# Honey Wine???



## lindsaysfarm (Jan 31, 2014)

Anyone got a good recipe for honey wine.......hubby heard of it somewhere and we would like to try it!!
Cheers


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## rickpaul (Jan 10, 2013)

I found this on the net when I googled it. http://www.eckraus.com/wine-making-mead-honey/?gclid=CLjn3Yr3tb4CFaY-MgodfFMAaA.......................................

, boy, that looks like a lotta work cher


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## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

There are several recipes on here for mead. The first one in recipes.

Google Joes ancient orange mead. Then read the experiences on here. This is one of the first meads that most people make.


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## lindsaysfarm (Jan 31, 2014)

Thanks.....didnt realize it was called mead!! Learnt something new today!!


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## lonelytree (Feb 28, 2008)

lindsaysfarm said:


> Thanks.....didnt realize it was called mead!! Learnt something new today!!


There are several names for honey wine depending on the ingredients. Mead is the most common.

http://www.meadmadecomplicated.org/mead_tasting/mead_types.html


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

lindsaysfarm said:


> Thanks.....didnt realize it was called mead!! Learnt something new today!!


Honey wine and mead are slightly different. To be mead, honey has to make up least 50% the fermentables. Honey wine would be when honey is less than 50%.

WWW


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## Jade1096 (Jan 2, 2008)

If you want a quick mead, google Bray's One Month Mead (aka a BOMM). I made it back in February, added a little fruit to mine though.
It's drinkable a little quicker.
From what I understand, regular mead takes a while to age properly. As soon as I can afford a large amount of honey, I'll be attempting a batch of sweet mead. I plan on letting it age for at least a couple of years.
I've just got to find a good source of honey.


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## JamieCatheryn (Feb 9, 2013)

Mine are always drinkable after a short aging. 1 year is the peak quality, but they are quite nice after 3 months in the bottle.

For sweet mead, I use just under a gallon (11lbs?) of good honey for 3 gallons mead (9-10lbs for medium sweet), a packet of wine yeast like d47, some nutrient. Cook the honey with some of the water to 155F for a few minutes, into the fermenting bucket(sanitized of course), add the rest of the water and get the must to room temp while you're rehydrating the yeast. Pitch yeast in, mix vigorously, lid and airlock it. Wait 2 weeks, siphon to secondary, you can put whole spices in there now (vanilla beans and allspice was our latest), 1-2 months then into bottles.


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## Xplorer (Sep 23, 2010)

There's some recipes on YouTube also.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

I used to read a lot of historical novels and always read about drinking mead and thought it was a thick beerish thing. I was stunned when I had it for the first time and it was a super sweet thin drinking "wine". I can almost get a sugar headache in the first sip. It was very good. just such a shock. How much variation is there in mead? I love this place I am always learning such cool stuff.


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## JamieCatheryn (Feb 9, 2013)

Oh you can make it really dry as well, people just tend to like it somewhat sweet to start getting used to it, or maybe in general. You can add any sort of fruit or juices (cider, grape, berries, cherry, etc etc etc), any sort of spices or herbs you like (cinnamon, vanilla, clove, that sort or even pepper, chilis, or basil, or chamomile, anything really), you can finish it still or sparkling, you can use dark richly flavored honey like buckwheat or light gently flavored early season stuff. You can even make braggot, a beer mead with brewed malt and honey both.


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## Nyxchik (Aug 14, 2012)

There's definitely variation- some are very dry and some port-like sweet. Depends on several things, not the least of which is the type of yeast that you use. We prefer a 'semi-sweet' although we've made some really sweet ones that are good in small amounts. Our sweet ginger peach won 2nd place in a wine contest last year. Would put you in a sugar-coma if you drank more than a couple of ounces at a time 
~nyx


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I have made mead , using only honey ,, no sugar ,,, did it like all the wine I make ,,, I call it flying by the seat of the pants ,, have never gone by a receip .. and all but one batch of wine has been good ,, but even the one that was not real good but was good but it was the type of wine not the wine it was bannana .. that will not be tryed again .. the bananas were free four boxs ,, just thought I would give it a try now after 3 years it does taste better


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## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

Great project to start! I just started a "quickie" (half gallon) using easy to obtain ingredients because I'm a poor Tennessean boy that loves his mead! There's a lot of technical science behind mead and any other kind of wine making, but if you are just looking for something that tastes good, here's my recipe i use that would be a fun cheap project for you to try. It's based off what I found online and read in one of John Seymore's Books a while back and I love it!

*Smitty's Quick-Mead*

You will need:
Half Gallon Jug
Water
Raw, unprocessed honey (about 1.5 lbs)
1/2 c. Raw Cane Sugar
1 Bennings Irish Breakfast Tea bag
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp of yeast (brewers yeast works best, but fear not, you can use bread yeast because that what I use because it still gets the job done)
Balloon

Steps
1. Fill your jug about 3/4 of the way with warm water. Can't be cold, but don't let it be burn your lips off hot either. Think steaming cup of coffee that wont give you 3rd degree burns if you spill it down your blouse. 

2. Pour the honey and raw sugar in and put the lid on the jug. Shake from side to side, but not too vigorously you don't want TOO much air introduced into it. More or less dissolve the honey into the water so it's mostly all one color. 

3. Take a cup and get 4 tbs of water hot enough to steep the tea. Do so till it's medium dark. Honey has no natural tannin which yeast finds quite yummy and helps thm stay healthy little buggers! Add that and the lemon juice to the mix, for honey also lacks citric acid which is also needed to help with the fermentation.

4. Add the yeast and again shake the same way you did earlier; slow and even till the color is universal throughout the batch and there are no big yeast clumps. 

5. Cut a tiny hole in the top of the balloon and put that over the open neck of the bottle This allows minimal air intake while letting the gases escape. My hole was not big enough, hence the overflow on the jug in the picture! ;D

6. Let it sit for several days (7-15). You know it's done when the bubbling is done because that means all the little yeasties are dead  RIP. 

7. You will need to rack it into another jug, this is the same process you use to siphon gas out of a gastank and you can youtube a guy that explains it if that doesn't mean anything you you hahaha. 

8. Once racked you cork it or cap it and let it sit in a corner of your closet for a bit. You can technically drink it right away, but like any wine it's best aged! It will keep for years and only get better and better every year! Most people let it sit at least a couple months. I'd say taste some right away then let the batch sit, and try it again in a month, then again in 3 and so on to see the difference

Best of luck and most of all, HAVE FUN WITH IT!!!!


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## foolsgold (Jun 8, 2013)

I am just now getting the ingredents (as in omw to the store) to make a 5 gal batch of http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/grandmas-liquid-apple-pie-389463/

Check out those forums if you want some awesome sounding recipes! 
This will be my first batch and hubby and I are both looking forward to playing around with other recipes.
I am also going to do a 1 gal batch of http://shewhocookswithmanypots.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/orange-blossom-honey-mead-with-meyer-lemons/ I want to make some of them as 'sparkling' mead but you need champagne bottles/corks so you don't end up with bottle bombs from the pressure of the yeast producing CO2


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## buenijo (Jun 14, 2012)

I've made it off and on for years. Go with a light honey like clover or orange blossum. 2-2.5 lbs of honey per gallon is what I prefer to ensure a dry wine. Honey, yeast nutrient, and water is all you need - add your yeast. Sulphites are useful when racking. No need to pasteurize if the yeast is strong - it's a good idea to activate the yeast before it's pitched to ensure it gets a strong hold. Also, you should ferment at modest temperatures with a cool room temperature ideal (about 70F). I've had good results with a Red Star premier cuvee yeast, but I've tried many others. The best batch I ever made was fermented with peaches, and mixing fruit in this way is easily done. It's the easiest wine to make for many reasons including not having to process fruit, not worrying about fruit quality, far less sediment, and it clears easily. Honey stores for an indefinite period when kept dry, so this is a plus. I've found that many people who do not generally like wine happen to like honey wine - it's definitely different than grape wines, but a simple dry honey wine is superficially like some chardonnays I've had (but with a smooth finish). A final note on aging. If you drink a mead very young, then it can taste like what you might imagine gasoline to taste like. If you wait a year, then the same wine can be fantastic. Yes, the difference can be that dramatic. One might also add acid or tannins for taste (citric/malic/tartaric acids and grape tannin which are standard products for wine makers). Mead benefits a great deal from this. I've added lemon juice before with good results, but it's all subjective. Keep it simple.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

okiemom said:


> I used to read a lot of historical novels and always read about drinking mead and thought it was a thick beerish thing. I was stunned when I had it for the first time and it was a super sweet thin drinking "wine". I can almost get a sugar headache in the first sip. It was very good. just such a shock. How much variation is there in mead? I love this place I am always learning such cool stuff.


There's a lot of variation in meads. By your impresion from reading most likely they were drinking bragots or brochets. Bragots are very close to a light colored heavy beer in apperence. Brochets are darker because they burn the honey in the process. Both types use hops. Both types were made by the English and Vikings.

WWW


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