Mead: 24 recipes at home

One of the many advantages of mead (a low-alcohol honey drink with a strength of 1-16 degrees) is the possibility of preparing it at home.

Of course, we are not talking here about the home production of honey mash in industrial volumes, but each of you can easily provide yourself with a dozen or two soul-warming half-liters this way.

Find out what Medovukha is in more detail.

Basic mead recipe

Ingredients

  1. 4 liters of spring or artesian water

  2. Half a kilo of thick fragrant honey (for example, linden or buckwheat)

  3. Half a kilo of granulated sugar

  4. 100 grams of bread yeast

Method of preparation

  1. Thoroughly mix water, sugar and half of the honey you have in an enamel pan and put on fire.

  2. Bring the mixture to 50 degrees, then keep it on fire for another quarter of an hour, constantly stirring and removing the foams that form on the surface (at the same time, one should remember about constant and vigilant vigilance, since honey burns extremely easily and is no less flammable).

  3. Remove liquid from heat and cool to 25-30°C so that your yeast doesn’t die from overheating.

  4. Add diluted yeast to the pan, cover it with gauze and put in a warm place for two days.

  5. Next, remove the resulting foam and pour the contents of the pan into a glass jug or bottle.

  6. Close the glass container with a tight lid or pull a rubber medical glove or a special rubber stopper over its neck (in the first case, a small hole is made in the lid for a gas outlet tube, one end of which is inside the container, above the surface of the fermenting substance, and the other – in a cup of water; in the second, a tiny hole is pierced in one of the fingers of the glove).

  7. Place the container in a dark, warm place and wait 4-6 days. During this time, the fermentation period should come to an end. You will know this due to the absence of bubbles escaping through the tube or a deflated glove. For insurance, you can bring a lit match to a vessel with honey mash. If at the same time the flame does not become brighter, then the yeast has indeed completed its work.

  8. Further, the future mead is filtered from sediment, after which it should be kept for about a month in a dark, cold place (both a cellar and a refrigerator will do). After this period, the liquid is filtered again and after adding the remaining 250 grams of honey, followed by final stirring, it is poured into glass or plastic bottles.

  9. The resulting nectar can be immediately served to the table; but if you have at least a modicum of patience, let the drink rest for a while longer.

The basic mead recipe wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t involve the more or less arbitrary addition of various additional ingredients.

Among them there may be various spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, ginger, cardamom; berries of middle latitudes: viburnum, blueberries, currants, strawberries, mountain ash, raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, cherries and even rose hips; And also other vegetable ingredients: hops, lime color, mint, pine buds, donon and, how strangely, horseradish. You can use the above herbs and spices in all of the recipes below.

The original recipe for mead (set mead without yeast and boiling)

Ingredients per liter of water:

  1. 2 kilos of honey

  2. 4 kilograms of red berries (cherries, strawberries or raspberries)

Method of preparation

  1. First, put the berries in a glass jug (in the case of cherries, the seeds must be removed). At the same time, some craftsmen discourage washing berries in every possible way so as not to harm the bacteria responsible for fermentation.

  2. Then, the berries are poured with a water-honey solution, the neck of the vessel is tied with gauze, and the container itself is placed for a couple of days in a warm place.

  3. When a characteristic foam appears on the surface of the drink, the gauze is removed, the foam is removed, and the liquid is filtered, poured into glass bottles and hermetically sealed.

  4. The drink obtained in this way is placed in the refrigerator or in the cellar for 4 months.

It is worth noting that in order to complete the true Old Russian effect, glass bottles should be replaced with oak casks, and the aging period of the drink should be increased by 20 years, so to speak. Those who wish to try – our genuine respect.

Mead in a hurry

Ingredients

  1. Water – 4 L

  2. Lemon – 3 pcs.

  3. Izum – 100 g

  4. Honey – 400 g

  5. Yeast (preferably wine) – 30 g

  6. Flour – 1 Art. l

Method of preparation

  1. Cut the lemons and put in a saucepan, add 100 grams of raisins and 400 grams of honey.

  2. Pour in boiling water and stir. Then let cool.

  3. Then add 30 grams of diluted yeast and a tablespoon of flour.

  4. We leave all this for a day in a warm place and proceed further according to the basic recipe from the 5th paragraph.

Old mead recipe

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 1,25 kg

  2. Water – 8 L

  3. Hops – 2 tbsp.

  4. Gelatin – half a teaspoon

  5. Cardamom and ginger – to taste

Method of preparation

  1. Honey must be placed in an enamel bowl, then poured with boiling water. Keep for a day, then bring to a boil and cook for an hour.

  2. Then, add the hops, bring the honey back to a boil, cook at a temperature of up to 50 degrees for an hour, then cool it. Repeat this procedure 4-5 times.

  3. Now the honey must be cooled, poured into a large barrel, add cardamom and diluted gelatin, and then close well.

  4. Withstand 2-3 weeks. If fermentation does not start or is small, add yeast.

  5. After the end of the primary fermentation, pour the drink into bottles, while closing them tightly.

  6. Remove the finished alcohol in a cool place for 3 months (you can fill it with sand).

Cranberry mead

Ingredients per 1 kg of honey

  1. Water – 2,5 L

  2. Cranberry juice – 1 l

  3. Yeast (preferably wine) – 100 g

  4. Cinnamon and cloves – to taste

Method of preparation

  1. Dilute honey with water and heat to 60 degrees.

  2. Remove the foam, pour the drink into a bottle, add juice, spices, yeast and leave for 2 days in a warm place.

  3. After that, close the bottle well and put it in a cool place for 20 days.

pink honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 5 L

  2. Honey – 2 kg

  3. Dried blueberries – 300 g

  4. Yeast (preferably wine) – 2 tbsp. l.

  5. Gelatin – 10 g

  6. Rose oil – 4-5 drops

Method of preparation

  1. Dissolve honey in warm water and cook for 1 hour at a temperature of up to 50 degrees, removing the foam.

  2. Add an infusion of dried blueberries, yeast and leave to ferment for a week.

  3. Then strain, add dissolved gelatin, rose oil, close tightly and leave for 2 months in a cold place.

Folk mead recipe

Ingredients

  1. Water – 1 L

  2. Honey – 3 kg

  3. Yeast for alcoholic fermentation – according to the instructions on the package

Method of preparation

  1. We dilute honey with water, heat it to 50 degrees and remove it after 30 minutes (do not forget to remove the foam when cooking).

  2. When cool, add yeast (dry French or ours). We put a glove with a hole on the bottle and wait until it falls, remove the sediment with a straw and put it in a cold place.

  3. After a month, as it becomes lighter, we bottle it, if necessary, we correct the taste (if it is sour, add a spoonful of honey, if it is sweet, add citric acid or sour apple juice).

homemade mead

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 1,5 kg

  2. Water – 10 liters

  3. Hop cones – 10 grams

  4. Yeast – 1 tsp.

Method of preparation

  1. Fill the pan with ten liters of water and put on the stove – boil.

  2. Add honey to boiled water, mix well and boil for another three to five minutes, not forgetting to remove foam from the surface, the temperature should not be higher than 60 degrees.

  3. After the foaming ceases, add hops to the pan, and cover it with a lid, remove from heat.

  4. In a separate bowl, dilute the yeast in sweetened water (one teaspoon). The yeast mass will be ready when it swells. For the preparation of mead, both ordinary yeast and beer yeast will do, but the French yeast Saf-levure is still considered the best.

  5. After the contents have cooled to 50 ° C, add the yeast mass to it and cover it with a lid, put it in a warm place for five days. About this time, the contents should ferment. After the fermentation process stops, remove the hops from the pan, and strain the drink through gauze and bottling, put in a cool place for storage.

  6. After a week, homemade mead will be ready to eat.

Old mead

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 2 kg

  2. Spring water – 1 l

  3. Cherry – 4-5 kg

Method of preparation

  1. Put honey in a saucepan, pour water and boil the syrup. During cooking, you need to periodically stir and remove the foam.

  2. We remove the stones from the well-washed cherries, pour them into a bottle with a long neck and pour the cooled honey syrup over.

  3. We cover the neck of the bottle with a piece of damp cloth and put it in a warm place for fermentation for 3 days.

  4. When the contents of the bottle ferment, we close the neck with a cork from a folded piece of canvas and leave it for further maturation. After 3 months old mead will be ready to drink. The taste of mead improves with increasing aging time.

Suzdal mead

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 500 g

  2. Water – 4 L

  3. Sugars – 500 g

  4. Yeast – 100 g

Method of preparation

  1. In a saucepan, dilute a mixture of half the honey and sugar with water. We put on the stove and cook for 15 minutes at a temperature of 50 degrees, while not forgetting to remove the foam.

  2. Remove the pan from the heat, cool to a temperature of 30 degrees, add pre-diluted yeast and put in a warm place for 3 days for fermentation.

  3. After this period, we strain the contents and leave for a month in a cold place. Then we filter again, add a third of the honey and dissolve it completely. Cover with a lid and refrigerate for 4 days. As soon as foam appears on the surface, the Suzdal mead is ready.

spiced mead

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 750 g

  2. Water – 3 L

  3. Yeast – 10 g

  4. Egg white (put before boiling) – 1 pc.

  5. Ginger – 1 pinch

  6. Cinnamon – 1 pinch

  7. Dried cloves – 2 pcs.

Method of preparation

This recipe is prepared completely according to the basic technology.

Monastic honey for drinking

Ingredients

  1. Honey – 3,25 l

  2. Water – 6,5 L

  3. Fresh hops – 75 g

  4. For tea essence: 1 tsp. tea leaves and 1 cup boiling water

Method of preparation

  1. For the preparation of honey, the best, pure honey is taken, without the slightest admixture of wax.

  2. Take a well-tinned iron or copper cauldron, pour honey and water into it, stir and put on the stove.

  3. Cook for 3 hours on an even light fire, maintaining the temperature from 50 to 60 degrees. Then put hops in honey, tied in a bag of loose fabric. Tie a sinker to the bag so that it lies at the bottom of the boiler.

  4. Hops should be boiled for 1 hour. Then add hot boiled water to the original volume (that is, add boiled liquid), boil again, set aside and cover.

  5. While honey is still pretty warm, strain it through a rare canvas or gauze into a wooden or glassware, but so as to fill it on 4/5, cover with the cloth and put it in a warm place (from 18 to 20 degrees), in winter at the stove, and summer in the sun. After 2 days, the honey begins to foam.

  6. If the honey is kept at a lower temperature, it will not ferment, but will start to mold. The warmer the place, the sooner the honey will be ready. This usually takes 3-5 weeks. After 3 weeks, you need to listen: if the honey is very noisy, leave it on, if it stops hissing and you can already smell the honey and alcohol, then it is ready.

  7. If you want to have stronger honey, you need to let it stand warm until it stops sizzling, and if you want to have honey that is weaker and sweeter, you can strain it when it still sizzles.

  8. Before straining honey, you need to pour a glass of tea essence into it. Do not interfere with the honey liquid, but carefully drain it, filtering through a flannel or several layers of gauze, repeating this even several times until the honey is completely clean and transparent. Honey strained in this way is good for consumption, but after six months it will be better, and after a year it will be excellent. The longer it sits, the better it will be.

Mead straight

Ingredients

  1. Water – 3 L

  2. Vodka – 125 ml

  3. Honey – 1 kg of honey

  4. Yeast – 50 g yeast

  5. Cloves – 4 grains

  6. Ground cinnamon – 8 g

  7. Violet and cardamom – 5 g each

  8. Melissa – 3-5 g

Method of preparation

  1. Heat water, add, stirring, honey, boil over low heat until the consistency of molasses. Remove from heat and strain.

  2. Pour the liquid into a wooden barrel, put and stir the yeast.

  3. Let the drink ferment, pour in vodka and add spices in a cloth bag.

  4. Leave to infuse for 1 month, then strain and pour into bottles for storage. Seal tightly, keep in a cool place.

Mead South

Ingredients

  1. Water – 3 L

  2. Honey – 1,5 kg

  3. Light raisins – 200 g light raisins

  4. Hops – 30 g

  5. Brewer’s yeast – 1/3 tsp

Method of preparation

  1. Place the hops in a cloth bag, put in water, put a bowl of water on the fire and bring to 60 degrees.

  2. Reduce the heat to the weakest and evaporate the liquid by a third, without letting it boil (keep at 50 degrees).

  3. Take out the hops and transfer to a small amount of cold water, then squeeze well, add the squeezed liquid to hot water. Dissolve honey in the same water.

  4. Measure the honey liquid, put it in a large saucepan, pour in cold water three times more honey water. Let it boil, stirring constantly, cook at a slight boil for 40 minutes, strain hot.

  5. Wash the pan thoroughly, pour the honey liquid back into it and boil until the volume is reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat, cool, add brewer’s yeast and raisins.

  6. Pour honey into a wooden barrel, let ferment in a warm place (about 10 days) and rearrange for 4 days in a cold place.

  7. Pour the finished drink into bottles, cork tightly, stand before drinking for 90 days.

birch honey

Ingredients

  1. Birch sap – 3 l

  2. Honey – 500 g of honey

  3. Rye (black) bread – 1 slice

  4. Liquid yeast – 20 g

Method of preparation

  1. Pour honey into birch sap, stir and cook for an hour at a temperature of 50 degrees.

  2. Boil for an hour on low heat, then cool until warm.

  3. Coat rye bread with yeast, put in syrup and leave in a warm place for 1 hour.

  4. Add a little more yeast if the honey doesn’t start to ferment.

  5. From the moment the fermentation begins, remove the bread, cover the dishes with a cloth, keep in a warm room until the end of fermentation.

  6. Pour the drink into bottles, cork and store in a cool place. Use after 120-150 days.

vanilla honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 5 liters of water

  2. Honey – 1 kg

  3. Sugar – 1 kg

  4. Hops – 50 g

  5. Yeast – 15 g

  6. A bag of vanilla sugar – 1 pc.

Method of preparation

  1. Mix yeast with 40-50 g of sugar, pour in a little water, grind thoroughly, leave to approach.

  2. Pour cold water into a saucepan, add all the sugar, vanilla sugar, honey and hops and put on fire.

  3. Cook for 1 hour at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, cool.

  4. Mix with yeast, leave for fermentation in a warm place for 4-5 days (until the hops float to the surface).

  5. When foam appears, strain the drink, pour into bottles, cork tightly and insist in a cool place for 14-15 days.

cherry honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 500 ml

  2. Honey – 1 kg

  3. Cherry – 2 kg

Method of preparation

  1. Wash ripe berries, dry, carefully remove the seeds.

  2. Mix water with honey and cook at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, stirring and removing foam from the surface.

  3. Cherry berries are placed in a bottle with a narrow neck, pour honey syrup and close the neck with a wet cloth.

  4. Leave for 3 days in a fermentation room. Then tightly cork the bottle, rearrange in a cool dark room.

  5. Insist before use for at least 90 days.

Cherry honey alternative recipe

Ingredients

  1. Water – 1 L

  2. Fresh cherry – 1 l

  3. Honey – 1 kg

  4. Yeast – 50 g of yeast,

  5. Raisins – 50 g raisins

  6. Cloves and ground cinnamon – 10 g each

Method of preparation

  1. Pour water into a saucepan and boil, remove from the stove. Add honey, stir until completely dissolved, put back on the fire and cook for 5 minutes at a temperature of 50-60 degrees. Remove foam.

  2. Remove the liquid from the heat, cool to room temperature, pour in the cherry juice and put spices in a bag (can be made from medical gauze gauze). Also add raisins and yeast diluted in a small amount of water.

  3. Stir gently, let ferment for 3 days (keep warm) and strain.

  4. Pour into bottles, close tightly with corks, keep before use for 12-20 days in a cool place.

ginger honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 4,5 L

  2. Lemon – 2 pcs.

  3. Light honey – 2 kg

  4. Yeast – 25 g

  5. Hop cones – 25 g

  6. Ginger root – 14 g

  7. Gelatin – 7 g

Method of preparation

  1. Wash the lemons, pour boiling water over them, squeeze out the juice.

  2. Cut the peel of lemons into small strips.

  3. Boil water, dissolve honey and add hops, chopped ginger root, lemon juice and peel.

  4. Boil for no more than 45 minutes at a temperature of 50-60 degrees, strain and pour into a wooden barrel or dark glass bottle.

  5. Add yeast to warm liquid, stir gently and leave to ferment for 35 days.

  6. In 100 ml of water to drain gelatin, pour into the honey fluid, mix everything and tightly clog the dishes, insist for 175-180 days.

  7. Pour the finished honey into bottles and close the corks well, tying the wire on top.

Raspberry honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 3 liters of water

  2. Fresh raspberry juice – 180 ml

  3. Honey – 500 g of honey

  4. Hops – 15 g hops

  5. Yeast – 10 g

  6. Dark raisins – 2 pcs. on a bottle.

Method of preparation

  1. Boil water, dissolve honey, put on fire and bring to a boil.

  2. Cook at a temperature of 50-60 degrees for about 2 hours. Put half the amount of hops, then boil for another hour and strain the honey.

  3. Mix the second part of the hops with yeast, let rise, add the mixture to a slightly cooled liquid along with raspberry juice.

  4. Let the drink ferment, strain, pour into a bottle and cork tightly. Keep the drink in a cool place for 12-14 days.

  5. Carefully strain, pour into bottles for storage, adding 2 raisins to each. Cork bottles, store in a cool dry place.

mint honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 1,5 L

  2. Honey – 1 kg

  3. Molasses – 100 g

  4. Fresh mint leaves (for example: peppermint) – 50 g

  5. Yeast – 25 g yeast

  6. Gelatin – 5 g

Method of preparation

  1. Melt the molasses in 500 ml of water, add mint leaves, let it boil for 10 minutes.

  2. Heat the remaining water, dissolve in it honey completely, put on fire and cook at a temperature of 50-60 degrees for 30 minutes.

  3. Pour in a mixture of molasses and mint leaves, stir, let it boil once, remove from heat.

  4. Cool to room temperature, strain, add yeast and leave to ferment for 3-4 days.

  5. Then put pre-dissolved gelatin, keep in a cool place for 2 days, pour into bottles, close tightly.

fruit honey

Ingredients

  1. Fresh fruit juice – 3 l

  2. Honey – 1 kg of honey

  3. Yeast – 50 g

Method of preparation

  1. Pour fruit juice into a saucepan and heat without letting it boil.

  2. Remove from heat and immediately dissolve honey in it. Let the liquid cool down well.

  3. Separately, dilute the yeast in a small amount of water or juice, then pour into the liquid and mix.

  4. Leave at room temperature for 1-2 days, then pour into bottles and cork tightly.

  5. Keep before use 14-20 days in a cool place.

berry honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 1 L

  2. Honey – 2 kg

  3. Pitted cherries – 1 kg

  4. Strawberries – 1 kg of strawberries

  5. Rye bread – 100 g rye bread

  6. Brewer’s yeast – 50 g

Method of preparation

  1. Rinse ripe and high-quality berries, dry them, remove the seeds.

  2. Mix berries with honey and mash.

  3. Pour in warm boiled water, put a slice of rye bread, add yeast, mix everything.

  4. Leave to ferment for 15-20 days, drain the liquid into another bowl, put it again in a warm place for 7-12 days. Ready honey can be consumed immediately.

strong honey

Ingredients

  1. Water – 4 L

  2. Honey – 600 g

  3. Dry yeast – 5 g

  4. Port wine or cognac – 40-60 ml

Method of preparation

  1. Boil 1 liter of water, dissolve honey well and mix with the remaining cold water.

  2. Add yeast, stir, leave at room temperature for 14 days.

  3. Add an alcoholic drink to taste, stand for another 14-15 days.

  4. Close the container tightly and insist in a cold place for at least 180 days.

  5. Pour the finished drink into bottles for storage, keep in a cool place.

Questions and answers about mead

  1. Question: Is it possible to pour mead so that it ferments not in a glass vessel, but in an earthen one?

    Answer: Can.

Relevance: 19.06.2018

Tags: other alcohol

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