Honey Wine
By: Matthew Delaney
Published: Sunday, November 6, 2011 - 8:16am

Ingredients




4 Cups Honey
16 Cups Water
.25 ounce all-purpose yeast
Airlock ( < $1 each, http://www.fermentationtrap.com/1401.html )
Carboy ( 1 gallon jug used for brewing, $5 )
Coffee filters OR mesh nylon hops bag (for straining)
6 to 12 Old beer bottles

Preparation

1 Combine honey and water into large mixing bowl (for best results, use a bowl with a large surface area). Stir with spatula until honey has completely dissolved into water. Add yeast and mix thoroughly. 2 Let mixture sit, untouched, in a room temperature setting for 4-7 days. You can cover with a very light cloth to keep particles out but do not cover with a lid- The mixture needs oxygen to breath. You will know it is ready for the next step when the mixture starts to bubble slightly. 3 Move mixture into Carboy: First you need to sterilize the carboy by filling it with boiling water. Boil water on the stove and use a funnel to fill the carboy. Then empty the carboy and let it cool to room temp- If you add the mixture without letting the carboy cool it will kill the yeast and destroy the mixture. 4 Add water to airlock up to the "fill" lines provided on the lock. Place airlock on top of carboy and let mixture sit in a room temperature environment, untouched, for another 3-4 weeks. After 3 weeks test a small sample of the mead each week until the sweetness is to your liking. When it is a flavor you like, it's time to prepare for bottling. 5 Filter mead before bottling using coffee filters (or nylon hops bag for best results, $10) on top of a funnel. Pour mead through filter into a pitcher. 6 Move into beer bottles: Each bottle needs to be sterilized just like you sterilized the carboy, with one addition. You will need to use a lighter to sterilize the lip of each bottle as well- Simply brush the flame over the lip for a few seconds. Then funnel the filtered mead into the bottle. Capping the bottle can be done in several ways- You can simply cover it with cling wrap, foil, and a rubber band if you don't plan on shipping it. If you want to get fancy or ship the bottles, you can buy a bottle capping tool for $20 online or at a brewing shop. 7 Refrigerate Mead for at least 1 day to stop fermentation process. Enjoy cold!

About

Honey wine, also known as Mead, is one of the simplest recipes for making wine at home. While it is possible to make the recipe very complicated for those with more brewing expertise, this recipe is inspired by simplicity.