At a glance
- Style
- Metheglin
- Alcohol
- About 13.8% ABV
- Finish
- Semi-sweet
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Honey
- Wildflower or buckwheat blend
- Yeast
- Lalvin 71B or D47
- Ready in
- 4 to 6 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.
- 3 lb Honey, wildflower (or 2.5 lb wildflower + 0.5 lb buckwheat)
- 0.75 gallons Spring water (to make 1 gallon of must)
- 1 packet Lalvin 71B or D47 yeast (one packet covers up to 6 gallons)
- 6 g Go-Ferm (yeast rehydration nutrient) (optional but recommended)
- 5 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 4 doses, see steps)
- 1 stick Ceylon cinnamon (about 3 in / 8 cm)
- 3 Whole cloves
- 0.5 pods Vanilla bean, split
- 1 Orange zest, no white pith (zest of one orange)
- 0.25 oz Fresh ginger, sliced (optional)
- 0.5 tsp Potassium sorbate
- 1 Campden tablet
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
- 1-gallon jug with airlock
- Hydrometer
- Small muslin spice bag
- Auto-siphon
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
-
Make a traditional base
Sanitize, then dissolve the honey in water to 1 gallon. Aim for a starting gravity near 1.105. Rehydrate the yeast with Go-Ferm, pitch at room temperature and keep the ferment at 60 to 68°F (16 to 20°C). D47 in particular turns harsh above 68°F.
-
Staggered nutrients
Add a quarter of the Fermaid O at 24, 48 and 72 hours and at the 1/3 sugar break (about 1.070). Degas gently before each addition.
-
Rack to secondary
When fermentation finishes (gravity steady for 3 days, usually 3 to 5 weeks), rack off the yeast into a clean jug.
-
Add spices in a bag
Put the cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, zest and ginger in a sanitized spice bag weighted with a sanitized marble or two, and drop it into the mead. Taste every 2 to 3 days with a sanitized thief or straw.
-
Pull the spices early
Remove the bag when the spice is just slightly weaker than you want: usually 5 to 10 days. Spice flavors grow more prominent after sweetening and bottling, and cloves in particular can dominate within a week.
-
Stabilize and backsweeten
Once clear, add the crushed Campden tablet and sorbate, wait 48 hours, then sweeten with honey to taste. About 5 oz per gallon lands near 1.012.
-
Age
Bottle and give it at least 3 months. Spice and alcohol integrate slowly; this is a mead to start in late summer for the holidays.
Timeline
- Day 0Mix and pitch
- Days 1 to 7Nutrient additions
- Weeks 3 to 5Rack to secondary
- Weeks 5 to 7Spice bag in, taste every 2 to 3 days
- Weeks 8 to 12Stabilize, sweeten, bottle
- Month 5 and onDrink; good for years
Why this recipe works
Spicing in secondary, not in the boil or primary, is the most important choice here. Fermentation changes spice character in ways that are hard to predict, and you cannot take out a spice once it is in. In secondary you can taste and stop at exactly the right moment.
Ceylon ("true") cinnamon is softer and more floral than the cassia sold as cinnamon in most US supermarkets. Cassia works but tends toward a hot, candy note; if that is what you have, use half a stick.
A slightly bigger honey charge (3 lb) than a fruit mead gives the body to carry the spice. Thin, dry metheglins taste like spiced water.
Buckwheat honey is optional but it adds a molasses and malt depth that suits winter spices. Keep it to about a sixth of the honey or it takes over.
Variations
- Christmas mead: use the full spice list with the ginger, add one star anise pod and a strip of lemon zest, and sweeten to about 1.016. Start it by early September to pour in December.
- Cinnamon mead: leave out everything but the cinnamon and use two sticks. It needs the semi-sweet finish; dry cinnamon mead tastes woody.
- Chai mead: black tea, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon and ginger.
- Mulled-wine style: add the zest of a lemon and a star anise pod, then serve warm.
- Vanilla-bourbon: vanilla bean plus 1 oz of medium-toast oak cubes soaked in bourbon, for 2 to 4 weeks.
More mead recipes to try
- Pumpkin mead recipe: Roasted pie pumpkin in primary, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and ginger in secondary.
- Apple pie mead recipe: A spiced, semi-sweet cyser: cinnamon, vanilla, allspice and nutmeg. The fall mead.
- Cyser (apple mead) recipe: Apple juice replaces the water. Crisp, easy and ready sooner than most meads.
More spiced and herbal mead recipes: Coffee mead (plus chocolate and vanilla), Viking-style mead, Lavender mead, Hibiscus mead, Ginger 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
What is a metheglin?
A mead flavored with spices or herbs. The word comes from the Welsh meddyglyn, meaning medicinal drink.
When should I add spices to mead?
In secondary, after fermentation, so you can taste and remove them when the flavor is right. Spices added to primary are harder to control.
How long should spices stay in mead?
Usually 5 to 14 days. Taste every couple of days and pull them just before the flavor is as strong as you want.
Can I make spiced mead for Christmas?
Yes, but start by late August or early September. It needs at least 3 to 4 months, and the flavors integrate further with age.
Can I serve spiced mead warm?
Yes. Heat it gently to about 150°F without simmering, as you would mulled wine.