In the general forum post on booze expenses, I mentioned making mead to save money (thread:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/how-much-do-you-spend-on-beer-booze-wine/). A few of y'all asked about my recipes, so here's a few I'm currently doing.
General notes:I like to keep the sugars low, as I prefer dry meads to sweet or semi-sweet meads. I try to stay below 1.090 specific gavity. I've done a few up as high as 1.110, which other makers seem to prefer, but it always seems to end up sickly sweet to me.
Most meads take a good year or so to reach peak drinkability. I usually bulk age as it means the product at the end is consistent in every bottle (at least at time of bottling, it usually doesn't last long enough to age differently, though!). The exception is the quick traditional. I think using the filtered liquid honey helps with this, as there's not a lot going on with pollen and such that can make the product more volatile and in need of aging to reach peak drinkability. I use the quick recipe to keep me in mead and then branch out with the experimental stuff that takes longer.
Some of the other things I've made:Wild Blueberry melomel - dry as heck and incredibly good! Wish I'd made more than 3 gal.
Bochet - Cook the honey before adding it to the must. The honey caramelizes and turns a lovely dark-red or brown. Definitely tastes caramel-y. I used a lot of honey in this and it ended up quite sweet. Good desert wine, and a very popular gift.
Cinnamon Metheglin - Add a cinnamon stick to the primary, otherwise it's a traditional (same recipe as the quick below, but with expensive honey). Quite good, want to try other spices.
Anyway, here's some recipes:
Traditional (quick):This one is a really basic recipe that doesn't result in the top-shelf mead I like to give away, but makes a solid product that's easy to drink and takes almost no effort. It's also quick compared to most meads. Last batch was done in about 3 months.
Makes 5 gal.
6 kg Costco liquid honey
Lalvin EC-1118 champagne yease
3 tsp Diammonium Phosphate (DAP)
2 tsp Yeast Energizer (I use WineKitz brand, not sure if it's available outside of Canada)
Water to 5 gallons.
Mix well to incorporate honey then pitch the yeast.
Starting Specific Gravity (SG): 1.080
Ending SG: 0.998
ABV (approx): 12%
Rhubarb: The colour on this one is amazing! Can't wait to try it, it's still in secondary.
Makes 3 gal:
3kg wildflower honey
10 lbs Rhubarb
1.5tsp pectic enzyme
3 Campden tablets
2 tsp yeast energizer
.75 tsp grape tannin
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.
Water to 3 gal
Starting SG 1.074 (want it dry, so not too much sugar)
Mix honey, water, and rhubarb in primary fermenter (bucket highly recommended).
Crush the campden tablets then add to the bucket. Leave overnight.
In the morning add the pectic enzyme. Leave 24h.
Next day, pitch the yeast. After a week or so, rack into secondary, leaving behind the rhubarb (makes good compost!)
Leave in secondary until it starts to clear, then rack again. Bulk age until clear.
Cherry:This one is my latest experiment. It's still in the primary, so I've no idea how it'll turn out, but here's hoping it's good!
Makes 1 gal
Ingredients:
1 pail of cherries (was a 7kg honey pail), boiled down to juice and strained (don't have a juicer, would recommend that route instead).
Water to 1 gal.
.5 tsp pectic enzyme
.5 tsp energizer
.5 tsp DAP
1/8 tsp grape tannin
2 campden tablets
Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast
Mix everything except the yeast. Leave overnight. In the morning pitch the yeast. I recommend using a bucket for the primary. I thought with the juice I didn't need to, but it still bubbled out of the airlock.
Starting SG 1.084
