Mead is a tasty as well as healthy low-alcohol drink based on such a product donated by nature as honey with the addition of hops, yeast, flavors and other ingredients.
People began to prepare hops based on honey long ago, several millennia ago.
But in Ancient Russia, for the honeymoon, the honeymooners were presented with a whole keg of honey, for a happy life, which was considered then to be a sweet one.
A variety of dishes and drinks were prepared from this honey.
And the mead was considered the most excellent - delicious and aromatic drink among other drinks.
Mead is made by fermenting honey. Real mead includes only natural ingredients, such as: honey, various herbs, spices and hops.
Of course, the technology for preparing this drink is different, and each recipe for creating a mead is unique in its own way. Therefore, in order to cook mead at home and on your own, among the many recipes by trial and error, you need to choose the one that will meet all the taste characteristics of the so-called mead.
General principles and features of cooking Mead at home
• For the preparation of mead, it is necessary to select varieties of light honey, and best of all, a white product with an unsurpassed taste and aroma.
• Fermentation of mead occurs in 5 days. The result is a sparkling, frothy drink, aromatic, but with a cloudy appearance.
• Mead of half-year exposure has a dense, viscous consistency, unusual aroma, great strength and excellent taste.
• To prepare mead, use a water trap, a medical rubber glove, or just a piece of cloth.
• Usually the mead has a small fortress somewhere around 10 degrees. But this delicious and insidious drink is deceiving, quickly absorbed into the mead’s blood - the taster’s head is clear and sober, and his legs are deprived of obedience, and they begin to braid.
Recipe 1. Ordinary mead at home in a modern way
Ingredients:
• Honey - 300 gr.
• Water - 2000 ml.
• Yeast (dry) - 5 gr.
Cooking method:
Honey must be poured into boiled water and boiled for 15 minutes. Cooking honey is carried out on the most silent fire with constant stirring, to prevent sticking of honey.
Important! When cooking, constantly remove accumulating and plentifully flowing foam.
Next, the resulting consistency must be removed from the heat, cool it to 30 degrees, and begin the gradual falling asleep of dry yeast in honey. Then, all mixed components must be poured into a clean container specially prepared for fermentation of the future mead.
The container with the resulting consistency must be corked by installing a water seal and removed to a warm place for fermentation of the future drink for 7 days.
When the fermentation process is over, the mead must be bottled carefully and cleaned in a cool place without any sediment.
After a few days, the mead will be ready. After 30 days, she will gain strength, and after 6 months, it will make a delicious dessert.
Recipe 2. "Monastic" mead at home
Ingredients:
• Water - 3 liters.
• Honey - 1.200 liters.
• Hop - 30 gr.
• Yeast - 15 gr.
Cooking method:
In a boiled water, it is necessary to dissolve the honey and continue to cook for 3 hours over low heat, constantly stirring, in order to avoid burning the consistency.
Foam coming from the surface must be constantly removed in a separate container.
Then you need to add the required amount of hops, and it is better to wrap a piece of hops in a rag, weight it down and lower it into a brew.
Boil all the components over low heat for another hour. And with a decrease in volume, the evaporated liquid must be supplemented with hot water.
Now the resulting consistency must be cooled to 30 degrees and add to it dry yeast, and preferably wine.
All components should be drained into a container for fermentation, corked with a water seal, or a rubber glove with a small hole on the neck, and put into a warm place.
After the fermentation process is over, it is necessary to add 200 ml of strong black tea to the mead and strain the drink thoroughly.
Ready mead is recommended for 2-3 days to remove in a cool place for insisting. The shelf life of such a drink is not more than a month.
Recipe 3. "Lite" mead at home (no yeast according to the old recipe)
A drink prepared according to this recipe is light and not as strong as ordinary mead. In addition, the process of making this drink takes a long time, about 90 days. And to improve the taste and fermentation process, it is recommended to add berries, for example, cherries or raisins, to such a mead.
Ingredients:
• Water - 1 l.
• Honey - ¼ cup.
• Raisins - ¼ cup.
Cooking method:
It is necessary to dissolve honey in cool water, cover the neck of the vessel with gauze and remove the resulting consistency in a warm place.
The fermentation process under these conditions will begin in two days. As soon as the first indicators of the fermentation process appear, the liquid must be filtered through gauze folded from several layers and drained into a clean bowl, which then needs to be placed in a cool place. Such mead is insisted on natural components for 90 days.
Recipe 4. Mead at home "Classical"
Ingredients:
• Water - 5 liters.
• Honey - 800 gr.
• Yeast - 15 gr.
• Hop - 60 gr.
• Wort (kvass type) - 1 glass.
• Chicory - 90 gr.
• Orange peels.
• Coriander - 30 gr.
Cooking method:
Most of the honey must be dissolved in boiling water until completely dissolved. After that, you need to reduce the heat and cook honey for some more time. The incoming foam must be removed from the surface all the time, and the consistency must be mixed in order to avoid the moment of burning.
Afterwards, add hops to the consistency and cook all the ingredients for another 30 minutes. Further, for the smell, namely, to obtain a delicate aroma, in the future drink it is necessary to add kvass must, coriander chicory and orange peels.
Then the pan must be removed from the heat and strain the resulting consistency in another container.
The cleaned wort must again be put on fire, bring to a boil, turn off, close the lid and let cool.
Then a small part of the wort needs to be poured into a glass, cooled to 35 degrees and the yeast added to the existing consistency.
After about 15 minutes, the first signs of fermentation begin to appear in a glass. Further, when the main part of the wort cools down, it is necessary to pour the contents of the glass and mix all the components thoroughly.
After that, the existing consistency must be poured into the bottle, corked with a water seal and put in a dark place for fermentation.
A week later, in clean bottles (plastic) you need to add the remaining honey dissolved and combined by boiling with water, add the main wort to it, pouring it very carefully from the bottle, without sediment.
Plastic bottles should be filled 2/3 by volume. Next, you need to squeeze the plastic bottles with your hands so that the liquid reaches the very neck, and then close them with lids.
Thus obtained, the mead should ripen, being in a cool place, another two weeks. After this time, a fragrant and tasty drink will be ready to drink.
Recipe 5. Mead at home with raspberries
Ingredients:
• Honey - 0.5 kg.
• Raspberries - 0.5 kg.
• Water - 2 l.
• Yeast (dry) - 30 gr.
Cooking method:
Honey must be poured into boiling water and boil it there for 5 minutes, over low heat, stirring constantly.
Then raspberries need to grind and add to the available liquid. Further, the resulting consistency must be cooled, and then the yeast dissolved in advance must be added to it.
Then the container with honey syrup needs to be corked and withstand the fermentation process for about 2 days. Next, the drink must be filtered. Pour into bottles and leave for 2 weeks in a cool place to insist. At the end of this time, the most delicious mead will be ready.
Cooking Mead at Home - Tips and Tricks
• The basis for the preparation of high-quality and delicious mead is the correctly selected honey, the desired variety and consistency. The right choice of honey is a component of the future drink with its unsurpassed aroma and taste.
• During the production of mead, namely during the process of honey dissolving and boiling it is necessary to keep an eye on the consistency to be prepared in order to avoid burning and burning of the product.
• In order that the appearance of the mead should not turn cloudy, the foam coming from the wort must be constantly removed.
• It is better to use mead when chilled.
• To get a rich taste in mead, you can add lemongrass, you get a real drink of the gods.
• It is advisable to store mead in a refrigerator or cellar at a temperature of + 5 + 10 degrees. Also, the drink is better preserved spilled in barrels or glass containers, without direct sunlight.
• You must not freeze mead, otherwise the drink will lose its taste and all its useful and valuable qualities.
• Drinking mead, especially if it is sweet in taste, it is better to bite with melon, pear or cheese of any kind, but of good quality.
