Sweet Mead for Beginners: A Brew Along Recipe

Mead is one of our favourite treat drinks on the smallholding/homestead. Its origins go back centuries, and it's made using one of the oldest and most available sugars from nature, honey.

In this video, we show you how to prepare the honey "must" for brewing, start and complete the primary fermentation, and set the sweet mead up for its extended secondary fermentation.

We will create a part 2 video showing clearing, bottling and other steps required after fermentation, but if you can't wait, this video on clearing country wines will give you the key points:

Sweet Mead Recipe & Ingredients list

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Opening Music credits: Artist = Earth Tree Healing
Composer = Claudine West

[hellzoneUK]

I'd certainly be interested in your take on rice wine Hugh!
I'm thinking of making some of my own next November/December time, but from what I see, Sake requires a lot of complicated step feeding...
So if your process ends up being simpler than that, I'm all ears!

[lindaoostmeyer]

Thanks Hugh for such an interesting tutorial! Also, you're doing a great job with the chickens while Fiona is on the mend.

[olibob]

More cooking and recipe videos using your produce from the smallholding would be fab

[derekfishing]

Have you ever done a dandelion wine? I remember my father making some, probably over fifty years ago! I'd love to give it a try...

[GAParkinson-qyol]

I'm a beekeeper and make my own mead. In all of the videos that I have seen you are the first person to mention about the bees food. This year I have changed my bees to Caucasians and they actually feed on different plants to my old bees. I've just started a ragwort mead.

[trevorstuart]

Thanks, Hugh, really enjoyed the video 👍 and loving all you’re doing. Keep the great work up!

[Andrew.Croft.]

Thanks for the video very interesting, glycerine for the air locks is a great tip, would love to see a rice wine recipe please.

[topazpowell]

Magic, I will get a new batch going Sunday, Thank you very very much we have been waiting a long time for this one, we always look forward to your videos.

[zoeedwards]

Great video again, if only i liked honey. Definitely interested in any home brew videos. Great idea to ask the local beekeepers for honey.

[donwalker]

Thanks for all your videos Hugh, but especially for this. I will be giving this a go soon. Thanks again

[zoeedwards]

Sake sounds interesting, would be very interested 👍 always good to try something new. Also about to start incubating my duck eggs, so will be following your incubation instructions, which are fantastic and take the worry our of it, hopefully.

[Fraser-viux]

I'm giving this a try I went for the same yeast I also let them no it was you that had put me onto it

[heathcliffebird]

i love that you use thin bleach for disinfecting. its so cheap. I had used miltons but i'm switching now :-)  

Quick suggestion... If anyone's wanting to start brewing without the expense, you can also use an empty 5l plastic water bottle (if you buy bottled water) in place of a demijohn, and stretch a balloon over the neck, and pierce it with a pin as an airlock. You can also just make a hole in the lid and push an airlock through. The plastic (if the hole's smaller than the lock) will form a seal. It's not classy but I love how cheap it can be to get started with this stuff. If you ever wanted to do a getting started for under a tenner project count me in. 

Thanks for the content. Loving what you do.

Quick question... can you use carton juice in place of fresh juice for brewing or starting? I know some have additives and preservatives in. I've brewed from store bought juice before but with mixed results. No idea what i should be wary of on labels.

Thanks again.

[peterperigoe]

Very good, will watch part 2 shortly. I planted a cider apple orchard for a retirement hobby. A couple points, cider apples are higher in sugar than desert apple, but they don't taste sweet due to higher levels of tannin, which is necessary for mouth feel and as a preservative. (I use black tea as an additive in Rhubarb wine) Malic acid is present in cider apples and having sufficient is essential to avoid producing to much Aldehyde, which will give bad flavours. Adding lemon juice is a good idea too. Tongue in cheek, by boiling the honey/water mixture haven't you killed off the wild yeast, so do you need to add Camden tablets? I add my pectolase later than you, but I think I will add it earlier after watching this, Thanks

[littleidiotfun]

Hi, what exactly does nutrients do for the mead? Does it make the yeast more aggressive, or does it alllow the yeast to work more efficiently? I've been looking around and cant find a direct answer. Thank you in advance for any advice

[jacquiehahn]

I've posted this tip before, but it's worth securing a small piece of muslin or kitched towel over the top of the airlock with a small rubber band. Fruit/vinegar flies LOVE anything sweet and/or giving of alcoholic fumes. They'll go mad for the mead/glycerine combo! They won't get into your wine, but they WILL make a disgusting mess of your airlock, rotting in the U bend, and you really can't get it properly clean again.

[PVOmni]

Anaphylaxis sucks! Especially, when it's to things you loved to do your whole life!