1 GALLON MEAD RECIPE

Having a 1 gallon mead recipe is something any brewer should keep on tap for when the ancient ways
come calling. It’s a great way to get into home-brewing, create a gift or a money saver for a party, and to
just generally show off your Viking coolness. The reason you want to start off with a simple 1 gallon mead
recipe is that it’s a small batch that won’t require too much investment. It’s more to give you a feel for
making this historic drink and see if you want to keep exploring.

Think of it like cooking and following a recipe. We’ve provided a simple and yet traditional mead recipe to
wet your whistle and give you a feel for mead. Looking over this page you may become overwhelmed, but
don’t fret. This is a simple honey mead recipe and we just wanted to make sure each step was as clear as
possible.

GET YOUR VIKING ON AND ENJOY OUR 1 GALLON MEAD RECIPE

BELOW.
Please Note: Our mead making and mead recipe pages are brand new and we are working to make videos
and add content but are severely short of time at this point. We welcome comments and ask for your
patience as we perfect these pages and hopefully enhance your mead making the experience. Cheers!

MEAD RECIPES

BASIC MEAD RECIPE FOR DRY OR SWEET MEAD

Let’s start with this easy mead recipe. For this 1-gallon mead recipe, we will be working for a complete
fermentation Mead Making Kit and back sweeten to taste.

EQUIPMENT LIST FOR THIS MEAD RECIPE:

2 – 1 Gallon jug
1 – 2 Gallon Fermenter bucket (You can use a jug but the bucket is preferable)
1 – Hydrometer
1 – Hydrometer jar
1 – Thermometer
1 – Air lock and drilled rubber stopper
1 – Siphoning hose
1 – Carboy brush
1 – Stirring spoon
1 – 2 cup measure
1 – Funnel
1 – 2 Oz Pack One Step Sanitizer

Take a look at our complete mead making equipment kit.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS BASIC MEAD RECIPE:

 • 3 lbs of honey
• Approx. 12 cups of water (Do not use chlorinated water! If you are on city water, buy distilled or spring
water at your local store. If you are on a well, your water should be fine unless you have a water softening
system)
• 5 grams of yeast
• ½ tsp of yeast energizer
• ½ tsp of yeast nutrient
• ¾ tsp of Potassium Sorbate

We’ve put together a mead making ingredient kit for sale.

STEP BY STEP MEAD RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Sanitize all your equipment using One Step and water solution as per the instructions on the
packet.
Note: Never use bleach! Bleach will react negatively with the fermentation process.
2. Put 4 cups of hot water in your 2-gallon fermenter, measure out about 2 ¾ lbs of honey and mix
with the warm water in your bucket.
3. Add 8 cups of cold water and stir
4. Put must (honey and water mixture) in your hydrometer jar and float your hydrometer. Record your
sugar level in brix on your chart. You should have 22.5 brix. This recipe will produce about 12.8%
alcohol.
5. Use the stick-on thermometer on your 2-gallon fermenter. You should have between 65 and 75
degrees.
6. Add your yeast energizer and yeast nutrient stirring gently until dissolved.
7. Pull out about 1 cup of your must in a two cup measure and pour your yeast pack in and stir gently.
Let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. When it starts to foam, gently pour back into your fermenter
bucket. Close your fermenter lid firmly, making sure it doesn’t leak, and install your airlock.
8. Your mead will start fermenting after a couple of hours. You will see your airlock start bubbling.
Keep your fermenter in a place between 65 and 75 degrees and let the yeast do its work. This could
take 10 to 20 days.
9. When your air lock bubbling slows down dramatically, rack your mead into your 1-gallon jug using
your siphoning tube. Be careful not to siphon up the sediment on the bottom of the fermenter.
10. During racking, fill your hydrometer jar and measure your sugar level in brix with your hydrometer
and record the reading on your chart. Return the mead in your hydrometer jar into your glass jug
after you are done measuring the sugar level.
If you still have sugar content above 2 brix, you can add another ½ tsp of yeast energizer at this
point and let it continue to ferment in your glass jug.
 11. When your fermentation is complete, you will see sediment settling in a distinct layer in your glass
jug. (at this point your hydrometer should read a sugar level close to zero, if it doesn’t, add more
nutrient and energizer and continue fermentation)
12. When this visible settling is down to the bottom of the jug, rack your mead into another jug. (if you
don’t have another jug, use your cleaned fermenter bucket and then siphon the mead back into the
glass jug after you have cleaned the jug.
13. Once you have achieved your desired fermentation and racked your mead off the leas (sediment at
the bottom) add ¾ tsp of Potassium Sorbate to your mead.
14. Taste your mead. If you would like a little more sweetness, now is the time to add some of the
honey you have left over from your starting 3 lbs. The sorbate will keep any further fermentation
from happening.
15. If you would like your mead to clarify a little faster you can add your bentonite as per the
instructions on the packet. The down side to this is the bentonite creates a loose sediment layer
and can waste more of your mead than just waiting for it to settle or using a filter like a Vinbrite
Mark III.
16. After your mead clarifies to your desired level it is ready to bottle. Crystal clarity is not necessary if
you like the taste.
Clean your bottles and bottling equipment. Bottle your mead. Your mead could improve if you want
to put it away for a while. If you are thirsty, it’s ready to drink.

NOTES

Each settling period could take a couple of weeks. Limit the amount of time your mead goes with the
airlock removed. Excess head space should be avoided once your fermentation is complete. Clean marbles
or glass beads can be added to your glass jug to eliminate head space. Please refer any questions you run
into to joe@hiddenlegendwinery.com. There are many mead recipes and theories about what makes the
best mead.

This mead making supply page is designed to give you everything you need to get started making mead.
We hope you will find it as exciting and enjoyable as we do.

Cheers!

SPARKLING MEAD MAKING GUIDE

Home brewers: are you wondering how to make sparkling mead? Sounds like an incredibly refreshing tonic,
the perfect drink for hot summer days or whenever you feel like it. (It is.) After all, fermented beverages can
be carbonated or uncarbonated; it’s up to the producer to determine whether or not to introduce
carbonation during the brewing process.

However, if you’ve decided to make some sparkling mead, here is how it’s done.

SPARKLING MEAD IS MADE BY BOTTLE CONDITIONING

The process of carbonation is commenced in the last stage of the brewing process, namely during bottle
conditioning. Make your mead the normal way, and then go through the primary and secondary stages of
fermentation.
However, you may want to take care to select a mead that is going to lend itself well to fermentation. It’s
kind of like making a sparkling wine or carbonating a beer; there are certain types that lend themselves well
to being carbonated and others that might not.

For instance, you wouldn’t probably carbonate port, Shiraz or most pinot noirs, nor are there too many
“fizzy” stouts on the market. (There are, of course, black lagers – schwarzbier – but they’re much lighter
than stouts.) That’s because port, Shiraz, most pinot noirs and dark, heavy ales don’t benefit from excessive
carbonation; they taste better without it. Therefore, select a mead that would benefit. It should be on the
lighter side, and shouldn’t be too terribly dark or overly sweet.

That’s exactly how we created our Bearded Saint sparkling mead and what we had in mind in creating it! It’s
a crisp, refreshing mead that we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

That said, once secondary fermentation has concluded, carbonation is done in the bottle conditioning
phase…but it’s also ridiculously easy. All you do is add extra honey right before bottling, about ⅔ cup.

What?! That’s IT? Just add more honey?

Yes! The additional sugars cause a tertiary fermentation with the remaining yeast in the bottle. The
byproduct of yeast working their magic is carbon dioxide. However, by the time you get to bottling, the
amount you add isn’t enough to produce more than trace amounts of alcohol but is enough to produce
carbon dioxide.

During the first two stages of fermentation, it gets off-gassed by means of the airlock. However, bottles are
entirely closed systems and since the carbon can’t off-gas, it remains in solution and thus produces a
carbonated beverage. Pretty easy, right?

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MEAD BOTTLES

Here is a caution, though – make sure you make the right choice when it comes to mead bottles. The
typical bottle you might use or wine bottle is not – repeat NOT – sufficient when it comes to making
sparkling mead, which is why bottle selection is crucial to the process of how to make sparkling mead.

If you use regular mead bottles or wine bottles, many of them will shatter during the bottle conditioning
process, leading to mead all over the floor in your storage area and broken glass, which will not be fun to
clean up and your wife/husband/domestic partner is not going to be amused.

WHICH BOTTLES TO CHOOSE THEN?

You need bottles that have been hardened to withstand the carbonation process, as typical bottle glass is
not up to the task. Most people use wine bottles for bottling mead, so what you’re going to look for is
champagne bottles. These can be new or used, but the point is champagne bottles have been hardened to
take the additional pressure. You can also look for larger beer bottles, such as 22-oz “bomber” bottles or
750 ml beer bottles, which are becoming a bit more common these days, as beer bottles have likewise
been conditioned for this process.

Next, the seal on said bottles: best practice with a sparkling wine is to use a champagne cork. Champagne
corks actually absorb some of the carbon dioxide, and with their mushroom shape, swell in the bottle. This
creates a tighter seal and with the wire cap, keeps the process contained.

MAKING SPARKLING MEAD

Making sparkling mead isn’t hard at all, is it? You just add a bit of extra sugars in the form of honey right
before bottling into a suitable bottle. Then it’s just a matter of waiting until you can enjoy the fruits of your
labors.

How to get started on how to make sparkling mead? Well, one of the first things you’ll need is the
equipment to make it, if you don’t already have it. As it turns out, we have a mead kits available to get you
started. It contains all the equipment you need to start making mead at home, including sparkling mead,
except for the raw materials required and the champagne bottles – those you’ll have to source yourself.

Make mead as normal, then add extra honey right before you bottle – it’s that easy!