Mead

Unlike some bee-keepers this year we had a reasonable crop of honey, especially considering the bees didn't settle to any normal pattern of behaviour. But some of the honey we had taken off late this year was still 20% water, usually we hope the water content goes down to around 18%. The higher the water content the honey does not always keep so well and may ferment- we have had a couple of jars look a bit doubtful so decided to check out the others and use them before they went the same way- the obvious thing to use them for was to make mead!

Like many people our age (!) we had gone through a home brewing stage and at the back of the cupboard under the stairs we have a cluster of demijohns and a box of wine making equipment. So really there was nothing to lose! Out they came and were sterilised- new wine yeast and yeast nutrient were bought and a simple recipe found.

After reading a lot of recipes I decide to just try a really simple, basic one:-

1.5 kg honey
1 tspn yeast nutrient
1 tspn wine yeast
Water

Heating the honey with cinnamon and cloves

I heated the honey with a litre of boiling water until it reached 140 F and kept it there for about 25 mins- this was to kill the natural yeast which can be unpredictable flavour-wise. Then I left it to cool down, added the nutrient and yeast, gave it a good shake, poured it into the demijohn and topped up with filtered water. I made 2 batches, one of them I put a cinnamon stick and a few cloves in as I heated it- just out of interest to see if it would pick up the flavours.
 Just in case the fermentation got too vigorous I put the demijohns in the bath so it wouldn't make too much mess!
After about half an hour they were both bubbling away and today- after 24 hours , not overflowing but steady and strong! It seems that it is now just a matter of time to wait while the fermentation stops, then letting the wine clear and racking it off - all of which will probably take a few months- I need to find somewhere else for the bottles to go for now though!