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🍯 Classic Mead Recipe: How to Make Honey Wine at Home

Mead is an ancient alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey with water—sometimes with fruits, spices, herbs, or flowers. It’s often called honey wine, but mead is its own distinct category with unique flavor, aroma, and history.

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🛠️ Equipment You’ll Need

• 1-gallon glass carboy (or fermentation jug)

• Airlock and rubber stopper

• Sanitizer (e.g., Star-San)

• Large pot or kettle

• Funnel

• Siphon or racking cane (for bottling)

• Hydrometer (optional, for measuring alcohol)

• Bottles + caps or corks

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🍯 Ingredients (For 1 Gallon of Traditional Mead)

• 3 pounds (≈1.4 kg) of raw, unfiltered honey (quality matters!)

• Filtered or spring water (to top off to 1 gallon)

• 1 packet of wine yeast (Lalvin D-47, EC-1118, or 71B are common)

• Optional: Yeast nutrient (1 tsp) to help fermentation

• Optional flavorings: fruit (berries, citrus), spices (clove, cinnamon), herbs (lavender, rosemary)

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🧼 Step 1: Sanitize Everything

Before you do anything else, sanitize all equipment. Any contamination can ruin your mead. Use a no-rinse sanitizer and clean the jug, funnel, stopper, airlock, and any utensils.

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🍯 Step 2: Mix Your Must

“Must” is the unfermented mixture of water, honey, and any optional ingredients.

1. Pour the 3 pounds of honey into a large sanitized pot.

2. Add about half of your total water (roughly 1/2 gallon) to the pot.

3. Stir well until the honey fully dissolves. You can heat the water slightly to help dissolve honey—do not boil it if you want to preserve honey's delicate aroma.

4. Let it cool to room temperature if heated.

Optional: Add yeast nutrient if using.

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🍷 Step 3: Add to Fermentation Vessel

1. Using a sanitized funnel, pour the honey-water mixture into the glass carboy.

2. Top off with cold, filtered water until you reach the 1-gallon mark—leave about 1–2 inches of headspace.

3. Shake the jug vigorously for a few minutes. This oxygenates the must, which helps the yeast start strong.

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🍾 Step 4: Pitch the Yeast

1. If using dry yeast: rehydrate according to the packet instructions or sprinkle directly into the jug.

2. Seal the jug with the airlock and rubber stopper.

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🕰️ Step 5: Ferment

• Place the jug in a cool, dark area (60–75°F / 15–24°C) and let it ferment.

• Within 24–48 hours, you should see bubbling in the airlock and foam at the top—this is fermentation starting.

• Fermentation typically lasts 2 to 6 weeks, depending on temperature and ingredients.

• When bubbling slows or stops, and the mead clears, it’s time to rack or bottle.

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🍾 Step 6: Rack and Age

Optional (but recommended):

Once fermentation slows, rack (siphon) the mead into a clean sanitized jug to leave behind the sediment ("lees").

Let it age:

• Young mead: drinkable after 1–2 months

• Mature mead: best after 6 months to 1 year of aging

The longer you wait, the smoother and more complex it becomes.

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🍷 Bottling

Once fermentation is fully done (you can check gravity with a hydrometer to be sure), it’s time to bottle:

1. Sanitize bottles and siphon.

2. Carefully siphon mead into bottles, avoiding sediment.

3. Cap or cork them.

4. Store in a cool dark place.

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🌿 Flavor Variations

Want to experiment beyond classic mead? Here are some popular mead types:

Name	Additions
Melomel	Fruits (berries, cherries, apples)
Metheglin	Spices or herbs (cinnamon, ginger)
Cyser	Apple juice or cider
Pyment	Grape juice or wine + honey
Braggot	Mead + malted barley (beer-mead mix)