Beer Style: Mead
Fermenting Whey? Yes, Whey!
If you’ve made cheese, then you’ll be left with a considerable amount of whey. Why not use it to start a new fermentation project, such as whey wine, mead, or even liquor?
Viking Blood (Cherry Melomel)
This is a cherry melomel named after the seafaring Nordic legends — the Vikings — from where it originated. So, if not for anything, make this mead simply for the lore. The honey, sourced from hives kissed by Nordic breezes lends its essence, while the cherries impart a tartness that balances its sweetness with a tantalizing acidity.
Peach Melomel
There are many ways of making a stone fruit mead, and they range from using fresh fruit to buying canned fruit, to juicing your fruit or buying the juice itself. This peach melomel recipe, which will be using canned peaches and Tupelo honey, is just one of the many ways to make a peach mead. It’s a good introductory recipe that is relatively easy and results in tasty mead. Feel free to substitute fresh peaches if they are in season.
Gordon Strong’s Braggot
A braggot with an English barleywine base beer with about half the fermentables coming from wildflower honey.
Braggot
Braggot is a unique beverage that is part mead and part beer. Different from honey beer as a larger percent of its fermentables come from honey, yet braggots can be made with a base beer style in mind. Learn more about what braggot is and three different approaches to making one.
Varietal Mead
Varietal Mead (5 gallons/19 L)OG = 1.120 FG = 1.012 ABV = 14% Most of the traditional mead recipes that I make follow this ratio: 1 part honey, 3 parts water. Using
The Queen’s Mead Recipe
OG = 1.073 FG = 0.998 ABV = 9.8% Bitten by the meadmaking bug during the pandemic, Paul Crowther set out to make a historic mead. Not just any mead steeped in
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s 60% Of The Time clone
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s 60% Of The Time clone (5 gallons/19 L, bottled under cork)OG = 1.152 FG = 1.028ABV = 16% Ingredients16 lbs. (7.3 kg) wildflower honey2.5 gallons (9.5 L) 24 °Brix
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s Leaping Off The Ledge clone
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s Leaping Off The Ledge clone (5.25–5.5 gallons/20–21 L, keg carbonated)OG = 1.058 FG = 0.997 FG = 1.010 (after backsweetening)ABV = 7% Ingredients8 lbs. (3.6 kg) orange blossom
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s Granola Bar! clone
Ancient Fire Mead & Cider’s Granola Bar! clone (5 gallons/19 L, bottled under cork)OG = 1.131 FG = 1.020ABV = 14.5% Ingredients18 lbs. (8.2 kg) buckwheat honeyWater to 5 gallons (19 L)20 g Lalvin
I’ll Have The Pie
I’ll Have The Pie (5 gallons/19 L)OG = 1.138 FG = 1.025ABV = 14.5%, est Ingredients16 lbs. (2.3 kg) honey3–4 gallons (11.5–15 L) fresh-pressed cider25 g 71B-1122 wine yeastYeast rehydration agentYeast nutrientsStabilization
Pear & Grape Cocktail Mead
Pear & Grape Cocktail Mead (6 gallons/23 L)OG = 1.067 FG = 0.997ABV = 7%, est (final, 9% after ferment) Ingredients6.4 lbs. (2.9 kg) honeyWater to 4.5 gallons (17 L)12 g QA23
