from heather, linden, acacia or buckwheat. For those who are poorly versed in raw materials, it is advisable to buy it from autumn to spring (November-April). This will significantly reduce the chances of running into an unsuccessful fake.
2. Spices. Nothing will raise the taste of the drink like they do. Here you can give yourself almost complete freedom of choice. Thyme, cinnamon, peppermint, coriander - everything your heart desires! It is allowed to add them to mead in any proportions and combinations, the main thing is that you like the taste and aroma of the finished alcohol. In a word, experiments are welcome.
3. Water. It is not worth taking liquid from the tap. Where the key is better, or at least distilled.
4. Yeast. They should be bought specifically for mead (available in online stores) or completely replaced with other products. For example, fresh berries or raisins.
5. Fluid purity. A home-made drink often turns cloudy, which spoils the aesthetic component. To get rid of the unpleasant sediment, alcohol is decanted through a cotton filter.
6. Water seal. You can’t do without it when creating a fermentation product, otherwise the container will simply explode. If you do not want to spend money, you can use homemade designs. For example, tape a medical glove to the neck of the bottle with tape or tightly insert a thin rubber tube into the cap, the free end of which should be placed in a container of water. Or, in extreme cases, keep alcohol in a saucepan.

In general, this is almost everything you need to know about cooking - the rest is told in the recipes. But in addition, it should be reminded of the dangers of frequent use of boiled honey. Some people believe that this contributes to the release of carcinogens that harm the liver. Therefore, the raw materials are either heated to 50 degrees, after which they are removed from the heat, or the dose of daily use is reduced.

Essentially, mead- this is the mechanical dilution of relatively small amounts of honey in water, followed by fermentation.

History reference

In Russia, honey was part of religious and ritual ceremonies. During the marriage ceremony, the young received a 5-10 kg barrel of honey as a gift, which was supposed to be eaten in a month. Honey in Russia was loved and consumed in large quantities - this is evidenced by old recipes like “dilute 1.5 pounds of honey with 12 buckets of water ...”, “put 16 kg of honey into 96 liters of pure river water ...” There was a custom, in accordance with which low-alcohol mead was specially brewed for those entering into marriage. Young people drank it not only at the wedding feast, but also 30 days after it. No other stronger drinks were allowed to be drunk. This is where the term "honeymoon" comes from.

Medovukha increases potency

Studying the causes of male impotence, in the late 90s, sexologists discovered that the cause of about half of the cases of non-psychogenic impotence is a dysfunction of the tiny muscle. It is located at the base, excuse me, of the organ and acts as a valve that blocks the outflow of blood that has filled the cavernous bodies. It is almost impossible to pump up this muscle (since it is smooth muscle), but its performance, it turns out, depends on the saturation of the body with certain microelements. Mainly zinc. As you may have guessed, it is precisely those microelements, in such a concentration and such a combination, that are found in mead.

Mead Recipe

Boil 2 liters of water in an enamel pan and pour 300 g of honey into it, stir so that the honey does not burn, and boil for 3-5 minutes, removing the foam. You can take any honey, even a little spoiled.

After the foaming stops, pour in 5 g of hop cones (sold in a pharmacy), a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, stir, remove from heat and cover the dish with a lid. Dilute a teaspoon of bread yeast in sweet water. After an hour, the release of bubbles will begin - the yeast is ready.

Hop cones sold in a pharmacy. It is better to use dry yeast as yeast. Yeast you can take the usual store, and you can beer. The French Saf-Levure yeast has proven itself very well; as follows from the inscription on the package, it is intended not only for baking, but also for making drinks. This yeast, as a rule, comes in bags of 100 gr. Brewer's yeast is sold in the store.

When the honey solution cools down to 40-50°C (if there is more, the yeast will die), pour the yeast into it, then put it on fermentation under the lid at 25°C. I put the pan on the system unit in the area of ​​​​the power supply and covered it with a towel, as a result, the temperature in the pan rose to 35 ° C - just what the doctor ordered :) After a few hours, intensive fermentation will begin - foam forms on the surface.

Water seal

Fermentation is best done in a container with a water seal so that vinegar does not accidentally turn out instead of mead. You pour the mead into a jar, close it with an airtight lid. Make a small hole in the lid and insert the hose into it. The most important thing is that such a connection would also be airtight. It is necessary that the hose in the vessel with this drink be above the water level, and the other end of the hose must be lowered into some other vessel with water.

End of fermentation

I did it without a water seal - I just covered the pan with a lid. After 5 days, fermentation will end. There are two ways to check the end of fermentation: by the disappearance of the foam on the surface and with the help of a match (carefully open the lid and put a burning match into the pan - if it continues to burn, then the fermentation is over - no CO 2 ). Pour the resulting liquid through gauze into plastic bottles, filling no more than 0.9 volume. Screw the lids on tightly and put the bottles in the refrigerator to let the mead stand.

After 4-5 days the drink is ready. The taste is pleasant, it is easy to drink. The strength of the drink is 8 degrees. The cost of the product is 20-30 rubles per 1 liter.

RECIPE DISCUSSION:

Here's some more advice, gentlemen! Very important.
Plastic bottles should be taken black, beer. They are for alcoholic drinks.

And transparent lemonade bottles are not intended, and the alcohol of the drink may react with the bottle.

Thanks for the recipe, I'll finish my home-made kvass, put mead.
Instead of a water seal, you can use the good old way: put a rubber medical glove on the neck (or you know what if the neck is narrow). Although there is a special container with a water seal and other bells and whistles, it is sold as part of home breweries.
As for the color of the bottles, you can also use transparent ones, no reaction is expected there, it's just that fermentation drinks do not like light, so if you use transparent dishes, you should avoid direct sunlight and all that.

Hello everyone. I also tried making mead. Although after reading the posts I realized that it was not right. But she turned out well.
Instead of water, I took homemade kvass. The honey didn't boil. He only heated kvass to dissolve honey in it.
There is a feature, the more sour the kvass, the corresponding. mead will be sourer. With Ochakovsky kvass, it didn’t turn out badly. Sweetness disappears from homemade kvass, but not from Ochakovo. The mead is sweet and dark.

as a water seal, you can use the usual system for droppers :)
http://kovanova.livejournal.com/1160865.html

Old Slavic recipe!

Hello brothers and sisters!
I share my experience:
Linden honey (preferably sour, unripe) 1 kg per 3 liters, or better for 2, mix (satiate) without fail with spring water!

Three days before this, we germinate wheat grains, grind half half and leave as is. (A handful per liter)!

We mix these components, set for 7 days (maybe more until the fermentation is over), it is better that there is more free space in the container, everything will ferment, it will acquire a pleasant aroma, drain, filter from grains and turbidity.

Pour into bottles, cork, then drain the liquid from the bottles, separating the turbidity that has settled to the bottom (every 1-3 days)

It will come out like white wine, like the color of a moonstone.

cook at least 3 liters at once, then flavor with roots, spices. I recommend bee bread (pergar)
to taste, it will saturate the drink with the missing aromas lost after fermentation, when the bee-bread settles, shake it for 3 days, and then some will settle, some will float, drain the pure drink, and now it is honey and ready!
The longer it stays the better it will be!

Sincerely, lover of hop honey!

I make mead much easier:

I take a glass bottle with a capacity of 20 liters (I do not boil honey in any case) and pour 15 liters of boiled, cooled to 40 degrees water into it.
I take 2.5 kg of honey in a saucepan and add a glass of hot (50-60 degrees) water, stir thoroughly and pour into a bottle.
I take 30-40 grams of ordinary yeast, dilute them in half a glass of warm water and pour it into a bottle.
I put the bottle to the heating battery, after putting on a rubber medical glove on the neck, I always pierce one or two fingers of the glove with a needle.
I close the bottle below the neck with a warm blanket, so that the glove is on top and free. Screw the glove to the neck with a thread, otherwise it will be torn off by the emitted gases.
During the fermentation process, the glove will rise and “vote” as it falls - you're done! We put the bottle for a day in a cool place, the turbidity settles, gently raising the bottle, pour the mead into 2 clean buckets, then pour it into plastic bottles and cork tightly.
Store in a cool place and drink chilled.

V.Ilyin
10.04.2010

Old mead

2 kg honey, 4 tbsp. water, 4-5 kg ​​cherries

Put honey in an enamel pot or in a bowl for jam, pour water and boil the syrup, stirring occasionally and skimming off the foam. In a bottle with a narrow neck or in a barrel, put the washed pitted cherries and pour it with the cooled syrup. Cover the container with a damp cloth and leave in a warm room for 3 days for fermentation.

When the mixture ferments, take the bottle to the cellar and, plugging the hole with a folded piece of canvas, leave it for maturation.
After 3 months, honey is ready for consumption. However, the taste of this honey is better, the longer it is aged.

Everyone knows what the expression "honeymoon" means, but far from everyone knows where it came from. In ancient times, there was a custom, according to which, especially for those entering into marriage, low-alcohol mead was brewed.

Young people drank it not only at the wedding feast, but also 30 days after it. No other stronger drinks were allowed to be drunk. This is where the expression “honeymoon” came from, it is a pity that many modern newlyweds do not know about this wise custom.

Easiest mead ever!!
Compound;
Water 3.l
Tremble 11.g
Honey 250.g

Cooking!! Pour warm water into a jar, add yeast and mix honey and throw a piece of butter or margarine on top and put in a bright place at room temperature for 4 days. no gas coming out! After that, the conservative will inflate for a couple of days, then go down after that, filter through gauze, put in the refrigerator, you can not put it as you like and drink it !! If you have any questions about this please email me. [email protected]

Here is the recipe that I, a hereditary beekeeper, use.
Boiled water, room pace.
Do not spare honey: 1 part (by volume) of honey, 4 parts of water.
Pre-make sourdough on raspberries (preferably forest). On the surface of the raspberries are wine yeast.
Two weeks of fermentation at a temperature not lower than 25.
2-3 months at a temperature of 17-19.
Enjoy.

the second year I make mead like this: for 20 liters of spring water, 3 kg of light honey. I cook everything on low heat for 15 minutes. I cool it to room temperature. I add 50 grams of ordinary yeast. It wanders for a week. a month already a serious drink. in six months, if it remains, dessert.

2 kg of honey 5 liters of water 5 lemons 2 bottles of lager beer 12 raisins 20 g of yeast tastes like dry wine I like it

This is my second year making this recipe, sometimes I add different herbs. The thing turns out to be very tasty and cool, but cunning ..... it seems to be drunk like kvass, but it quietly knocks on the spot. Careful! We lost one friend (under 100 kg) completely))) I got up and did not return. Only showed up in the morning. Another good thing is a very slight hangover (well, if you get drunk to death). Verdict: COOL THING!!!

The simplest water seal is easily made from a "dropper device" costs 14r in a pharmacy, take it from the side where the needle is, remove it, pierce it into the lid (heating the lid with a lighter or drilling a hole or a knife carefully, the main thing is that there is a small hole) the other end into the cup here and all!

In general, yes. Did everything according to the recipe, but without hops. I counted everything by 1.5 liters, but I used 300-330 grams of honey. It wandered for 9 days, until the bubbles began to lazily come out. Did a water seal. After the first glass I sit and smile.

Z.Y. Copper did not boil, but only 5 minutes kept on the verge of boiling. It came out sweet and delicious. I will experiment further.
Z.Y.S. I thank the author.

instead of plain water, you should add the one that remains after cooking the cottage cheese, it will be much tastier and healthier.

He grew up in the village, in apiaries. With yeast, for a week, this is honey mash, not mead. The real recipe is simple. Spring water and honey. And more time. Let it brew for at least three months. The more, the stronger. They also made chernukha in apiaries. From the stream they collected a milk can of water, put it under the linden tree without closing the lid, during the honey collection, they threw scraps with honey there. All "living creatures" fell from the tree. But it turned out to be a killer drink. A couple of mugs fell off my feet. As a rule, they made it for hired scourges. But the real mead gladdened the heart, left the head bright, the only thing was hitting the legs.

Did it twice, didn't work. It doesn't smell like honey. The first one is similar to young grape wine, the second sample is bitter and sour, although I put in almost twice as much honey.

Igor, 16.08.2011 - 17:41

#135

Igor, it won’t smell like honey)) especially if you put it in as much as the yeast can ferment. In the end, you just get a semblance of dry wine. In order for the sweetness to be greater, you need to know the yeast alcohol resistance parameter in percent alcohol (alcohol tolerance) and measure the initial density of the fermented wort. And then, from these two parameters, calculate approximately how much sugar you have left in the drink after fermentation.
Here is a link to the spreadsheet:
http://www.teddybeer.ru/home/how-to-tables.htm

A table for beer, but for mead, too, it seems, should be fine. All calculations will turn out to be approximate, but they can already be operated on when sugar / honey is put into a liquid

He started to deal with bees not so long ago, and got carried away with mead quite recently. I tried many recipes, but did not achieve decent results. I visited this summer in a godforsaken Siberian village where I met my grandfather, who has been engaged in bees all his life and, of course, he treated me to mead. The sweet and sour drink with honey after the taste really turned off the legs, but the head remained clear ... Of course, I asked about the recipe, but he didn’t give it to me, but revealed some secrets:
- he does not add yeast;
- it costs 45 days in a cool place;
- adds perga to sweet water
And he also said that the recipes for real mead are found among the Old Believers and hereditary beekeepers ...

You take a flask into it, throw 10 kilograms of honey, add warm boiled water and add raw yeast, 100 grams. Well, you close everything and put it in a warm place. Periodically, after 5 days, you take a sample when you are ready to understand yourself. then you pour it into bottles, preferably glass and into the cellar. ;-)

The sour-bitter taste indicates that the yeast has consumed all the sugar... and "choked")
Our people are generous, they love more and fatter))) Personally, I bred yeast in a glass filled with 1/3 warm sweet boiled water, while I put an incomplete teaspoon of yeast, that is, without a slide)
As a result, everything more or less stably wandered for 7 days, after which I decided to interrupt this process, because I don’t want to drink sour meat either)))
Here it is filtered. This final product is now in the pantry, absorbs CO2)) Gas has to be bled from time to time.
Once again, thanks to the author! :)
It turned out something with something))) The smell is awesome, honey aftertaste and bubbles in abundance, in general, what you need)))

By the way, after filtering, you can add fresh honey dissolved in a decoction of lemongrass herb: honey compensates for the absorbed sugar, and lemongrass gives tangible notes of smell ... and taste too)