Beginners Guide to Making Mead – Honey Wine
Ancient European and African Alcoholic Beverage Still Popular Today
Dec 4, 2008
Mead is a wine made by fermenting honey. Mead is a simple and easy alcohol to make, all one has to do is mix honey and water and a little yeast and it ferments to mead. The drink is as old as time.
Mead Honey Wine in Europe
Mead making in Europe goes back to Viking times. In ancient times Mead was given at wedding celebrations and during the month that followed – from moon to moon – hence the origin of the word 'honeymoon'.
The primary objective of this month long period of celebration was to conceive a baby, preferably a son. Down to today if a baby is born nine months after a wedding, it is referred to as a 'honeymoon baby'.
Mead was the drink of the upper classes, royalty and nobility in centuries past while the peasantry consumed beer.
Mead Honey Wine in Africa
In Africa mead has almost always been produced and consumed, with plenty of variety in the making. Honey is usually harvested from wild hives with most African mead produced and sold for immediate consumption. There is very little commercial production and bottling of mead in Africa.
In their article “Placing Mead into Perspective – History of Mead”, Makhana Meadery states: “African meads, consumed in huge quantities are drinks such as the Tej and Meis of Ethiopia, and the iQhilika of the Xhosa people of South Africa.
There are many other types of mead unique to every nation in Africa. Most African mead is sold for immediate consumption and sophisticated marketing and packaging channels are not well developed”.
Recipe For Mead Honey Wine
- 15 liters of water
- 6 kilograms of honey (organic, non-irradiated if possible)
- 1 packet active yeast and yeast nutrition (sweet mead yeast or brewers yeast)
- 1 large vat or bucket for mixing, glass demi-johns (carboy) with airlocks for storing during fermentation
Method:
- Bring the water to boiling point, then add the honey. Some mead recipes recommend heating the must enough to pasteurize it. Skim off any foam that forms at the surface.
- Add the packet of yeast and yeast nutrition to the mix when the water has cooled down. Cover bucket with a clean cloth.
- Leave until the first vigorous fermentation is complete. A lot of foaming and frothing will appear at this stage.
- After approximately three weeks , siphon into demi-johns (carboy) and push in the bung and airlocks.
- After approximately three more months, the yeast will have sunk to the bottom of the demi-john and the nectar will begin to clear.
- Siphon into glass bottles with a screw top. Do not tighten the tops too tightly, because if the wine is still fermenting even slightly, the gas will build up and the bottles will explode. Tighten after another month for long storage, but the wine can be consumed at this stage.
- Store extra bottles in a cool, dry, dark place.
- After opening a bottle, in the event that it is not fully consumed, refrigerate the rest and drink within a week.
- The bottled wine should last for up to two years, improving all the time.
