Mead with Fruit

Our first attempt to make mead on December 12, 2011.  An easy recipe to follow.  The resulting mead is very sweet and seems to get better the longer you wait to drink it – six months or more.

10 pounds light clover honey
2 pounds blueberries (fresh or frozen) (we used frozen)
1/2 gallon apple cider (pasteurized)
1/2 ounce Fuggle hops
1 package champagne yeast

  1. Bring 2.5 to 3 gallons of water to a boil.
    2.  Add honey and bring back to a boil.
    3.  Add hops and boil for 30 minutes, skimming of any scum that forms on the surface during the boil.
    4.  Put blueberries into a hop boiling bag.  Lower the heat to a very low simmer and toss in the berries, mashing the bag around to break them up some.
    5.  Boil for 15 minutes and turn off heat and allow to cool (we use an immersion chiller to speed up the cooling).
    6.  Transfer from brew pot to fermenter.
    7.  Add apple cider.
    8.  Add enough water to bring total amount to 5 gallons.  The liquid should be at 80 degrees.
    9.  Sprinkle yeast evenly over mixture.
  2. When the gravity has dripped below 0.980, bottle and wait.
    11.  A three month wait makes for eminently drinkable stuff, but the longer you can wait, the better.

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