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My friends and I are big fans of experimentation, but I never thought that one of these experiments would lead me to a new hobby, and a very unusual one.
We somehow got to a bar for a tasting of various types of alcohol, among which were cider, mead, beer and others.
I never thought that you can spoil the taste of mead made from natural (according to the staff) ingredients so much.
We left frustrated and disappointed, but that moment made me go for an experience that I could not even imagine before.
The story was shared by my reader Gennady.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
It’s not that I’m a big fan of booze parties – I drink strong (and not so) types of alcohol primarily for their rich taste.
Therefore, not every whiskey or vodka was to my liking. Even the slightest bitter taste made me refuse beer or mead.
About the chemistry that is added to alcohol, I am completely silent. And then one day I decided to subscribe to an interesting scam – why not brew alcohol yourself?
Of all types of alcohol, I like beer and mead the most. The latter is very difficult to find on sale, and even more so of high quality. Therefore, if we start with something, then let it be mead.
What ingredients are required
I started with the simplest step – searching for a recipe on the Internet. You won’t believe how many variations of mead you can find on the web. I chose the simplest one:
- 300 g fresh honey;
- 2 liters of clean water;
- 1 teaspoon of yeast;
- hop cones – 5 g.
Stocks of ingredients are stored next to the mead
I don’t like honey as such, so I didn’t have stocks – I had to order it. For 1 kg of honey I paid 600 rubles.
The same applies to hop cones, I doubt that someone has them lying around at home. For 1 kg I had to spend around 400 rubles. One thing was reassuring – if it works out, then these costs will pay for themselves.
Important! As it turned out, hop cones could also be found in an ordinary pharmacy (well, who knew!). Therefore, if you cook according to my recipe, then go to the nearest one – you will save on costs twice.
The cooking process
I moved on to making mead. The first steps were quite simple. I took a large saucepan, poured 2 liters of water into it and put it on the stove so that it came to a boil.
After that, he added honey (I had to guard this “potion” and constantly mix it). The foam must be removed so that it does not spoil the taste of mead.
Mead fermentation
After that, the pan is removed from the fire and placed in the room to cool it. When the temperature drops to 25-30 degrees, then you can add yeast – here it is better to wait once again, since the yeast may die if added at a higher temperature.
Important for beginners! At this stage, I realized that knowingly bought honey with a margin. The first time, I rushed and added the yeast too early – as a result, the mixture stood for several days and nothing happened.
When I coped with this stage, I also encountered the fact that the taste turned out to be a little “empty” – the next time I experimented with cinnamon and apples, and now it already looked like a real mead.
Variant with apple and cinnamon
After everything was ready (well, not the first time, of course), I took the mead to the next room, after pouring the liquid into a plastic bottle and putting on a water seal. This part of the apartment is located on the shady side, and it’s cool enough for the mead to ferment.
The fermentation process lasted about 1,5 weeks – I determined that the mead was ready by the absence of bubbles in the water seal. If they are still present, it is best to leave the mead to brew for a few more days.
When it came time to check the result, before pouring the mead into a container, I strained it through cheesecloth several times to get rid of the sediment. After the bottles had been in the refrigerator for several days, it was time for a sample.
What result did I get
Maybe not the first time, but the result pleased me and my family. The mead was drunk gently, while intoxication was absolutely not felt, because the degree was less than 5%.
Of course, the taste was missing something, and in my next experiments, I took into account these errors:
- increased exposure time to 3 weeks;
- added additional ingredients such as nutmeg and berries.
Then I also got a version with carbonated mead – I added honey to the bottom of the bottles and let the finished mead brew in a dark place for another 5 days until carbon dioxide appeared.
Carbonated mead and other drinks
The price savings also turned out to be significant: on average, a liter of homemade mead costs 750-800 rubles. Taking into account all the ingredients, I spent about 1 rubles and received 000 liters of finished mead. And that’s with all the ingredients used and a few failed attempts.
I was pleased with the result, so the production of alcoholic beverages fascinated me. Now I brew not only mead, but also tinctures, cognac, gin and others.
What do you think? Would you try making your favorite alcohol yourself? Or do you think it’s better to save time and buy it in the store?