How To Make Mead In 30 Minutes

Meadmaking Supply and Ingredient List

My me batches usually have 1.3-1.5kg honey for each total gallon and they’ve turned out great.  Whether you’re doing 1 gallon or using the 7.9 gallon Fast Fermenter adjust the amount accordingly.

SUPPLY LIST:

7.9 Gallon Fermenter – https://amzn.to/2pT7glb or 
71B Wine Yeast – https://amzn.to/3yHv9zw
1 Step Sanitizer – https://amzn.to/2GmMl4i
Spice/herb infuser – https://amzn.to/3T1OvYf
12kg of honey for the 7.9 gallon fermenter
1.5kg of honey if using a 1 gallon carboy

Mead Spices and Flavors

The great thing about mead is how forgiving it is.  Have fun and try out various spice, yeast and fruit combinations.  Or, try a clean mead with just honey, yeast, and water.  Some wild honeys can produce incredibly flavorful meads.  The is because the types of flowers the bees collect from determine the background flavor of the mead.  We’ve made many batches using honey from Costco’s Latin American branch “Pricesmart” and had good luck.  But, keep in mind, mass produced honey might result in a boring mead that may benefit from adding spices and fruit.  We’ve used cinnamon, cloves, various citrus, dragon fruit, hibiscus flowers, ginger, mangos and even used malabar spinach berries for color.

Here’s a fool proof flavor mix to make a spiced orange mead(modify for smaller batches):

• 10 cinnamon sticks
• 1 cup of raisins
• 6 quartered oranges
• 2 tablespoons cloves

Best Yeast For Mead

The yeast selection will affect the alcohol content, flavor, length of fermentation and how dry or sweet you mead is.  We’ve had good luck with the 71B Wine yeast in the ingredient list above.  It’s very tolerant of the ambient temperature, can render up to 14% and hard to go wrong.  I suggest it for a first time batch.  In Costa Rica, our brew room hangs out around 80F so only certain yeasts perform well.  Below are ones that have also worked well in the tropics.

EC-1118: We’ve had luck with EC-1118 yeast.  It’s great for high alcohol % batches and can withstand up to 18%.  Be careful though, you might end up with what I affectionately call “blackout mead”.  Something that’s as tasty as mead with a 18% alcohol content can be dangerous. Drink responsibly.

K1-V1116: This is a versatile yeast that will produce a fresh and fruity tasting mead.  It can also go up to 18% alcohol.  It’s a great option for meads(melomels) made with added fruit or juices.

Premiere Blanc: We’ve recently had good luck with Premiere Blanc white wine yeast too. It a champagne yeast and vigourously ferments.  When used in mead ususally produces around 13-15% alcohol.  The finished product has a background flavor similar to Champagne.  You can even use it get a naturally carbonated mead.