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Mead - Honey Wine, ‘the Nectar of the Gods’ Mead is regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks. Many cultures and traditionsbelieved mead had magical and sacred properties that would prolong life, and bestowhealth, strength, virility, creative powers, wit and poetry. It literally takes only water, honey& yeast. “Mead is the ancient liquor of gods and men, the giver of knowledge and poetry, the healerof wounds, and the bestower of immortality.” - Robert Gayre, 1948 Mead Flavours, Terms and Varieties Mead – You can experiment by varying the type of honey you use ranging from dark tolight-coloured honeys, there are seemingly infinite variety of different flower/nectarsources, from different regions all influencing the overall nutrition, properties andultimately flavour. Use whatever honey you have access to and are inspired by. Melomel - Adding fruit – fresh, dried, or juiced such as cherry, peach, blueberry, pear, goji,rosehip, elderberry. Cyser: Use fresh apple juice as the base instead of water for this cider-mead combo calleda Cyser. Consider using pears instead of apples as another variation. You do not need touse 100% juice, as a half-half ratio water to juice is also just fine. You can even make a plainmead and then add apple juice at the secondary fermentation stage, or through ‘back-sweetening’ by adding just 1-2 Tbsp’s of apple juice at the bottling stage.

Herbalist's Guide to FermentationWith Malcolm Saunders

BYOB: Be Your Own Brewer

Activate The Art, Craft & Alchemy ofHerbal Honey Wine

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1 kg or 1 L of raw, unpasteurized honey 3 L of water 1/5 packet champagne yeast

Heat the water until warm to touch and dissolve in honey. Pour into a 1 gallon glass carboy. Add 1/5th of a packet of champagne yeast, and shake to dissolve in and oxygenateyeast. Place airlock on top and let sit at room temperature and out of direct sunlight forapproximately 4 weeks.

Metheglin - Herbal Mead made by adding herbs such as elderflower, ginger, chaga,vanilla, rose, dandelion, rhodiola, sarsaparilla, labrador, hops. Braggot: Beer with the addition of honey; or, mead fermented with the addition ofbarley malt. Sack Mead: This term is used to denote a mead which over time you continue tosaturate with more and more honey as it ferments. The result is a strong (i.e. high-alcohol) and sweet mead. Simply add more honey to your air-locked carboy at thesecondary and even third fermentation periods, until saturated with honey andfermentation stops. Mead:Creates 1 gallon.I have seen and tasted brews that work with less honey, 500g/500ml honey for 1 gallonbatch. However, start with the recommended ratios and begin to explore once you havean understanding of this basic recipes’ taste and properties and from there you canincorporate a world of variety and variation.

Basic Directions:



Detailed Directions Primary Fermentation - Pour your honey & water mixture into a food safe bucket ordirectly into your fermentation vessel - typically a 1 gallon glass carboy jug (these arereadily available at wine making shops). Add yeast, and stir or shake vigorously,oxygenating well, and creating lots of bubbles. Allow this to sit open to the air for 2-5days, stirring or shaking several times a day to allow the yeast to get more oxygenhelping them multiply and establish quicker. This is called the ‘primary fermentation’,and though this step is recommended, it is optional as you can start fermentation rightaway in a carboy with an airlock as per the basic instructions. Secondary Fermentation under Airlock - After a few days of primary fermentation,transfer your brew to a carboy if you have not already done so. The key step here is toput an airlock on top that is filled with water to create the necessary air-seal. Let thisferment at room temperature away from direct sunlight, this can do so for 3-4 weeks ormore. You can ferment your mead for longer periods (up to 3 months) but the mead willrequire racking (see instructions that follow). Fermentation Time and Testing - At anytime during fermentation you can taste yourmead to see where it’s at and how you like the taste. It takes about 1-2 weeks for a verysweet, low alcoholic beverage to be created; 2-3 weeks for a sweet and moderate-alcohol level mead; 4-5 weeks is usually the perfect time frame for almost full alcoholpotential with a hint of sweetness still remaining; and 6 weeks or longer for a dry andstrong mead with no sweetness. Of course this is just a guide and you can taste yourmead at any time during its fermentation to find right the sweet-spot you love. Of course timing all depends on how much honey you started with and the strength andactivity of the yeast, the temperature of the environment or if you have added otheringredients such as herbs. For instance, whenever I use hibiscus it seems to acceleratethe fermentation process and ends up finishing much quicker. Other herbs may slowfermentation.


Racking - When the mead is ready according to your taste, and fermentation hasdecreased (visible by how often it “bubbles” through the air-lock), you will “rack” yourmead. To do this you will siphon the mead off of the yeast that has become like asediment at the bottom. For this step you can choose to transfer directly to flip-top orcork-able bottles where your mead can age and is ready for future consumption. Youmay also choose to transfer it into another air-locked carboy for a further secondaryfermentation by simply letting it sit longer and/or adding further honey or additionalingredients. Either way, let your siphoned mead sit in a cool dark place and age anylength of time desired. Just know your mead can be enjoyed right after fermentation oryou may let it sit and age for weeks, months or years. Storage and Opening -There is a good chance that you will want to store your bottledmead in the refrigerator or cold storage area. Especially if the mead is still "young" andtastes sweet in any way when you bottle it, because at room temperature or warmeryou could likely end up with exploding bottles as the yeast still have honey to digestwhich means carbonation and inevitable explosion. Caution will also be required uponopening any mead, even if in fridge, as it may have built up some level of carbonationdue to the continual fermentation of residual sugars and yeast. However, when timedjust right, these still semi-sweet meads are a delicious bubbly drink to enjoy! Priming - You can also turn a more mature and dry mead into a bubbly champagne-likedrink by simply adding a touch of honey (or fruit juice, sugar, etc...) You simply add 1-2Tbsp of your choice of sweetener when bottling, this is called priming (however if yourmead is already on the sweet side you will neither need nor want to do this). If yourmead is sweet or you are priming, make sure to always store your meads in the fridge tobe on the safe side so it is chilled before opening and is less likely to explode! Alwaysuse caution and proper bottles that can handle pressure from bottle priming.





1 kg (appx 1 L) raw, unpasteurized honey - you may choose to use honey still in thecomb to incorporate all the elements of the hive3 litres of water1-3 tbsp bee pollen1 tbsp (or more) propolis, propolis honey or propolis tincture1 tsp - Tbsp fresh or dried royal jelly1/5 packet of champagne yeast or wild-yeast ferment

A note of feeding your yeast:Some mead-makers add a yeast-nutrient to their brew in order to supplement the dietof the yeast for a more robust and vigorous yeast. This is because the yeasts we areusing are wine or champagne yeasts, and have been domesticated and grownaccustomed to grapes and all the nutrients a grape provides in terms of not only thesugar content but also specific tannins and acids as well. Honey lacks these certainnutrients for the yeast and though you will often get a great ferment without addingadditional yeast nutrient giving them extra nutrition from various sources keeps themrobust to carry on mead-after-mead as well as makes them less stressed, which somesay the flavours of which can be noted in your brew. So, if you like, you can explore thisand consider adding any of the following additional yeast-nutrients such as:fresh wholelemon (juice, pith and rind) a few raisins or other dried fruit, or yeast nutrient boughtfrom the wine supply store Whole Hive MeadCreates 1 gallon appx 14% potential alcohol Though Ancient cultures may have simply tossed in, literally, the whole beehive, we canrecreate the same idea and effect by incorporating all the different bee foods.

Follow the same directions as for the plain Mead and while dissolving the honey into thewater add the propolis, bee pollen, royal jelly and the yeast. Mix thoroughly and placean air-lock on to ferment.



3 L hot water1 L honey a pinch of saffron1/5 packet of champagne yeast

3 L hot water1 L honey1/2 - 1 cup Elderflowers1/5 packet of champagne yeast

Hibiscus, Rose & Goji - Love Potion #9Jasmine Green Tea & LonganChaga Yarrow MugwortHeather, Pine Pollen & Nettle RootGinger ReishiLabrador Tea

Full-on Saffron MeadCreates 1 gallon appx. 14% potential alcohol

Add saffron to hot water and let steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain out the herb anddissolve in the honey. Transfer to a 1 gallon glass carboy. Add yeast and mixthoroughly and place an air-lock on to ferment. Elderflower MeadCreates 1 gallon appx. 14% potential alcohol

Add elderflowers to the hot water and let steep for 15-20 minutes.Strain out theflowers and dissolve in the honey. Transfer to a 1 gallon glass carboy. Add yeast andmix thoroughly and place an air-lock on to ferment. More Healing Herbal Honey Wine Variations:

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