My first batch of mead 🤩

Y’all!! We just sampled the mead my son and I pitched last year on 11/1 that has been bulk aging in my dining room. One 5gal carboy is a basic recipe using Champagne yeast, and the other is called Swedish Apple Pie, a recipe I got from my buddy @Cowgirl.

The first one is dry and smooth, with a slightly tart finish, and the Swedish is sweet, rich and mellow. A splash of the Swedish in a glass of the dry is sublime! Can’t wait to try more recipes….Cheers :heart_eyes::clinking_glasses:

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So awesome! and v inspiring :smile:

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You need to share the recipe.

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and the exact strains of yeast! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I am so interested in this! Thanks for sharing! :beers:

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Hiya Eva, that one took a while, I’m glad it worked out well and will add it to my mmmead to do list.

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Very happy to share! I have the ingredient list for the Swedish Apple Pie but need to locate my notes on the ‘basic’ one, and what strains of yeast I used. I’ll post all of it once i have it :sunglasses::+1:

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@skeggley good job linking to the original topic, somehow I couldn’t find it to post to this time! Folks - the SAP recipe is there, plus a few notes if you scroll thru. Also some good links & other info (and @ABB’s suspenseful short film :rofl:) I promise I’ll look for the yeast info & post here later - now it’s time for bed.

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Oh Eva, that looks magnificent!! I absolutely need to try this one day. You must have been so excited to taste it after such a long wait.

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Thanks Cathie, I was and I wish we could all share a toast with it! I hope you do try it :grinning:

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Ok y’all, here’s some deets:

The Swedish recipe:
4.5 gal water
12-14 lbs honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1 & a half sweet-tart crisp apples, chopped, skin on but cores discarded
We used a variety called Honeycrisp, not available everywhere but perhaps similar to Winesap or Jonathan

My son might have added a tiny bit more of the spices…and for this batch we used this yeast:

Going by a standard teaspoon per gallon measurement ???

We stirred this batch a few times then let it sit. Once it flocculated and was clear, maybe January? we gave it a taste. It was good! My sons were raring to drink it and be glad. But I convinced them to waaaaait for it :expressionless:

The Basic/Dry:

……not entirely sure what proportion of honey to water, probably something I googled…….to fit in a 5gal carboy, but that is all, besides this yeast:

I liked the sound of this so we didn’t boil anything except the equipment:

It’s getting bottled this weekend :crazy_face:

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Thank you so much for that @Eva. As you know, the yeast strain can make a very big difference to the end result, so I appreciate your effort to find the details. It will be fascinating to hear how it matures over time! :blush:

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Hi Eva, I like the basic mix and forget meads and had to reread your recipe a couple of times looking for the recipe before I realised it was just honey, water and yeast.:laughing:
I have only used bread yeast in the JAOMs so had to look up your yeast to find our equivalent and found this, Best Yeast for Making Mead | Meadist which was interesting and relevant to Dawns above comment.

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awsome and inspiring for all of us. keep growing