How to make mead at home

Mead is considered to be a unique drink, many have heard about the miraculous properties of the drug. Depending on personal preferences, mead can be strong or low alcohol. The technology of preparation of the composition has spread around many cities and is firmly entrenched in the recipe book of experienced housewives. To make mead at home is enough to prepare the necessary ingredients and follow the instructions clearly. Consider each stage in order, we highlight the main aspects.

Useful properties of mead

1. The main ingredients of mead are considered to be spicy herbs, yeast (baking or beer), honey, seasonal berries, alcohol, roots. The drink is useful for vitamins of different groups, these include section A, B, C, D, E, K.Due to the metals contained in the drink, mead has healing properties.
2. The drink is considered to be medicinal due to the fact that it contains a large amount of honey. The drug is often used in the treatment of pneumonia and bronchitis, prophylactic purposes in the case of impotence and seasonal cold.
3. Honey is considered a bactericidal and anti-inflammatory product, but at the same time it is the strongest allergen. People who often develop individual intolerance to the components should be extremely careful.
4. Mead has a diuretic effect. Despite the fact that the composition contains alcohol, the drink is often used to treat kidneys. The drug cleanses the body, removes toxins and toxins, fights against general fatigue and leads the psycho-emotional background to normal.
5. To people who have sputum in the bronchi and lungs, mead will become indispensable. Products dilute tumors, and then pulls them, thereby freeing the airways.
6. Thanks to the addition of fragrant spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.), the drink can be drunk warm on winter evenings.Drinking technology is somewhat reminiscent of mulled wine, products are similar in degree ratio.

Mead: a classic recipe

• hop cones - 6 oz.
• honey - 320 gr.
• nutmeg - 1 pinch
• crushed cinnamon - at the tip of a knife
• drinking water - 2.1 l.
• powder yeast - 25 gr.

1. The most important aspect of the preparation of mead on the classical technology is the correct choice of honey. Prefer fragrant varieties. These include lime or buckwheat honey, they are best suited for boiling the drug.
2. With the onset of spring, beekeepers offer consumers fresh honey at a relatively low cost. If you do not have sufficient knowledge of the apiary, give up the purchase. Give preference to store products. Otherwise, you run the risk of running into a mixture of melted sugar.
3. After you have picked up the most delicious and fresh honey, proceed to the main manipulations. Take an enameled pot with thick walls, pour drinking water into the container and put it on the stove. At the first signs of boiling add honey, constantly stir with a wooden spatula.
4. Duration of boiling is about 5 minutes. After the specified time, you will see that whitish foam begins to accumulate on the surface of the liquid. Carefully remove and discard it. Do not move away from the stove, honey quickly ignites.
5. When you cook the syrup, start pouring in flavoring. Add ground cinnamon, hop cones and nutmeg to the composition, they will make mead refined and original. Stir the compound thoroughly, then remove the container from the stove.
6. After combining all the ingredients you need to prepare the future mead for fermentation. Put the pot in a cool place, bring to a temperature of 25-28 degrees. Dissolve the yeast according to the instructions, then add to the cooled syrup.
7. It is important to always leave the mass to cool, otherwise the yeast will die and the fermentation process will not start. When the yeast is added, place the container with the composition in a warm room (temperature about 25 degrees).
8. In cases where there is no suitable room, use a heater for aquariums. Bind the pan with gauze or cotton cloth in advance so that insects and foreign substances do not enter the container.After 1-2 days, the fermentation process will begin. You will notice that a thick foam appeared on the surface, and the composition itself began to hiss.
9. At this very moment it is necessary to prepare the tank for fermentation, and then pour the composition into it. Be sure to attach a medical glove to the neck, pre-puncture a few holes in the index and middle fingers. If desired, the glove can be replaced with a water seal.
10. If we proceed from the general rules, the fermentation of the composition lasts about 5 days. To estimate the end point, look at the glove: it should be blown away and fall to one side. In the case of a water seal, bubbles should not come out of it. You can also check the readiness by bringing a burning match to the mouth of the mead (it should not go out).
11. After this period, you will get a drink with a strength of 6-9 degrees, proceed to filtering and bottling. Remove the mead from the sediment using a rubber hose, transfer it to a dry sterilized container. Pass the composition several times through 4 layers of gauze, pour the finished product into bottles of dark glass or plastic.
12. Close the container, place it in a refrigerator or cellar for final maturation.As a rule, mead can taste on the taste after 3 days. The shelf life of the drink is 30 days at a temperature of 5-10 degrees.

How to make mead with gas

1. Rinse plastic or glass bottles with hot water, wipe dry and dry. Not a single drop of water should fall into the composition.
2. Now you need to add honey to the bottom of each tank. Proceed from this calculation to 1 l. liquid accounted for about 35 grams. honey Such a move is necessary for secondary fermentation, due to which carbon dioxide is released.
3. Pour the mead in bottles, retreating from the neck by 5 cm. Cork with corks, leave at room temperature for 8 days. Once a day, check the pressure in the tanks, if necessary, open the lids and "flush" the extra carbon dioxide.
4. At the end of the secondary digestion, send the corked bottles to a cold place for another week. When this term is out, we can assume that the maturation is completed, the carbonated mead is ready.

Mead from old honey

• honey - 1.6 kg.
• Baker's yeast - 4 gr.
• drinking water - 11 l.
• hop cones - 12 gr.

1. Pour water into the pan, turn the hotplate on to the middle mark, bring the liquid to a boil. As soon as this happens, start adding honey in batches. Stir at the same time, otherwise the composition will burn and ruin all the aftertaste.
2. Boil the syrup for 5 minutes, remove the foam as it is formed. When the foam has ceased to form on the surface, add chopped hop cones. Close the pan with a lid, turn off the burner.
3. Now you need to control the temperature of the syrup with a thermometer. When the mixture reaches 45 degrees, add the previously diluted yeast. Put the pot in a warm place, wait 5 days before partial fermentation of the composition.
4. After the specified period, skip the composition through several layers of gauze, remove the mead from the sediment, pour into sterilized bottles. Block the container, leave at a temperature of 12-14 degrees for 5 days. Every day, unpack the container and reduce the pressure in the tanks.
5. Mead is ready, store it at a temperature of 10-12 degrees for no longer than three weeks. Shake and reduce pressure before use, slightly opening the lid.The drink prepared according to this recipe has a delicate aftertaste, as is the case with champagne.

Mead fortified

• water (preferably spring water) - 2, 2 liters.
• honey - 340 gr.
• brewer's yeast - 15 gr.
• medical alcohol (concentration 50%) - 390 ml.
• hops (cones) - 6 gr.
• nutmeg - on the tip of a knife
• cardamom - 1 pinch
• ground cinnamon - 1 pinch

1. Pour water into the pan, bring the liquid until the first bubbles appear. Start slowly adding honey and stirring at the same time so that it does not stick to the bottom. Tomit composition for half an hour, remove the foam as it is formed.
2. After cooking, cover the container, let cool to a temperature of 45 degrees. Add hops, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, mix. Dissolve the yeast and pour it into the composition. Leave the composition in a dark warm place for fermentation, the duration of exposure is 7 days.
3. After the allotted time, remove the product from the sediment using a rubber tube. Make a filter of gauze cloth and a piece of cotton, strain the mead. Pour into a dry sterilized container, wear a medical glove, make two holes with a sewing needle.
4. The duration of re-fermentation is 1 month. Choose a place with good air circulation, but with minimal light penetration. At the same time the room should be cool enough.
5. After the specified period has passed, pour in medical alcohol. Pour the composition into dark bottles (preferably with a volume of 0.9-1 liters). Use within a month, keep in the door of the refrigerator.

Cherry Mead

• honey - 600 gr.
• drinking water - 2.2 l.
• fresh cherry - 2.8 kg.
• hop cones - 10 gr.

1. Since the recipe of mead does not involve the use of yeast, you have to choose a product that will replace this component.
2. The ideal option are fresh cherry berries. Before cooking, sort them out, removing rotten and crumpled. Remove the bones and place in a colander for complete moisture drainage.
3. Bring the water to a boil on medium power, add the honey in batches and simultaneously stir. Tomit syrup about a quarter of an hour, then dip the processed cherries and hop cones into the liquid.
4. Mix everything thoroughly, tie a neck with a gauze or a bandage, put in heat. After two days, fermentation will begin, a foamy cap and hissing will tell you about it.
5. Remove the foam, seal the container tightly to stop the penetration of oxygen.Send in a cool place, whether it is a cellar or basement. Duration of exposure - 3 months.
6. As soon as the specified time comes to an end, build a filter. Fold the gauze in 4 layers, place in the center a piece of cotton wool and wrap. As a result, you will receive a filter for filtering.
7. Remove the mead from the sediment. For these purposes, use a clean three-liter jar into which the product will be poured with a rubber hose (small diameter). Only after that pass the composition through the filter.
8. Cork a finished mead, send to the refrigerator for long-term storage. Shelf life - 3 months. In the end, you got a drink that tastes like kvass. The only difference is mild acidity.

Mead with lemon juice

• hop cones - 40 gr.
• honey - 5.5 kg.
• lemon - 1 pc.
• drinking water - 3.3 l.
• Cinnamon - 2 pinches
• raisin seedless - in fact

1. Pour water into the pan, boil, add the honey melted in the microwave. Stir the mixture with a wooden spatula so that the syrup does not stick to the walls and bottom. The duration of languor is a quarter of an hour, during this period honey will increase to the desired structure.
2. Make a bag of gauze folded in 3 layers. Wrap hop cones in it, tie, attach a rope and dip the bag into the syrup. Squeeze the juice from the lemon, filter it and pour it in the liquid too. Pour the cinnamon.
3. Sterilize two glass jars, pour the composition. Attach medical gloves to the neck, make holes with a sewing needle. Such a move will allow carbon dioxide to come out evenly.
4. Do not rinse the raisins, otherwise fermentation will not start for the reason that you remove all live bacteria. Spread into equal parts and add to three-liter jars. Move the vessels into a dark room, leave for 2.5 months to ferment. It is advisable to choose a room with a temperature regime of about 30 degrees.
5. After the allotted time, the drink can be considered ready. Remove it from the sediment with a silicone hose, and pass it several times through gauze. Bottled in dark glass, cork tightly.
6. The shelf life of mead prepared according to this recipe is about 2 months. Keep the drink in the refrigerator, wrap the container with foil, if the mixture is poured into transparent bottles.

Mead can be either slightly carbonated or non-carbonated at all. It is easy to make a drink at home, if you follow the step-by-step instructions and do not violate the duration of fermentation. Consider the recipe of mead from old honey, cherry, lemon juice. Make a drink using the classic technology, add nutmeg and ground cinnamon to give tartness.

Video: Mead without yeast and boiling