Mead

After my first excursion into wine making, I decided to try my hand at mead. I love mead, it is probably my favorite kind of wine.

My first gallon, I bought some 5 pounds from the local grocery store. It was as easy as mixing it with filtered water, and pitching some yeast. The grocery honey was pasteurized, which from my research is a debated topic. But may cause the final flavor of the mead to be diminished. It's common practice to add the fruit to a mead for a melomel during the secondary fermentation. Since the honey used for this batch wasn't of the best quality, I will likely take this approach, and rack it over some blackberries.

However, I did buy a proper uncooked raw honey from the local brew store for nearly the same price. It should be enough to make about 2 gallons of sweet mead. I'll have to experiment with dry/sweet still/carbonated versions. Hopefully it's delicious. Will update more as I progress.


Update: Here it is, after racking over the blackberries! Sitting on my bar top at home so it's easier to access, before I move it into the closet down stairs for the longer term fermenting.

Even a bonus video:

Update #2: I strained out the blackberries. And the mead is now bulk aging in a carboy. Where I figure I'll forget about it for several months, and bottle it someday. Oh boy is it strong. I took a whiff and it packs a punch.