Going Medieval

My nephew is getting married this summer.  He and his lovely bride-to-be asked me to make a couple of beers for the event.  Once I got past the shear terror of putting my precious home brew out there for consumption by and gasp...criticism from others, I gladly agreed to help out.  I then received a text this past weekend asking if I have ever made mead.  Now...I have never even THOUGHT about making mead much less read a single word on the subject.  I told him that if he would procure the honey, I would give it a go.  So with that ladies and gentleman, my brewery pulled double duty last night and functioned as a meadery.

After searching online and getting a crash course in making mead, I settled on making a modified 5 gallon batch of something referred to as Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM).  For a 1 gallon batch, the JOAM recipe calls for the mixing together of 3.5 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet), 1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all), 1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok), 1 stick of cinnamon, 1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters), optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice ), 1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast . Balance water to one gallon.  This recipe can easily be scaled up for larger batches.

I opted for an updated 5 gallon version which called for the following:
12lbs raw/ unfiltered honey, 3 navel oranges (zested and juiced), 50 raisins, 5 cinnamon sticks, 3 whole cloves.









I simply heated 2.5 gallons of tap water to 160 degrees and added all of the ingredients making sure to stir it very well until the honey was completely dissolved in the solution.  Once it cooled to about 120 degrees, I poured it vigorously into the 6.5 gallon Ale Pale and topped it off with enough cold tap water to bring the batch size to 5 gallons.  I was now pretty much finished.  I placed the Ale Pale in the sink that was then filled with water and ice blocks to cool the must (that's what mead is referred to prior to fermentation) to under 75 degrees so I could then pitch the yeast.  Instead of using bread yeast, I opted for Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead Yeast (I activated the Smack Pack around 5:30 to give it plenty of time to swell).  I will add yeast nutrient and fermaid k for 4 days after the yeast has been pitched for 20 hours.  This is needed so as to keep the yeast healthy and viable since honey lacks the nutrients and minerals found in wort.  Here's how it looked steeping in the pot:

At this point, I have maybe 30 minutes in the whole "brew day" and most of that was waiting for my electric stove to heat already hot tap water to 160 degrees.  I'll ferment the mead for 2 months at roughly 60 degrees in the basement then rack it off into a 5 gallon carboy for conditioning.  I'll bottle it up about a week before the wedding since this will be a still mead and won't be carbonated. 

Making this mead couldn't have been easier but I do warn you that sanitation is of the utmost importance at all stages.  It took roughly 2 hours of sitting in the ice water and being stirred to cool down to 75 so I pitched the yeast at roughly 9:30.  I assume I could have used my immersion chiller to speed the chilling process and I might give that a try next time.  The entire process took about 2 hours in total with about 30 minutes of hands on activity on my part.

I'll never give up brewing beer but given how much easier and quicker a mead making session is, it is certainly a viable option when the weather doesn't cooperate.  As an added bonus, the smell is awesome and much more pleasant to those who don't care for the smell of mashing 15lbs of malted grains (You know who you are).

I had a great time making this mead and couldn't help but get a little philosophical in the process thinking that this ancient drink brought our distant ancestors together and hopefully will do the same for our family this summer.

Cheers