Traditional Mead

Clover honey works very well but you can use almost any type of unprocessed honey and the amount of honey you use will determine the sweetness of the mead. If you want to make a dry mead you would use 2 pounds of honey and if you want to make a sweet mead you would use about 3.8 pounds of honey. For simplicity sake we are using 3 pounds of honey which will make us a medium to sweet mead. Put about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of spring water into your 1 gallon glass carboy(jug) and then add your three pounds of honey, 1 teaspoon of energizer and 1 teaspoon of nutrient. Put the stopper on the bottle and stir the mead mix gently. Heat two cups of spring water to between 104 and 109 degrees Fahrenheit. This is warm and not hot. If this water gets too hot you will kill the yeast. Then when the temp of the water is right pour it in your mixing bowl then pour 1/2 of a package of yeast into the water. Do not stir it yet. Just pour it in and wait 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes is up give it a gentle stir then pour it right into your jug of honey water. Now add more spring water to the jug until it is full. The starting gravity should be around 1.092. Fill and fit the airlock on the jug. Now set the jug aside in a cool and dark place and check on it every day or two. Within a day the airlock should start bubbling and in a few days it should be bubbling briskly. After around 2 to 3 weeks the bubbling will slow down to less than one bubble every five seconds and there should be a thick sediment on the bottom. This sediment is dead yeast husks and totally normal. But you should get the mead off of that sediment to prevent off flavors. Siphon the liquid into a new jug that has been sterilized and leave all the junk behind. Put the airlock on your new jug and set it in a cool dry and dark place for another 5 to six months when it should be ready to drink. Mead takes a long time to age so the longer you wait the better. If you can hold off for a year you will be surprised at how good it can get.