Mead recipes

A plain one-gallon traditional mead: one 3 lb jar of honey, water to one gallon, a packet of wine yeast and yeast nutrient. Once that works, a fruit mead such as strawberry or blueberry is the natural second batch.

For fruit meads, 1/2 teaspoon of powdered pectic enzyme per gallon, added to the fruit before it meets alcohol. Use 1 teaspoon per gallon for peaches and other high-pectin fruit, or when treating a haze after fermentation. A mead with no fruit needs none.

About 7 days for soft berries, 10 to 14 days for cherries and firmer fruit, and no more than about 4 weeks for anything. Pull the fruit when it looks pale and spent.

About 3 lb for a standard mead of 13% to 14% ABV, 2.5 lb for a drier, lighter one, and 1.5 lb for a low-alcohol session mead. Fruit adds a little sugar of its own, so fruit recipes often use a bit less honey.

Yes. Every recipe is written for one gallon and has a batch-size switch that multiplies the honey, fruit, water, nutrients and additives. One packet of yeast still covers up to six gallons.

Most of these recipes are drinkable in 3 to 6 months: 2 to 6 weeks of fermentation, 1 to 2 months to clear, then time in the bottle. Session meads can be ready in 6 weeks; sack meads and bochets reward a year or more.

Very little: a fermenter, an airlock, a hydrometer, a siphon, sanitizer and bottles. A starter set for a one-gallon batch costs less than a couple of bottles of commercial mead.