How to Make Mead

The most exciting of the mead ingredients you’ll need is honey! You’ll need 2.5 lb or 40 ounces oz honey. You can use ANY variety you like, but be sure to choose one with a taste you enjoy - its flavor profile will be the foundation of your mead. Clover honey, Wildflower honey, Orange Blossom honey, you name it! You can even use a blend of two honey styles in one batch for layered flavor. We recommend using 100% all natural honey for the best results. Source it from the grocery store, your local farmers market or even a local beekeeper or farm! Here is what you can expect from some of Craft a Brew’s favorite honey varieties:

• Orange Blossom Honey: floral, fruity & citrusy, Orange Blossom Honey is a mead maker’s favorite. Notes of white flower and zesty orange make for a delicious, complex flavor profile. Orange Blossom Honey is best sourced from trusted farms, as this covetable variety is often artificially flavored. Craft a Brew’s Orange Blossom honey is tested for Methyl anthranilate, the natural compound that gives orange blossom its flavor, to ensure authenticity.
• Raspberry Blossom Honey: made from the nectar of raspberry bush blossoms. This beautiful honey has a very light color and a subtle berry finish. This is a perfect honey for making mead with natural hints of raspberry. Perfect for making a Melomel (fruited mead) with added raspberries!
• Mango Blossom Honey: tastes like summer. Craft a Brew’s Mango Blossom Honey is made from Hawaiian mango blossom nectar that bees collect during the blooming season. The flavor profile captures the essence of a mango with fresh and fruity tropical character. 
• Buckwheat Honey: a bold, strong, earthy & slightly spicy honey variety. Can possess some molasses flavor or barnyard funk. Such a distinctive honey is best used in combination with another variety of honey for balance.
• Tupelo Honey: floral, often sweeter & more “buttery” than other honey varieties. Described as having aromas of pear and hops and a delicate cotton candy after taste. A somewhat rare honey made from the nectar collected from the White Tupelo tree in the Southeastern United States.
• Wildflower Honey: Wildflower is the name given to a honey when the exact nectar sources are not known or when the bees collect nectar from multiple flowers. Wildflower honey varies regionally & no two batches are quite the same. 
• Hawaiian Wildflower Honey: a wildflower honey made from the nectar of Hawaiian tropical wildflowers on The Big Island, like hibiscus, plumeria & ginger. This is a truly special honey for mead making with an incredibly unique floral flavor.
• Meadowfoam Honey: tastes like toasted marshmallows & smells like vanilla. Need we say more?

Yeast is a living organism (technically a fungus) that converts sugar from honey into alcohol, releasing CO2 in the process. It’s important to use yeast that’s specifically designed for fermenting alcohol, like a Wine yeast, Ale yeast or Cider Yeast. Baking yeast is not designed to ferment mead and will not produce a mead worth drinking. Our Mead Kit includes Lalvin D47 yeast, which leaves some residual sweetness and honey aroma in the finished product. You can experiment with other yeast strains that are great for mead making, such as Lalvin EC-1118, Lalvin K1-V1116 or Lalvin 71B.

Honey, unlike beer malts or wine grapes, is not a naturally nutrient dense fermentable sugar. While honey has a lot of sugar content, it is lacking in natural Nitrogen. Yeast Nutrient is used in mead making to provide Nitrogen to your yeast, ensuring a healthy and productive fermentation. Our Mead Kit includes a blend of specialty Mead Yeast Nutrient, added in staggered doses to provide the yeast with a gradual boost. If building your own recipe, you can use nutrients like Fermaid-O or Fermaid-K as nutrients.

Aside from honey, water is one of the most important mead ingredients. It's the foundation of your mead and makes up a majority of the volume. For the best possible mead, we suggest using spring water. If your tap water is filtered, safe to drink and tastes fine, then you can use it. You can use Campden Tablets to help remove off-flavors from and aromas from tap water. Do NOT use distilled water - it’s stripped of minerals needed for fermentation and can result in a slow or stalled fermentation.

A traditional mead only needs honey, water, yeast & yeast nutrients. If you want to make sweeter or fruitier meads here are some recommended ingredients:

• 4 - 12 ounces Honey for Backsweetening: After fermentation, the honey finishes quite dry. If you want a sweeter mead, you’ll need to use a technique called “backsweetening.” More on that later, but this technique involves adding honey back after fermentation is complete. You’ll use as little as 4 ounces or as much as 12 ounces per gallon of mead. 
• 0.5 Tsp Potassium Sorbate for Backsweetening: If you choose to backsweeten your mead, you’ll need to stabilize it first. Potassium Sorbate is a stabilizer that’s added after fermentation. It stops yeast from being able to re-ferment any new sugars or honey. It’s important to add Potassium Sorbate, otherwise the backsweetening honey will be fermented into alcohol and no sweetness will remain in the finished mead.
• 1 gallon Fruit Juice: A simple way to infuse flavor into your mead is to use fruit juice instead of water! Use apple juice instead of water and your mead becomes a “Cyser!” Use grape juice - red or white - instead of water and your mead becomes a “Pyment!” 
• 1-2 Lb Fruit: You can add fruit to a mead to make a “Melomel.” You can use fresh, frozen, canned or pureed fruit.

A 1 gallon carboy is where your honey, water & yeast become mead. A rubber stopper plugs the neck to maintain a proper seal. A carboy  is included in our basic Mead Making Kit.

An airlock creates a barrier between your mead and the outside world. When filled with water, an airlock allows CO2 to escape the fermenter while keeping oxygen, dust and other contaminants in the air from getting in. An airlock is included in our basic Mead Making Kit.

Racking Cane

A racking cane is a rigid plastic tube that is submerged into your mead to start a siphon transfer. Whenever transferring mead, you should never pour it from one vessel into another. This technique helps lift mead up off of sediment. A racking cane is included in our basic Mead Making Kit.

Mini Auto-Siphon

A Mini Auto-Siphon is similar to a racking cane, but this accessory starts a siphon much more easily with a few pumps.

Transfer tubing connects to your racking cane (or mini auto siphon) to help transfer mead from your fermenter into bottles. A tube clamp allows you to start and stop the flow of liquid. Transfer tubing & a tube clamp are included in our basic Mead Making Kit.

A funnel helps you pour water & honey into your fermenter. A 4” funnel is included in our basic Mead Making Kit.

After fermentation, your mead will need to be bottled for safe long term aging and storage. A gallon of mead will fill eight 16 oz bottles or five 750 mL bottles. We personally love flip top or Grolsch style bottles, since they don’t require any caps or capping tools. But you can certainly use wine bottles and corks.

A hydrometer helps you calculate the precise ABV (alcohol by volume) of your homemade mead. This glass tool floats in a test tube filled with your mead and measures the “specific gravity” scale. You’ll need to take samples & readings before fermentation and after fermentation to chart the changes in alcohol content.

This handy adhesive thermometer sticks to your carboy and monitors fermentation temperatures. Maintaining a stable fermentation temperature is crucial for happy yeast, so this tool helps you stay on course.

Not needed for making mead, but a great way to serve your homemade mead with pride! Craft a Brew’s mead glass has a wide bowl and tempered mouth to enhance the sensory experience. You can use glassware, or drink your mead from a medieval goblet, a Viking horn or a wine glass.

Proper sanitation is the most important step of the mead making process. Yeast is the only organism you want coming in contact with your mead. Any other bacteria can quickly spread, making the mead undrinkable. The sanitizer packet included with this kit contains enough solution for both step 1 and step 14. You’ll use only HALF of the packet each time you sanitize equipment, mixing the powder with 1 gallon of tap water. Equipment does not need to be rinsed after soaking in this sanitizing solution. Simply let components dry on fresh paper towels.

1. Sanitize your carboy, stopper, airlock & funnel by dissolving HALF the sanitizer packet in 1 gallon of tap water in a large pitcher or bucket. Reserve the other half for bottling day. Soak equipment for at least 60 seconds in the sanitizing solution and let dry on fresh paper towels (no need to rinse). 
2. Gather 2.5 lb of honey and 1 gallon of spring water. Pour only HALF a gallon of water into the sanitized jug using the funnel. 3. 
3. Pour about 1/3 of the honey into the carboy and plug the top with the sanitized stopper, covering the hole with your clean thumb. Swirl and shake until the honey is completely dissolved. Continue to add the rest of the honey 1/3 at a time, shaking to dissolve each time. You now have “must” - a winemaker’s term for unfermented wine.
4. Before adding more spring water, add the entire packet of DAY 1 yeast nutrients to the carboy and shake to dissolve. The other packet of yeast nutrients will be used on day 2 & day 5 of fermentation. 
5. Now, add spring water to the carboy until you reach the ‘one gallon’ fill line (just above the raised letters on the carboy). Place the stopper back in, cover the hole and shake for a full minute. This gives the yeast plenty of oxygen to begin fermentation. Cut open the Lalvin D47 yeast packet and add entire contents to the carboy. Assemble & fill the airlock with water and gently insert it into the stopper - you don’t need to push hard. Place the stopper in the carboy - it’ll stick out a bit. Drying the stopper and inside lip of the carboy with a paper towel will help it stay in place. 
6. This mead recipe follows a 30 day fermentation. Set an alarm for 24 hours from now - that is when you’ll add the next dose of yeast nutrients. Store your carboy in a dark place. The ideal fermentation temperature is 63°-70°F. Fermenting at too warm a temperature can cause unpleasant flavors or aromas. Yeast activity may take 12+ hours to take off and begin actively fermenting.

After a full 24 hours of fermentation, you will need to “de-gas” your mead to release CO2 buildup and prepare it for the next dose of yeast nutrients. These next few steps can create a geyser of foam if you don’t work SLOWLY and in small increments. We advise reviewing steps 7-9 before you begin.

1. Remove the airlock & stopper and begin degassing your mead by slowly swirling the jug. Start gently and stop as needed to allow foam to dissipate. Once foam subsides, begin to swirl more vigorously for at least 2 minutes. This process helps release built up CO2 and keeps yeast healthy. 
2. Once your mead is degassed, pour HALF of the DAY 2/DAY 5 yeast nutrients into a small bowl. Reserve the other half for step 11. Scoop out about 1/4 of the yeast nutrients from your bowl and VERY SLOWLY sprinkle into the carboy. Mead may immediately begin to foam - swirl the carboy to help it dissipate. Once the foam subsides, continue adding the rest of the DAY 2 yeast nutrients in TINY increments. This process may take a few minutes.
3. Wait until foaming stops. Swirl again for 30 seconds to mix the nutrients into the mead. 
4. Gently re-install the airlock & stopper and let your mead continue to ferment. Mark your calendar for 3 days from now - you’ll degas and add more nutrients at that time.

1. Repeat steps 7 - 9 to degas and add the remaining HALF of the DAY 2/DAY 5 yeast nutrients. Remember to work slowly and in small increments to reduce the risk of overflow. 
2. Let your mead continue fermenting for the next 25 days. The fermentation activity will continue to slow down & taper off, but the yeast is still active. Be sure to keep the carboy between 63°-70°F. While your mead is ready to bottle after 30 days of fermentation, the longer you age it the more the flavors will continue to develop and improve. So, feel free to let your mead age for a few weeks longer in the carboy before bottling!

We recommend regularly degassing your mead during this stage of fermentation to ensure that the finished product is crystal clear and free of unwanted carbonation. Degassing keeps yeast productive, which improves the flavor of your finished mead. To degas, swirl and shake the carboy daily or every few days for 2 full minutes, stopping as needed to let foam subside. Your mead will need to sit undisturbed for 10 days before bottling to allow sediment to settle, so be sure to stop degassing beyond day 20.

This mead recipe allows for bottling after 30 days in the carboy, but the flavors will continue to improve with additional aging. Feel free to bottle now or any time after the 30 day mark. To bottle your mead we recommend using flip-top bottles (like Grolsch beer bottles) to store and age your mead. You can purchase 2 six packs and use the empties. Or you can find bottles on CraftaBrew.com. You’ll use a siphon technique to transfer mead from the carboy into your bottles. This is used in order to avoid stirring up any sediment and to avoid oxidizing your liquid gold. We suggest practicing siphoning with water before bottling day in order to perfect your technique.

1. . Mix the remaining half of your sanitizer packet with 1 gallon of tap water to sanitize your bottling day equipment: bottles, transfer tubing, tube clamp, racking cane and tip. Soak all components for 60 seconds to sanitize, making sure to completely submerge or fill bottles with sanitizing solution. Let everything dry on fresh paper towels. 
2. You will now siphon your mead from the carboy into bottles. To do this, you’ll need a large bowl of fresh, clean water. Attach the tube clamp to one end of the tubing, about 8 inches from the end. With the clamp open, submerge the tubing in the bowl of water. Let the tubing completely fill with liquid and top off using the faucet if necessary. Close the clamp and attach the unclamped end to the racking cane. This is your siphon starter.
3. Place your carboy on a high surface (like a tabletop or chair) and place your bottles as low as possible (on the floor). Gravity and distance are essential to start and maintain a siphon. Remove the airlock and stopper and insert the racking cane into the carboy, making sure the end doesn’t suck up any sediment. Hold the clamped end of your tubing low to the ground and over a bowl. Unclamp to release the water from the tube, which will start the flow of mead. Once mead starts to freely flow from the tubing, clamp the tubing shut and set the bowl aside. 
4. Insert the clamped end of the tubing into each bottle so that it touches the bottom. Unclamp to start the flow of mead & clamp shut when the mead reaches the base of the bottle neck. Repeat & seal each bottle. 
5. Store your bottled mead in a dark, room temperature place and out of direct sunlight. While it is ready to drink on bottling day, your mead’s flavors really shine when aged longer. Flavors will continue to mature and develop, so set a few bottles aside for a tasting in a few months (or years)!

A young mead can taste dry or even a bit bitter, but will mature and refine with time. Mead is one of those fermented beverages that slowly and steadily and gets better with time and aging. The hardest part is the wait! Mead can benefit from months or even years aging in bottles. Keep in mind that our kit produces a semi-dry mead, unlike most commercial meads that are back-sweetened before bottling. If you’d prefer a sweeter mead we’d recommend a process called back sweetening, which can be done once fermentation is complete.

The easiest way to craft crystal clear mead is to use a technique called Cold Crashing. Once the mead is completely finished fermenting (at least 30 days) & ready to bottle, you can use this technique. Once the mead has fermented for at least 30 days, place the carboy (with airlock installed) in the fridge. It will stay in the fridge for 3-5 days. During this time, the residual yeast that might still be floating around will be drawn to the bottom of the jug. This helps clarify the mead and makes it easier to keep sediment out of your bottles. After 3-5 days in the fridge, take out the carboy and proceed with bottling! Be gentle so you don’t stir up any sediment or mix it back into the mead. You can also try a fining agent, like Bentonite! Add pre-fermentation or in secondary fermentation.

Don’t worry - a noticeable decrease in fermentation activity (bubbling, foaming, etc.) is to be expected. There will always be much more activity and CO2 buildup at the start of the fermentation, then the activity will taper off over time until all of the sugars are consumed by the yeast. The first addition of nutrients will yield the most foam and fizzing, and the following additions may be slightly less ‘reactive.’ Then fermentation activity will gradually slow down as the yeast continues to ferment the mead, slowing down as its supply of sugar ‘fuel’ is naturally reduced/fermented out.