Standby Mead

Classification: mead

Source: Michael Tighe (tighe@inmet.camb.inmet.com) Issue #697, 8/8/91

To quote the original source: "It will be quick and pleasant from the very start and will keep for a month or more." Other variations inclued: Add lots more honey and let it ferment till it stops. Bottle and wait a month or more, you get champagne.
Use some other citris fruit peel, such as lemon or grapefruit.
Add some other fruit flavoring (crushed berries of some sort).

Load up on the ginger (my friend makes Death by Ginger by using pounds of ginger per gallon!)

Ingredients: (for 1 gallon)

1 gallon, Water
2 pounds, honey
1 Thumb size piece of ginger
2 Tablespoons, Orange peel (no white pith please)
Champagne yeast

Procedure:

Bring the honey and water to a boil skimming off the white and brown foam as you heat it. Simmer/skim for about 5 minutes per gallon (5 gallons == 20 min). When the boiling is almost done, add the ginger and orange peel. Cool (I usually let it cool "naturally"). Work with yeast (Werka Mead Yeast is good, champagne or general purpose wine yeast will do). Bottle after two weeks (while it's still sweet and still quite active). Refrigerate the bottles after another two weeks (to avoid the glass grenade syndrome and to make the yeast settle out of the mead).

Specifics:

Primary Ferment: 2--3 weeks