Homemade Christmas mead: start your honey, water, and yeast mixture in November

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Prepare the equipment

   10 min

   Wash a 5 l carboy, an airlock, a funnel, and a wooden spoon, then rinse them with hot water. You can buy all of these at a winemaking supply store, along with the wine yeast. Cleanliness is important, as wild yeast and bacteria could spoil the mead.

2. Dissolve the honey

   20 min

   In a pot, heat 1 l of the measured water to about 70 °C (158 °F) and stir in the honey. Hold at this temperature for 10 minutes without boiling, and skim off any foam with a spoon. Remove from the heat and pour in the remaining cold water.

3. Prepare the yeast

   30 min

   Let the mixture cool to 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F); a higher temperature would kill the yeast. Pour in the lemon juice and add the rinsed raisins. Stir the yeast into a little lukewarm water according to the package instructions and let stand for 15 minutes.

4. Start fermentation

   5 min

   Use the funnel to pour the mixture, including the raisins, into the carboy, then add the yeast. Fit the carboy with the water-filled airlock. Never seal the carboy airtight, as the gas produced during fermentation must be able to escape.

5. Let ferment

   Place the carboy in a dark spot at 18 to 24 °C (64 to 75 °F). It usually begins bubbling within two days and ferments for 4 to 6 weeks, or longer in a cooler room. It is ready when the airlock has not bubbled for at least 3 days and the sediment has settled to the bottom.

6. Bottle the mead

   Using a clean siphon tube, carefully transfer the mead into bottles, leaving the sediment in the carboy. Seal the bottles and store in a cool place. The mead is drinkable immediately but will taste sharper; aging in a cool place will mellow its flavor. Do not bottle it while the airlock is still bubbling, as the bottles could burst.

7. Serve

   10 min

   Pour chilled mead into small glasses, and let anyone who wants it sweeter add honey directly to their glass. For warm mead, heat 1 l with the cinnamon stick, cloves, and orange slices, but do not boil. Sweeten with honey and serve in mugs.

Tip: Skipping the heating step preserves more of the honey's aroma but gives wild yeast a greater chance to grow, so begin with the method given here. Never sweeten the mead in the bottles, as fermentation could restart and cause a bottle to burst.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Domáca medovina na Vianoce: z medu, vody a kvasiniek, no nasadiť ju treba už v novembri