Homemade mead - simple recipes for hop honey

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Rules for cleaning mead from yeast

When changing from a violent fermentation lasting several days to a quiet young mead, you need to free it from the protein sediment by pouring it into clean plastic or glass bottles. During quiet fermentation, the spent yeast cells will begin to settle, and the fullness will become lighter every day. Most of the dregs in the feed will be cleared only when quiet fermentation is completed, and this will happen after 2 months.

When the fermentation and sedimentation of the yeast suspension is finished, the drink should be poured into small barrels. In them, the drink is aged until fully clarified.

Note! To speed up the clarification of the drink, add tannin (10 g per 10 l of the drink). This additive gives the wine a slightly astringent taste.

For a complete cleaning of the drink, they make it pasting with egg white. Getting into an alcohol-containing liquid, the protein coagulates and, settling in flakes, carries away the remaining dregs. The protein of one egg is enough for 25 liters of wine. For better mixing, the protein is whipped into a foam, mixed with a small portion of wine and poured into a barrel.

Recipe for making mead from old or fermented honey

This recipe helps to find a use for old or fermented honey, which results in a low alcohol drink with an intoxicating aroma and amazing sweet and sour berry taste with dominant notes of fresh honey. In addition, this alcohol boasts a delicate aftertaste reminiscent of “champagne”.

This technology includes freshly squeezed cranberry juice, which can be replaced with raspberry, cherry, strawberry, currant or strawberry juice. So be guided by your own taste when choosing your favorite berries for mead. The maximum shelf life in a room with a temperature of up to 13 degrees does not exceed three weeks.

Required Ingredients

Components	dosage
fermented or old honey	1 kg
cranberry juice	5 l
bottled water	5 l
baker's yeast	30 g
cardamom	1 pinch
cinnamon	1 pinch
carnation	2 buds

Manufacturing sequence

Pour bottled water into a saucepan with a thick bottom and heat it to a boil.
Dip honey in small portions into the boiling liquid, while constantly stirring the mass, otherwise the honey can burn and spoil the alcohol being prepared.
Once all the honey has been added, bring the syrup to a boil and boil it for 5-7 minutes, removing the foam as it appears.
We remove the pan from the heat and cool the finished syrup to a temperature of 24-26 degrees, placing the liquid in a cool place.
We dilute the yeast in a small container, exactly following the recommendations written on the package.
In the cooled syrup, add the yeast mass one by one, then cranberry juice and the last to omit the spices.
Stir the ingredients well until a homogeneous consistency is obtained.
Cover the container with gauze folded in 2-3 layers and place the product in heat.
We insist the mass for three days before the activation of the fermentation process begins.
We drain the liquid from the formed sediment and carefully filter it through gauze, and then cotton filters.
Pour the purified product into sterilized dark plastic or glass containers.
Close the container well and leave it in a room with a temperature of 13-15 ° C for about five days. Every day we uncork the container and reduce the pressure in it.
After this period, you can start tasting the mead. Before direct use, be sure to shake up the alcohol, then reduce the pressure by slowly opening the lid.

Tincture from old raw materials

You can make mead from old honey, especially if it has been stored for several years and is heavily candied. If no one wants to eat it, and it is a pity to throw away the product, it can be used to make a delicious fortified drink. Any leftovers are suitable for this, you can even soak honey jars.

To brew a real strong honey moonshine, you need the following ingredients:

natural honey - 1.5 kg;
yeast - 4 g;
clean water - 10 liters;
hop cones - 10 g.

It is also worthwhile to first prepare a container in which the solution will be cooked, pour water into it and put it to boil. Then they act according to the scheme:

Honey is poured into boiling water in portions and stirred constantly, otherwise it will burn and spoil the taste of the future drink. Boil the syrup for 5-7 minutes; foam will periodically form on the surface - it needs to be removed.
Then hop cones are introduced into the solution, which must first be crushed. Close the container with a lid and remove from the stove.
After the liquid has cooled to 45 degrees, you need to add yeast, which was previously diluted according to the instructions. Mix everything well and remove the container with the drink in a warm place for fermentation.
After five days, the honey syrup must be properly filtered with gauze. In this case, the main thing is that in the process the sediment that has formed at the bottom of the container does not rise, so all actions are performed carefully.
The liquid is poured into clean bottles, they are tightly corked and stored again in a room where the temperature is maintained at 12-15 degrees. In this case, it is necessary to open the containers daily so that the pressure in them decreases. Ripening lasts exactly three weeks.

On this, the process of making mead with your own hands is considered complete.

Briefly about historical facts and myths

The modern mead recipe appeared in the 18th century in Veliky Novgorod and became popular in the 20th century. During the Soviet era, the technology of collecting honey was very often violated, collecting it earlier than necessary. This unripe honey was poorly stored and was absolutely not suitable for sale. Therefore, a clever way of using illiquid assets was invented - the fermentation of this honey with baker's yeast.

Suzdal and Veliky Novgorod were famous for their honey brewing. The strength of mead from Veliky Novgorod is from 5 to 16%. In Suzdal, you can find more than ten types of mead, which differ in strength and spices. Dried ginger root, juniper berries, cinnamon sticks, cloves, rose hips and hot peppers are often added to mead.

Ripening period

In a standard recipe, the mead fermentation process takes five days. It looks like muddy champagne. Sometimes the mead is infused for three to six months and becomes less bubbly, but more aromatic, strong, fluid and dense. If you add berries to the mead, then over time it will become more useful - the berries will give the drink their useful substances. Depending on the recipe, the strength of the mead can range from two to ten degrees.

Video: Mead

To obtain mead as a carbonated drink, you need to re-add honey and carry out the fermentation process again, already in bottles. It looks like this. At the bottom of clean and dry bottles, put honey at the rate of 1.5 tsp. per liter of drink, pour the resulting composition with a margin of empty space 5-7 cm from the edge of the bottle and close tightly. Withstand 8-10 days at a temperature of 22-26 degrees. Constantly check bottles and remove excess gas. Then transfer to a cool place.Full ripening period is about a week.

Mead recipe without yeast and boiling

The proposed recipe for mead differs from the others, prepared at home, in the absence of artificial yeast in the composition. This technology for the preparation of alcohol involves the participation of exclusively natural ingredients, and to activate the fermentation process, dried grapes will be used, which copes with its task no worse than purchased yeast.

The only drawback is the long infusion, which will take 3-4 months. The result is a slightly carbonated mead, soft in taste, intoxicating in aroma, the strength of which is relatively low, about 2-4 turns, very similar to kvass.

Required Ingredients

Components	dosage
natural honey	100 g
spring or bottled water	1 L
unwashed raisins	50 g
hop cones	6 g

Manufacturing sequence

We dilute honey in water at room temperature, after which we put unwashed raisins and hop cones in the same place.
Pour the wort into an infusion vessel and tie the neck with a gauze cloth folded in 2-3 layers.
We put the wort in a sunny place and wait for the activation of fermentation.
After about 3-4 days, the first signs will appear, then we rearrange the container with the sparkling mass in a dark room and wait for the end of the fermentation process, which most often lasts one and a half to two weeks.
We filter the overplayed wort through a gauze cloth, carefully squeezing out its hard part.
Pour the filtered hot drink into a sterilized container, seal it tightly and send it to a dark room with a temperature of no more than 11 degrees.
We soak the mead until the final ripening for 3-4 months, after which we taste it.

Linden mead: recipe

Such a low-alcohol drink is prepared with a small addition of vodka or alcohol and linden blossom.

And for this recipe, not only fresh "amber" is suitable, but also candied.

Ingredient List

100 g of fresh yeast or 30 g of dry yeast;
0.5 kg of honey;
1-2 cups of dried linden flowers;
50 g of vodka;
from 5 to 10 g of hops;
500 ml of water.

How to make a drink with vodka and linden broth

Stir the nectar with water at room temperature, then pour the resulting liquid into a saucepan with boiling water and boil for about 50-60 minutes.

Then the resulting syrup is cooled, yeast is added and kept for 4 days. On the last day, alcohol and lime-intoxicated broth are added, kept for another 2 or 3 days, and only then bottled.

This drink should be kept in a cool place for 4 to 6 months.

Honey boiling technology

So, we have delicious mead on our agenda. The recipe for making (at home, of course) this drink boils down to the following. You will need 10 liters of water, 1.5 kg of honey, 10 g of hop cones and 3 g of bread yeast. The process involves heat treatment. Water should be poured into a container and brought to boiling point.

Now add old honey to the water and start stirring so that it does not burn. Literally after three minutes, remove the foam, add the hops and remove from the heat. Remember to put the lid on the jar. Now you need to wait until the temperature drops to 45 degrees. Then add yeast, cover and put in a warm place for fermentation. It remains only to strain the drink through cheesecloth and pour into small containers.

The honey and yeast mead must stand. To do this, it is closed with corks and lowered into the cellar. After two days, you need to lower the pressure. Bottles must be carefully opened and closed again. Now the wait will be 4-5 days. The finished drink tastes like champagne

Modern mead recipe

Mead is a low-alcohol drink with a minimum amount of honey (5 to 10 percent). It is prepared by fermenting honey along with some additional ingredients. Among them are yeast, hops, flavorings, etc.
Separately, there is also a fairly strong type of mead. But the proper amount of alcohol in it can be achieved not through fermentation, but only by adding additional additives to the finished product. This drink can hardly be called real and traditional.

Ingredients for making a modern mead

The modern mead recipe includes the following list of ingredients:

Honey. About 300 grams per serving. It is best to buy real natural honey. We recommend buying from trusted beekeepers. If this is not possible, then here's a piece of advice: how to check honey for naturalness at home?
Water. 2 liters. It is worth using a clean liquid without any additional odors. If the running water is poor, it is best to purchase a regular non-carbonated drink at the store.
Dry yeast. One tsp. or 25 gr. pressed product. You can buy it at any grocery store or supermarket. The cost of yeast is quite low.
Hop cones. About 5 grams. You can either prepare them yourself or buy them on the market. You can also buy buds in the store or even at the pharmacy.
Cinnamon or nutmeg. Just one pinch will be enough. You can easily buy these types of condiments at the store. You don't have to add them together. You can only use the one you like the most.

Modern mead preparation technology

Simple Mead Recipe

made of honey has the following technology:

Choosing the main ingredient directly. This stage of making mead is important in that it will determine how high-quality the drink will turn out to be. It is best to choose varieties that emit the most pleasant aroma. Most often, choose lime and mustard honey, harvested in spring and having a liquid consistency.

The process of dissolving honey in water. First, the liquid should be boiled in an enamel saucepan. After that, slowly pour honey into it, stirring the components with a spoon. For about five minutes, this mixture must still be boiled over low heat until a white film appears on the surface. It needs to be collected and thrown away

The most important thing in the boiling process is to prevent the honey from igniting and burning, which happens quite often if you stop stirring

Adding other ingredients to the drink. This should be done immediately after removing the surface white film. You need to add nutmeg, cinnamon and the hop cones themselves. After thoroughly mixing all the ingredients, remove the pan from the stove.

Preparation of components for fermentation. This can be done only when the liquid is cooled down to 25-30 degrees Celsius. At this point, yeast can be added to it. The temperature regime is important due to the fact that the higher the temperature, the more components introduced into the drink die. Immediately it is worth moving the pan to a dark room. The temperature in it should be about 25 degrees. If such a room is not available, it is best to use an aquarium heater.

To prevent insects from getting into the drink, the pan should be tied and covered with gauze on top. After 1-2 days, typical signs of fermentation will begin to appear: foam and a characteristic sound. At this time, the liquid should be transferred to the fermentation container, wearing a medical elastic glove on top of the neck.

Fermentation. This stage is not very long. It takes 4 to 6 days. Understand when it ended. You can use the glove, which was deflated, since the gas stopped coming out.

Cleaning and spilling.The mead should be poured into the final containers in which it will be stored or served on the table. Before this, the liquid should be filtered. It is best to use several layers of gauze for this.

the above method of making mead is not the only one. There are many other methods, which are also distinguished by their popularity and prevalence.

Recipe for making non-alcoholic mead at home

Traditionally, Russian mead always has, albeit a small, degree of strength, which excludes tasting for those who, for various reasons, do not use intoxicants. The presented recipe allows you to create at home a non-alcoholic version of many of your favorite soft drink, containing a maximum of 1 turn of alcohol. The method of preparing this drink is very simple, but rather lengthy.

Required Ingredients

Components	dosage
natural honey	2 Kg
spring or bottled water	1 L
unwashed fresh cherries	4 Kg

Cooking sequence

We dilute honey in bottled water until it is completely dissolved and a homogeneous consistency is obtained.
Remove seeds from unwashed cherries using a regular pin, and then add them to the honey liquid.
We set aside the wort to wander in a dark place, covering it with gauze to protect it from insects and dust.
As soon as fermentation is over, filter the liquid through a gauze cloth and pour the drink into dark plastic or glass bottles.
We place the container with mead in a cool room with a temperature not exceeding 11 degrees.
We give the alcohol the opportunity to ripen within 2-3 months.

Original recipes for strong mead

Once upon a time, almost everyone knew how to make delicious mead on their own. At the same time, each mead brewer added something of his own to the basic recipe, so there are a great many ways to make mead from vodka and honey. Consider several popular recipes for making honey tincture at home.

Lemon mead with vodka

To prepare this drink, we need:

Honey - 300 g
Vodka - 500 ml
Mint - a few leaves
Lemon - 1 pc.

Method of preparation: prepare a honey solution from honey, vodka, lemon juice with the addition of mint and keep it in a dark place for 5-7 days, sometimes shaking. A week later, you will get a fragrant drink, ready to drink.

Strong tincture-mead made from buckwheat honey

Structure:

Tincture of forest herbs (or mint) on alcohol - 1 l
Buckwheat honey - 300 g
Cinnamon - 5-10 g (other seasonings and spices can be used if desired)

How to cook: mix everything and set aside for a week in a dark place until the honey is completely dissolved. In order for the honey to completely disperse, the container with liquid must be shaken periodically. After that, filter the drink and store, preferably in a dark glass container.

Herbal vodka mead recipe

Making a honey drink with herbs gives you unlimited creativity. You can prepare a drink strictly according to the recipe, you can replace or exclude any of the proposed ingredients to taste.

We will need:

Honey - 4 tbsp. l.
Vodka - 1 l
Coriander (seeds) and oak bark - 1 tbsp. l.
Melissa - 1 tsp dry grass
Add a little thyme and sweet bison

Method of preparation: stir honey with vodka, add herbs there. Leave the container for three months in a cool, dark place. After insisting, strain the drink and pour into storage containers.

Mead tincture

Strong vodka tincture mead can be prepared at home, bypassing the fermentation process. To do this, you just need to add alcohol or vodka in the desired volume to a solution of honey with water. This is the fastest way to make a strong mead.

Mead recipe with vodka with linden broth

Structure:

Yeast - 1 pack
Honey - 500 g
Linden flowers - 15 g
Vodka - 3 tbsp. l.
Hops - 10 g
Water - 2 glasses

How to cook: after stirring honey in water (this will require a small amount of liquid at room temperature), pour boiling water over it and boil it over low heat for about an hour. Add yeast to the cooled syrup and stand for 3-4 days. At the end of fermentation, add a decoction of hops and linden and vodka to the drink and leave it to ferment for a few more days. Then pour the drink into storage containers (preferably a barrel) and keep in a cold place for 4-5 months.

Read also: Long burning heating stove for summer cottages and houses: photos and prices for popular models

Mead with spices

To make mead according to this recipe, we need:

Water - 3 l
Honey - 1 kg
Vodka - ½ glass
Yeast - 2 tbsp. l.
Cloves - 4 pcs.
Cinnamon, lemon balm, cardamom, violet - 1 tsp each.

Method of preparation: stir honey with water and cook over low heat until molasses. Then it must be filtered, poured (preferably in a keg), add yeast to the chilled syrup. After fermentation is complete, add spices in a canvas bag and vodka to the drink. After a month, strain the finished vodka mead and pour it into storage containers.

Strong mead with vodka and hops

Structure:

Vodka
Water - 4 l
Honey - 600 g
Yeast - 2 tsp
Hops - 10 cones
Cinnamon - 1 tsp

Preparation: dilute honey in hot water, boil for 5 minutes. After removing the foam, add cinnamon and hops to the syrup. Stir everything well and turn off the heat. Add yeast to the cooled mead base and let it ferment in the heat for several days. After fermentation is complete, filter the drink and bring it to the desired strength by adding vodka.

Strong, yeast-free mead

A drink made from two liters of water, 400 grams of honey and vodka is essentially a mixture of vodka and honey dissolved in water. The taste is sweetish mead with a characteristic honey aroma. And in terms of strength and effect on the body, it resembles ordinary vodka.

To prepare the base for the mead, the honey and water syrup must be boiled for a few minutes after boiling. At the same time, if desired, we flavor the drink with various seasonings (cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, cloves). We cool and dilute to the desired strength with vodka.

Strong mead on vodka is an alcoholic drink for everybody. Those who prefer the classic honey drink made according to old recipes, where the benefits are more appreciated than the degree, are unlikely to choose these recipes.

But nevertheless, mead with vodka, properly prepared at home, using high-quality ingredients, observing proportions and aging, will surely find its admirers. But, of course, you need to remember that this is a strong drink and you need to use it wisely.

Fermentation

Brewing beer at home: 5 ways to brew beer

You can close the bottle with the future mead cloth, but it is better to make a gas outlet. To do this, a lid is put on the bottle or jar - it must be very tight, the container must be airtight. A hole is made in the lid, a thin hose is inserted into it, one end of it should be above the surface of the mead, and the other in a cup of water. Often a thick rubber glove is used instead of a cap, but watch how well it fits on the neck.

To determine whether the honey has fermented, you need to light a match and bring it to the liquid. If the fire does not flare up more, then alcohol vapors from the mead do not go and fermentation is complete.

Helpful information

If you are a connoisseur of strong intoxicants and do not mind feeling non-trivial tasting qualities, then by all means turn your eyes to Jim Beam Honey.
Also get acquainted with the unique taste and aroma characteristics of the very famous and recognizable alcoholic drink Jack Daniels Honey.
I dare to assume that many will be interested in the technology of preparation of honey tincture, which will not be difficult to repeat at home even for a beginner.
Representatives of the fair half of society will undoubtedly like the unpretentious taste and exquisite aroma of honey wine, which is easy to make with your own hands at home.

This is how simple and fascinating the technology of making mead at home looks. There is no need to talk about the benefits and harms of mead, since the advantages are undeniable and beneficial for the human body. Describe in the comments new recipes for a miraculous drug that your ancestors used to please their loved ones. Good luck and thank you for your attention!

Preparation of ingredients

To cook mead at home, you need to have two main (honey and water) and several auxiliary (yeast, hops, spices, fruits) ingredients.

In theory, every novice mead brewer knows how to make mead at home. Problems begin when it is necessary to use theoretical knowledge in practice. And the first thing he is faced with is the right choice of honey for the intoxicating drink.

Honey. Each type of honey has its own unique color, taste, smell and aroma. Naturally, the organoleptic characteristics of mead will also depend on the quality of the feedstock. Therefore, varieties of honey with a faint smell (melilot and willow) disappear immediately. You should refrain from using chestnut honey - it gives the intoxicated drink a bitter taste.

By color, it is best to use light types of sweet product. Then the mead turns out to be amber in color. Dark varieties (buckwheat, angelica) give the drink a caramel shade and tart taste.

Honey should be natural, without additives and impurities, and without signs of fermentation.

Water. For a honey drink, clean, soft drinking water is taken, preferably from a spring. The degree of water hardness largely determines the quality of the final product. If the concentration of calcium salts in it exceeds the average level, then it tastes bitter and smells unpleasant. In addition, the development of yeast bacteria is slowed down in such water. Boiling reduces water hardness - salts will precipitate.

Yeast. Yeast is taken natural (wild) or artificially grown (wine, confectionery). Commercial yeast, dry or pressed, must be of good quality - ferment well. Experienced mead brewers advise to dip some wild relatives into the wort with ordinary yeast. They speed up fermentation. Natural yeast is found in fruits, hops, rye flour, raisins.

To give honey mead a specific taste and aroma, additives from spices, seasonings, berries and fruits are often used. By combining them in various combinations, you can get a huge number of types of drink.

Perfectly combined with honey, citrus zest and oriental spices (cloves, cinnamon). A pleasant taste is obtained by adding various juices to the drink, for example, cranberries, cherries, apples.

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Take note

To make the drink delight you and your guests with a pleasant taste and aroma, follow these simple rules:

Drink in moderation. Excessive use of mead threatens to deteriorate health.
Use secondary fermentation with simple sugars for a low alcohol carbonated drink.
For fermentation, use a lid with a water seal or wear surgical gloves around the neck.
Use Lallzyme HC for lightening.
Keep the drink chilled.

Enjoy not only the use of mead, but also the cooking process itself.

The value of the drink

The healing properties of the drink were known in ancient times. It was even recommended for pregnant women to drink it in small quantities: mead contained a lot of useful minerals, trace elements, vitamins. Most of the preparation options made it possible to create a drink with a strength of up to 4 °. But there were also recipes for getting strong honey - up to 21 °. For holidays, usually served mead varieties with a strength of up to 10 °.

A little about the history of the drink

It should be noted that a fresh beekeeping product at all times has been extremely valuable for humans. Nutritious, healthy, easy enough to digest, it is a ready-made source of energy, vitamins and amino acids. But if honey stagnated or began to ferment, then it was no longer possible to eat it. Therefore, new recipes began to appear. As already mentioned, even in Ancient Russia it was known how to make mead from old honey.

In the old days, Russian cities were famous for their honey brewing. The strength of this drink was different - from 5 to 16%. In the old notes, you can find several recipes, each of which had its own flavor. Juniper berries, a cinnamon stick, and cloves or even hot peppers were added to the drink.

Mead with raisins

And although the preparation of mead with raisins is simple, this does not affect the taste of the drink in any way. Dissolve 50 grams of honey in a liter of warm water (you can take crystallized honey).

Rinse the same amount of raisins with water and add to the rest of the ingredients. Keep the mixed ingredients warm for several days, and after they are fermented, send to a cold place for infusion, but strain first.

Monastic honey for drinking

Ingredients

Honey - 3.25 l
Water - 6.5 l
Fresh hops - 75 g
For tea essence: 1 tsp. tea leaves and 1 cup boiling water

Cooking method

For the preparation of honey, the best, pure honey is taken, without the slightest admixture of wax. Take a well-aged iron or copper cauldron, pour honey and water into it, stir and put on the stove. Cook for 3 hours over an even light heat, maintaining the temperature from 50 to 60 degrees. Then put hops in honey, tied in a loose fabric bag. Tie a sinker to the bag so that it lies at the bottom of the cauldron. It is necessary to cook with hops for 1 hour. Then add hot boiled water to the original volume (that is, add the boiled liquid), boil again, set aside and cover. While the honey is still quite warm, strain it through a rare cloth or gauze into a wooden or glass dish, but so as to fill it by 4/5, cover it with a cloth and put it in a warm place (from 18 to 20 degrees), in winter by the stove, and in the summer in the sun. After 2 days, honey begins to foam. If honey is kept at a lower temperature, then it will not ferment, but will begin to mold. The warmer the place, the sooner the honey will be ready.This usually takes 3-5 weeks. After 3 weeks, you need to listen: if the honey makes a lot of noise, leave it still, if it has stopped hissing and the smell of honey and alcohol is already heard, then it is ready. If you want to have stronger honey, you need to let it stand warm until it stops fizzling, and if you want to have honey weaker and sweeter, you can strain it while it still fizzes. Before you filter honey, you need to pour a glass of tea essence into it.

Do not interfere with the honey liquid, but carefully drain it, filtering it through flannel or several layers of gauze, repeating this even several times, until the honey is completely clean, transparent. The honey filtered in this way is usable, but after six months it will be better, and after a year it will be excellent.

The longer it is infused, the better it will be.

The history of the emergence of mead

When consuming mead, remember to follow the measure. Only in this case, a drink made from natural ingredients will be able to bring maximum benefit to the body.

Most people consider vodka to be the most important and popular Russian alcoholic drink, which is fundamentally wrong. In ancient times, people drank only those alcoholic beverages that were beneficial to the body, and used them as a medicine, strictly in moderation.

Healthy drinks based on a honey product have been infused in special barrels made of natural wood for several decades; components for accelerating the fermentation processes, such as hops and yeast, were not included in the recipe.

While vodka began to appear at festive feasts only at the end of the 15th century. People immediately appreciated the product and its relatively low cost and speed of preparation. This is how a cheap alcoholic drink, which does not bring any benefit to the body, ousted natural alcohol based on honey from the tables and shelves of shops.

Mead is fermented with three main ingredients: honey, yeast and water. It is not classified as beer or wine in the conventional sense, but stands out in its title of alcoholic beverage. It is sometimes called honey wine, but it is made by fermenting honey, and wine is made from fermented fruit juice.

In addition to this reason, there was one more important circumstance associated with history. At the same time, the lucrative business of making a drink based on honey came under the control of the state and the local church, by order of the then ruling Prince of Moscow Vasily III.

Any significant event, be it a wedding, the birth of the first child, commemoration, birthdays, or anniversaries, would not be complete without a honey drink on the table.

Chinese pottery remains dating back to 7000 BC bear traces of honey fermentation. Knowledge spread among all the peoples of the ancient world. The Vikings, ancient Egyptians, Mayans, Greeks and Romans knew honey drinks.

At the wedding feast, it was customary to prepare not strong mead from honey in combs, and drink it not only on the first day of the celebration, but throughout the next month. Even then, people believed that a honey drink made from natural and healthy ingredients has a positive effect on potency and helps a young couple relax and conceive a child.

How was mead prepared in Russia?

In Russia, an alcoholic drink had many names, including:

"Nutritious honey";
"honey";
"Honey intoxicated".

The recipe was also special. Natural bee honey was tightly corked in wooden barrels and buried in a dugout for a period of 5 to 15 years. During this time, fermentation processes were activated in the honey, and it turned into honey "put".

Did you know that the ancient Greeks called honey the drink of the gods, since it was believed that bees collect celestial dew - a gift from the gods. The bees themselves were revered as messengers of the gods and associated with immortality and magical powers. At the beginning of the 11th century, they began to cook mead. This has greatly accelerated the cooking time.Such a sterilized product could be consumed within a month. In the 17th century, wine grape drinks almost completely replaced honey alcohol due to their budget and more favorable preparation speed. Honey traditions returned after a long hiatus, at the end of the 19th century.

How wine is made from honey and what kind of honey is best for this

As we noted above, it is quite possible to use an old, old and candied product for a honey wine recipe. Fermented honey is also good. If only fresh honey is at hand, then this is even better - the aroma and taste of the wine will be simply delicious.

Homemade honey wine is made in much the same way as a grape-based drink. Only in the process of distilling alcohol is most often hops added.

First, honey and hops are the perfect combination, especially in a sparkling glass.
Secondly, this way the taste of the wine will be better due to the full-fledged fermentation stage.

For the preparation of honey infusion, you can use any raw material. Therefore, it cannot be said that some honey for homemade wine will be better, and another - worse.

But it is important to remember that the original product always retains the flavor and smell of the ingredients that became the basis for the wine. Therefore, the better and more aromatic honey you take, the better your fragrant drink will come out.

It is best not to use poor quality raw materials in the recipe - diluted honey, a store product that has a lot of extraneous ingredients in its composition. Natural honey without any additives is the best choice for home winemaking.

How to deliver a strong, alcoholic mead?

Beekeepers and honey lovers have repeatedly thought about how to increase the degree of mead. In the old days, such a Slavic drink was used primarily as a remedy: it was used to treat colds, various disorders of the body, and was simply used "for sugrevu" and relaxation.

The average strength of mead ranges between 30 * and 40 *... Thrill-seekers can prepare a drink in 60 * or more. A fortified drink is obtained by distilling honey mash through a moonshine still. The difference between mead and honey moonshine is that when preparing the latter, sugar is needed and you can cook it from any honey: fresh or candied.

Proportions for making honey moonshine:

for a 10-liter bucket of water, two kilos of sugar and honey + 200 grams of raw yeast.
We dilute all the components in a large container and insist for two weeks.

We check the readiness of the mash with a lighted match and distil it through the distiller. If, during distillation, odorous herbs or spices are added to the mash, the taste of the drink will be softer at the exit. From the amount of products suggested in the recipe, we get about four liters of moonshine.

A simple recipe

We take:

vodka - 0.5 liters
honey (any) - 400 grams
mint or lemon balm leaves - 6-8 pieces
juice of one lemon (50 grams).

Basic information about mead

Mead without yeast and boiling was called staged - the drink was set to ripen for a long time, according to some sources, the aging time could be half a century for the most valuable honeys. If 50 years seem like a long time to you, then 20 years of aging was a common thing: a drink in a barrel was buried in the ground for the birth of children and left there until their wedding.

During the holding time, the product is quietly fermented, gaining the required "degree", and the absence of thermal operations retains most of the useful properties of the main raw material.

The main ingredients were:

Natural, non-candied honey.
Fermented berry juice: raspberries, cherries, strawberries, raisins.
Sometimes hops, herbs, spices were added.

Rules for storing yeast mead

Mead, subject to storage rules, is not limited by the shelf life. The main rule for its storage is the correct choice of packaging.For storage it is better to choose wooden barrels The temperature in the storage room should be constant and not exceed 5-7 °. It is best to place the honey drink in a cellar. Moreover, the sun's rays do not penetrate into it, which is important for storing this product. And although the shelf life of mead is unlimited, it is believed that a yeast drink can only last 20 years.

Mead with hops

This recipe for a fragrant alcoholic drink goes back to ancient times, although it has already been changed in a modern way. Take these components:

about 2 liters of water;
400 gr. sweet beekeeping product;
a tablespoon of hop cones;
a tablespoon (or less) of cardamom.

Boil water and add hops. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes. When the liquid has cooled slightly, add honey. Some housewives boil the beekeeping product together with hops, but the high temperature will destroy all useful substances (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, phytoncides, and so on).

When the mixture is completely cool, add the spices. Stir and ferment warm. Then strain and leave for several months in a cool, dark place.

Wildflower Honey Wine Recipe

The most curious and original honey wines are obtained precisely during the home cooking process, since this way you have a free hand and you can experiment with the ingredients. By fully observing this recipe, you will get an excellent opportunity to taste a very nutritious and aromatic alcohol, the complex taste of which perfectly intertwines citrus and floral motifs, and the wonderful aroma is dominated by tints of fragrant lavender.

Required Ingredients

Components	dosage
linden or flower honey	2.5 l
bottled or well water	4.5 l
lemon	1 PC.
unwashed raisins	30 g
yeast	18 g
fresh dandelion	120 g
fresh yarrow	120 g
fresh lavender	120 g

Manufacturing sequence

Cut lavender and yarrow into small pieces with a knife.
We cut off the flowers from the dandelion, and discard the rest of the parts.
Put all the flower ingredients in an enamel pot and fill them with water.
Bring the solution to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the mixture brew for 20 minutes.
Add honey to the warm infusion and dissolve it completely in the liquid.
Pour the resulting mixture into a fermentation vessel.
Put the unwashed raisins and lemon cut into rings of medium thickness in the same place.
If necessary, add water so that it remains 4-5 cm free from the neck.
We dilute the yeast in a separate container, strictly following the recommendations on the package.
Add diluted yeast to the bottle to the rest of the ingredients and shake everything well.
We install a hydraulic seal on the neck of the vessel and leave the wine to ferment for 6 weeks, placing the bottle in a dark place.
During the specified time, shake the contents of the vessel without fail in order to speed up the fermentation process and avoid the appearance of mold.
We filter the fermented wine several times through a gauze and cotton filter.
We bottle the almost finished product, and then place them in a cool place, where the wine can mature and stabilize its unique taste for about a month and a half. In the event of a sediment more than 2 cm thick, pour the young alcohol from the sediment into a clean sterilized container and return it to its original place.

Tips & Tricks

The amount of each ingredient given in recipes can be proportionally increased or decreased. It depends on the amount of mead you need to get.
All components of future homemade alcohol must be of high quality. It is about your health and the health of loved ones.
If possible, try to avoid heating honey or honey solution to high temperatures.In this case, honey loses its beneficial properties, resulting in the formation of substances harmful to health.
In ancient times, when honey was drunk on days of special celebrations, yeast did not exist yet. Therefore, if possible, you should avoid using them for making homemade mead even now.
Despite the small degree of the set mead, it is impossible to abuse the amount of drunk. She drinks easily, but a hangover is likely.
Consider the possible allergic reaction of some people to bee products, you should not offer them mead either. The same goes for those with diabetes. Do not offer it to children. Pregnant and lactating women should also avoid drinking even the healthiest alcoholic beverages.
Try to follow the technology of obtaining honey alcohol, described in the recipes. Use only clean dishes.
Linden honey begins to ferment faster. This must be taken into account when preparing mead.
For the preparation of mead, you can use not only fresh, liquid honey. Sugared will do. It just needs to be well dissolved in water or berry juice.
If you are not in a hurry to taste the drink, the container with mead can be buried in the ground and kept for at least a year. The drink will taste very good.
Mead in hot weather is drunk chilled, and in winter it can be warmed up. It helps fight colds, improves digestion and metabolism, relieves seasonal depression.

Classic vodka with honey and pepper

The most common and simplest recipe for making a drink with honey at home. In another way, the tincture is called pepper vodka. Vodka with pepper and honey warms up perfectly in cold weather, and whet the appetite at the table. Therefore, it is customary to serve it as an appetizer at the beginning of a feast, they eat peppercorns with hot meat dishes, it goes very well with jellied meat and goes well with fried potatoes. It is used as a prophylactic agent for colds in small quantities.

Ingredients:

Vodka (moonshine) - 1000 ml;
Honey - 3 tbsp;
Bitter pepper - 2 pods;
Black pepper - 5 pcs;
Carnation - 1 pc.

Preparation:

Rinse the pepper with water, dry with a napkin. Cut along each of the pods. Leave the seeds in the pepper for flavor.
Place pods, peppercorns, cloves in a glass container, put honey. Pour the contents with vodka, moonshine or alcohol. Stir well.
Close the jar carefully and leave to infuse in a cool place for a week. Turn the tincture every day, stirring the contents.
Strain the resulting pepper vodka through a cotton gauze filter, pour and let it rest for 3-5 days before serving.

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Mead on vodka

Mead is a low-alcohol drink and in order to increase the alcohol content, additional strong alcohol is added - vodka or moonshine. Even mead fixed with vodka is easy to drink, and various spices and herbs are added to add flavor. After Mead with vodka, the recipe for which is described below, the usual mead will seem like just kvass!

Ingredients:

Honey - 350 gr;
Vodka - 500 ml;
Water - 2 l;
Hops - 2-3 cones;
Dry yeast - 1 tsp
Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg to taste.

How to make mead:

Pour water into a saucepan, preferably spring water, add honey and cook over low heat, stirring for 20-25 minutes. Foam forms during cooking, which must be removed. Cool honey well to 25-28 degrees. Transfer to a fermentation vessel.
Pour spices and hops into the sweet broth. You can add any spices and herbs you want, the only thing is not to overdo it with the amount and not spoil the mead with a too sharp aroma.
Dilute the yeast according to the instructions. It is advisable to use brewer's yeast or wine yeast in the recipe. In this case, the taste of the final product will be noticeably better. Add yeast to honey water.
Fermentation lasts 7-14 days at a temperature of 20-25 C under a water seal. Then the mead should be filtered, poured into a clean dish under the throat. Close the lid and leave in a dark place (cellar, basement) for 3-4 weeks.
After fermentation, strain the mead again, pour in vodka, pour into suitable bottles and soak in glass for a week.

Recipe for ginger honey vodka tincture

The tincture prepared with ginger and honey turns out to be quite tasty and healthy. Honey softens the tincture, while ginger adds a pleasant aroma to the drink. The pepper in the recipe can or can be dispensed with. You can also make a tincture with honey and lemon by replacing the pepper with one lemon.

Ingredients:

Vodka - 700 ml.
Honey - 100 gr;
Chili pepper - 1 pc;
Ginger - 50 gr;

How to do:

Finely chop the ginger, you can grate using a coarse grater, but in the tincture a lot of suspension is obtained, which will need to be carefully filtered.
Throw pepper into the jar, add honey and ginger. Pour in an alcoholic base, instead of vodka, you can pour in purified moonshine or alcohol diluted with water.
Close the lid and leave for 10-14 days. Once a day, the jar with the infusion must be shaken to stir.
After insisting, strain the drink through a gauze filter.

Honey vodka with herbs

Altai honey tincture will be to the liking of many fans of homemade alcohol. Very pleasant taste and aroma will not leave indifferent your guests. In addition, the tincture has a healing effect. The drink made according to this recipe is popular among residents with harsh winters, it can be consumed in its pure form for warming, as well as for the prevention of colds. The same tincture can be made from moonshine and alcohol.

Ingredients:

Vodka - 1 bottle;
Honey - 2 tbsp;
Pharmacy oak bark - 1 tsp;
Dried thyme - 1 tsp;
Coriander - 1/3 tsp;
Zubrovka - 1/2 tsp;
Dried Melissa -1 tsp.

Recipe preparation method:

Pour the entire composition of the ingredients into the jar. Pour in vodka, stir and close.
Insist in a cool place for 20-30 days. For the first week, stir the infusion by shaking once a day.
Filter the finished honey tincture using cotton pads, repeat the procedure if necessary.
Keep the spilled drink in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, if there is a sediment, then carefully drain the tincture into a clean dish.

Medicinal properties of mead

The main component of mead is one of the most useful, natural and delicious products of bees' vital activity - honey. Thanks to this component, mead has a wide range of beneficial effects on the body. The following useful elements and substances can be distinguished:

fructose and glucose, which are part of honey, are quickly absorbed by the body, give a person a feeling of cheerfulness and a surge of strength;
B vitamins, ascorbic acid;
vitamins A, K, E;
berries, inflorescences, herbs, spices, roots and other additional components that are added to the drink to improve the aroma and taste, enrich the composition, making it even healthier and richer;
mead, which does not go through the boiling process, is more useful for the body;
drinking a drink in small quantities quickly warms up in bad weather, gives strength, vigor and improves mood.

In England, hot mead with herbs has been used to treat colds for centuries. Doctors and patients are very fond of this drink, and the honey flavor is considered the second most popular in powder drinks for colds. Mead treatment

This treatment has been practiced since antiquity to speed up the elimination of the symptoms of such diseases:

colds and viral diseases;
tonsillitis, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs;
tonsillitis and tracheitis;
atherosclerosis and diseases of the nervous system;
infectious processes in the gastrointestinal tract;
depressive conditions, constant stress, sleep disturbances;
diseases of the kidneys and liver.

Mead promoted the rapid elimination of "ailments" from the body due to rapid and intense sweating.

Despite the impressive list of benefits and useful properties, remember that all bee products are the strongest allergens. Their use is categorically contraindicated in the presence of individual intolerance and a tendency to allergic reactions.

What mead is sold in stores

The assortment of honey drinks offered by the shops includes: mead, hop honey, honey beer, honey wine. See the assortment of mead in the photo below.

According to the manufacturers, preservatives and flavor enhancers are not added to industrially prepared mead. The composition indicated on the labels contains honey, water, yeast, additives in the form of hops, malt, spices, herbs.

Shop mead in assortment

Mead - what is it

An alcoholic drink based on honey is one of the oldest known since the times of Ancient Rus.
What is honeycomb mead? It is a sweet, weak alcoholic drink with a natural honey base and aroma characteristic of a bee product. In addition to natural bee honey, the composition includes the following ingredients:

purified water;
hops and yeast;
herbs, dried flowers and berries;
fruit mash;
condiments and spices;
flavoring additives.

This type of homemade drink can be considered relatively young, despite the fact that its name is mentioned in the history of Ancient Russia. Since that time, the composition and quality of the medicinal drink have practically not changed, and the base has remained unchanged - a natural honey product.

The name "Mead" is a word that is not similar in sound to "an old drink based on honey."
This is a modern name that appeared much later, at the end of the 18th century. By calling the drink this way, its recipe and preparation method were made more simplified.
The very ancient honey drink, which was put on tables only on holidays in ancient times, is prepared in a completely different way from the modern interpretation.