Mead! The Adventure Begins...

Mead has had a long history alongside men during their stay on Earth. It has fantastical stories where it's held in the highest regard among kings and gods.It was once said by Vikings that the mead made from the blood of a god, and honey would turn a man  into a scholar.

Mead, or honey-wine is still a beverage that graces tables to this day.It may not hold as high a covetous repertoire, but still is enjoyed by many.

The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the Rigveda, a sacred book of Hinduism.

In Ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle discussed mead in his Meteorologica and elsewhere. The Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about AD 60.

"Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius* of this water with a pound] of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water."

*- A sextarius is the equivalent to one pint.

What sort of re-enactor would I be if I didn't try my hand at mead at least once? Not to say everyone should try it, but I like medieval food... and I dare say.. LOVE mead and beer. So I asked the help of a friend who had experience, and told me what I'd need.

3 - 5 lbs of honey

1 gallon carboy

1 airlock

1 package of yeast ( I got a champagne yeast)

Water

I had everything I needed... now I just needed to put it all together. Admittedly it took much longer to get everything assembled than originally planned, but it's now fermenting away in a friend's closet.

So we dissolved the honey with water and let it come to temperature. About 120 degrees. Once it reached that point we took a small amount of it and let it cool. We then added the yeast to that and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

While the yeast sat, my cohort peeled and chopped apples. We began placing them in the carboy with the contents of one full vanilla bean and a dash or orange water (because it's period!)

Here it is! Ready to ferment and become alcoholic and delicious...

We then put the honey and water mixture in the carboy over the apples we already added. Once that was in, we added the pitch (yeast mixture). Once it was added we gave it a nice jostle to make sure everything was incorporated well.

Now a few notes: We probably should've pureed the apples or made them a lot smaller chunks. This make it easier for the yeast to digest and break down. It also takes up less volume in the carboy - therefore giving you more mead when it's done.

It's been sitting for a little over two weeks now! And it's bubbling away. In about two more weeks, we'll strain it into another carboy without apples, and let it sit for about 6 months!

Here's a short video of it bubbling away! This is what we're calling our "first born" until we taste it...

Once we start our next steps, I'll be sure to try and update. Leave comments below on your own experiences, and thoughts. This is very new, so any and all feedback is very very welcome. Thanks for reading!