Homemade mead. Technology for making mead at home The mead turned out bitter

The historical memory of peoples often brings surprises. For example, if you conduct a survey among the Russian population about national alcoholic drinks, the answer will be unequivocal - vodka and moonshine. Hardly anyone remembers mead - a truly Russian, intoxicating drink with a history of several thousand years.

Cooking technology

They knew how to make mead back in Ancient Rus'. It was prepared according to those recipes and technologies for a very long time, for 20-30 years. To do this, honey diluted in water was poured into a tarred oak barrel and buried in the ground. The drink turned out to be both tasty and intoxicating and, most importantly, healthy. No wonder the newlyweds had to drink it regularly for a month in order to give birth to healthy offspring. This, by the way, is where the expression “honeymoon” comes from.

In the era of Peter I, the recipe for making a drink from honey was radically changed. To speed up ripening, they began to add hops to it. Within a month, a fragrant, intoxicating drink was obtained. However, two surprises awaited the mead makers along this path:

Firstly, when making a low-alcohol drink (7-10 degrees), the wild strain of yeast contained in honey did not always die in the produced alcohol, as a result of which the strength increased (up to a maximum of 14 degrees), but the amount of honey vinegar also increased. As a result, the result was a rather strong but sour alcoholic product, unsuitable for use.

Secondly, the growth of bacteria causing souring of honey diluted with water. Colonies of microorganisms are initially present in all varieties of this product. Their proliferation was caused by errors in temperature conditions during the fermentation of mead. Yeast begins to actively develop at 22 degrees Celsius and above.

At lower temperatures they grow weakly. As a result, little alcohol is produced, which has a detrimental effect on pathogenic bacteria. For the latter, temperatures below 20 degrees are the most favorable for reproduction, not to mention the fact that honey is an ideal nutrient medium.

The solution was found by changing the technology for preparing mead. The mixture of honey and water was simply boiled, during which bacteria and microorganisms died. But heat treatment of a sweet product destroys enzymes and vitamins, which is why it loses a significant part of its beneficial and medicinal properties.

Therefore, you should clearly understand what you need to get as a result.

If it is an aromatic alcoholic drink, then pasteurization is required. If you want to get both a medicinal and an alcoholic product in mead, then you should turn to recipes for fermenting honey without boiling.

Modern technology for making mead at home was refined in the 30s of the 20th century. The Bolsheviks, due to the large amount of unripe honey, had to remember how to brew mead from a substandard product. They improved the process of making mead.

It includes three phases: fermentation, aging, bottling.

Fermentation. At this stage, strength appears in the honey solution. Yeast, processing the sugars of honey, actively develops. Their growth is accompanied by the release of alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Important: carbon dioxide released by yeast, when interacting with oxygen, forms honey vinegar, which spoils the mead. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent air supplying oxygen from entering the container where the wort ferments. This is achieved using a water seal or a rubber glove.

Water seal for fermentation.

The fermentation process proceeds rapidly. The composition becomes cloudy and hisses. As sugar is produced, the mead becomes lighter and calmer. A sediment of spent yeast forms at the bottom. The end of the fermentation process can be determined in two ways:

• With the help of a burning match. It does not go out over the surface of the honey drink when fermentation is complete. Otherwise, carbon dioxide will extinguish it;
• Using a water seal or rubber glove. If no bubbles enter the shutter water or the glove rests on the container, then the yeast has completed its work.

The strength of mead depends on the amount of sugar in the raw material, the concentration of yeast in the wort and the temperature during the fermentation process.

The strength of the finished drink during the fermentation process can only be increased to 14 volume fractions of alcohol. At this strength, the yeast dies and the process of processing sugar into alcohol stops.

To achieve maximum strength, temperature conditions and the required yeast concentration must be observed. Sugar is usually enough for these purposes. A lack of yeast will not allow the existing sugar to be processed, and an excess will give the drink a cloudy appearance.

It should be noted that existing recipes for homemade mead stipulate that at the end of fermentation, the strength of the drink should be 6-9 degrees. To increase the proportion of alcohol in it, you should either significantly reduce the amount of water in the recipe, or dilute the mead with alcohol (vodka).

Infusion. The ripening time depends on the recipe and cooking technology. It can range from 5 to 30 days, and according to some recipes - up to several months. As it infuses, the drink is filled with aroma, acquires a more delicate taste, and becomes stronger.

In order for mead to ripen, completely stop fermentation and precipitate yeast residues, it must be poured into glass vessels or plastic bottles. Seal tightly and place in a cool place. To prevent the carbon dioxide pressure from knocking out the plugs during re-fermentation, it is necessary to underfill the container by 5-6 cm, and also periodically bleed off the accumulated gases. At the end of the infusion, the mead is saturated with a specific taste and aroma.

Filtration and bottling. This is the final stage of making a honey drink. To get rid of sediment and unsettled impurities, the drink is carefully filtered through multilayer gauze so as not to stir the sediment and poured into containers for further storage.

Preparation of ingredients

To brew mead at home, you need to have two main (honey and water) and several auxiliary (yeast, hops, spices, fruits) ingredients.

Theoretically, every novice mead maker knows how to make mead at home. Problems begin when it is necessary to use theoretical knowledge in practice. And the first thing he faces is the right choice of honey for an intoxicating drink.

Honey. Each type of honey has its own unique color, taste, smell and aroma. Naturally, the organoleptic characteristics of mead will depend on the quality of the raw materials. Therefore, varieties of honey with a weak odor (clover and fireweed) are immediately eliminated. You should refrain from using chestnut honey - it gives the intoxicating drink a bitter taste.

In terms of color, it is best to use light types of sweet product. Then the mead turns out amber in color. Dark varieties (buckwheat, angelica) give the drink a caramel shade and tart taste.

Honey must be natural, without additives or impurities, and without signs of fermentation.

Water. For the honey drink, use clean, soft drinking water, preferably from a spring. The degree of water hardness largely determines the quality of the final product. If the concentration of calcium salts in it exceeds the average level, then it tastes bitter and smells unpleasant. In addition, the development of yeast bacteria slows down in such water. Boiling reduces the hardness of water - salts will precipitate.

Yeast. Yeast can be taken natural (wild) or artificially grown (wine, confectionery). Industrial yeast, dry or pressed, must be of high quality - ferment well. Experienced mead makers advise using regular yeast to add some wild relatives to the wort. They speed up fermentation. Natural yeast is found in fruits, hops, rye flour, and raisins.

To give mead from honey a specific taste and aroma, additives from spices, seasonings, berries and fruits are often used. By combining them in various combinations, you can get a huge number of types of drink.

Citrus zest and oriental spices (cloves, cinnamon) go perfectly with honey. A pleasant taste is obtained by adding various juices to the drink, for example, cranberries, cherries, apples.

Preparing the brewed drink

How to make mead at home? To help, we provide step-by-step instructions for a boiled (heat-treated) drink.

1. We breed yeast. To do this, dip them in about 1 glass of sweetened and heated water. In about an hour they will start working. This can be seen by the bubbles on the surface of the water.
2. Dissolve honey in water - the proportions depend on the recipe. Boil in an enamel pan for 5 minutes. This is enough to pasteurize the syrup. Longer cooking kills the aroma of honey. During the boiling process, it is necessary to constantly stir the contents of the pan so that the sweet product does not burn. Carefully remove the foam that appears on the surface. It is dangerous to leave boiling honey unattended. It quickly ignites, scattering fiery spray with a crash.
3. Add flavorings to the finished syrup: ground cinnamon, hop cones, nutmeg, etc., if the recipe calls for it.
4. Cool the syrup to a temperature of 30-35 degrees.
5. By adding earned yeast to it. We mix. Cover with gauze to keep insects out. Place the finished wort in a warm place, with a temperature not lower than 20 degrees. If there is no such room, the container with the wort can be heated using electric heaters.
6. With the start of fermentation, after 1-2 days, pour the mead into a container with a small neck for complete fermentation. We close the neck with a water seal or a medical glove with fingers pierced with a needle to prevent contact of carbon dioxide with air.
7. At the end of the fermentation process, after about 5 days, let the mead infuse (see infusion).
8. At the final stage, we filter the drink and pour it into storage containers (see filtration and bottling).

Important: hops can be used as a flavoring agent, in which case it is added to boiling syrup, or in the form of natural yeast. In this case, it is dipped into a honey solution cooled to 35 degrees. In the case of yeast, many recommend dipping the hops into the mead in a gauze bag.

Preparing staged mead

To obtain a hop product with medicinal properties, you need to know how to make mead without pasteurization. Here you need to perform a few simple operations:

1. Dissolve honey in cold, unboiled water. Stir until there is no sediment at the bottom.
2. Depending on the recipe, we add wild yeast, in the form of raisins, hops, berries, or wine (brewer’s) yeast.
3. Pour the fermented drink into a container with a narrow neck and tie it with gauze to prevent insects from getting inside.
4. Place the vessel in a warm place and leave without moving. After 2-3 days, sluggish fermentation will begin.
5. With the onset of the active process of processing sugar into alcohol, we remove the mead from the sediment and filter it.
6. Pour into dark bottles, cork tightly and set to mature.

Important: when adding wild yeast, do not wash its carriers: berries, hops, raisins.

Mead recipes

In order to later be able to easily navigate the methods of preparing the drink and its types, we classify mead into the following types.

Depending on the degree of heat treatment, mead can be:

• hearty or boiled (boiled);
• set (without boiling).

By drink strength:

• low alcohol;
• fortified.

By carbon dioxide saturation:

• still;
• carbonated.

According to the composition of additives:

• natural;
• fake or improved.

By type of yeast:

• with wild yeast;
• with confectionery yeast.

You can make your own mead using various recipes.

Classic mead

A classic mead recipe will require:

• honey – 160 g;
• water – 1.05 l;
• hops – 3 g;
• dry yeast – 12 g;
• cinnamon - on the tip of a knife;
• nutmeg - on the tip of a knife.

Prepare exactly according to the instructions for boiled mead.

Carbonated mead

Mead can be used to make sparkling wine, very similar to champagne, but with its own taste and aroma. To do this, after the first fermentation is completed, the honey drink is filtered and poured into glass bottles. Add natural honey there at the rate of 35 g per 1 liter of wort and place in a warm place for 8 days.

Natural honey yeast will resume fermentation and saturate the drink with carbon dioxide. At the end of the specified period, transfer the bottles to a cool place for infusion. After a week, the sparkling wine is ready to drink. To prevent the cork from being knocked out of the bottle during the second fermentation, it should be strengthened, similar to a Champagne cork.

Mead without boiling

How to make mead without heat treatment is described in detail in the instructions (see above). The composition of ingredients may vary. Here are a few recipes.

Recipe number 1. The simplest mead recipe is 2 liters of drinking water, 120 g of running honey and 20 g of dry yeast.

Recipe number 2. Royal mead. It requires:

• drinking water – 1 l;
• honey - 40 g;
• raisins – 30 g.

The raisins are pre-soaked for 2-3 days, and then everything is done according to the instructions for the mead.

Mead without yeast

Mead without yeast can be both satisfying and satisfying. Industrial yeast replaces hops, raisins, and berries. Here are a few recipes.

Recipe number 1. The following components are required:

• water - 2 l;
• honey – 0.2 kg;
• bee bread – 100 g;
• lemon - 2 pcs.;
• raisins - 100 g;
• cinnamon - to taste.

Squeeze the juice from the lemon. Mix all the components of the drink. Let's let it wander. Further actions in accordance with the instructions for the supplied mead.

Recipe number 2. Take 2 liters of water, 400 g of honey, 1 tbsp. spoon of hops and cardamom. Cooking according to instructions for a rich mead, in which hops are yeast.

Strong mead

To prepare a strong honey drink, it is enough to change the ratio of water and honey, bringing them to 2:1, and also add 5 g of dry yeast for each liter of composition. Everything else is according to the instructions for a hearty mead. Note that such manipulation with water is allowed in all recipes for boiled mead.

Mead made from old honey

Very often a separate recipe is given for preparing an intoxicating drink from old honey. The following ingredients are indicated:

• water - 10 l;
• honey – 1.5 kg;
• hops – 10 cones;
• yeast – 3 g.

Then everything follows the instructions for boiled mead. The drink can be made fizzy or fortified, depending on the taste of the mead maker. This honey can be used for any recipe. When the mead is set, it is first dissolved.

Mead made with alcohol and vodka

Fans of fortified drinks can increase the strength of mead with alcohol or vodka. It is enough to add strong alcohol to the finished drink (after filtration) and let it brew for another 5 days. However, there are two very important points here.

1. If the final strength of the mead does not exceed 19 degrees, then pour the alcohol-containing liquid into the honey tincture. If you want to get a unique alcoholic drink with a strength of 28-40 degrees, then, on the contrary, pour mead into alcohol or vodka. The explanation is simple: any liquid, passing through a point of 20 degrees of strength, undergoes a violent and rapid chemical reaction, releasing a large amount of heat and the formation of fusel oils and various poisons. In this case, a wild hangover is guaranteed.

2. You can add alcohol to a honey drink at any stage of its production. But, nevertheless, it is better at the end of the technological chain. Then the mead turns out soft and aromatic.

Cherry mead

To make cherry mead you need the following components:

• drinking water – 5 l
• cherry juice – 3 l;
• natural honey – 2 kg;
• yeast – 200 g;
• cinnamon - 10 g;
• cloves – 10 g.

You can prepare a smaller quantity of the drink. To do this, all components should be taken in proportion to the main recipe. Making according to instructions for rich honey. The only thing that should be changed is the infusion period. It is 21 days.

Mead made from young honey

The situation with young honey is similar to the situation with old honey. It can be used in all recipes without restrictions. However, some cookbooks give the following recipe:

• water - 5 l;
• honey – 0.4 kg;
• raisins - 100 g;
• juice from 3 squeezed lemons;
• wine yeast - teaspoon;
• wheat flour - 3 tbsp. spoons.

Prepare according to instructions for boiled mead.

Apple mead

The preparation is similar to cherry mead. Naturally, cherry juice is replaced with apple juice, from sweet and sour varieties. Sometimes 30 g of sugar is added, which affects the strength of the drink.

Storing mead

The finished drink should be stored in wooden barrels, glass containers, and plastic bottles. Metal containers must be excluded. Vessels with aromatic mead must be hermetically sealed. You can use a cellar or basement for storage.

Knowing the recipe for mead at home, you can quickly and correctly prepare this magical drink.

Alcohol made with honey is an old tradition. This is previously popular drinking honey in Rus', without which holidays and feasts were not complete. From a technological point of view, there are several, if not many, recipes. The classic method is to prepare mead without yeast, using a cold method. The strength does not exceed 10 degrees, which classifies it as a low-alcohol drink.

Classic mead

Mead is obtained through the process of fermenting honey. But the composition also includes water, sometimes yeast, spices or herbs. A strong drink is obtained only by adding alcohol or vodka. Moreover, you can set any strength. Excess honey in apiaries under conditions of impossibility of long-term storage led to the development of technology for its fermentation. For rapid fermentation, yeast is added to the drink during its preparation.

The classic mead recipe represents an ancient technology, different from modern technology. In addition to the absence of yeast, its peculiarity is that honey is mixed with cold water. The drink will be less strong, about 4 degrees. But the process will take longer, about 4 months. The mixture of honey and water itself will not ferment, so additives must be made that essentially replace yeast - fermentation catalysts. Such additives can be berries traditionally involved in winemaking processes: cherries or dried grapes (raisins). And also raspberries. According to the historical recipe, mead was made with the addition of cherries. But for many, raisins will seem like a more familiar additive that causes fermentation.

First, a method for making mead with raisins.

1. Mix water with honey: 1 liter + 80 grams. Add 50 grams of raisins. The water should be cold, not hot. There is no need to wash raisins, since they contain fermentation substances (wild yeast).
2. Having put everything in a container, for example, a glass jar, we tie the throat with gauze to prevent dust or insects from entering. We place the jar in a warm place and wait for the start of fermentation, which will occur in a day or two.
3. When fermentation occurs (foam, hissing), the contents are filtered. The liquid part is separated from the raisins and impurities through several layers of gauze. The filtered composition is poured into a clean jar, which is tightly sealed.
4. The next stage is ripening. The jar or bottle is moved to a cool place, such as a refrigerator or basement. Staying there for up to 4 months, the drink comes to full readiness. After that you can try it. As already mentioned, the effect will be low-alcohol, similar to kvass.

Mead with cherries

Cherry mead is essentially cherry wine with honey.

Composition of products

• water - 1 liter;
• cherries, seedless berries - 4 kg;
• honey - 2 kg.

How to do

Prepare the cherries: remove the pits. Dilute honey with water and pour this mixture over the cherries. Mead is prepared similarly with strawberries and raspberries. After the first stage of mixing the ingredients, the actions are exactly the same as in the honey drink with raisins (recipe above).

Mead with yeast

If you make mead according to a historical recipe without yeast, this does not mean that it will turn out to be the most delicious of all the options. At home, you can use more modern recipes for preparing a low-alcohol drink with honey.

Homemade mead - ingredients list

The composition of the products is as follows:

• 300 grams of honey;
• 2 liters of water;
• 1 tsp yeast (dry);
• 5 grams of hops;
• various spices - 1 pinch each.

Hops are sold in pharmacies as a medicinal plant. A teaspoon of dry yeast (for example, baker's yeast) is replaced with 25 grams of pressed yeast, if such is available.

Stages of preparing mead with yeast, homemade

It is assumed that the recipe for mead at home is more often used by those who have honey in abundance. For example, these are the beekeepers themselves, who know many recipes for consuming and processing honey. But if you want to buy honey and make a drink, then it will be useful, based on the healing properties of honey. The process of selecting the honey that will be included in the mead recipe is important. Firstly, it must have a strong aroma, like buckwheat, linden or acacia nectar. Secondly, for a good honey drink you need high-quality honey. Unscrupulous sellers may change the composition of honey sold with sugar additives. You need to have a good understanding of honey when purchasing and use trusted trading sources.

1. You need to mix honey and water, dissolving the first in the second. To do this, bring the water to a boil in an enamel bowl. Add honey to the boiling pan and stir. After about 5 minutes foam will appear. We remove it with a spoon to ensure transparency, and constantly monitor the process.
   
   
2. Add aromatic spices and hops. Mix again and remove the pan.
3. Let the liquid cool down. The temperature should be slightly above normal room temperature when you need to add the yeast. High temperature will spoil the action of yeast (more than 50 degrees), and low temperature will not activate it either. The yeast must first be diluted in a minimum amount of warm water or honey syrup. Leave the pan in a warm room, in the dark. The temperature should be about 25 degrees - but that’s how it goes. Anyway, there are aquarium heaters that you can use.
   
   The pan is tied with gauze to prevent insects from accidentally getting in. Fermentation begins after 1 or 2 days. This is foam on the surface, hissing. At this time, you need to pour the liquid into another container, such as a bottle or jar. A rubber glove is usually placed over the throat, making a tiny hole in the finger. And also for this there is a water seal - a hose passing through the lid. One end of the tube hangs above the surface of the drink, and the other is immersed in a small jar of water. This design allows air and gases to escape from the bottle.
4. Next, a fermentation process will occur, lasting up to 6 days. It will end when the glove stops filling with gases, that is, it falls off. The end can also be determined by the absence of bubbles from the water seal. The match does not go out near the surface - also a sign that the composition has fermented.
   
   
5. The next step is to filter the contents, the drink is almost ready. To do this, pour the drink into another container where sediment should not fall. After filtration, the mead is strained through cheesecloth folded in layers.
   
   
6. Honey alcoholic drink is ready! We pour it into glass bottles (they are better than plastic and more traditional), and seal it. In this form, freshly prepared alcohol is stored cold. To be completely ready, it is better to wait another 5 days, but you can try right away.
   
   

It is also necessary to say about precautions.

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 our country's history, but this is not at all the case.

Mead, depending on the preparation, can be pleasantly sweet from 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 cook it at home, there are “old” and more recently created versions of this alcoholic drink. It should also not be forgotten that although the degree of mead is relatively low, due to the nature of honey, it is also very insidious, and while the head is clean, the legs will not go anywhere. Read about this and much more later in the article.

Description

Mead- an alcoholic drink made on the basis of honey, yeast and flavorings.

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

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

Honey got this name due to the fact that 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 the technology of winemaking.

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

How the first mead was made

The very first mead in Rus' was obtained by fermenting honey in barrels with berry juice. The recipe for this drink was discovered in the well-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 the addition of 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 traditional mead. Since the process was very complicated and also costly, only representatives of the rich estates, princes or combatants could afford such a drink.

Barrels of mead were given to young people for a wedding, it was considered a very valuable gift. Such a drink made it possible to have fun at the wedding for a long time and not get very 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 obtaining hop and boiled honey was invented. "Honey honey" appeared 50 years later than the one set. In addition to adding juice, hops and spices were put into such a product, so that the drink had a greater strength, as well as a pleasant taste.

• Intoxicated honey was prepared in general for 3 years, it could stand for 5-8 years.
• Such a drink came to Rus' from Scandinavia, where honey drinks have been at a premium 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 refers to the annals 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.

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 allowed to significantly reduce the amount of waste in the production process of the drink. The taste of a drink made from boiled honey is a bit like beer. It only took a few weeks to prepare.

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 "sati" - a sweet drink that was served at the end of the meal. It was from that time that the phrase "eat your fill" went, that is, eat everything, leaving room only for "satiation."

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 "tezh". This is a homemade drink. Its strength is 15% -30%. It has a sweet and spicy taste.

In the 19th century, new recipes for making 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”, “drinking honey”, “hoppy 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 “set 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 by the method of medostav 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 the old recipes again and various drinks made from honey appeared again.

Stavlennaya honey - an old recipe for mead

This honey drink was considered the most valuable and high quality. True, and prepared it for a long time.

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

• First, honey was fermented.
• Any sour berries were good for his sourdough: lingonberries, cherries, currants.
• Hops were added less frequently.

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

The taste depended on the aging period. By the way, it was easy to spoil it with 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 in a barrel of honey" came from.

Boiled mead – hearty honey

The put honey, with all its merits, had one big minus - it took a very long time to wait for the fragrant drink to ripen. And it wasn't cheap. Apparently, therefore, already at the end of the 11th century, another old recipe for making mead obtained by boiling, sterilization and fermentation appeared.

The honey drink was brewed. And those who cooked it began to be called honey cooks. The drink was prepared much faster (within a month) and was cheaper. Such a drink, of course, was much more affordable than the set honey and quickly gained popularity.

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

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

Medovukha "simple"

The closer to our time, the simpler and more primitive the old mead recipe became. They stopped fermenting honey. First, a brew was prepared from berries or fruits, spices, herbs, roots and honey were added to it.

This is where the “medovukha” actually appeared.

It was assumed that this is the same old intoxicating drink, but of lower quality, because as a result of such a simplified technology of its preparation, the soft and delicate taste of boiled and set honeys was lost. Their pleasant aroma was interrupted by the smell of yeast and fusel oils.

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

How many degrees are in mead?

According to the strength and production time of the drink, they differ: ordinary 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 the old classic 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 their use, the addition of ready-made mash, is already a deviation from the classic recipe.

However, mead can be not only alcoholic. Known recipes and soft drink, more like honey kvass, which is produced by skipping the stage of the main fermentation. In the finished mead, you can, at will, add or not add honey and alcohol.

How to cook 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, cinnamon and ginger, pepper and horseradish, raisins and cloves, 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 would like to try real honey, but for this, at least, you need to move to the time of the Russian princes and be 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, glaciers, and not everyone has the patience to wait for a ready drink for so many years.
• But you can use the second old method - cook 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, pour honey with water, bring to a boil, stirring. Add spices, hops, lemon zest and boil again, removing the resulting foam.

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 ripen in a dark, cool place.

How to drink mead?

• Experts in mead brewing advise drinking mead before meals. In any case, this is how our ancestors drank intoxicated honey in Rus'.
• The drink is served chilled. It is not worth drinking or eating it. But if you like to use it in a different way, there are no strict rules in this regard.
• Medovukha is not a strong drink, but an insidious one. 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 mead recipe appeared in the 18th century in Veliky Novgorod and became popular in the 20th century. In Soviet times, honey collection technology was often violated, collecting it earlier than necessary. This unripe honey was poorly stored and absolutely not suitable for sale. Therefore, a cunning way of using illiquid assets was invented - the fermentation of this honey with baker's yeast. Suzdal and Veliky Novgorod were famous for their honey production. Fortress mead from Veliky Novgorod - from 5 to 16%. In Suzdal, you can find more than ten types of mead, which are distinguished by their strength and spices. Dried ginger root, juniper berries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, rose hips and hot peppers are often added to mead here.

Ripening period

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

fermentation process

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

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

Insert a thin hose into this small hole. One side of the hose should be in the bottle above the liquid, and the other side should be lowered into the bowl of water. This allows gases and fermentation products to safely exit the drink.

The most delicious mead is obtained from high quality fragrant 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 at any pharmacy.
• The foam formed during the cooking of honey must be removed. Then the drink will be 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 starts to burn, getting 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 ​​lemons go 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 pressed);
• hop cones - 5 grams;
• cinnamon and nutmeg - 1 pinch.

All ingredients are available, difficulties can arise only with hop cones. They are sold in almost every pharmacy, so this is not a problem either. Yeast can be taken any, for example, for baking bread.

Mead preparation technology

1. 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 great, but you can take another one, 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 sugar surrogate or the honey itself will be of poor quality.

Such raw materials will never make delicious homemade mead.

2. Dissolving honey in water.

Pour water into an enamel saucepan, 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. Introduction of 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 thorough mixing, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Preparation for fermentation.

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

Transfer the pot with 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 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, a hiss 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, mead fermentation lasts 4-6 days. The end of the process is indicated by a blown glove or a long absence of bubbles coming out 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), cork tightly and transfer to the refrigerator or cellar. I am not a supporter of storing alcohol in plastic containers, but in this case it is harmless.

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

How to make mead carbonated

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

Mead without yeast and boiling

An old recipe according to which our ancestors made mead. They dispensed with yeast and diluted honey in cold water. I warn you that using this technology, preparation will take 3-4 months, besides, 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, 1 liter of water, 80 grams of honey and 50 grams of raisins are used.

• 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 being added to mead, otherwise you can accidentally wash off the wild yeast responsible for fermentation, and it will be difficult to predict the subsequent result.

• Tie the neck with gauze, then put 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 prepares the so-called “set mead”, which does not require a glove or a 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, alcohol is almost not felt, more like kvass.

P.S. Many people call the “proper mead” a recipe without yeast and boiling.

But this does not mean that the first option is not so tasty or healthy. I advise you to prepare mead in two ways, 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 mix 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 fire for another quarter of an hour, stirring constantly and removing the foams that form on the surface (at the same time, one should remember about constant and vigilant vigilance, 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 put 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 inside the container, above the surface of the fermenting substance, and the other - in a 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 due to the absence of bubbles escaping through the tube or a deflated glove. For insurance, you can bring a lit match to a vessel with honey mash. If at the same time 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, followed 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 more or less arbitrary additions of various additional ingredients.

Among them may be various spices:

cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, cloves, ginger, cardamom; berries of middle latitudes: viburnum, blueberries, currants, strawberries, mountain ash, raspberries, cranberries, lingonberries, cherries and even rose hips; as well as other herbal ingredients: hops, lime blossom, mint, pine buds, sweet clover and, oddly enough, horseradish.

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

The original recipe for mead (set mead without yeast and boiling)

Based on a liter of water, we 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 discourage washing berries in every possible way 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 a 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 thus obtained is placed in the refrigerator or in the cellar for 4 months.

Although, it is worth noting that in order to complete the true Old Russian effect, glass bottles should be replaced with oak barrels, and the aging period of the drink should be increased by 20 years, so to speak. Those who wish to try - our genuine respect.

Mead in a hurry

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

Old mead recipe

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. Keep 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.

• Withstand 2-3 weeks. If fermentation does not start or is small, add yeast.
• After the end of the primary fermentation, pour the drink into bottles, while closing them tightly. Remove the finished alcohol in a cool place for 3 months (you can fill 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. Remove the foam, pour the drink into a bottle, add juice, spices, yeast and leave for 2 days in a warm place. After that, close the bottle well and put it in a cool place for 20 days.

pink honey

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

Dissolve honey in warm water and boil for 1 hour, removing foam. Add an infusion of dried blueberries, 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 mead recipe

We 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 cold place.

A month later, as it becomes lighter, we bottle it, if necessary, we correct the taste (if it is sour, add a spoonful of honey, if it is sweet, add citric acid or sour apple juice).

Homemade mead

Ingredients: honey - 1.5 kg., Water - 10 liters, hop cones (buy at a pharmacy) - 10 grams, yeast - 3 grams

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

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

For the preparation of mead, both ordinary yeast and beer yeast will do, but the French Saf-levure yeast is still considered the best.

• After the contents have cooled to 50 * C, add the yeast mass to it and cover it with a lid, put it in a warm place for five days. About this time, the contents should ferment.
• After the fermentation process has stopped, we remove the hops from the pan, and strain the drink through gauze and bottling, 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.

Put honey in a saucepan, pour water and boil the syrup. During cooking, you need to periodically stir and remove the foam. We remove the stones from a well-washed cherry, pour it into a bottle with a long neck and pour 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 ferment, close the neck with a cork from a folded 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

We take an enamel pan and pour 2 liters of water, add 300 grams of honey. The mixture is thoroughly stirred over low heat. We 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. Dilute a spoonful of yeast in water, leave for 1 hour and then add to the mixture. After that, homemade mead is put on fermentation.

After 3 days, it can be poured into bottles, close them and put away for a month to infuse in the refrigerator.

spiced 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. Here are all the steps from the basic recipe.
vzboltay.com

• Since ancient times, Suzdal mead has been popular. It is distinguished by its unusual taste, has a high fortress. Now the drink is used not only for drinking, but also for treatment.
• The product has useful properties, it contains various enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, trace elements. Mead is obtained in the process of fermentation, it does not contain flavors, dyes, various flavors.

vzboltay.com

Suzdal mead

The difference between Suzdal mead and drinking honey

1. Honey is included in the product.
2. A drinking bee product is being prepared in a special oak barrel.
3. Drinking honey is stored for a long time.
4. 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.
5. The recipe for the Suzdal drink does not have such difficulties in preparation, it needs to be boiled, sterilized, hops added, fermentation waited, the drink does not need to be infused for a long time, a maximum of one week.

Features of Suzdal mead

1. May have different strengths.
2. The composition of the drink may include various components, spices, especially a delicious drink, to which cinnamon, rose hips, juniper, ginger, cayenne pepper are added.
3. Mead is used for medicinal purposes Cossack, five-altyn, oprichnaya, half-and-a-half, and archery mead.
4. It has a pleasant honey taste, aroma, is sweet, it contains glucose, fructose, 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 brewed mead is obtained through fermentation. Hearty mead is prepared first by fermentation, then the honey is sterilized by boiling.
• Cooking difference. There are such types as with the addition of honey when the product is ready or without honey after cooking.
• Ethyl alcohol can be added to the drink or not.
• The strength and production time are taken into account, so we can distinguish young, strong, ordinary and staged mead.
• It may differ in ingredients - spicy, intoxicating types of Suzdal drink are known.

Technology of preparation of classic Suzdal mead

The recipe calls for the following basic ingredients:

1. Spring water – 4 liters.
2. Honey - 500 grams.
3. Sugar - 0.5 kg.
4. Yeast - 100 grams.

To prepare a 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, remove the foam.

Be sure to use only enameled cooking utensils.

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. To do this, it is best to use a barrel from a tree, you can use a jar, if you do not have such devices, you can use the dishes in which all the ingredients were originally put.

• After fermentation stops, most often it lasts no more than two days.
• It is easy 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 part of honey - 250 grams of honey.

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

Recipes for different varieties of Suzdal mead

1. Cossack Suzdal recipe similar to the classic, but it has the difference that pepper and a little juniper are added to it. This drink is spicy.
2. Five-altyn recipe Suzdal mead is not very strong, has amber color, honey aroma, has a slight wine flavor, the tasting room offers 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.
3. Recipe for trepezny Suzdal mead suitable for various occasions. Place a large amount of honey in it. The drink is not only sweet, but also strong.
4. 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.
5. 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 up 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 the preparation of the product is fermentation.

The boiled type of Suzdal mead is prepared on the basis of heat treatment, cold methods are used to prepare the set mead. 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 recipes: how to make mead at home

Mead is made quite simply, you just need to know some of the subtleties of cooking.

Mandatory to do:

• The foam formed during the cooking of honey must be removed
• Before putting 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 honey drink directly depends on the quality of honey. It must be very aromatic. 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 - very dark, at the same time very fragrant, with bitterness, 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. Better look for another seller.

How long does mead need to age?

Usually mead ferments in 5 days. The result is a frothy drink that looks like champagne, only cloudy. But sometimes mead is aged for 3 to 6 months. It becomes not so sparkling, more dense, 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 useful, while it is aged, the berries give it all the useful substances.

Fermentation

You can close the bottle with the future mead cloth, but it is better to make a gas outlet. To do this, a lid is put 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 look at how well it fits to the neck.

To determine if the honey has fermented, you need to light a match and bring it to the liquid. If the fire does not flare up stronger, then the alcohol vapors from the mead do not come out and the fermentation is completed.

Fortress mead

Usually 5-6 degrees. Sometimes you can bring honey to a fortress of 10 degrees. But do not let a small number of degrees relax you. Mead is an insidious drink. It is instantly absorbed into the blood. Often there is an amazing effect, the head is completely sober and clear, and the legs are braided. But the boozy effect of the mead doesn't last very long. Unless, of course, you do not drink it in liters throughout the evening.

Attention! Heated honey should not fall on an open fire - it is highly flammable!

hop 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 pot.

Step 2. Slowly pour in the 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 (old recipe)

• Mead for Robin Hood (recipe 2)
• Yeast free
• 2 kg honey
• 1 liter of water
• 4-5 kg ​​cherries

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

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

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

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.

spiced 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 of 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. The mead should become transparent and boil down twice.

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

Step 5 Put 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 and store in the refrigerator.

Cranberry honey (soft drink)

• 1 kg cranberries
• 2 liters of water
• 300 g honey

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

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

Step 3 In the broth, stirring, pour in the cranberry juice.

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 stand 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 the preparation of the drink - a key ingredient that mainly affects the taste, aroma, and color of the honey drink.

The homemade mead recipe, I think, is very different from the one 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 Hopless Yeast Mead Recipe

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

An old homemade mead recipe

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

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 whole team of the Wonder Cook culinary site will be interested to learn new ways to prepare a popular drink!

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

HONEY AT HOME

Making mead at home is easy. And today we will take on the simplest mead recipe, consisting of only 4 ingredients.

To prepare mead at home, prepare the products 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 away strongly, add it to the original volume.

Let the liquid cool down 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 be quite intoxicating. In principle, you can already drink it, but in order for the taste to become more noble, it needs to “ripen”. Strain the mead again into a clean bottle, close with a regular cork and put it in a cool place for at least 3 more weeks, and preferably 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.com

One of the many advantages of mead (a low-alcohol honey drink with a strength of 1-16 degrees) is the ability to prepare it at home.

Of course, we are not talking here about the home production of honey mash in industrial quantities, but each of you can easily provide for yourself with a dozen or two soul-warming half-liters this way.

Monastery honey for drinking

Ingredients

1. Honey – 3.25 l
2. Water – 6.5 l
3. Fresh hops – 75 g
4. For tea essence: 1 tsp. tea leaves and 1 cup boiling water

Cooking method

1. To prepare honey, the best, pure honey is taken, without the slightest admixture of wax.
2. Take a well-tinned iron or copper cauldron, pour honey and water into it, stir and place on the stove.
3. Once it boils, simmer for 3 hours over even, low heat. Then put hops in honey, tied in a bag made of loose fabric. Attach a sinker to the bag so that it lies at the bottom of the cauldron.
4. Boil with hops for 1 hour. Then add hot boiled water to the original volume (that is, add boiled liquid), boil again, set aside and cover.
5. While the honey is still quite warm, strain it through a thin cloth or gauze into a wooden or glass bowl, but so as to fill it 4/5, cover with a cloth and place in a warm place (from 18 to 20 degrees), in winter near the stove, and in the summer in the sun. After 2 days the honey begins to foam.
6. If honey is kept at a lower temperature, it will not ferment, but will begin to mold. The warmer the place, the sooner the honey will be ready. This usually takes 3-5 weeks. After 3 weeks, you need to listen: if the honey makes a lot of noise, leave it some more, but if it stops hissing and you can already smell honey and alcohol, then it’s ready.
7. If you want stronger honey, you need to let it sit in a warm place until it stops fizzing, and if you want weaker and sweeter honey, you can strain it while it’s still fizzing.
8. Before straining honey, you need to pour a glass of tea essence into it. Do not stir the honey liquid, but carefully drain it, straining through flannel or several layers of gauze, repeating this even several times until the honey is completely clean and transparent. Honey strained in this way is good for consumption, but after six months it will be better, and after a year it will be excellent. The longer it sits, the better it will be.

Straight mead

Ingredients

1. Water – 3 l
2. Vodka – 125 ml
3. Honey – 1 kg of honey
4. Yeast – 50 g yeast
5. Cloves – 4 grains
6. Ground cinnamon – 8 g
7. Violet and cardamom – 5 g each
8. Melissa – 3-5 g

Cooking method

1. Heat the water, add honey, stirring, and simmer over low heat until it reaches the consistency of molasses. Remove from heat and strain.
2. Pour the liquid into a wooden barrel, add and stir the yeast.
3. Allow the drink to ferment, pour in vodka and add spices in a fabric bag.
4. Leave to infuse for 1 month, then strain and pour into bottles for storage. Seal tightly and keep in a cool place.

Southern mead

Ingredients

1. Water – 3 l
2. Honey – 1.5 kg
3. Light raisins – 200 g light raisins
4. Hops – 30 g
5. Brewer's yeast – 1/3 tsp.

Cooking method

1. Place the hops in a fabric bag, put them in water, put the bowl of water on the fire and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and evaporate the liquid by a third, without letting it boil.
3. Remove the hops and place them in a small amount of cold water, then squeeze them well and add the squeezed liquid to hot water. Dissolve honey well in the same water.
4. Measure out the honey liquid, transfer it to a large saucepan, and pour in cold water three times as much honey water. Let it boil, stirring constantly, cook at low boil for 40 minutes, strain while hot.
5. Wash the pan thoroughly, pour the honey liquid back into it and boil until the volume is reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat, cool, add brewer's yeast and raisins.
6. Pour the honey into a wooden barrel, let it ferment in a warm place (about 10 days) and move it to a cold place for 4 days.
7. Pour the finished drink into bottles, seal tightly, and leave for 90 days before drinking.

Birch honey

Ingredients

1. Birch sap – 3 l
2. Honey – 500 g honey
3. Rye (black) bread – 1 slice
4. Liquid yeast – 20 g

Cooking method

1. Pour honey into birch sap, stir, and bring to a boil over low heat.
2. Boil for an hour over low heat, then cool until warm.
3. Coat rye bread with yeast, put in syrup and leave in a warm place for 1 hour.
4. Add a little more yeast if the honey does not start to ferment.
5. From the moment fermentation begins, remove the bread, cover the dishes with a cloth, and keep in a warm room until the end of fermentation.
6. Pour the drink into bottles, seal and store in a cool place. Consume after 120-150 days.

Vanilla honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 5 liters of water
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Sugar - 1 kg
4. Hops – 50 g
5. Yeast – 15 g
6. Vanilla sugar packet – 1 pc.

Cooking method

1. Mix the yeast with 40-50 g of sugar, pour in a little water, grind thoroughly, and leave to rise.
2. Pour cold water into a saucepan, add all the sugar, vanilla sugar, add honey and hops and put on fire.
3. Bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes and cool.
4. Mix with yeast, put in a warm place for fermentation for 4-5 days (until the hops float to the surface).
5. When foam appears, strain the drink, pour into bottles, seal tightly and leave in a cool place for 14-15 days.

Cherry honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 500 ml
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Cherry – 2 kg

Cooking method

1. Wash the ripe berries, dry them, and carefully remove the seeds.
2. Heat water, pour in honey, stir and cook, stirring and skimming foam from the surface.
3. Place the cherry berries in a bottle with a narrow neck, pour honey syrup and cover the neck with a wet cloth.
4. Leave for 3 days in the fermentation room. Then seal the bottle tightly and move it to a cool, dark room.
5. Leave for at least 90 days before use.

Cherry honey alternative recipe

Ingredients

1. Water - 1 l
2. Fresh cherry juice – 1 l
3. Honey - 1 kg
4. Yeast – 50 g yeast,
5. Raisins – 50 g raisins
6. Cloves and ground cinnamon – 10 g each

Cooking method

1. Pour water into a saucepan and boil. Add honey, stir until completely dissolved, put back on the heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove foam.
2. Remove the liquid from the heat, cool to room temperature, pour in the cherry juice and put the spices in a bag (can be made from medical gauze). Also add raisins and yeast diluted in a small amount of water.
3. Stir gently, let ferment for 3 days (keep in a warm place) and strain.
4. Pour into bottles, cap tightly, and leave in a cool place for 12-20 days before use.

Ginger honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 4.5 l
2. Lemon – 2 pcs.
3. Light honey – 2 kg
4. Yeast – 25 g
5. Hop cones – 25 g
6. Ginger root – 14 g
7. Gelatin – 7 g

Cooking method

1. Wash the lemons, pour boiling water over them, and squeeze out the juice.
2. Cut the lemon peel into small strips.
3. Boil water, dissolve honey and add hops, chopped ginger root, lemon juice and peel.
4. Cook over low heat for no more than 45 minutes, strain and pour into a wooden barrel or dark glass bottle.
5. Add yeast to the warm liquid, stir gently and leave to ferment for 35 days.
6. Dilute gelatin in 100 ml of water, pour into honey liquid, mix everything and seal the container tightly, leave for 175-180 days.
7. Pour the finished honey into bottles and close them well with corks, tying them with wire on top.

Raspberry honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 3 liters of water
2. Fresh raspberry juice – 180 ml
3. Honey – 500 g honey
4. Hops – 15 g hops
5. Yeast – 10 g
6. Dark raisins – 2 pcs. per bottle.

Cooking method

1. Boil water, dissolve honey, put on fire and bring to a boil.
2. Cook over low heat for about 2 hours. Add half the amount of hops, simmer for another hour and strain the honey.
3. Mix the second part of the hops with the yeast, let it rise, add the mixture to the slightly cooled liquid along with raspberry juice.
4. Allow the drink to ferment, strain, pour into a bottle and seal tightly. Keep the drink in a cool place for 12-14 days.
5. Strain carefully, pour into bottles for storage, adding 2 raisins to each. Seal the bottles and store in a cool, dry place.

Mint honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 1.5 l
2. Honey - 1 kg
3. Molasses – 100 g
4. Fresh mint leaves (for example: peppermint) – 50 g
5. Yeast – 25 g yeast
6. Gelatin – 5 g

Cooking method

1. Melt the molasses in 500 ml of water, add mint leaves, let simmer for 10 minutes.
2. It is good to heat the remaining water, completely dissolve the honey in it, put it on the fire and boil for several minutes.
3. Pour in the mixture of molasses and mint leaves, stir, let it boil once, remove from heat.
4. Cool to room temperature, strain, add yeast and leave to ferment for 3-4 days.
5. Then add pre-dissolved gelatin, keep in a cool place for 2 days, pour into bottles, close tightly.

Fruit honey

Ingredients

1. Fresh fruit juice – 3 l
2. Honey – 1 kg of honey
3. Yeast – 50 g

Cooking method

1. Pour the fruit juice into a saucepan and heat until it boils.
2. Remove from heat and immediately dissolve honey in it. Allow the liquid to cool well.
3. Separately, dilute the yeast in a small amount of water or juice, then pour it into the liquid and stir.
4. Leave at room temperature for 1-2 days, then pour into bottles and seal tightly.
5. Let stand for 14-20 days in a cool place before use.

Berry honey

Ingredients

1. Water - 1 l
2. Honey – 2 kg
3. Pitted cherries – 1 kg
4. Strawberries – 1 kg strawberries
5. Rye bread – 100 g rye bread
6. Brewer's yeast – 50 g

Cooking method

1. Wash ripe and high-quality berries, dry them, remove the seeds.
2. Mix berries with honey and mash.
3. Pour in warm boiled water, add a piece of rye bread mixed with yeast.
4. Leave to ferment for 15-20 days, drain the liquid into another container, and place again in a warm place for 7-12 days. Ready honey can be consumed immediately.

Strong honey

Ingredients

1. Water – 4 l
2. Honey – 600 g
3. Dry yeast – 5 g
4. Port wine or cognac – 40-60 ml

Cooking method

1. Boil 1 liter of water, dissolve the honey well and mix with the remaining cold water.
2. Add yeast, stir, leave at room temperature for 14 days.
3. Add an alcoholic drink to taste and leave for another 14-15 days.
4. Seal the container tightly and leave in a cool place for at least 180 days.
5. Pour the finished drink into bottles for storage, keep in a cool place.

If you have a mead recipe that is not listed above, please share it with me via the contact form. Let's put all the recipes together!

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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 a 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.

Z.Y. 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)

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