At a glance
- Style
- Metheglin
- Alcohol
- About 10.5% ABV
- Finish
- Off-dry
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Honey
- Clover, orange blossom or wildflower
- Yeast
- Lalvin EC-1118
- Ready in
- 2 to 3 months
- Batch
- 1 gallon, scalable
Ingredients
Quantities are for one US gallon (3.8 liters). Pick a batch size and every amount updates; one packet of yeast covers up to six gallons. Not sure how much honey your own twist needs? Use the mead calculator.
- 2.25 lb Honey, clover or orange blossom
- 1.5 oz Fresh ginger, thinly sliced (simmered, for primary)
- 1 oz Fresh ginger, finely grated (for secondary, to taste)
- 1 Lemon (zest (no pith) in secondary, juice to taste at the end)
- 0.75 gallons Spring water (including 2 cups for the ginger tea)
- 1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 wine yeast (one packet covers up to 6 gallons)
- 6 g Go-Ferm (yeast rehydration nutrient) (optional but recommended)
- 4 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 4 doses, see steps)
- 3 oz Honey for sweetening or priming (3 oz to sweeten the still version, or 1 oz to carbonate)
- 0.5 tsp Potassium sorbate (still version only)
- 1 Campden tablet (still version only)
This recipe ferments dry and is sweetened at the end: how to backsweeten mead has the stabilizing doses and a honey chart for any batch size.
Equipment
- Small saucepan with lid
- 2-gallon bucket and 1-gallon jug with airlock
- Hydrometer
- Nylon straining bag
- Auto-siphon
- Pressure-rated bottles for the sparkling version
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
-
Make the ginger tea
Wash the ginger; there is no need to peel it. Slice 1.5 oz thinly and simmer it, covered, in 2 cups of water for 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool. Simmering extracts a warm, rounded ginger flavor and sanitizes the ginger at the same time.
-
Mix the must
Sanitize everything. Stir the honey into the remaining water, add the cooled ginger tea with its slices and top up to 1 gallon. The gravity should read about 1.080.
-
Pitch the yeast
Rehydrate the EC-1118 with the Go-Ferm in 50 ml of 104°F (40°C) water for 15 minutes and pitch. Keep it at 60 to 68°F (16 to 20°C).
-
Staggered nutrients
Add a quarter of the Fermaid O at 24, 48 and 72 hours and at the 1/3 sugar break (about 1.053). Degas gently before each addition.
-
Rack when dry
EC-1118 ferments fast and very dry. When the gravity has been steady near 0.996 to 0.998 for three days, usually after 2 to 4 weeks, rack off the yeast and the ginger slices into a clean jug.
-
Fresh ginger and zest
Put the grated fresh ginger and the lemon zest in a weighted bag and drop it in. Taste daily; heat builds quickly. Pull it after 3 to 5 days, when the bite is just short of what you want.
-
Balance with lemon
Add lemon juice a teaspoon at a time, tasting as you go; half the lemon is usually plenty. Let it clear for 2 to 3 weeks.
-
Sparkling or still
Sparkling: skip the sorbate, make sure the gravity has been stable for a week, stir in 1 oz of honey dissolved in a little warm water and bottle in pressure-rated bottles. EC-1118 is a champagne yeast and carbonates reliably. Still: add the Campden tablet and sorbate, wait 48 hours and sweeten with about 3 oz of honey, which lands near 1.006.
-
Drink young
Give it 2 to 3 weeks in the bottle, then chill. Ginger heat fades over months, so it is at its best within 6 to 12 months.
Timeline
- Day 0Ginger tea, mix, pitch
- Days 1 to 7Nutrient additions
- Weeks 2 to 4Rack; fresh ginger and zest in
- Week 5Remove ginger, add lemon juice to taste
- Weeks 7 to 8Prime and bottle, or stabilize, sweeten and bottle
- Weeks 10 to 12Drink; best within a year
Why this recipe works
Ginger goes in twice because cooked and raw ginger taste different. Heat converts some of the pungent gingerols in fresh ginger into milder compounds such as zingerone, giving a warm, rounded spice that holds up through fermentation. Fresh grated ginger at the end brings the sharp heat and citrusy aroma that fermentation would otherwise scrub away.
EC-1118 is clean, dependable and ferments to dryness, which is exactly what a crisp ginger mead needs. It is also a standard choice for bottle conditioning, so the sparkling version carbonates without fuss.
The gravity is kept moderate on purpose. At 2.25 lb of honey it finishes around 10%: refreshing, not boozy, and closer to a sparkling wine than a dessert mead.
Lemon juice goes in at the end, not in primary. Honey musts already drift toward a low pH as they ferment, and extra acid early on can slow the yeast. Added last, it balances by taste. Zest brings lemon oil aroma; the white pith only adds bitterness.
Variations
- Ginger-lime: swap the lemon for the zest and juice of two limes.
- Ginger-lemongrass: add two bruised lemongrass stalks to the bag with the fresh ginger.
- Ginger-turmeric: add 0.25 oz of grated fresh turmeric with the fresh ginger for an earthy, golden version.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| Bottles gush or are overcarbonated | It was primed before fermentation finished, or with too much honey. Refrigerate every bottle immediately and open them carefully over a sink. Confirm a stable gravity for a week before priming next time. |
| The ginger is too hot | Give it a month or two; the heat fades. A little extra sweetness and serving it well chilled or over ice both help. |
| Not enough ginger | Before bottling, add another 0.5 oz of grated fresh ginger in a bag for a few days. |
More mead recipes to try
- Session mead (hydromel) recipe: Half the honey, a clean ale yeast and a crisp finish. Drinkable in six weeks, excellent sparkling.
- Hibiscus mead recipe: Dried hibiscus in secondary for ruby color and tartness, balanced with a semi-sweet finish.
- Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM) recipe: The famous beginner orange mead: bread yeast, a whole orange and no racking. Sweet and forgiving.
More spiced and herbal mead recipes: Spiced mead (metheglin), Coffee mead (plus chocolate and vanilla), Viking-style mead, Lavender mead.
Or browse all our mead recipes. If this is your first batch, start with the traditional mead recipe or the step-by-step guide to making honey wine.
Frequently asked questions
How much ginger should I use per gallon of mead?
About 2 to 3 oz of fresh ginger per gallon: roughly 1.5 oz simmered into the must and 1 oz grated in secondary, adjusted to taste.
Do I need to peel ginger for mead?
No. Wash it well and slice or grate it with the skin on. Peeling makes no noticeable difference to the flavor.
Can ginger mead be sparkling?
Yes, and it is excellent that way. Once fermentation has fully finished, prime with about 1 oz of honey per gallon and bottle in pressure-rated bottles.
How long does ginger mead take?
About 2 to 3 months from mixing to drinking. It is best within the first year, while the ginger is fresh and hot.
How strong is ginger mead?
About 10 to 11% ABV, depending on how dry it ferments and whether you sweeten or prime it.