Sweet Mead

Classification: mead, sweet mead

Source: brewed and posted to CompuServe by Dan Fink, reposted to Mead Digest by Steve Stroud, 10/2/92

Ingredients: (for 5 gallons)

15 pounds fresh, raw alfalfa or clover honey
3 pounds fresh, raw wildflower (or other dark) honey
3 teaspoons Great Fermentations of Santa Rosa mead yeast nutrient (made up to Roger Morse's formula in the book Making Mead)
2 teaspoons acid blend (you might want more -- depends on the honey you use)
2 packets Montrachet, Steinberger or K-1 wine yeast (you might try Flor-sherry yeast if you like a nutty taste)

Procedure:

Add honey, nutrient, acid and 2 gallons water to the brewpot. Bring slowly to 170 degrees F and hold for 30 minutes to pasteurize. Skim off any white scum from the surface as it forms. Pour into a carboy containing cold water, top off with water to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast when cooled to 80 degrees F. This will take awhile due to sugar content. Ferment at 65-80 degrees F until some clearing is evident (usually 6 months, sometimes as long as a year). High tempratures (up to 80 or so) won't hurt mead (unlike beer). At this point, rack to another carboy. Bottle or keg when mead is CRYSTAL clear. This could take awhile!