Mead made from sour honey. Homemade mead

Essentially mead- This is the mechanical dilution of relatively small quantities of honey in water followed by fermentation.

Historical reference

In Rus', honey was part of religious and ritual ceremonies. During the marriage ceremony, the newlyweds received a 5-10 kg barrel of honey as a gift, which they were supposed to eat within a month. Honey in Rus' was loved and consumed in large quantities - this is evidenced by ancient recipes like “dilute 1.5 pounds of honey with 12 buckets of water...”, “put 16 kg of honey into 96 liters of clean river water...” There was a custom in accordance with which low-alcohol mead was specially brewed for those entering into marriage. The newlyweds drank it not only at the wedding feast, but also for 30 days after it. No other stronger drinks were allowed to be drunk. This is where the expression “honeymoon” comes from.

Mead increases potency

Studying the causes of male impotence, in the late 90s, sexologists discovered that the cause of about half of cases of non-psychogenic impotence is a dysfunction of a tiny muscle. It is located at the base, excuse me, of the organ and acts as a valve that blocks the outflow of blood that fills the cavernous bodies. It is almost impossible to pump up this muscle (since it is smooth muscle), but its performance, it turns out, depends on the saturation of the body with certain microelements. Mainly zinc. As you may have guessed, these very microelements are found in mead in such concentration and combination

Mead recipe

Boil 2 liters of water in an enamel saucepan and pour 300 g of honey into it, stir so that the honey does not burn, and boil for 3-5 minutes, skimming off the foam. You can use any honey, even if it’s a little spoiled.

After foaming stops, add 5 g of hop cones (available at the pharmacy), a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, stir, remove from heat and close the container with a lid. Dissolve a teaspoon of bread yeast in sweet water. After an hour, bubbles will begin to appear - the yeast is ready.

Hop cones sold at the pharmacy. It is better to use dry yeast as yeast. Yeast You can take regular store ones, or you can take beer ones. The French yeast "Saf-levure" has proven itself very well; as the label on the package suggests, it is intended not only for baking, but also for making drinks. This yeast usually comes in 100 g bags. Brewer's yeast is sold in the store.

When the honey solution has cooled to 40-50°C (if it is more, the yeast will die), pour the yeast into it, then ferment under the lid at 25°C. I placed the pan on the system unit in the area of the power supply and covered it with a towel, as a result the temperature in the pan rose to 35°C - just what the doctor ordered :) After a few hours, intense fermentation will begin - foam will form on the surface.

Water seal

It is better to carry out fermentation in a container with a water seal so that you do not accidentally end up with vinegar instead of mead. You pour the mead into a jar and close it with an airtight lid. You make a small hole in the lid and insert the hose into it. The most important thing is that such a connection is also airtight. It is necessary that the hose in the vessel with this drink is above the water level, and the other end of the hose must be lowered into some other vessel with water.

End of fermentation

I did it without a water seal - I just covered the pan with a lid. After 5 days, fermentation will end. You can check the end of fermentation in two ways: by the disappearance of foam on the surface and with the help of a match (carefully open the lid and put a burning match into the pan - if it continues to burn, then fermentation is complete - no CO 2). Pour the resulting liquid through cheesecloth into plastic bottles, filling no more than 0.9 volumes. Screw the caps on tightly and place the bottles in the refrigerator to allow the mead to settle.

After 4-5 days the drink is ready. The taste is pleasant and easy to drink. The strength of the drink is 8 degrees. The cost of the product is 20-30 rubles per 1 liter.

RECIPE DISCUSSION:

Here's some more advice, gentlemen! Very important.
Plastic bottles should be black, beer bottles. They are designed for alcoholic drinks.

Clear lemonade bottles are not intended, and the alcohol in the drink may react with the bottle.

Thanks for the recipe, I’ll finish the homemade kvass and put on some mead.
Instead of a water seal, you can use the good old method: put a rubber medical glove on the neck (or you know what, if the neck is narrow). Although there is a special container with a water seal and other bells and whistles, it is sold as part of home breweries.
As for the color of the bottles, you can also use transparent ones, no reaction is expected there, it’s just that fermented drinks don’t like light, so if you use transparent containers, you should avoid direct sunlight and all that.

Hello everyone. I also tried making mead. Although after reading the posts I realized that it was not correct. But it turned out quite well.
Instead of water, I took homemade kvass. The honey was not boiled. I just heated the kvass to dissolve the honey in it.
There is a peculiarity: the more sour the kvass, the correspondingly. The mead will be more sour. It didn’t turn out bad with Ochakovsky kvass. The sweetness disappears with homemade kvass, but not with Ochakovo kvass. The mead turns out sweet and dark.

You can use a regular drip system as a water seal :)
http://kovanova.livejournal.com/1160865.html

Old Slavonic recipe!

Hello brothers and sisters!
I share my experience:
Linden honey (preferably sour, unripe) 1 kg per 3 liters, or better yet 2 liters, mix (saturate) with spring water!

Three days before, we germinate the wheat grains, grind half and leave half as is (a handful per liter)!

We mix these components, leave for 7 days (maybe more until fermentation ends), it is better to have more free space in the container, everything will ferment and acquire a pleasant aroma, drain, filter from grains and turbidity.

Pour into bottles, seal them, then drain the liquid from the bottles, separating the dregs that have settled to the bottom (every 1-3 days)

It will come out like white wine, similar to the color of moonstone.

Prepare at least 3 liters at once, then flavor with roots and spices. I recommend perga (pergar)
according to taste, it will saturate the drink with the missing aromas lost after fermentation, when the beebread settles, shake for 3 days, and then some will settle, some will float, strain the clear drink, and now it’s honey and ready!
The longer it sits, the better it will turn out!

Sincerely, a lover of intoxicating meads!

I make mead much simpler:

I take a glass bottle with a capacity of 20 liters (I never boil honey) and pour 15 liters of boiled water cooled to 40 degrees into it.
I take 2.5 kg of honey in a saucepan and add a glass of hot (50-60 degrees) water, stir thoroughly and pour into the bottle.
I take 30-40 grams of regular yeast, dilute it in half a glass of warm water and pour it into a bottle.
I place the bottle next to the heating radiator, having first put a rubber medical glove on the neck, and be sure to pierce one or two fingers of the glove with a needle.
I cover the bottle below the neck with a warm blanket, so that the glove is on top and free. Screw the glove to the neck with a thread, otherwise it will be torn off by the released gases.
During the fermentation process, the glove will rise and “vote” as it falls - everything is ready! We put the bottle in a cool place for a day, the dregs will settle, gently lifting the bottle, pour the mead into 2 clean buckets, then pour it into plastic bottles and seal tightly.
Store in a cool place and drink chilled.

V. Ilyin
10.04.2010

Old mead

2 kg honey, 4 tbsp. water, 4-5 kg cherries

Place the honey in an enamel pan or in a bowl for making jam, add water and cook the syrup, stirring occasionally and skimming off the foam. Place the washed, pitted cherries in a narrow-necked bottle or barrel and fill it with cooled syrup. Cover the container with a damp cloth and leave in a warm room for 3 days to ferment.

When the mixture has fermented, take the bottle into the cellar and, plugging the hole with a rolled piece of canvas, leave it to mature.
After 3 months, honey is ready for consumption. However, the taste of this honey improves the longer it is aged.

Everyone knows what the expression “honeymoon” means, but not everyone knows where it came from. In ancient times, there was a custom according to which low-alcohol mead was brewed especially for those entering into marriage.

The newlyweds drank it not only at the wedding feast, but also for 30 days after it. No other stronger drinks were allowed to be drunk. This is where the expression “honeymoon” comes from; it’s a pity that many modern newlyweds do not know about this wise custom.

The easiest version of mead!!
Compound;
Water 3.l
Trembling 11.g
Honey 250.g

Cooking!! Pour warm water into a jar, add yeast and honey, mix and throw a piece of butter or margarine on top and put in a bright place at room temperature for 4 days, you can do it without kneading or margarine, just pull a clean, washed condom on top of the jar and seal it well with tape. no gases would escape!! After this, the condom will inflate for a couple of days, then deflate, then filter through gauze, put in the refrigerator, you don’t have to put it in as you like, and drink!! If you have any questions about this, please email me. [email protected]

Here is the recipe that I, a hereditary beekeeper, use.
Boiled water, room pace.
Do not skimp on honey: 1 part (volume) honey, 4 parts water.
First make a starter using raspberries (preferably wild raspberries). There is wine yeast on the surface of raspberries.
Two weeks of fermentation at a temperature not lower than 25.
2-3 months at a temperature of 17-19.
Enjoy.

This is the second year I’ve made mead like this: for 20 liters of spring water, 3 kg of light honey. I boil everything over low heat for 15 minutes. I cool it to room temperature. I add 50 grams of regular yeast. It ferments for a week. Then I put it into bottles without sediment and into the cellar. You can drink a little at a time. A month is already a serious drink. In six months, if there is any left, dessert.

2 kg of honey 5 liters of water 5 lemons 2 bottles of light beer 12 raisins 20 g of yeast I liked it, it tastes like dry wine

This is my second year making this recipe, sometimes adding different herbs. The thing turns out to be very tasty and cool, but cunning..... it seems to drink like kvass, but it quietly knocks you out. Be careful! We lost one friend (under 100 kg) completely))) He got up and didn’t come back. Showed up only in the morning. Another good thing is a very mild hangover (well, if you drink yourself to death). Verdict: COOL THING!!!

The simplest water seal is easily made from a “device for a dropper” costs 14 rubles in a pharmacy, take it from the side where the needle is, remove it, pierce it into the lid (by heating the lid with a lighter or drilling a hole or using a knife carefully, the main thing is that there is a small hole) the other end into the cup and there you go All!

In general, yes. I did everything according to the recipe, but without the hops. I recalculated everything to 1.5 liters, but used 300-330 grams of honey. It fermented for 9 days until the bubbles began to lazily come out. I made a water seal. After the first glass I sit and smile.

ZY The copper was not boiled, but only kept on the verge of boiling for 5 minutes. It turned out sweet and tasty. I will continue to experiment.
Z.Y.Y. I thank the author.

Instead of plain water, you should add the water that remains after preparing the cottage cheese; it will be much tastier and healthier.

He grew up in the village, in apiaries. With yeast, a week in advance, this is a mash with honey, not mead. The real recipe is simple. Spring water and honey. And still time. Let it brew for at least three months. The more, the stronger. Chernukha was also made in apiaries. They took a milk can of water from the stream, placed it under the linden tree without closing the lid, and during honey collection they threw in the cuttings with honey. All sorts of “living creatures” fell from the tree. But it turned out to be a killer drink. A couple of mugs were knocked down. As a rule, they made it for hired whips. But real mead cheered the heart, left the head bright, and only hit the legs.

I did something wrong twice. It doesn’t even smell like honey. The first one looks like new grape wine, the second sample is sour and bitter, although I put in almost twice as much honey.

Igor, 16.08.2011 - 17:41

#135

Igor, it won’t smell like honey there)) especially if you put in as much honey as the yeast can ferment. As a result, you will simply end up with something like dry wine. To make the sweetness greater, you need to know the alcohol tolerance parameter of the yeast in percentage of alcohol (alcohol tolerance) and measure the initial density of the fermented wort. And then, from these two parameters, calculate approximately how much sugar you will have left in the drink after fermentation.
Here is a link to the calculation table:
http://www.teddybeer.ru/home/how-to-tables.htm

The table is for beer, but it also seems to be suitable for mead. All calculations will be approximate, but they can already be used for the problem of sugar/honey into liquid

I started studying bees not so long ago, but I became interested in honey only recently. I tried many recipes, but never achieved decent results. This summer I visited a godforsaken Siberian village where I met my grandfather, who has been working with bees all his life, and of course he treated me to honey. The sweet and sour drink with a honey aftertaste really turned off my legs, but my head remained clear... Of course, I asked about the recipe, but he didn’t give it to me, but he revealed some secrets:
- he doesn’t add yeast;
- it stands for 45 days in a cool place;
- adds bee bread to sweet water
He also said that recipes for real mead are found among the Old Believers and hereditary beekeepers...

You take a flask into it, throw in 10 kilograms of honey, top up with warm boiled water and add raw yeast, 100 grams. If you have a grain, throw it in there too, it gives an unsurpassed flavor. Well, you close everything and put it in a warm place. Periodically, after 5 days, you take a sample when it’s ready, you’ll know for yourself. Then you pour it into bottles, preferably glass, and into the cellar. ;-)

A sour-bitter taste indicates that the yeast has consumed all the sugar... and “choked”)
Our people are generous, they like more and more fat))) Personally, I diluted the yeast in a glass filled 1/3 with warm, sweet boiled water, and I only put in an incomplete teaspoon of the yeast itself, that is, without a slide)
As a result, everything fermented more or less stably for 7 days, after which I decided to interrupt this process, because I don’t want to drink sour meat either)))
Here, I filtered it. This final product is now in the pantry, absorbing CO2)) The gas has to be vented from time to time.
Once again, thanks to the author! :)
It turned out something with something))) The smell is awesome, honey aftertaste and bubbles in abundance, in general, what you need)))

By the way, after filtration, you can add fresh honey dissolved in a decoction of the lemongrass herb: honey compensates for the absorbed sugar, and lemongrass adds noticeable notes of smell... and taste too)

Many have heard or read about mead, some have even tried it. This alcoholic drink is usually associated with something ancient, coming from the gray years of the history of our country, but this is not at all the case.

Mead, depending on preparation, can be pleasantly sweet with a small degree (10-16) to very high (70), in the latter case it is used more for external than for internal use.

Nowadays, there are a huge number of mead recipes with which we can prepare it at home, there are “old” and more recently created versions of this alcoholic drink. You should also not forget that even though the strength of mead is relatively low, due to the nature of honey, it is also very insidious, and while your head will be clean, your legs will not go anywhere. Read about this and much more further in the article.

Description

Mead– an alcoholic drink made from honey, yeast and flavorings.

Mead is considered one of the most ancient drinks; it was often prepared in Rus'. Not a single celebration would be complete without this alcoholic drink.

Honey was a medicinal product, so mead with known beneficial properties was prepared from it. Also, people were already familiar with the so-called “drunk honey” - bees obtained this beekeeping product from the nectar of azalea, heather, rhododendron and other plants.

Honey received this name because it contained a toxic substance - the glycoside andromedotoxin. Under the influence of this substance, a person became drunk, experienced dizziness, and sometimes nausea or convulsions.

The popularity of mead, as well as other non-alcoholic honey drinks, is due to the fact that honey was a common product; at least a little of this beekeeping product could be found in every home.

Scientists even suggest that the technology for producing mead is much older than winemaking technology.

The first mentions of mead date back to 7-6 thousand years BC. e.
At this time, the production of a similar drink was established.
The stages of making mead are depicted on the walls of tombs in Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians considered it a drink of divine origin.
The Slavs believed that only gods and great ancestors were worthy of drinking a honey drink.

How the first mead was made

The very first mead in Rus' was produced by fermenting honey in barrels with berry juice. The recipe for this drink was discovered in the widely known Domostroy (880). The cooking process was quite complicated and also took a lot of time. The fact is that initially mead was made without adding yeast, so the process was very slow. Fresh honey was mixed with sour berries and left to ferment.

To make mead, honey was fermented for 15-20 years. Sometimes fermentation reached half a century.

This kind of honey was called “staged” because it stood for a long time. For this purpose, honey was sealed in barrels, sometimes they were even buried in the ground. This was the recipe for making traditional mead. Since the process was very complex and also costly, only representatives of the rich classes, princes or warriors could afford such a drink.

Barrels of mead were given to newlyweds as wedding gifts; it was considered a very valuable gift. This drink made it possible to have fun at a wedding for a long time and not get too drunk. The strength of the mead was 8%-12%, and its taste was very delicate and sweet.

Intoxicated honey was prepared for a total of 3 years; it could stand for 5-8 years.
This drink came to Rus' from Scandinavia, where honey drinks have been in high esteem since pagan times.
It was believed that honey was sent to people by the gods; it was food for warriors and poets.
The drink had a somewhat tart taste with a slight bitterness, but it was still much tastier than beer.

"Boiled" honey

The next stage in the preparation of mead was the production of the so-called “boiled honey”. The first mention of it dates back to the chronicles of 996. The production of this drink was no longer so difficult; any family could afford it. First, honey was dissolved in enough water to release the sugar, then fermentation began.

The honey was left to ferment for 3-7 days, then poured into containers and kept in a dark place for a week or a month.

This method made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of waste during the production of the drink. The drink made from boiled honey tastes a little like beer. It was only prepared for a few weeks.

For example, a very honorable dish in Rus' was “syt” - a sweet drink that was served at the end of the meal. It was from this time that the phrase “eat your fill” came about, that is, eat everything, leaving room only for “fullness.”

Honey in Rus'

Honey has always been held in high esteem in Rus'. It was considered a sacred product, at one time it was even used instead of wine for communion. Before the meal, they consumed the so-called “sbiten”, which is produced by boiling honey in water with the addition of juice and spices. There was also a digest - a mixture of beer and honey. Perevar was considered the lowest quality product that even the poorest people could afford.

In Mordovia they prepared the so-called “pure”, it was a drink whose production methods were similar to those of making wine and beer. The main ingredient of “pure” was honey.
Honey was also added to fruit and berry wines. In Ethiopia, honey drinks were called "tej". This is a homemade drink. Its strength is 15%-30%. It has a sweet and spicy taste.

In the 19th century, new recipes for preparing honey drinks were invented. They were diluted with water, and also mixed with vodka or alcohol, beer. It was in the 19th century that the drink began to be called “mead”, and before that it was called “drinking honey”. The next stage in the development of mead was the arrival of the USSR. Mead was now understood as an industrially produced drink, only vaguely reminiscent of an original Russian product.

How was mead prepared in Rus'?

At first, the honey drink in Rus' was simply called “honey”, “nutritious honey”, “intoxicating honey”. It was prepared in a special way: for a long period (from 5 to 20 years), honey was buried in oak barrels in the ground, and after fermenting, it turned from natural unsterilized honey into “staged honey.”

Later, from the 11th century, they began to use another method of preparing a honey drink - they began to boil it. This honey drink, sterilized by boiling, could be consumed within a month.

Gradually, the method of preparing honey drinks using the honey method disappeared. And since the 17th century, they practically stopped making mead (wine replaced honey). Along with this, the ritual of eating honey before meals also disappeared. And only by the 19th century they began to remember old recipes again and various drinks made from honey reappeared.

Stewed honey - an ancient recipe for mead

This honey drink was considered the most valuable and high quality. True, it took a long time to prepare it.

Mead was prepared without boiling, using a special fermentation method.

First, the honey was fermented.
Any sour berries were good for his starter: lingonberries, cherries, currants.
Hops were added less often.

The honey-berry mixture fermented for some time at a temperature of 5°C. After the end of fermentation, the barrel was sealed, filled with tar and buried in the ground for a long time. The mead turned out noble and seasoned. Its production period is at least five years. And sometimes he reached 40-50 years.

The taste depended on the aging period. By the way, it could easily be spoiled by a small amount of tar, which could get into the barrel through loosely fitted boards when the barrel was clogged. This is probably where the expression “fly in the ointment” comes from.

Boiled mead – hearty honey

The prepared honey, with all its advantages, had one big drawback - it was necessary to wait a very long time for the aromatic drink to ripen. And it wasn't cheap. Apparently, this is why, already at the end of the 11th century, another ancient recipe for making mead, obtained as a result of boiling, sterilization and fermentation, appeared.

They began to brew the honey drink. And those who cooked it began to be called mead makers. The drink was prepared much faster (within a month) and was cheaper. This drink, of course, was much more affordable than standard honey and quickly gained popularity.

To prepare it, spices, herbs, and fruits were added to honey dissolved in water to taste.

Then it was boiled, and after cooling, yeast was added to it to leaven (by this time they had already been invented) and kept cold in a glacier until fermentation reached a certain stage.
After which came the last stage in the preparation of Russian boiled mead - it was settled, clarified and kept for a short time.

Mead "simple"

The closer to our time, the simpler and more primitive the ancient mead recipe became. They stopped fermenting the honey itself. First, they prepared a mash from berries or fruits, adding spices, herbs, roots and honey to it.

This is where “mead” actually appeared.

It was understood that this was the same old intoxicating drink, but of lower quality, because as a result of such a simplified technology for its preparation, the soft and delicate taste of boiled and stored honey was lost. Their pleasant aroma was overwhelmed by the smell of yeast and fusel oils.

But it is precisely this name, essentially negative, that since that time has been firmly associated with all ancient alcoholic drinks prepared on the basis of honey.

How many degrees is there in mead?

The drink differs in strength and production time: regular mead, young mead, set mead, strong mead. The strength of mead depends on the infusion temperature, holding time, the quality and type of accompanying components, and conditions after filtration.

In ancient classical recipes, which did not involve the use of yeast and chemical additives, the percentage of alcohol should have been minimal (5-6%). It goes without saying that using them and adding ready-made mash is already a deviation from the classic recipe.

However, mead can be not only alcoholic. There are also known recipes for a non-alcoholic drink, more similar to honey kvass, which is produced by skipping the main fermentation stage. You can, if desired, add honey and alcohol to the finished mead.

How to make mead according to an old recipe?

There are a lot of ancient recipes for mead and options for its preparation. Depending on the composition of the ingredients, it can be mead with juniper, with cinnamon and ginger, with pepper and horseradish, with raisins and cloves, with cherries and nutmeg, mint or rose hips.

Of course, many original Russian recipes have now been forgotten and lost. And those partially preserved ones that we use have been rethought by us from the point of view of modern man. But this does not in the least prevent us from enjoying the delicious drink of our ancestors.

Many people would like to try real honey, but to do this, at a minimum, you need to travel back to the times of the Russian princes and find yourself at one of their feasts.

It will not be possible to repeat exactly the technology for preparing cold honey at home.
We don’t have oak barrels or glaciers, and not everyone has the patience to wait so many years for a finished drink.
But you can use the second old method - brew mead.

Recipe:

Honey – 1 kg
Water – 2.5-3 liters
Spices (ginger, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon) – 10 g
Hops – 5 g
Zest of one lemon

To prepare boiled mead according to an old recipe, add water to the honey and bring to a boil, stirring. Add spices, hops, lemon zest and boil again, removing any foam that forms.

After the broth has been filtered and cooled, you need to add 100 g of yeast (beer, wine, bread) to it and leave to ferment in a warm place for 1-3 days. The bottled drink will mature in a dark, cool place.

How to drink mead?

Mead-making experts advise drinking mead before meals. In any case, this is how our ancestors drank intoxicating honey in Rus'.
The drink is served chilled. You should not drink it or eat it. But if you like to use it in a different way, there are no strict rules on this matter.
Mead is not a strong drink, but it is insidious. The drink is quickly absorbed into the blood. Hence the amazing effect familiar to many: the head is sober, but the legs don’t move. But if you drink mead in small quantities, the state of intoxication quickly passes.

behoneybee.ru

The modern recipe for mead appeared in the 18th century in Veliky Novgorod and became popular in the 20th century. During the Soviet era, honey collection technology was often violated, collecting it earlier than necessary. This unripe honey was poorly stored and was absolutely not suitable for sale. Therefore, a cunning way of using illiquid stock was invented - fermenting this honey with baker's yeast. Suzdal and Veliky Novgorod were famous for their mead making. The strength of mead from Veliky Novgorod is from 5 to 16%. In Suzdal you can find more than ten types of mead, which differ in strength and spices. Dried ginger root, juniper berries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, rose hips and hot pepper are often added to mead here.

Ripening period

In the standard recipe, the fermentation process of mead lasts five days. It looks like cloudy champagne. Sometimes mead is infused for three to six months.
It becomes less sparkling, but more aromatic, strong, fluid and dense. If you add berries to mead, it will become healthier over time - the berries will give up their beneficial substances to the drink. Depending on the recipe, the strength of mead can vary from two to ten degrees.

Fermentation process

During fermentation, a large amount of gases are released, so you can’t just take a jar with mead and seal it with a lid - it will definitely explode.

You can cover the bottle with a cloth, but it is better to make a special gas outlet from the cap with a hole in it.

You need to insert a thin hose into this small hole. One side of the hose should be in the bottle on top of the liquid, and the other should be lowered into a bowl of water. This way, gases and fermentation products can safely escape from the drink.

The most delicious mead is made from high-quality aromatic honey. Light varieties are best; the optimal choice is white acacia or linden honey. Mead with a pronounced taste is made from buckwheat honey - a brown aromatic drink with a slight bitterness.

Hop cones for mead can be found in any pharmacy.
The foam that forms when cooking honey must be skimmed off. Then the drink will turn out transparent.
Before dissolving yeast in honey syrup, the drink must be cooled, since yeast does not live at temperatures above 50 degrees.

Be careful: heated honey begins to burn when it gets into the fire.

To the classic mead recipe, you can add additional spices to taste - oregano, dried basil and ginger, St. John's wort, coriander, nutmeg, different types of pepper.
You can also diversify the taste of mead with rose hips, raisins and other dried fruits. This drink can be served either warm or cold. Sliced lemon goes great with mead.
kitchenmag.ru

Homemade mead recipes

Modern homemade mead Ingredients:

honey – 300 grams;
water – 2 liters;
dry yeast - 1 teaspoon (or 25 grams of pressed);
hop cones – 5 grams;
cinnamon and nutmeg - 1 pinch.

All ingredients are available; difficulties may arise only with hop cones. They are sold in almost every pharmacy, so this is not a problem either. You can use any yeast, for example, for baking bread.

Mead making technology

1. Choosing honey.

One of the most important stages, on which the quality of the finished drink largely depends. Try to choose the most fragrant varieties. Buckwheat honey is excellent, but you can use something else, such as linden honey.

In the spring, many beekeepers offer fresh liquid honey, but if you are not well versed in beekeeping, it is better not to buy it.

There is a risk that instead of a natural product, dealers will sell a surrogate made from sugar, or that the honey itself will be of low quality.
Such raw materials will never make delicious homemade mead.

2. Dissolving honey in water.

Pour water into an enamel pan and bring to a boil. Add honey to boiling water, stirring constantly with a spoon. After 4-5 minutes of boiling the honey mixture, a white foam will begin to appear on the surface, which must be carefully collected with a spoon.

Attention! Honey burns very quickly and can ignite, so the pan should not be left unattended for a minute.

3. Adding flavoring additives.

After the foam is removed, add other ingredients to the mixture: cinnamon, nutmeg and hops, which will give the drink original flavor notes. After mixing thoroughly, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Preparation for fermentation.

Cool the mixture to 25-30°C (very important) and add the diluted yeast. If you do this at a higher temperature, the yeast will die and fermentation will not begin.

Transfer the pan with the honey solution to a dark place with a temperature of about 25°C. If there is no separate room, you can use an aquarium heater.

To avoid foreign substances and insects getting into the wort (flies are especially annoying in the summer), I recommend tying the pan with gauze.
After 1-2 days, signs of fermentation will appear: foam will begin to form on the surface of the mixture, and hissing will be heard.
Pour the contents of the pan into a fermentation container, placing a medical glove with a hole in the finger or a water seal on the neck. The designs of these devices are shown in the photo.

5. Fermentation.

As a rule, fermentation of mead lasts 4-6 days. The end of the process is indicated by a deflated glove or a prolonged absence of bubbles escaping through the water seal.

Another test method is to bring a burning match to the surface of the liquid, which should not go out. There is nothing to be afraid of, the strength of the drink is only 5-10 degrees, it will not catch fire.

6. Filtration and bottling.

The final stage of preparation. Carefully pour the mead into another container, leaving sediment at the bottom, then strain through several layers of gauze.

Pour the finished drink into bottles (glass or plastic), seal tightly and transfer to the refrigerator or basement. I'm not a fan of storing alcohol in plastic containers, but in this case it's harmless.

The strength of mead is low, so the alcohol will not interact with the plastic. Beer is sold in bottles like these. You can drink mead almost immediately after preparation, but I recommend letting it sit for 3-5 days and only then taste it.

How to make mead carbonated

Wash bottles (plastic or glass) well and wipe dry.
Add honey to the bottom of each container (one and a half teaspoons per 1 liter of drink). Thanks to the honey, a slight secondary fermentation will occur, which will saturate the mead with natural carbon dioxide.
Pour the drink into bottles, leaving 5-6 cm of free space from the neck. Seal tightly with stoppers or lids.
Transfer the containers to a dark room at room temperature for 7-10 days. Check the gas pressure once a day and relieve excess pressure if necessary.
Place carbonated honey in a cool place for at least 5 days to ripen.

Mead without yeast and boiling

An ancient recipe according to which our ancestors made mead. They did without yeast and diluted honey in cold water. I warn you that using this technology, preparation will take 3-4 months, and the strength of the drink will be much lower - 2-4 degrees.

The most difficult thing in this recipe is to find an adequate replacement for yeast, since honey and water will not ferment on their own. There are two options: use cherries (raspberries, strawberries) or raisins as a catalyst. Cherries are historically the right choice, but raisins are a more reliable choice. Let's consider both cases.

Cooking technology

Dilute honey in cold water. The amount of ingredients depends on the chosen fermentation catalyst. In the case of raisins, use: 1 liter of water, 80 grams of honey and 50 grams of raisins.

If you decide to support fermentation with cherries (raspberries, strawberries), then to make mead you will need: 1 liter of water, 4 kg of cherries and 2 kg of honey. First remove the pits from the cherries, then pour in the honey solution.

Attention! Raisins and cherries should not be washed before adding to mead, otherwise you may accidentally wash away the wild yeast responsible for fermentation, and it will be difficult to predict the subsequent result.

Tie the neck with gauze, then place the container in a warm place. Fermentation will begin in 1-2 days. Since we did without yeast (dry and baker's), it takes more time than in the first case.
If signs of fermentation appear (see point 4 of the first recipe), filter the liquid through several layers of gauze, pour into another container and close tightly. This method is used to prepare the so-called “set mead,” which does not require a glove or water seal.
All that remains is to put the bottles in the refrigerator or cellar for maturation. After 3-4 months you can try the finished drink. It will turn out carbonated with a slight sourness, the alcohol is almost not felt, more like kvass.

P.S. Many people call “proper mead” a recipe without yeast or boiling.
But this does not mean that the first option is not as tasty or healthy. I advise you to prepare mead using two methods, try each option, and only then draw conclusions.

alcofan.com

Basic mead recipe

To prepare the simplest version of mead, which, by the way, corresponds to the famous Suzdal canon, you will need the following ingredients: 4 liters of spring or artesian water, half a kilo of thick fragrant (say, linden or buckwheat) honey, half a kilo of granulated sugar and 100 grams of bread yeast.

Thoroughly stir water, sugar and half of the honey you have in an enamel pan and put on fire.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then keep it on the fire for another quarter of an hour, constantly stirring and removing the foam that forms on the surface (at the same time, you should remember to be constantly and vigilantly, since honey burns extremely easily and is no less flammable).

Remove the liquid from the heat and cool to a temperature of 25-30°C so that your yeast does not die from overheating. Add diluted yeast to the pan, cover it with gauze and place in a warm place for two days.
Next, remove the resulting foam and pour the contents of the pan into a glass jug or bottle.

Close the glass container with a tight lid or pull a rubber medical glove or a special rubber stopper over its neck (in the first case, a small hole is made in the lid for a gas outlet tube, one end of which is located inside the container, above the surface of the fermenting substance, and the other in cup of water; in the second, a tiny hole is pierced in one of the fingers of the glove).

Fermentation and filtration

Place the container in a dark, warm place and wait 4-6 days. During this time, the fermentation period should come to an end. You will know this by the absence of bubbles coming out of the tube or by a deflated glove. To be on the safe side, you can bring a lit match to the vessel with honey mash. If the flame does not become brighter, then the yeast has indeed completed its work.

Next, the future mead is filtered to remove sediment, after which it should be kept in a dark, cold place for about a month (either a cellar or a refrigerator will do).
After this period, the liquid is filtered again and, after adding the remaining 250 grams of honey, accompanied by final stirring, it is poured into glass or plastic bottles.
The resulting nectar can be served immediately; but if you have at least a little patience, let the drink rest for a while.

Nine mead recipes

A basic mead recipe wouldn't be one if it didn't involve the more or less arbitrary addition of various additional ingredients.

These may include various spices:

cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, ginger, cardamom; mid-latitude berries: viburnum, blueberries, currants, strawberries, rowan, raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, cherries and even rose hips; as well as other plant ingredients: hops, linden blossom, mint, pine buds, sweet clover and, oddly enough, horseradish.

You can use the above herbs and spices in all the recipes below.

Original recipe for mead (prepared mead without yeast or boiling)

Per liter of water, we will need: 2 kilograms of honey and 4 kilograms of red berries (cherries, strawberries or raspberries). First, put the berries in a glass jug (in the case of cherries, the seeds must be removed). At the same time, some craftsmen strongly discourage washing berries so as not to harm the bacteria responsible for fermentation.

Then, the berries are poured with a water-honey solution, the neck of the vessel is tied with gauze, and the container itself is placed in a warm place for a couple of days.

When characteristic foam appears on the surface of the drink, the gauze is removed, the foam is removed, and the liquid is filtered, poured into glass bottles and hermetically sealed. The drink obtained in this way is placed in the refrigerator or in the cellar for 4 months.

Although, it is worth noting that to complete the true ancient Russian effect, glass bottles should be replaced with oak barrels, and the aging period of the drink should be increased by about 20 years. For those who want to try it, we have our sincere respect.

Mead in a hurry

Cut 3 lemons and put them in a saucepan, add 100 grams of raisins and 400 grams of honey. Pour boiling water over and stir. Then let it cool. Then add 30 grams of diluted yeast and a tablespoon of flour. We leave all this for a day in a warm place.

An old recipe for mead

Ingredients: honey - 1.25 kg, water - 8 l, hops - 2 tablespoons, gelatin - half a teaspoon, cardamom, ginger - to taste.

To prepare mead according to this recipe, honey must be placed in an enamel bowl, then poured with boiling water. Let stand for a day, then bring to a boil and cook for an hour.

After adding hops, bring the honey to a boil again, boil for an hour, then cool it. Repeat this procedure 4 – 5 times.
Cool the honey, pour into a large barrel, add cardamom and diluted gelatin, close well.
Leave for 2–3 weeks. If fermentation does not start or is small, add yeast.
After the end of primary fermentation, pour the drink into bottles and close them tightly. Place the finished alcohol in a cool place for 3 months (you can cover it with sand).

Cranberry mead

For 1 kg of honey you will need: 2.5 liters. water, 1 liter of cranberry juice, cinnamon and cloves to taste, 100 g of yeast.

Dilute honey with water and boil. Skim off the foam, pour the drink into a bottle, add juice, spices, yeast and leave in a warm place for 2 days. After this, close the bottle well and place it in a cool place for 20 days.

Pink jellyfish

Ingredients: 5 l. water, 2 kg. honey, 300 g dried blueberries, 2 tablespoons yeast, 10 g gelatin, 4-5 drops of rose oil.

Dissolve honey in warm water and cook for 1 hour, skimming off the foam. Add dried blueberry infusion, yeast and leave to ferment for a week. Then strain, add dissolved gelatin, rose oil, close tightly and leave for 2 months in a cold place.

Folk recipe for mead

Dilute honey 3:1, boil for 30 minutes. removing the foam. When it cools down, add yeast (dry French or ours) for alcoholic fermentation. We put a glove with a hole on the bottle and wait until it falls, remove the sediment with a straw and put it in a cool place.

After a month, when it becomes clear, we bottle it and, if necessary, correct the taste (if it’s sour, add a spoonful of honey, if it’s sweet, add citric acid or sour apple juice).

Homemade mead

Ingredients: honey – 1.5 kg, water – 10 liters, hop cones (buy at the pharmacy) – 10 grams, yeast – 3 grams

Fill a saucepan with ten liters of water and place on the stove to boil. Then add honey to the boiled water, mix well and boil for another three to five minutes, not forgetting to skim the foam from the surface. After foaming stops, add hops to the pan, cover it with a lid and remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, dilute yeast (one teaspoon) in sweetened water. The yeast mass will be ready when it swells.

Both regular yeast and brewer's yeast are suitable for making mead, but the French yeast Saf-levure is still considered the best.

After the contents have cooled to 50*C, add the yeast mass to it and cover with a lid and place in a warm place for five days. In approximately this time the contents should ferment.
After the fermentation process has stopped, remove the hops from the pan, strain the drink through cheesecloth, bottle it, and put it in a cool place for storage. In a week, homemade mead will be ready for consumption.

Old mead

Ingredients: 2 kg. honey, 1 liter of spring water, 4–5 kg of cherries.

Place honey in a saucepan, add water and boil syrup. During cooking, you need to periodically stir and skim off the foam. Remove the seeds from a thoroughly washed cherry, pour it into a bottle with a long neck and fill it with cooled honey syrup. Cover the neck of the bottle with a piece of damp cloth and place it in a warm place for fermentation for 3 days.

When the contents of the bottle have fermented, close the neck with a cork made from a rolled piece of canvas and leave for further maturation. After 3 months, the old mead will be ready for consumption. The taste of mead improves with increasing aging time.

The easiest mead recipe

Take an enamel pan and pour 2 liters of water, add 300 grams of honey. The mixture is thoroughly stirred over low heat. Periodically remove the foam.

After boiling, boil for another five minutes. You can add a hop cone, but not too large (up to 5 grams), a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. We dilute a spoonful of yeast in water, leave for 1 hour and then add to the mixture. After which the homemade mead is fermented.

After 3 days, you can pour it into bottles, close them and put them in the refrigerator for a month.

Spicy mead

3 liters of water, 750 grams of honey, 10 grams of dry yeast, 1 egg white (put before boiling), 1 pinch of ginger, teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 pinch of cinnamon and 2 cloves. The following are all the steps from the basic recipe.
vzboltay.com

Suzdal mead has been popular since ancient times. It is distinguished by its unusual taste and has a high strength. Now the drink is used not only for drinking, but also for treatment.
The product has beneficial properties; it contains various enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, and microelements. Mead is obtained through the fermentation process; it does not contain flavorings, dyes, or various flavoring additives.

vzboltay.com

Suzdal mead

The difference between Suzdal mead and drinking honey

Honey is included in the product.
The drinking bee product is prepared in a special oak barrel.
Drinking honey can be stored for a long time.
In order for the fermentation of the drinking product to be natural, the barrels need to be filled with herbs, berries, honey, and water. The drink was then used at celebrations.
The recipe for the Suzdal drink does not have such difficulties in preparation, it needs to be boiled, sterilized, added hops, wait for fermentation, the drink does not need to be infused for a long time, a maximum of one week.

Features of Suzdal mead

May have different strengths.
The drink may contain various components, spices, a particularly tasty drink to which cinnamon, rose hips, juniper, ginger, and cayenne pepper are added.
Cossack, five-altyn, oprichnina, half-and-a-half, and streltsy mead is used for medicinal purposes.
It has a pleasant honey taste, aroma, is sweet, and contains glucose, fructose, and a large amount of honey.

Types of Suzdal mead

The drink can be prepared in different ways:

Use of honey sterilization. In this case, the prepared mead is obtained through fermentation. Hearty mead is prepared first by fermentation, then the honey is sterilized by boiling.
The difference is in the preparation. There are such types as with the addition of honey when the product is ready or without honey after cooking.
Ethyl alcohol may or may not be added to the drink.
The strength and production time are taken into account, so we can distinguish between young, strong, regular and staged mead.
May differ in ingredients - spicy, intoxicating types of Suzdal drink are known.

Technology for preparing classic Suzdal mead

The recipe requires the following basic ingredients:

Spring water – 4 liters.
Honey – 500 grams.
Sugar – 0.5 kg.
Yeast – 100 grams.

To prepare classic mead, you need to mix some honey with sugar, add a little water, you should get a homogeneous mass that looks like liquid yellow jelly.

Everything must be thoroughly boiled for up to 40 minutes, skim off the foam.

Be sure to use only enamel cookware for cooking.

Then the drink should cool to 30 degrees.

Prepare the yeast, for this you need to dilute it in liquid, put it in a warm place, there it will begin to ferment. For this, it is best to use a barrel from a tree, or a jar, if you do not have such devices, you can use the dishes in which all the ingredients were originally placed.

After fermentation stops, most often it lasts no more than two days.
It is not difficult to notice that it has stopped; pay attention to whether the mixture releases gas or not.
Then the mead is filtered and poured into glass bottles and placed in the cold.
Wait until the drink is a month old, then add another portion of honey - 250 grams of honey.

The recipe is simple and the drink is easy to prepare.

Recipes for different varieties of Suzdal mead

Recipe for Cossack Suzdal similar to the classic one, but has the difference that pepper and a little juniper are added to it. This drink is spicy.
Five-altyn recipe Suzdal mead is not very strong, it has an amber color, a honey aroma, and has a slight wine taste. The tasting room offers you to try this variety, it is most often bought. The difference from the classics is that sugar is not used, it is replaced with malt. The low degree is explained by the fact that the five-altyn fermentation ferments for a small amount of time.
Recipe for trembling Suzdal mead Suitable for different feasts. Place a large amount of honey in it. The drink is not only sweet, but also strong.
Soft drink recipe Suitable for those who do not drink alcoholic beverages, also for children. But pay attention, it contains a little alcohol - 1 turn. It is impossible to produce non-alcoholic Suzdal on your own; it can only be produced by different enterprises.
Half a half recipe Suzdal mead uses hops, so the strength increases and bitterness disappears. Most often, the recipe calls for brewer's yeast. The drink contains a small amount of alcohol up to 8%; if you want to increase the strength, you need to extend the fermentation to two weeks.

So, Suzdal mead is an ancient drink, distinguished by its healing properties. The drink is a national drink and is on par with sake, whiskey, and tequila. Its main component is honey, so the drink is soft and pleasant to the taste. A prerequisite for preparing the product is fermentation.

The boiled type of Suzdal mead is prepared on the basis of heat treatment; cold mead is prepared using cold methods. Often additional hops, yeast, and berries could be added - cherries, raspberries, currants, blueberries, blackberries. Mead made in Suzdal is distinguished by its strength; it was selected depending on the purpose for which the drink was to be used.

roypchel.ru

Mead maker recipes: how to make mead at home

Making mead is quite simple, you just need to know some of the subtleties of preparation.

Required to complete:

The foam that forms when cooking honey must be skimmed off.
Before adding the yeast, the hot honey syrup must be cooled. The fact is that yeast dies at temperatures above 50 C

Honey selection

The taste of a honey drink directly depends on the quality of the honey. It should be very fragrant. Light varieties of honey are considered the best, and white honey is considered elite. But it's more of a tradition. For example, buckwheat honey is very dark, at the same time very aromatic, with a bitter taste, and also has many fans. By the way, it contains a lot of iron, unlike light, linden.

Advice: If they sell you liquid, not candied honey in the spring, don’t take it. This is either a sugar surrogate or honey heated in a water bath, which is also not very healthy. It's better to look for another seller.

How long should mead be aged?

Usually mead ferments in 5 days. The result is a foamy drink, similar in appearance to champagne, only cloudy. But sometimes mead is aged for 3 to 6 months. It becomes less sparkling, denser, more fluid. And of course, more fragrant. Yes, and the strength is gaining a little. If you add berries to the drink, then over time the mead becomes more and more healthy; while it is aged, the berries give it all the beneficial substances.

Fermentation

You can close the bottle with future mead with tissue, but it is better to make a gas outlet. To do this, put a lid on the bottle or jar - it must be very tight, the container must be airtight. A hole is made in the lid, a thin hose is inserted into it, one end of it should be above the surface of the mead, and the other in a cup of water. Often a thick rubber glove is used instead of a lid, but you need to watch how well it fits to the neck.

To determine whether honey has fermented, you need to light a match and bring it to the liquid. If the fire does not burn hotter, it means that no alcohol vapors are coming from the mead and fermentation is complete.

Mead strength

Usually 5-6 degrees. Sometimes you can bring honey to a strength of 10 degrees. But don’t let the low number of degrees relax you. Mead is an insidious drink. It is instantly absorbed into the blood. An amazing effect is often observed: the head is completely sober and clear, and the legs are braided. But the drunken effect of mead doesn't last very long. Unless, of course, you drink liters of it throughout the evening.

Attention! Heated honey should not come into contact with an open fire - it is highly flammable!

Intoxicating honey

2 liters of water
300 g honey
5 g hop cones (available at pharmacies)
1 tsp yeast
Nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon

Step 1. Boil water in an enamel pan.

Step 2. Gently pour in honey, stirring constantly. Wait 5 minutes and remove the foam.

Step 3. Add hops, nutmeg and cinnamon. Remove from heat and cover with a lid.

Step 4. Cool the liquid to 50 C. Then put the yeast in the pan.

Step 5. Place in a warm place. After a couple of days, pour into a glass jar with venting, as described above. Wait for fermentation to finish.

Step 6. Pour the drink into clean plastic or glass bottles. Store in a cool place.

Cherry honey (an old recipe)

Mead for Robin Hood (recipe 2)
Without yeast
2 kg honey
1 liter of water
4-5 kg cherries

Step 1. Place the honey in an enamel pan, add water and cook the syrup, stirring occasionally and skimming off the foam.

Step 2. Pour clean and pitted cherries into a large glass bowl with a narrow neck (a 10-liter bottle will do).

Step 3. Cool the syrup and pour over the cherries.

Step 4. Cover the dishes with a damp cloth, which needs to be moistened periodically, and leave the bottle in a warm place for three days to ferment.

Step 5. When the honey has fermented, take it to a cool place and plug the neck with a tightly rolled canvas or towel. Wait three months.

Spicy mead

750 g honey
3 liters of water
10 g dry yeast
1 egg white
2 pcs. carnations
1 pinch ground ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch cinnamon

Step 1. Gently mix honey and protein until smooth. Fill with water and put on fire.

Step 2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 3. Add spices. Cook for another 50 minutes. Do not cover with lid. The mead should become transparent and reduce by half.

Step 4. Remove from heat, let cool, strain through a sieve and cheesecloth. Pour into a 3-liter jar and add yeast. Stir them thoroughly and cover with gauze.

Step 5. Place the jar in a warm place. After a day, close the lid and put it in a cool room for six months.

Step 6. Then bottle it and store it in the refrigerator.

Cranberry honey (non-alcoholic drink)

1 kg cranberries
2 liters of water
300 g honey

Step 1. Sort the cranberries, rinse and dry. Mash and squeeze out the juice.

Step 2. Place the juice in the refrigerator, add water to the pulp and boil for 10 minutes.

Step 3. Pour cranberry juice into the broth, stirring.

Step 4. Add honey (the ratio should be 1:10, that is, 100 g of honey per liter of liquid).

Step 5. You can drink cranberry honey immediately, or you can let it sit for a week. This will improve the taste of the drink.

http://www.aif.ru/food/products/recepty_medovara_kak_prigotovit_medovuhu_v_domashnih_usloviyah

How to make strong mead: recipe with yeast

The quality of mead largely depends on the honey used in preparing the drink - a key ingredient that mainly affects the taste, aroma, and color of the honey drink.

A homemade mead recipe, I think, is very different from that produced at special wineries, for the better.

The advantage of homemade mead, like many similar recipes, is that they are prepared from natural raw materials.

Ingredients for a recipe for mead with yeast without hops

honey – 750 g;
yeast – 10 g;
egg white – 1 pc.;
cloves – 2 pcs.;
ground ginger;
nutmeg;
cinnamon.

An old recipe for mead at home

Mix honey with egg white and add 3 liters of water. Place on low heat and cook for 10 minutes without a lid.
Add a pinch of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, and cloves. Cook for another 50 minutes, also without a lid. The mixture should become transparent and reduce to a quarter of its original volume.
Remove the finished mixture from the heat, cool and strain through a sieve.
Pour the future mead into a three-liter jar, add yeast, stir and cover with a clean napkin.
Place in a warm place for a day to ferment.
After 24 hours, close the jar tightly and put it in a cool place for six months.

When the mead is ready, you can bottle the drink and store it like homemade wine, in the refrigerator or cellar.

Friends, write your mead recipes in the comments; our readers and the entire team of the culinary site Miracle Cook will be interested in learning new ways to prepare the popular drink!

http://chudo-povar.com/medovuxa.html

HONEY AT HOME

Making mead at home couldn't be easier. And today we will take on the simplest mead recipe, consisting of only 4 ingredients.

To prepare mead at home, prepare the ingredients according to the list.

Mix water and honey in an enamel or stainless steel bowl, add hops and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture over low heat for 2 hours. If the water boils too much, add it to the original volume.

Allow the liquid to cool to a temperature of 40 degrees. Then strain it from the hops into a glass container, such as a jar or large bottle, and add the yeast. Close the neck with any elastic lid or rubber glove and leave to ferment at room temperature for 2.5-3 weeks.

After two weeks, the drink will already become quite intoxicating. In principle, it can already be drunk, but in order for the taste to become more noble, it needs to “ripen”. Strain the mead again into a clean bottle, close it with a regular stopper and put it in a cool place for at least another 3 weeks, or better yet, a month. For “ripening”, both the cellar and the refrigerator are suitable.

Our homemade mead is ready! The strength of the resulting drink is 8-12%, and it tastes like dry white wine. Delicious!

https://www.iamcook.

Mead is an alcoholic drink made from honey. Rus' is considered the birthplace of the strong cocktail. Over time, the recipe has undergone changes; now you don’t need to spend a lot of time to create a fun drink; you just need to limit yourself to yeast and boiling.

It is known that the technology of making mead was depicted in Ancient Egypt (more than 3 millennia BC) on the walls of tombs with a detailed description of the honey rivers of the afterlife. At the same time, in Rus', an ethyl cocktail was considered mandatory during special events. Mead was drunk at a wedding for a sweet, happy life for the newlyweds. The life-giving drink was aged in oak barrels for up to 15 years. It was considered a universal remedy for all diseases.

Currently, mead has not lost its popularity, but, on the contrary, received a second revival during the formation of Soviet power. As a result, the homemade drink gradually began to be produced industrially (in the city of Suzdal) as a tonic, immunostimulating, and antibacterial agent.

Classification

Types and varieties of mead:

By alcohol concentration: light (less than 14 degrees) and strong (more than 14 degrees).
Ingredients: fruit (contains fruit juice) and natural (without fruit concentrate).
By color: light and dark.
By sweetness: sweet, semi-sweet, semi-dry (sugar content starts from 1%) and dry (sugar content does not exceed 1%).
By shelf life: cooked (produced by fermenting honey waste, 3 years) and boiled (prepared by boiling, based on honey and herbs, 10 years).
By the amount of carbon dioxide: effervescent (with a high CO2 content) and regular (with a low percentage of carbon dioxide).

Depending on the production technology, honey drink is prepared with or without the addition of ethyl alcohol.

Chemical composition

Mead is a high-calorie product. 100 ml of drink contains 93.93 calories. It is made exclusively from natural ingredients, therefore it contains a supply of useful mineral compounds and vitamins necessary for the full functioning of the body.

Chemical composition of mead

Name	Nutrient content per 100 grams of product, milligrams
Vitamins
Ascorbic acid (C)	4,1
Tocopherol (E)	0,4
Niacin (B3)	0,2
Pantothenic acid (B5)	0,1
Thiamine (B1)	0,08
Riboflavin (B2)	0,08
Beta-carotene (A)	0,006
Pyridoxine (B6)	0,05
Folic acid (B9)	0,0083
Biotin (H)	0,0002
Macronutrients
Chlorine	126,3
Sodium	83,2
Potassium	68,4
Phosphorus	25,7
Calcium	10,3
Magnesium	8,0
Sulfur	7,1
Microelements
Copper	49,6
Iron	0,8
Manganese	0,2343
Zinc	0,1857
Bor	0,0222
Fluorine	0,0182
Aluminum	0,0092
Rubidium	0,0053
Molybdenum	0,0023
Nickel	0,0014
Iodine	0,0012
Selenium	0,0007
Chromium	0,0007
Vanadium	0,0003
Cobalt	0,0002

If you adhere to preparation standards, use only high-quality products, and observe moderation in consumption, the drink will bring unlimited benefits to the human body and minimal harm.

Remember, real mead, made from natural bee honey, with the addition of spices, herbs and fruits is a symbiosis of vitamins and minerals.

Like alcohol medicine

In moderate quantities (100 ml per day), mead is a healing drink that contains beneficial substances from herbs, spices and honey.

The benefits of mead are possible provided that the drink is taken within reasonable limits (no more than 100 ml per day). Alcohol abuse develops dependence, intoxication of the body, and a hangover occurs. As a result, instead of improving health, there is a deterioration in health.

Beneficial properties of a drink infused with honey without adding yeast:

kills pathological bacteria;
strengthens the heart and blood vessels;
has an antipyretic effect;
cures colds, viruses;
removes accumulated mucus from the lungs.

By mixing mead with red wine, you can get rid of constipation, provided there are no diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (ulcers, gastritis, colitis). Otherwise, the flammable mixture will have an irritating effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, which will ultimately lead to an exacerbation of the pathological process.

Folk recipes

To normalize the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Doctors recommend drinking an invigorating mixture of dry red wine (30 g) and mead (70 g) once a day before meals.
To eliminate chronic fatigue, lethargy and combat spring vitamin deficiency. Once a day, take a “soothing” cocktail of Cahors (50 ml) and mead (50 ml).
To restore healthy sleep and nervous system. Take 200 ml of mead with mint at night.
To combat constipation or diarrhea (intestinal infections). Dilute sweet red wine with mead, maintaining a 1:1 ratio of alcoholic drinks, drink once a day.

Potential Harm

Mead contains alcohol and should be taken with extreme caution and in moderation.

Contraindications:

diabetes;
stomach ulcer;
children, pregnant women and nursing mothers;
individual intolerance;
tendency to allergies;
alcohol addiction.

Cooking method

First of all, a strong type of drink is made, without fermentation, into which vodka or alcohol is added. With accurate calculation of the components, mead can have 75 revolutions.

The quality of the drink directly depends on the correct calculation and freshness of the ingredients.

Interestingly, the fermentation method was first practiced by beekeepers who had a lot of honey left. To avoid spoilage of the product, baker's yeast was used for processing.

The main ingredient remains honey, and other components depend on the recipe. To improve the taste, the following are added to mead: dried apricots, cardamom, anise, cinnamon, ginger, raisins. The classic recipe involves the use of hop cones, water and yeast.

Starter for simple mead

The inoculum ensures the fermentation process of the wort.

Sequence of sourdough preparation processes:

Dissolve honey in water.
Boil the mixture for 10 minutes over low heat. In the process of boiling the starter, get rid of the foam, make sure that no more than 1/3 of the part boils away.
Cool to 40 degrees.
Add yeast at the rate of 5 g per 10 liters of mixture. Then add hops and spices.
Leave for at least 1 week, preferably longer. Only in this case the mead will turn out to be of high quality, aromatic and tasty. To check the readiness of the starter, pay attention to its hissing. It should stop emitting carbon dioxide.

To prevent the drink from turning sour, cover it thoroughly during the fermentation process. When the mead is ready, pour it into glass bottles and infuse. The longer the aging, the tastier the drink.

Cooking recipes

How to make mead at home?

Pour 2 liters of water into an enamel pan. Add 400 g of natural honey.
Place the contents on the stove, cook for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly and skimming off the foam.
Add nutmeg and ground cinnamon (on the tip of a knife), hop cones (5 g).
Dissolve 5 g of yeast in 100 ml of water. Leave for 1 hour.
Add the yeast starter to the sweet water.
Prepare a water seal and leave the drink to ferment.
The mead is considered ready if the match does not go out after being brought to the container. This indicates that the fermentation process is complete. Otherwise, you still need to wait.

Recipe No. 1 “Ancient Spiced Mead”

Ingredients:

water – 2 l;
honey – 800 g;
spices (ginger, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon) – 20 g;
yeast – 30g;
rye dough.

Cooking principle:

Bring water with honey to a boil, add spices;
cool the drink;
add rye dough, leave in a warm place for 12 hours to ferment;
pour into bottles, which are placed in a cool place to ripen.

After six months, the drink is ready for consumption. The fermentation process in the recipe is started by rye dough. As a result, mead is aromatic due to the added spices, weak and sweet.

Recipe No. 2 “Quick classic mead”

Ingredients:

raisins – 200 g;
lemon – 3 pcs;
yeast – 25 g;
water – 1.5 l;
flour – 15 g;
honey – 500 g.

Cooking method:

Wash the lemon, chop it, put it in an enamel pan, pour boiling water, stir, cool.
Add the remaining ingredients to the resulting mass and leave in a warm place for three days.

Recipe No. 3 “Hot mead”

Prepare the drink as usual. A distinctive feature of hot mead is the spicy, rich taste and aroma that pepper imparts. In addition, coriander, oregano, basil, ginger, St. John's wort and nutmeg are added to the wort before fermentation.

To prepare a strong cocktail you will need 10 liters of water and 4 kg of honey. To start the fermentation process, add a little yeast to the mixture without closing the container. Leave the starter in a warm place for 5 days, then put it in the refrigerator or cellar for 1 month.

Recipe No. 4 “Mead without yeast”

This method of preparing a fun drink is lengthy, it takes up to 4 months. Instead of yeast, dried grapes (raisins) or cherries and raspberries are used. The result is a practically non-alcoholic mead with characteristic fruity notes.

Ingredients:

cold water – 1l;
cherry berries (pitted) – 4 kg;
honey – 2 kg.

Cooking technology:

Dissolve honey in cold water.
Add cherries to the solution.
Cover the pan with the mixture with gauze and place in a warm place until signs of fermentation appear.
Filter.
Pour into glass bottles and close.
Place the mead in a cool place for 4 months to mature.
Conduct a tasting. The finished drink should taste like kvass - slightly carbonated, with a slight sourness. Alcohol should not be noticeable.

Cooking rules

Choose the right honey

To get a high-quality, tasty and aromatic drink, the product must be natural. For making mead, preference is given to buckwheat or linden honey. It can be candied or liquid in consistency (in spring). In any case, the main thing is not to purchase a surrogate - sugar syrup, since this product will not make mead.

Pre-dissolve honey in water

The liquid is poured into an enamel pan and boiled. Then honey is gradually added. At this point, you need to vigorously stir the water with a spoon, otherwise the risk increases that the product will stick to the bottom and burn. During cooking, remove the white foam from the surface. Stir regularly, making sure that the honey does not burn.

Add spices after skimming

To obtain an original taste, add cinnamon, nutmeg, and hops to sweet water, then remove the pan from the heat.

Prepare for the fermentation reaction

Cool the mixture to 35 degrees, add yeast. If you add them to hot water, they will spoil and fermentation will not occur. Then the container with honey wort is left in a room at room temperature (25 degrees). Gauze will help protect against flies. Under no circumstances should the pan be sealed tightly, since yeast needs oxygen to reproduce. After fermentation (after 2 days), replace the foam. When it appears, the solution will begin to pour into a special can.

Fermentation process

The duration of this stage is up to 1 week. The absence of hissing and bubbles coming out using the water seal indicates the readiness of the starter.

Bottling and filtration

Carefully pour the drink into a storage container. No sediment should get into it! Then the mead is filtered. Glass bottles that are tightly closed and placed in a cool place are best. Insist for at least a month.

Note:

Melon, fried sausages, pears, bananas, sauerkraut, lemon, cheese and porcini mushroom dishes are suitable as an appetizer for mead.
Don't just drink the prepared drink. The taste of fresh mead is not ideal and will not bring pleasure. Leave it to ripen. After a while (1-4 months, depending on the preparation recipe), it will acquire a rich, pleasant aroma and taste, and will become no worse than a noble wine.
Mead is drunk both cold and slightly warmed.
It is recommended to store the drink in glass bottles or oak barrels at a temperature of 5-10 degrees above zero. For example, in the basement, cellar, refrigerator. The main condition is that the container with mead should not be exposed to freezing, contact with sunlight or metal. If these conditions are met, the alcoholic drink can be suitable for consumption without loss of quality for 2-3 years.
When preparing mead, you cannot improvise; strictly follow the recipe.
To increase the percentage of alcohol content, add alcohol, vodka or high-quality moonshine without other flavors to homemade mead. This is done before sealing the drink into bottles (at the last stage). At the same time, it is important to correctly calculate the degree of the resulting honey cocktail so as not to overdo it.

Conclusion

Mead is an alcoholic cocktail made from water, honey, yeast, and various flavorings. It has pronounced anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiseptic, cleansing, antiallergic, tonic, stimulating, and immunostimulating properties.

With moderate consumption of mead (up to 100 ml per day), the condition of the nervous system improves. The mood improves, the person becomes calm, and signs of depression disappear. In addition, the drink saturates the body with beneficial nutrients, which leaves an imprint on the condition of the dermis, hair and nails. The skin of the face becomes smooth, pigment spots and oily shine disappear. Hair increases in volume and begins to grow faster. Nails stop peeling and crumbling and become stronger.

To taste the taste of the honey drink and get the maximum benefit, drink it in small sips (chilled in summer and slightly warmed in winter). A classic snack for an alcoholic drink - sour cabbage, sauerkraut, apples, pickled rowan, lemon, fried sausages, cheese.

Despite its beneficial properties, the strong drink has age restrictions and is contraindicated for children, pregnant and lactating women, and people with diseases of the digestive system.

Alcoholic drinks based on honey have been known for a long time and were found among most of the most ancient peoples of Europe - the ancient Slavs, Scandinavians, Germans, Greeks, Lithuanians, Picts, Welsh and others.

In the first half of the 16th century, honey drinks began to be replaced by vodka; in subsequent centuries, their recipes, which were transmitted mainly orally, were also lost. In addition to the emergence of cheaper alcoholic beverages, a major role in the reduction in mead-making was played by the duration of preparation of the drink, calculated in years, as well as huge losses of raw materials - up to 50% of the bookmark. Moreover, for the correct preparation of honey, large volumes of bookmarks were needed, on the order of hundreds of kilograms.

Appearing later, in the 17th–18th centuries, “meads”, “medkas” and “meads”, which have survived to this day, are prepared according to different recipes and have little in common with classic honey drinks. Now the recipes for making honey drinks have been restored.

How did they drink mead in Rus'?

To make mead, honey was fermented for 15-20 years. Sometimes fermentation reached half a century.

This honey was called " set", as he stood for a long time. For this purpose, honey was sealed in barrels, sometimes they were even buried in the ground. This was the recipe for making traditional mead. Since the process was very complex and also costly, only representatives of the rich classes, princes or warriors could afford such a drink. Barrels of mead were given to newlyweds for a wedding; it was considered a very valuable gift. This drink made it possible to have fun at a wedding for a long time and not get too drunk. The strength of the mead was 8%-12%, and its taste was very delicate and sweet.

In order to simplify production, a technology for producing intoxicated and boiled honey was invented. “Intoxicated Honey” appeared 50 years later than it was staged. In addition to adding juice, they began to add hops and spices to this product so that the drink had greater strength and a pleasant taste. Intoxicated honey was prepared for a total of 3 years; it could stand for 5-8 years. This drink came to Rus' from Scandinavia, where honey drinks have been in high esteem since pagan times. It was believed that honey was sent to people by the gods; it was food for warriors and poets. The drink had a somewhat tart taste with a slight bitterness, but it was still much tastier than beer.

The next stage in the preparation of mead was the production of the so-called “ boiled honey" The first mention of it dates back to the chronicles of 996. The production of this drink was no longer so difficult; any family could afford it. First, honey was dissolved in enough water to release the sugar, then fermentation began. The honey was left to ferment for 3-7 days, then poured into containers and kept in a dark place for a week or a month. This method made it possible to significantly reduce the amount of waste during the production of the drink. The drink made from boiled honey tastes a little like beer. It was only prepared for a few weeks.

Over time, new principles for making honey drinks appeared, which were soon replaced by vodka and wine. The revival of these recipes began already in the 19th century, by which time many traditions had been forgotten. For example, a very honorable dish in Rus' was “ satiate- a sweet drink served at the end of a meal. It was from this time that the phrase “eat your fill” came about, that is, eat everything, leaving room only for “fullness.”

Honey has always been held in high esteem in Rus'. It was considered a sacred product, at one time it was even used instead of wine for communion. Before the meal, they consumed the so-called “sbiten”, which is produced by boiling honey in water with the addition of juice and spices. There was also digest- a mixture of beer and honey. Perevar was considered the lowest quality product that even the poorest people could afford.

In Mordovia they prepared the so-called “ pure", it was a drink whose production methods were similar to those of wine and beer. The main ingredient of “pure” was honey. Honey was also added to fruit and berry wines. In Ethiopia, honey drinks were called " Tezh" This is a homemade drink. Its strength is 15%-30%. It has a sweet and spicy taste.

Useful properties of mead

And of course, one cannot ignore the beneficial health properties of mead. Here it is enough to take into account only the vitamin and mineral composition of honey. Vitamins of groups B, A, E, K, C, many metals necessary for a variety of processes in the body - all of them are contained in mead, although in lower concentrations than in honey.

However, when honey is sterilized and subjected to any heat treatment, some of its vitamins are destroyed, so the honey produced is considered the most healthy and retains all the properties of its main component. Additives such as hops and various spices also add certain beneficial properties to mead.

The only disadvantage of mead is alcohol. In terms of strength, it is not inferior to wine, and therefore, like other medium-alcohol drinks, it has a certain negative effect on the nervous system and liver. But with careful use and compliance with measures, these negative consequences should not appear.

Mead has the following beneficial properties:

febrifuge
warms and disinfects the nasopharynx for sore throats and tonsillitis
an excellent hangover remedy, as it increases urination and sweating, which in turn cleanses the body
enhances lung ventilation, which is good for bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases
is a good remedy for the prevention of impotence, and non-alcoholic mead is useful for pregnant women (of course, in reasonable quantities)

Harm of mead and contraindications

The drink can cause harm to the body due to individual intolerance, as well as with excessive consumption. It is not recommended to consume mead for people suffering from allergic reactions to honey.

Types of mead

There are the following types of this drink:

Stavannaya mead is a traditional drink made according to ancient recipes.
Mead is rich or boiled - it is made by fermenting honey, which is additionally boiled.
Hop mead is an alcoholic drink based on mead with the addition of hops.
Fake mead is an alcoholic drink with added spices.

Depending on the strength there are:

non-alcoholic mead;
regular mead;
strong mead.

Depending on the characteristics of production, mead is distinguished with the addition of ethyl alcohol or without its addition. Honey may or may not be added after preparing the drink.

Modern homemade mead

Ingredients:

honey – 300 grams;
water – 2 liters;
dry yeast - 1 teaspoon (or 25 grams of pressed);
hop cones – 5 grams;
cinnamon and nutmeg - 1 pinch.

Mead making technology

Choice of honey. One of the most important stages, on which the quality of the finished drink largely depends. Try to choose the most fragrant varieties. Buckwheat honey is excellent, but you can use something else, such as linden honey.

In the spring, many beekeepers offer fresh liquid honey, but if you are not well versed in beekeeping, it is better not to buy it. There is a risk that instead of a natural product, dealers will sell a surrogate made from sugar, or that the honey itself will be of low quality. Such raw materials will never make delicious homemade mead.

Dissolving honey in water. Pour water into an enamel pan and bring to a boil. Add honey to boiling water, stirring constantly with a spoon. After 4-5 minutes of boiling the honey mixture, a white foam will begin to appear on the surface, which must be carefully collected with a spoon.

Attention! Honey burns very quickly and can ignite, so the pan should not be left unattended for a minute.

Adding flavoring additives. After the foam is removed, add other ingredients to the mixture: cinnamon, nutmeg and hops, which will give the drink original flavor notes. After mixing thoroughly, remove the pan from the heat.
Preparing for fermentation. Cool the mixture to 25-30°C (very important) and add the diluted yeast. If you do this at a higher temperature, the yeast will die and fermentation will not begin.

Transfer the pan with the honey solution to a dark place with a temperature of about 25°C. If there is no separate room, you can use an aquarium heater. To avoid foreign substances and insects getting into the wort (flies are especially annoying in the summer), I recommend tying the pan with gauze.

After 1-2 days, signs of fermentation will appear: foam will begin to form on the surface of the mixture, and hissing will be heard. Pour the contents of the pan into a fermentation container, placing a medical glove with a hole in the finger or a water seal on the neck.

Fermentation. As a rule, fermentation of mead lasts 4-6 days. The end of the process is indicated by a deflated glove or a prolonged absence of bubbles escaping through the water seal. Another test method is to bring a burning match to the surface of the liquid, which should not go out. There is nothing to be afraid of, the strength of the drink is only 5-10 degrees, it will not catch fire.
Filtration and bottling. The final stage of preparation. Carefully pour the mead into another container, leaving sediment at the bottom, then strain through several layers of gauze.

Pour the finished drink into bottles (glass or plastic), seal tightly and transfer to the refrigerator or basement. I'm not a fan of storing alcohol in plastic containers, but in this case it's harmless. The strength of mead is low, so the alcohol will not interact with the plastic. Beer is sold in bottles like these. You can drink mead almost immediately after preparation, but I recommend letting it sit for 3-5 days and only then taste it.

How to make mead carbonated?

Wash bottles (plastic or glass) well and wipe dry.
Add honey to the bottom of each container (one and a half teaspoons per 1 liter of drink). Thanks to the honey, a slight secondary fermentation will occur, which will saturate the mead with natural carbon dioxide.
Pour the drink into bottles, leaving 5-6 cm of free space from the neck. Seal tightly with stoppers or lids.
Transfer the containers to a dark room at room temperature for 7-10 days. Check the gas pressure once a day and relieve excess pressure if necessary.
Place carbonated honey in a cool place for at least 5 days to ripen.

Mead without yeast and boiling

The most difficult thing in this recipe is to find an adequate replacement for yeast, since honey and water will not ferment on their own. There are two options: use cherries (raspberries, strawberries) or raisins as a catalyst. Cherries are historically the right choice, but raisins are a more reliable choice. Let's consider both cases.

Cooking technology

Dilute honey in cold water. The amount of ingredients depends on the chosen fermentation catalyst. In the case of raisins, use: 1 liter of water, 80 grams of honey and 50 grams of raisins.

If you decide to support fermentation with cherries (raspberries, strawberries), then to make mead you will need: 1 liter of water, 4 kg of cherries and 2 kg of honey. First remove the pits from the cherries, then pour in the honey solution.

Attention! Raisins and cherries should not be washed before adding to mead, otherwise you may accidentally wash away the wild yeast responsible for fermentation, and it will be difficult to predict the subsequent result.

Tie the neck with gauze, then place the container in a warm place. Fermentation will begin in 1-2 days. Since we did without yeast (dry and baker's), it takes more time than in the first case.
If signs of fermentation appear (see point 4 of the first recipe), filter the liquid through several layers of gauze, pour into another container and close tightly. This method is used to prepare the so-called “set mead,” which does not require a glove or water seal.
All that remains is to put the bottles in the refrigerator or cellar for maturation. After 3-4 months you can try the finished drink. It will turn out carbonated with a slight sourness, the alcohol is almost not felt, more like kvass.

P.S. Many people call “proper mead” a recipe without yeast or boiling. But this does not mean that the first option is not as tasty or healthy. I advise you to prepare mead using two methods, try each option, and only then draw conclusions.

How to drink mead correctly?

It would probably be completely wrong to strictly follow these rules today. Much time has passed, living conditions have changed, traditions have been partially lost. And, of course, modern drinking culture is radically different from ancient rules. But still, today you can drink mead in such a way as to get the maximum benefit and pleasure from its use and not harm your health.

Following ancient customs, you need to drink mead on an empty stomach. A low-alcohol drink in this case serves as an aperitif (a drink with a low alcohol content, served before a meal to stimulate appetite), stimulating digestion and improving metabolism.
The drink should be served chilled, especially in summer and hot weather (bottles should be opened with care, without shaking the contents).
In winter, mead can be heated (do not bring the drink to a boil).
In order to fully taste the taste of mead, you need to drink it slowly, in small sips from small glasses.

Can you get drunk from mead? If you follow manufacturing traditions, this drink always turns out to be low-alcohol. And you can drink quite a lot of it (of course, within reasonable limits) and still feel normal, even the next morning.

There is even an opinion that by drinking a glass of fortified and very chilled mead with lemon, you can get rid of a hangover. The method is very controversial. Doctors categorically do not recommend having a hangover with any alcoholic beverages.

It is necessary to take into account individual sensitivity to alcoholic beverages and the fact that modern mead makers can prepare quite strong mead. But the consequences of its use can be completely different.

How and what to eat mead with?

Let's turn to history again and see what our ancestors drank mead with.

Classic snacks were pickled lingonberries, cloudberries, cranberries, soaked apples, and salted watermelon. Pickled vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage with berries, rowan berries, turnips and rutabaga, onions) are the second most popular snack.

Sweet snacks such as fresh apples and currants (black and red) perfectly complemented the sweet and sour taste of the honey drink. Also served as a snack were rye and oatmeal jelly, gingerbread and meat pie.

Now, as before, it is customary to serve mead before the main feast with a hearty meal, with plenty of light snacks (savoury and sweet) or fruit. A wide variety of products are used.

It’s rare to see soaked fruits and berries on the table today. Pickled and pickled vegetables and all kinds of pickles are much more popular. Salted, dried or smoked meat, sweet pastries with cottage cheese and raisins, cheesecakes and fresh fruit are often served along with mead.

Experts do not recommend eating mead with fish and seafood. It is believed that these products are not compatible with the drink at all and can ruin the taste sensation. There is an opinion that you don’t need to eat mead at all. It is based on the fact that this drink is tasty in itself and does not require any flavor enhancers with other products.

How and with what to drink mead, whether to have a snack or not - the decision is made individually. Now they drink it in different ways: before meals, and after, and during, sometimes snacking on what they found in the refrigerator.

The main thing here is not to harm yourself and your health. And this can happen if you abuse the drink and do not take into account the possibility of an allergic reaction in those who suffer from intolerance to honey or another product included in the drink.

Mead at home is a recipe for making an intoxicating drink from natural honey; it can be made using authentic ancient technology or using ideas adapted to modern conditions. The result will be an alcoholic drink of varying strengths with subtle honey notes.

Mead - benefits and harms

Which is due to the bee honey used for its preparation, when consumed in moderate quantities it will have a beneficial effect on the main systems of the body and improve health.

The components included in mead, acting together, will help cleanse the body of toxins, remove toxins and heavy metals.
The anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties of the drink are well known, which are indispensable for colds, acute respiratory infections, and weakened immunity.
Drinking mead will increase stamina, invigorate, give strength, strengthen the nervous system and help cope with depression.
Despite all the advantages of mead, one should not forget about its alcoholic content, which has never brought any benefit to anyone. The drink should be drunk in small doses, and under no circumstances should it be given to children.

How to make mead?

Prepared classic mead at home is low-alcohol and has a strength of 7-10%. It is preferable to use honey with a rich taste, aroma, exclusively natural and high quality to create a drink. The composition of spices can be adjusted to taste or even leave only hop cones.

Ingredients:

honey – 1 kg;
water – 7 l;
pressed yeast – 75 g;
hop cones – 15 g;
cinnamon and nutmeg - 3 pinches each.

Preparation

Mix water with honey and heat while stirring to a boil, skimming off the foam.
After 1.5 hours of boiling, add hops and spices, boil for 10 minutes, remove the container from the heat.
After cooling to 28 degrees, stir in diluted yeast, leave in a warm place for 2 days, then pour into a container with a water seal.
After fermentation is complete, the mead is filtered and bottled.

Carbonating mead at home

Mead at home is a cooking recipe that may additionally include a step such as carbonization. Through its implementation, it will be possible to fill the honey drink with gas bubbles, making it similar to champagne or other similar alcoholic carbonated drink.

For carbonation, add a tablespoon of honey to each bottle of strained fermented mead. The containers are sealed and left for 5 days.
The finished drink can be carbonated with the wort selected before fermentation (10% of the total amount). It is added to the finished mead, after which the drink is bottled, capped, and after a day put into the cold.
Carbonation of mead can be accomplished by adding fructose or dextrose to the finished drink, after which the sealed bottles are left for 3-5 days.

Mead at home - a simple recipe

Mead, the recipe for which will be presented below, does not require long boiling, is easy to prepare, and has a soft taste with pleasant honey notes. The yeast must first be diluted in a small volume of warm liquid, then added to the cooled liquid under the lid until it is 30-40 degrees full.

Ingredients:

honey – 350 g;
water – 2 l;
yeast – 1 teaspoon;
hop cones – 5 g;
cinnamon and nutmeg - a pinch each.

Preparation

Making mead begins with boiling purified water.
Add honey and stir the contents of the pan until the product completely dissolves in boiling water.
After 5 minutes of boiling, add spices and hops, cover the container with a lid, turn off the heat and leave the container until the contents cool.
Add diluted yeast, pour the base into a fermentation container under a water seal for 5-7 days.
The finished mead is bottled.

How to make mead from old honey?

Another proven popular recipe for mead made from honey at home will allow you to get an unusually tasty sweet and sour alcoholic drink with honey notes. In this case, freshly squeezed cranberry juice is added to the traditional ingredients, and old or fermented honey is used.

Ingredients:

old honey – 1 kg;
water – 5 l;
cranberry juice – 5 l;
yeast – 100 g;
cinnamon, cloves and cardamom - a pinch each.

Preparation

Dissolve honey in water, boil for 15 minutes, cool to 30 degrees.
Add cranberry juice, spices, yeast, stir and leave to ferment for 3 days in a warm place.
Place the container in a cool, dark place for 3 weeks, after which the drink is bottled.

Homemade mead recipe without yeast

Mead made with your own hands at home without yeast, the recipe for which will be presented next, will have a pleasant carbonated consistency. There is wild yeast on the surface of unwashed raisins, which will become an activator of the fermentation process, so in this case there is no way to wash the component.

Ingredients:

honey – 1 kg;
spring water – 10 l;
raisins – 500 g.

Preparation

Honey is dissolved in water.
Place raisins in honey water and leave in a warm, dark place until fermentation is complete.
The overplayed product is bottled in dark bottles, capped and placed in a cool place for 3-4 months.

Non-alcoholic mead - recipe

The traditional Russian drink mead is characterized by an alcoholic level, which does not allow those who, for one reason or another, do not drink alcohol, to taste the drink. The following recipe will produce a non-alcoholic version of the drink containing no more than 1% alcohol. The technology for its creation is simple, unpretentious, but time-consuming.

Ingredients:

honey – 2 kg;
spring water – 1 l;
fresh cherries – 4 kg.

Preparation

Water is mixed with honey and allowed to completely dissolve.
Add unwashed fresh cherries, having previously removed the pits from them, and leave the mixture to ferment in a dark place, covered with gauze.
Next, the non-alcoholic mead is bottled, hermetically sealed and left in a cool place for 3-4 months.

Strong mead - recipe

If you need the correct recipe for mead at home to obtain a drink of increased strength, the option presented below is ideal for implementing the idea. Along with honey, granulated sugar is added to the composition, which, when interacting with yeast, will fill the drink with an additional degree.

Ingredients:

honey and sugar – 1.5 kg each;
water – 10 l;
hops and spices - to taste;
yeast – 100 g.

Preparation

Honey is completely dissolved in warm water, then sugar.
Dissolve yeast in a small amount of liquid and mix into sweet honey water.
Leave the container with the fermentation mixture in a dark place for fermentation for 7-10 days.
The drink is bottled and placed in the cold to mature for another 2-3 months.

Spicy mead

Preparing mead according to the following ancient recipe will provide the opportunity to taste an exquisite spicy drink with notes of ginger, cloves and citruses. Traditional additives include cinnamon, hops, and nutmeg. Using wine yeast will eliminate the unpleasant aftertaste obtained after fermentation with a baking additive.

Ingredients:

honey – 2.5 kg;
water – 7 l;
hops – 12 g;
nutmeg and cinnamon - 1 teaspoon each;
allspice – 12 pcs.;
cloves – 8 pcs.;
ginger root – 40 g;
citrus zest – 2 handfuls;
wine yeast - 2 teaspoons.

Preparation

Honey is mixed with water, boiled for 2 hours, stirring.
Replenish the water volume to the original volume, add spices and hops, and cook for 40 minutes.
Cool the wort to 30 degrees, stir in the diluted yeast, pour into a fermentation container with a water seal and leave for 2 weeks.
The drink is drained from the sediment and placed for further fermentation.
The mead is bottled and placed in the cold to mature for at least a month.

Vodka mead - recipe

Mead is easily prepared using vodka, without requiring long fermentation and aging. Honey is mixed with alcohol and infused for a week. For additional taste, citrus juice, spices, and fresh or dry aromatic herbs are added to the drink. It is important to choose an alcoholic drink of exceptional quality.

Ingredients:

honey – 300 g;
vodka – 0.5 l;
mint – 3-5 leaves;
lemon – 1 pc.

Preparation

Add honey, lemon juice, mint leaves to vodka and stir thoroughly.
Leave the mixture in a tightly closed glass container for 5-7 days, shaking from time to time.
The finished drink is filtered, poured into clean bottles and stored in a cool place.

Alcohol-based mead

Making mead at home according to any recipe can be completed by adding alcohol, giving the drink the desired strength. The latter will depend on the amount of additive diluted with pre-boiled water in a 1:1 ratio. The composition can be supplemented with any other spices of your choice.

Ingredients:

honey – 400 g;
water – 2 l;
wine alcohol – 150-250 ml;
yeast – 1 teaspoon;
hop cones – 10 pcs.;
spices.

Preparation

Dissolve honey in warm water and boil for 30 minutes, skimming off the foam.
Cool the brew, add hops and yeast, and leave to ferment for 3 days.
Add spices and wait until fermentation ends for about another 5-7 days.
The drink is filtered, bottled and left to mature for a month.
Before serving, bring the mead to the desired strength with alcohol.

What do you drink mead with?

Having prepared delicious homemade mead with your own hands, it’s time to familiarize yourself with the rules for serving the drink and the traditions of its use.

It is preferable to serve mead as an aperitif before a rich and satisfying meal in order to increase appetite, enhance the secretion of gastric juice and thereby speed up digestive processes.
An ideal light snack for mead is pickled apples, cranberries, cloudberries, lingonberries, salted watermelons, pickled cucumbers and other pickles.
In addition to pickles, the drink is served with dried, smoked or salted meat, all kinds of fresh vegetables, sweet and sour fruits and berries.
An appropriate snack would be baked goods with meat, cheese and cottage cheese (sweet and savory).
It is not recommended to serve fish and seafood with mead, which are considered to be completely unsuitable for the taste characteristics of such a drink.

How long does mead last?

As mentioned above, mead should be consumed in small portions, which requires that the prepared drink be provided with proper storage conditions.

The ideal containers for preserving intoxicating honey drinks are bottles, carboys and glass jars. In Rus', the drink was stored in oak barrels, which only improved its taste.
Hermetically sealed containers are placed in a basement, cellar or cool pantry without access to light.
The shelf life of mead can vary depending on the method of its preparation, and on average is 5-7 years for yeast versions and 15-20 years for yeast-free versions.