How to Make Mead: A Homemade Honey Mead Recipe
Homemade mead is a fermented beverage made of honey, water, and yeast. Make our honey mead recipe sweet or dry with flavoring suggestions.
Ingredients
- filtered water (or distilled)
- 2-3 pounds honey (local raw honey is best)
- 2 g champagne yeast (⅕ - ½ of a 5g package)
Instructions
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Simmer ½ gallon of water until warm.
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Add honey: 2 pounds for a dry mead or 3 pounds for a sweet mead. Stir until dissolved.
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Simmer (don't boil) for about 30 minutes, skimming off any scum that forms. Remove from heat and let cool to about 100°F and pour into 1 gallon carboy.
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Add any extra ingredients you may want. See below for ideas.
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When the temperature is below 90°F, add the yeast. One package will make 5 gallons of mead, so use between ⅕ of a package and ½ a package. I typically make two gallons at a time and divide the package between the two.
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Cap the bottle and shake well. Add more water to fill the bottle, making sure to leave 3-4 inches of headroom at the top. Take the top off and add an airlock. These are available at your local homebrew store or online here.
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Once the airlock is in place, set the bottle in a cool spot for about 6 weeks.
Recipe Video
Notes
Within 12 to 24 hours, you'll notice bubbling and foaming in the top of the bottle. This is normal. If you add fruit or herbs, this may bubble into the airlock and get stuck. This is normal too, but you'll want to clean it out well and reset it. A clogged airlock could lead to an explosion.
After six weeks, check the airlock. It should have stopped bubbling, or the bubbling may have slowed to once every minute instead of every few seconds like it will do in the beginning. When the bubbling stops, it's time to bottle it.
Many recipes you'll find for mead yield very large amounts, but I've scaled it back to one gallon. For beginners, this is much easier to handle.