Step-by-step dry mead recipe without boiling with photo

Each beekeeper will tell you that mead cannot be boiled, they say, it is a living product and you need to treat it accordingly. Cooking boiled, hearty mead is much easier, and the technology itself has been worked out to the smallest detail. But it is the mead wine, without boiling and without heat treatment at all, that today has become an exemplary drink among mead makers, brewers and others like them.

Preparing boiled mead is not difficult – the risk of spoiling the drink is minimal. Perhaps newbies should start with it. But lately, craftsmen, especially “beyond the hill”, are not looking for easy ways and are trying with all their might to come to the traditional technology for the production of honey wine. This is a completely live, non-sterilized, very light and drinkable product that requires only real honey, water, yeast, a little yeast nutrition and the desire to create delicious drinks at home.

Recipes for boiled mead, as well as set, without yeast, you can find in this article. In it you will also find recommendations for choosing good honey and other tricks of honey making.

Classic dry mead recipe with photo

To get 19-20 liters of dry mead you will need:

• 6,8 kg of any good honey
• 15-19 liters of soft water
• 5 g Lalvin Fermaid-K* (optional)
• 2 sachets of 5 g wine yeast type Lalvin 71B-1122

Step 1. Equipment preparation

To get started, make sure you have everything you need to make mudovukha. First of all, this is a fermenter, that is, a fermentation tank with a water seal (it is better to have two – the second for secondary fermentation, glass), a thermometer, a hydrometer, a hose for removing the drink from the sediment, preferably a disinfectant.

Step 2. Disinfection of all equipment

A very important stage, because any third-party microorganism can easily spoil the entire batch of the drink. Use non-fragrant detergents, you can use a weak solution of iodine. Here, funds that are sold in shops for brewers will be relevant.

Step 3. Heating the honey

Since we are preparing the set mead, we will not carry out the heat treatment of the wort, but for better dissolution of honey in water, it is advisable to hold it for some time in warm water until it becomes liquid and can be poured into a fermentation tank without problems.

Step 4: Adding Water

Fill a sterile fermentation tank with about 10 liters of clean, settled, soft water at room temperature.

Step 5. Dissolving the honey

Add honey heated in warm water to the fermenter. Using a sterile long-handled spoon, mix the wort well until the honey is completely dissolved.

Step 6: Adding Water

Add as much water to the wort as the recipe suggests. In our case, we need to add about 9-10 liters more so that the total volume of the wort is 19-20 liters. Let the mixture stand for a while and if the honey peels off, stir well again.

Step 7. Temperature measurement

Be sure to measure the temperature of the wort before pitching the yeast. The optimum temperature for adding wine yeast is 18-24°C. If the temperature is higher, it is better to wait until it drops to the recommended level.

Step 8: Density Measurement (Optional)

If you want to know the final strength of the mead, then a preliminary measurement of the density is necessary. To do this, you will need a hydrometer or refractometer, as well as a volumetric flask. Take a part of the wort and measure its density, write it down, and it is better to pour the probe into the sewer or drink it – it can cause contamination of the wort.

Step 9: Add Yeast

Once the wort is at the optimum temperature, pitch the yeast. Dry wines, like any others, need to be “fermented” beforehand. As a rule, each yeast manufacturer writes instructions on the packaging – and be guided by it. At the same stage, enzymes and top dressing should be added.

Step 10. Setting the wort for fermentation

Install a water seal on the fermentation tank and place it in a place where the optimum temperature for fermentation will be constantly maintained – 15.5-21 ° C. As practice has shown, it is better to ferment mead at lower temperatures, so a cellar or basement will be just right.

Step 11. Wort fermentation

The first signs of fermentation (water seal bubbling) should appear within 24 hours. If you did everything right, the wort should ferment completely within 2-3 weeks. The main sign that the primary fermentation is over is that the water seal has stopped bubbling.

Step 12. Removing the mead from the sediment

Now you need to pour the young mead into another fermenter, preferably a glass one. This is how we free the drink from protein sediment, which should accumulate at the bottom of the container, and also prepare it for secondary, “quiet” fermentation.

Step 13. Quiet fermentation, aging

On the second fermenter, where you just poured the young honey wine, also install a water seal. During “quiet” fermentation, it is desirable to maintain a stable low temperature, in the region of 10-12°C. During this time, the mead should lighten, it will form the final taste and aroma. To begin with, try to withstand it from a few weeks to several months.

Step 14: Bottling

Once the mead is completely clear (and rested, ripened), it can be bottled or barreled/kegs like beer. Here the choice is yours. How to do this correctly is written in the beer brewing guide – other nuances are also described there, which are partly applicable to honey wine. Before bottling, the drink can be sweetened to taste and a little yeast can be added for carbonation.

Step 15 Enjoy!

You should end up with a “dry”, that is, practically no sugar, and not a carbonated drink. To some extent, it’s just a dry honey wine. All that is left to do now is to enjoy the delicious homemade mead that you have prepared yourself and, of course, with love.