I was able to get 20lb of a very dark honey from a friend only cost is some Mead when it is ready. Now my problem I have never made Mead. I want to make a traditional Mead like the old Monks made. Can someone give me a good recipe?
First question is what is your very dark honey? Will it make a good mead? Dark honey could be buckwheat honey which is very strong and not the best for making mead. Taste it and tell us if it tastes good to you. Ken Schramm, the author of the Compleat Meadmaker (a book every meadmaker should read), recommends making mead only from the best ingredients. It makes sense, the final mead will never be better than what goes in it. So how's your honey taste? Do you like it? If so, it could be suitable for making mead. For more information, if you have an hour and 45 minutes to spare, listen to Ken Schramm explain about making mead on this link -
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Mead-The-Jamil-Show-12-01-08.
Now traditional meads take a bit of time to ferment using typical wine yeasts. So it is an investment in time. Traditional meads are honey, water and yeast. And the general rule of 3 lbs. of honey diluted to a gallon with spring water is a fairly good one. (No need to heat anything, just mix it up at room temperature). The resulting Original Gravity measurement of that resulting must with a hydrometer should be 1.100-1.120. Adding the yeast like a Lalvin 71B-1122 or ICV-D47 or a Red Star Montrachet yeast will make a good mead. But meads made like this can take a long time to ferment out if they ever finish because the must you've made is, as Ken put it, a nutritional desert. Honey has next to no nutrients like you'd find in a grape must for wine. You are otherwise sending your yeast to their death if you don't give them food for them to reproduce and grow. So nutrient additions are not only a good idea but they are really needed if you want the mead to ferment out in weeks rather than months or years. So read up a bit about how to rehydrate your yeast with 104 degree F water, adding a yeast nutrient called Go-Ferm (0.25 tsp) and then a little of the must to wake up your yeast and nurture it a bit. Then add the yeast into your sanitized fermenter containing your must and mix it in well. The mixing (like with a sanitized egg beater) is also to drive oxygen into the must. The yeast need oxygen at this stage to reproduce. Keep stirring the must for several days to keep the yeast in suspension and driving some more oxygen into the fermenting must. At 24, 48 and 72 hours, take more gravity readings with your sanitized hydrometer to see the progression of sugars getting metabolized by the yeast. The gravity will drop over time (the 1/3 sugar break is where 1/3 of the sugars are consumed or a gravity reading of 1.070 if the O.G. was 1.110 and F.G will be 0.995). I'd say feed your yeast well so I'd add 0.25 tsp. of DiAmmonium Phosphate (DAP) and 0.5 tsp of Fermaid-K at the end of the lag phase (when you see bubbling of the must or 12-24 hours after pitching the yeast) then again by the 1/3 sugar break. I just might add another DAP/Fermaid-K dose around a gravity of 1.040 (just above the 2/3 sugar break). When you add these dilute them in say 6 oz of spring water and add slowly as bubbling will increase immediately. MEAs are Mead Explosion Accidents which result from adding nutrients too quickly. I call them volcanoes. With nutrient additions I know the yeast have all the nutrition to finish metabolizing the mead to dryness. Providing proper yeast nutrition should result in the mead finish fermenting after 3 weeks rather than longer. Then this should result in a dry, still mead rather than a sweet mead (assuming the O.G. was not so high than the selected yeast did not reach their alcohol toxicity limit and shut down early leaving a sweeter mead). Anyway thats the basics. After the first few days don't stir the fermenting must to drive in anymore oxygen but swirl the fermenter daily. This helps to suspend the yeast and degas carbon dioxide which can drive the pH of the must down below optimal. Degassing CO2 helps the process. After the mead is done fermenting I'd suggest you rack (transfer or siphon) the mead into a secondary fermenter and top off with water to eliminate head space in the jug (reduces oxidation). For one gallon batches, I use the greatest invention man has ever made, a one gallon Carlo Rossi jug which is properly cleaned and sanitized. All though your mead making, practice proper cleaning and sanitizing of any surface or utensil (like spoon, auto-siphon, hydrometer etc) contacting the must and you will be fine. Age your mead for six months (it only gets better). With time it will clear. Rack again (into another cleaned and sanitized glass jug) off any sediment that falls and it will be crystal clear.
I really have to recommend you take at least 2.5 lbs. of this honey (if it's good) and try making a gallon of one month mead as per below. The key to this recipe is follow it exactly and use the Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale yeast and the nutrients that Bray (loveofrose) describes. I'm experimenting with this now. Read up and study a bit. Best of luck!
Bray's One Month Mead
BOMM Recipe - 1 gallon
(Updated for clarity & post fermentation options)
Start with 1 gallon Ozarka spring water.
Remove 1/2 cup water to compensate for smack pack volume.
Draw line on jugs at this water level.
Remove an additional 3.2 cups of water from jug (757 ml).
Add Orange Blossom honey (or your favorite varietal honey) back to line.
-About 2.5 lbs. SG 1.099ish.
Add 1/4 tsp DAP and 1/2 tsp of Fermaid K. Add these again at 2/3 (1.066) & 1/3 (1.033) sugar break.
-These are nutrients you can get at homebrew shops or Amazon. Diammonium phosphate (DAP) is a free nitrogen source.
Fermaid K contains vitamins, minerals, and trace nutrients. Honey is very deficient in nutrients so you need both to prevent fusel production.
Add 1/4 tsp K2CO3. One time addition.
-Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) is preferred due to high K+ levels, but potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) will work fine. This is for pH buffering and to provide potassium ion (K+) for the yeast.
Shake with the top on until honey is fully dissolved. It will require some effort! You're earning your mead!
Add activated Wyeast 1388 yeast smacked for about 2 hours.
No water in airlock for 7 days or the gravity falls below 1.033. Whichever comes first, add water or vodka to airlock. Ferments dry in about a week.
NOTE: Wyeast 1388 is NOT sensitive to temperature. Temperatures of 65-80°F all yield clean mead free of fusels. The yeast do ferment the fastest at 68°F however.
Post Fermentation (Optional!)
Add 1 vanilla bean, 3 cubes American Medium toast and 2 cubes French Medium toast oak for 2-4 weeks to taste.
You can also step feed small additions of honey until the yeast give up to sweeten. Just be sure your gravity is stable over several weeks to avoid bottle bombs!
I've also had good luck racking on 3-5 pounds of frozen berries to make a melomel.
It's your mead. Experiment!
Better brewing through science!
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/brays-one-month-mead-429241/index25.html
