Not that long ago my father decided that he did not wish to make cidre, or apple wine any longer because he wasn’t fond of it. Preferring instead to stick with rhubarb and beet. This announcement was somewhat disappointing at first simply because I had grown quite fond of drinking it. But, that feeling vanished the minute he offered me his two five gallon carboys! Sorry Dad, but your apple wine does not hold a candle to mead. Well, at least not to mine anyway.
So there I was with two five gallon carboys and no honey. Needless to say I remedied that situation rather quickly. Instead of going through my usual honey connection, I decided to try some from Kowalczyk Family Organic Farm near Swanville, MN. Very nice folks to deal with. I picked up five gallons (60 lbs.) from Joseph Kowalczyk last Saturday at the Pioneer Days event in Albany, MN. where he was demonstrating period woodworking techniques. I also scored more than a gallon of some fantastic maple syrup, but that’s another story.
Mead production in progress. Does that pail of honey look irresistible or what!
With the honey finally procured, I set about making the first large batch of mead. This was mixed in pretty much the same fashion as before. Four pounds of honey to one gallon of water. One little thing that I failed to take into consideration was the fact that honey has volume. Oops. Instead of five gallons of water, it only took four. The sixteen pounds of honey made up the extra gallon. Oh well. One extra tablespoon of bee pollen and another teaspoon of yeast really doesn’t make that much difference. There was a little of the honey/water mixture left over, so I simply poured it into a glass with a wee bit of vodka. A fitting way to celebrate a job well done.
Fermentation is well underway.
This was done on the eve of Monday, the 19th of September, 2016. This is day three and it is still bubbling away. The starting specific gravity of this batch measured in at 1.116 meaning that there is the potential for an ABV of 15% should all of the sugars be consumed. I doubt it will reach that level, but you just never know. We’ll find out soon enough. The plan is to get one of these going every six weeks or so. If all goes as planned, I’ll never have to purchase bier or wine again.
Now, where to get a decent drinking horn…