2018 Metheglin (Mead)
September 2018
For non-mead makers, metheglin is mead (honey wine) flavored with spices. I haven’t made this since 1998 … but have no good reason for not doing it.
I loved the last bottle of the 1998 that I opened in 2008. I just couldn’t get around to starting another batch. I suspect I’ll do another batch next spring or summer — the only way to have enough to age is to make more than I can reasonably drink.
April 2021
I really like the new style I’m using for labels, and decided to re-label some of my older wines. I have a bit more than 2 cases of Metheglin left, so I printed 2 sheets of labels. The extras will get used first.
Ingredients
| Fruit | 15 lbs Kirkland Clover Honey |
| Nutrient | 6 tsp |
| Energizer | 3 tsp |
| Grape Tannin | 1-1/2 tsp |
| Acid | 2 lemons, halved, squeezed by hand, rind in fermenter |
| Yeast | Mangrove Jack’s M05 Mead Yeast |
| Flavorings | 6 cinnamon sticks, 12 whole cloves, 12 whole allspice |
| Fining Agents | Kieselsol, chitosan |
| Sulphite | 1/4 tsp per racking after fermentation completed. |
| Sorbate | 1-1/4 tsp at bottling time |
Method
| Put 3 gallons hot tap water in primary fermenter. Stirred 15 lbs honey into hot water. Used additional hot water to rinse the honey containers. Filled with cold tap water to 6 gallons.
Initial temperature was 106 F. Cooled to 84 F using cold water bath and fan. Added nutrient, energizer, tannin, and lemon. Stirred to mix in. Put flavorings in hops bag and tied shut. Wrapped in paper towels and crushed gently with hammer. Added to fermenter. Sprinkled yeast on top. |
08/23/2018 SG 1.089 |
| Seemed stuck, added 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp yeast energizer. Removed lemon rind and flavor pack. | 08/31/2018 SG 1.045 |
| Extra nutrient and energizer did the trick. Racked into carboy. | 09/05/2018 SG 1.008 |
| Racked, added kieselsol, stirred 2 minutes. Added chitosan, stirred 2 minutes. | 09/22/2018 SG 0.998 |
| Mead cleared nicely. Racked. | 10/13/2018 SG 0.996 |
| Racked. Added 1/4 tsp sulfite and 1-1/4 tsp sorbate.
Sweeetened with 3/4 cup sugar. Bottled. |
11/18/2018 SG 1.003 |
Notes
| Yield | 27.5 bottles |
| Alcohol | 12.6% |
| Residual Sugar | 0.8% |
| Winemaking Notes | I’ve read that while honey is the “perfect food” for humans, it’s not for yeast. Low-alcohol mead can be made without it, but it appears that higher alcohol meads require yeast nutrient and energizer. |
| I typically use bentonite for fining early on, then let the wine clear naturally. The mead was hazy … so I decided to try the kieselsol/chitosan that used in all the kits. It worked like a champ! It was definitely worth the $2.25 I spent on it. | |
| 11/11/2018 | My elder son and I sampled a bit from a top-up bottle this morning while bottling the nut brown ale. This is already pleasing, although a year in the bottle will produce major changes. We both noted the cloves flavor is good, but the cinnamon is lacking. Next time I will double the number of cinnamon sticks. |
| 11/18/2018 | My elder son and I bottled today. We poured a glass of mead as a control for tasting, then sweetened with 1/2 cup sugar, stirring vigorously to ensure it mixed well. I snagged a few ounces with a wine thief and compared to the base wine. The taste was good, definitely an improvement on the dry.
Then we added 1/4 cup sugar, stirred, and tasted again. Definitely better taste, but I thought it needed more. Eric argued that the sugar diminished the taste of the cloves, which is a bit sharp in the control. We tasted both again and I decided I agreed with him. Yeah, an additional 1/4 cup sugar might have mellowed it a bit more, but the taste of the cloves was muted by the sugar. So we bottled with 3/4 cup back sweetening sugar. Time will tell how this works out. |
| 12/21/2021 | This one is holding well at the 3 year mark. IMO it could have used just a bit more acid, but it’s gentle, mellow flavor with muted spices. |