Today we made our second batch of mead! We used the same recipe for this short mead as we did with the last batch we made, but this time we used unpasteurized honey. We want to see if using this type of honey changes the taste of the mead or fermentation process, as pasteurized honey has a lot of the nutrients and
natural impurities removed by being processed prior to packaging. This is especially significant, as unpasteurized honey is much closer to the raw honey the Vikings would have used, even though it is still a commercial product and has therefore been processed to some extent.
Steps:
1. Sterilize all equipment that will be used.
2. Bring 1.5L of spring water to a boil, remove pot from heat, add 1kg of honey, and stir. *
3. Pour must (honey water) into fermentation container, add 1.5L of cold spring water, stir.
4. Take some of the must to test the specific gravity of the mixture so that when the mead is done the alcohol content can be tested.
5. Activate yeast according to directions on the packet.
6. Add yeast to the must in fermentation container.
7. Cover container with towels and leave for a week to ferment.
8. Take mead to presentation day and enjoy!
* Note: After adding the honey, the must should have been boiled for longer to remove any impurities. However, as we used a commercial honey, it has likely been filtered a bit already.
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| Mead ingredients: 3L of spring water, 1kg of unpasteurized honey, and one package of champagne yeast. |
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| Adding the unpasteurized honey to boiled water and then mixing well. |
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| Adding the must to the fermentation container. |
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| Must after adding the cold spring water and mixing. |
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| Testing the must's specific gravity. This will allow us to know the alcohol content of the mead once fermentation is complete. |
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| Activating the yeast. |
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| Adding the yeast to the must. We then covered the bucket with towels and will allow it to sit for the rest of the week to ferment. |
More pictures to come on the process of the mead fermenting, it's making my house smell really good though!
-B (with a few additions from Jo)
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