Mead by Hetty

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Mead http://solorb.com/mead/

 

 

The Mead Maker's Page
 
The basic theme: If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the wuids, Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me! - Pete Seeger

A real multimeadia experience -JC
Mead making, it's a must! -ZS
Honey is to mead as malt is to beer and grapes are to wine. -FC

Mead Types and Ingredients
Type Ingredients
mead honey, optional flavoring ingredients
sack mead strong mead made with extra honey
show mead honey
braggot honey and malt
capsicumel honey with chile pepper ....try it, it's not very hot ;-)
cyser honey and apples
hippocras honey, grapes and spices
hydromel a less common name for mead, also the French name
melomel, mulsum honey and fruit
metheglin honey and spices
miodomel honey and hops
mora honey and mulberries
omphacomel honey with verjuice, the juice of unripe grapes
oxymel mead mixed with wine vinegar
pyment, pyment-claree honey and grapes
rhodomel honey with attar, a rose petal distillate
thalassiomel honey and sea water
weirdomel honey with other unusual flavorings [RCD]

Mead Names from Around the World
Name Explanation
aguamiel Spanish mead
ayahuasca Amazonian mind liberating liquid
balche Mayan state altering mead made with balche bark
chouchen Breton (France) mead
hidromel Portugese mead
hydromel French mead
idromele Italian mead
iqhilika South African mead
madhu Indian Sanskrit word for mead
mézbor Hungarian honey wine
med Ukranian mead
meddeglyn or myddyglyn Welsh spiced mead
mede Dutch mead
medica Slovenian mead
medovina Bulgarian, Czech and Slovak mead
medovukha Russian mead
medu German mead (historical name)
meis Eritrean mead
meodu Olde English mead
met German mead
midus Lithuanian mead
miòd Polish mead
mjød Danish and Norwegian mead
mjöd Swedish mead
mõdu Estonian honey beer
nabidh Arabic mead
sima Finnish mead
tej Ethiopian mead
ydromeli Greek mead
yeyin dvash Hebrew mead

Honey Names
Name Country/Language
dvash Hebrew
hunaja Finnish
honig German
honning Norwegian
honung Swedish
med Bulgarian and Slovenian
medus Lithuanian and/or Latvian honey
mel Welsh, Brazilian, (and others)
miel Spanish
mjod Russian
ngarlu Australian Aboriginal honey
tapli Georgian (in the Caucasus)

Much of the above information has been sent to me by readers of this page, your input is greatly appreciated.

 

http://solorb.com/mead/ 

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

by Reivanna Ashwood
I've been wanting to try making my own mead ever since a friend of mine got into it. The honey can be a bit expensive, but I believe the results are worth it as you get several bottles out of one batch. It's also a very simple recipe that's absolutely delicious!

Ancient Orange Cinnamon & Clove Mead

This is one I have shared before but it may have got lost in the rebuild. It is so simple to make and you can make it without much equipment and with a multitude of variations. This could be a first Mead for the novice as it is almost fool proof. It is a bit unorthodox but it has never failed me or the friends I have shared it with. Wikdwaze, you might like this one better than your Chancers since it will be both sweet, complex and tastey.


1 gallon batch

* 3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
* 1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
* 1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
* 1 stick of cinnamon
* 1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
* optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
* 1 teaspoon of Fleismanns bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
* Balance water to one gallon

Process:

Use a clean 1 gallon carboy

Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy

Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)

Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)

Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.

When at room temperature in your kitchen. Put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)( the yeast can fight for their own territory)

Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.

Racking

--- Don't you dare

additional feeding

--- NO NO

More stirring or shaking

-- Your not listening, don't touch

After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and syphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waitied that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.

If you were sucessful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make a different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make a good ancient mead.

I currently have a bottle of his mead sitting in my fridge that I've been saving for my upcoming birthday. :)