'Tis The Season--For Making Mead

When the weather cools and beekeeping work subsides, and the boat is put away for the season. It is time to make some mead. Checkout the strawberry melomels in this picture! A melomel is mead with fruit additions.

After the honey harvest, I have beeswax to melt (render). A bi-product of this is a honey water mix we can use for cooking or mead making. I prefer the latter. Since the honey has been heated in the wax melting process, some of the sugars in the honey are caramelized, producing a slightly sweeter mead, since those caramelized sugars will not ferment. I call this honey "melter honey" since it came out from the wax melter. The dark liquid below is melter honey. It does not look very appetizing here, but add some more water, a little bit of the right yeast, and give it time and you may find it very appealing.

I am teaching a mead making class locally in early December, so mead has been on my mind as I prepare handouts and make simple bread yeast mead(s) for participants to sample since they will be receiving a kit to make such a mead. I want them to know how their final product may taste. 

In the above picture you may notice the mead is JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orange Mead). I am suggesting to class participants that this is another simple bread yeast mead option for them to make. So, I posted a video of me making JAOM on my YouTube channel for folks to watch. In a few days, I will post another video highlighting the mead that class members will make with the "kits" we provide on class day.

Here is the "kit". An extra lid grommet, an airlock, a box of raisins, a small bag of both dried lemon and dried orange peels, a teabag of black, decaffeinated tea (hidden under the yeast packet), one packet of active dry yeast, and the bucket in which to ferment.

 Everyone receives one quart of honey (paid for by participants). 

And, I will bring one gallon of sweet well water per person, so anyone who wants one may take one for their mead making kit. Some may opt to purchase spring water instead and that is totally fine.

Hopefully, people will end up with something they can enjoy. Unfortunately, the class is full, but I hope we can do it again sometime.

 

There is a chrysanthemum under all that snow from a mid November blast of cold and snow. Hmmm, could this be why some people move to warmer climates in winter? Enjoy!!