This is a basic mead. The only components are honey and water.

I started with 7.5 lbs of Wildflower honey and 1 lb of Orange Blossom honey, which is about 0.75 gallons worth (Honey is about 12 lbs / gallon). The honey was dissolved into reverse-osmosis water (closest thing to pure rain circa 1600 AD), and then boiled. The froth was removed, and allowed to cool. Since my pot isn't big enough for 3 gallons of mix, this was short about 3 quarts of water, which was added to help cool down the entire mixture. Starting Specific Gravity was 1100, which comes out to about 13% potential alcohol.

The acid content was titrated out to be about 0.15%; I was trying to get to about 0.60% acid, so I added about a total of 9 tsp acid blend (1 tsp per gallon will raise acidity about 0.15%). The final acid was recorded at 0.60%.

Once the mixture cooled, I added 3 tsp of Pectic Enzyme, 2 tsp Yeast Energizer, and 3/4 tsp grape tannin to the mix. 3 Campden tablets were added to bring sulfite levels to about 50 ppm. The mix was left loosely covered to let the sulfite escape.

I used a yeast starter, which consisted of about 1 qt of honey / water mix (2 parts water to 1 part honey, Orange Blossom honey), 1 tsp Yeast Energizer, and 1 pack of Red Star Montrachet yeast. The starter was added to the must about 4 hours later. Most of the current yeast strains commercially available are tolerant of 100 ppm sulfite, so the 50 ppm that was in there should not be a problem.

Commentary:

This is a very nice dry mead. It is also very nice in marinades and stir fry.

08 August, 2003: Starting Gravity: 1100. Estimated alcohol content: 13%

13 August, 2003: Specific Gravity down to 1038, transfer to secondary

09 September, 2003: S.G. tests out to 1000; fermentation VERY slow.

03 October 2003: Added Potassium Sorbate to stabilize. Waiting for it to clear before bottling. Also added 3 campden tablets.

02 November, 2003: Racked

17 November, 2003: Added Isinglass to help precipitate cloudiness.

30 January, 2004: Very clear now, since I've ignored it for the past few months. Taste wise, it needs some work. It's very dry, and I think it could use a bit of sweetness.

16 February, 2004: Racked

01 March, 2004: Added 3 tbsp of Bentonite slurry to help precipitate cloudiness

20 March, 2004: Bottled. Total yield was as follows:

750 ml bottles: 10
375 ml bottles: 4
187 ml bottles: 7

08 August, 2004: Took one 750 ml bottle, added about 3/4 cup of "tea" made from the following:

1 tsp dried Rosemary
1 tsp dried Basil
1/4 tsp dried Majorjam
1 tsp dried Savory
1 tsp dried Thyme
11 fresh sage leaves

This will be used as a part of an injectable marinade for Thanksgiving fried turkey.