Mead Production

Notes made at the lecture given by Peter Spencer at the Sutton Coldfield BeeKeepers lecture evening 20th September 2012

Mead is the original alcoholic drink and is mention in Hindu text dated from roughly 1500bc. Mead occurs naturally in some hives as its honey that has a high level of water and natural yeast has started the fermentation process. It was thought that mead was a gift from the goods and was offered back to the gods.

Most famously mead was drunk by Vikings, probably as part of wedding feasts.

The primary ingredients of mead are : - Honey, water and Yeast.

Today the essential additional ingredients are : Yeast, Acid, Tannin and Vitamins quantaties and ratios of water to honey 10 liters of water with 2.5kg of honey less honey produces a less alcoholic drink

The acid can be provided from the juice of lemon and the vitamins are to feed the yeast. The difference yeasts can be combined and can alter the quality of the mead. The yeast actually consumes the honey. The Tannin is for astringency. Which is the puckering sensation you get when you eat or drink something with a sharp taste. You can add fruit rather than adding tannins directly. Yeast can occur naturally but you don't know if a naturally occurring yeast will have a positive effect on the mead.

The yeast is a culture that can survive in the mixture and actually consumes the honey and the vitamins and will leave a sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

The method heat the honey and the water to about 66 degrees and allow to cool until about 21 degrees then add the yeast and other ingredients.
 Peter commented that he adds 1 tea spoon at sugar and 1 teaspoon of marmite at this point.

 The initial fermentation is very rapid and does not require a  bung or air lock. Instead place a muslin cloth over the mixture so that nothing can fall in and gas produced during this initial fermentation process is allowed to escape.

 Peter also suggested trying different types of honey and stated that heather honey is his favourite, but takes longer and could take upto 5 years for the mead to mature and be drinkable.

 You can after a week siphon off the contents into another container and discard any sediment that has built up at the bottom. Peter also suggested that placing the mixture into a demijohn would make handling and storing the mead much easer. You should now apply the bung/airlock and its important keep the bung wet. You can also top up the mixture with additional water, peter recommended boiling the water first allowing it to cool down and then add to the mixture. This is then stored for a further 5 to 6 weeks. Then the siphoning off so the top layer is removed again, and then discarding the sediment at the bottom.

 Then leave in a cool place for a year. The mead at this point should be bright and clear, it can be bottled and after a few more months its ready to be drunk.

 A sweet mead is best kept for 4/5 years. So its important to keep records of what you have done and when the next process is required. Things like when each process is started and when last siphoned types of honey and yeasts used and any other ingredients should be recorded.

The alcohol levels of mead are much higher than some other alcohol drinks, and are normally around the 12/14% area.

The water that is used does make a difference and  if water is from a hard water or soft water area it makes a big difference and suggested using water from a soft water area.

Since the lecture I have looked at various web sites and it appears people have very different approaches. They all produce mead and its more a question of personal taste. The main ingredients are water yeast and honey.