All righty then, here’s an odd one. During the pandemic, I got (back) into making… mead! Yes, that drink that most people associate with Vikings… but was actually around for at least eight thousand years before them, all over Europe… and Asia, Africa, and even Central America!
So how do you make it? I gave someone literally one tweet’s worth of instruction, and when it was done he loved it. So here, slightly (well, okay, very) expanded, is a very basic mead recipe.
Equipment:
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One clean one-quart jar
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Something else clean to store it in, like another quart jar or a used wine/liquor bottle
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One rubber band, that will fit snugly around the mouth of said jar
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One clean piece of cloth that will cover the mouth of said jar, when secured with the rubber band
Ingredients:
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12oz honey – whatever kind you like
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One quart of spring water – well water will do, distilled is not recommended, and chlorinated is bad
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One quarter-teaspoon bread yeast
Process:
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Warm the water to about body temperature – don’t get it much above body temp, or you risk killing the yeast
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Put about half the water in the quart jar
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Put the honey in the quart jar, using a bit more of the warm water to get the last of it out if needed (like if you’re using a 12oz squeezy-bear)
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Seal jar
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Shake jar until honey is well dissolved
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Open jar, and top off to a quart with more of the water – do whatever you want with the rest of the water
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Add yeast
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Reseal jar, shake again for a minute or two
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Open jar and cover its mouth with cloth and rubber band
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Store in room-temperature place, away from sunlight
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Wait for it to start bubbling, anywhere from hours to a day or three
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Wait for it to stop bubbling, usually anywhere from two weeks to a month
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Ta-dah, you’ve got mead! BUT, you’ve also got a layer of goop on the bottom. This is mostly yeast (live and dead), harmless but unpleasant.
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Pour the mead off carefully into something else, trying to get as little of the goop in it as possible.
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Seal this second container so the mead doesn’t oxidize, but DO NOT SEAL TIGHTLY, as there may still be fermentation going on, which will create pressure, which can burst a tightly sealed container. A used liquor bottle with a cork easily removed by hand should do fine… except it might not all fit, unless you sample some immediately.
Putting it in the fridge will slow any further fermentation. -
Drink it within a couple weeks, because it will oxidize like an opened bottle of wine.
More advanced versions include using flavorings, specific varieties of honey, different kinds of yeast (mostly wine or ale yeast), killing the yeast so you can seal it more tightly, purging the oxygen when bottling for better shelf life, other kinds of more advanced equipment, etc.