MysticMead

A straight or traditional mead is one that is made from honey, water and yeast. In this recipe I do add a little nutrient to make sure the yeast get off to a good start and a cup of strong tea to add a little astringency. Other than that, it’s a straight mead. You can use any type of honey, I chose Wildflower for this one. I have made a straight Tupelo Mead in the past, and plan on a Orange Blossom mead this summer. A good rule of thumb for deciding if a honey is good enough for a straight mead is this. If it tastes great by itself, it’ll make a great mead. Keep in mind that a traditional mead will take longer to ferment. I have had a Tupelo Mead take 6 months to finish. It turned out to be one of my favorites. Enough rambling.. onto the recipe

Straight Mead:

Ingredients:

* 15# Wildflower Honey, raw
* 1tbsp nutrient
* 1/2 cup strong tea
* 3.5 gallons spring water
* White Labs Sweet Mead yeast

Procedure:
Bring 1.5 gallons of water to 180 degrees. Add honey and skim any scum that floats. add nutrient. Hold at 180 for 30-45 mins. add tea 5-10 mins before removing from heat. pour into primary and add 2 gallons of ICE COLD water. let cool to 75-80 degrees.  aerate and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary when fermentation slows.  Once fermentation has STOPPED (verify using s hydrometer) bottle and age for at least 3 months, enjoy.

I like using fruits in my meads, they add another layer of flavor, and provide nutrients to the yeast which can make for a very fast and furious fermentation.

I used White Labs yeast for this batch. They make an excellent yeast in both sweet and dry. If you can find it or have it ordered for you, do it. No starter to make and it works great. Since my wife doesn’t like a dry mead I choose the sweet version. This batch fermented in 3.5 weeks. I thought the yeast went bad on me at first but the hydrometer doesn’t lie. it had a very tart taste at first but this aged out in about 3 months. I can’t wait to try it at a year, if it lasts that long. Enjoy

Specifics
Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1125
Finishing Gravity: 1011
Time in Boil: 0
Primary Fermentation: 1 week
Secondary Fermentation: 2.5 weeks

Ingredients:

* 18# Wildflower Honey, raw
* 7 # Fresh Cherries, pitted
* 1tbsp nutrient
* 1tbsp Irish Moss
* 1/2 cup strong tea
* pectic enzyme (per instruction on package)
* 3.5 gallons spring water
* White Labs Sweet Mead yeast

Procedure:
Bring 1.5 gallons of water to 180 degrees. Add honey and skim any scum that floats. add cherries and nutrient. Hold at 180 for 30-45 mins. add tea and Irish Moss 5-10 mins before removing from heat. pour into primary and add 2 gallons of ICE COLD water. let cool to 75-80 degrees. add pectic enzyme. aerate and pitch yeast. Rack to secondary in 1 week. was finished fermenting in 3.5 weeks total time. bottle and age for at least 3 months, enjoy.