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Making mead requires essentially the same basic kit necessary to brew beer at home: primary and secondary plastic-bucket fermenters with air locks and spigots, transfer hosing, a bottle-filler tube, heavy bottles, bottle caps, bottle capper, and a bottle brush and washer.
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You should be able to find these items for approximately $70 total (excluding the bottles) through a home-brewing supplier, such as The Home Brewery.
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Bottles cost from $6 to $20 per dozen, depending on style.
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You might instead buy a couple of cases of beer in returnable bottles, drink the beer, and after sanitizing them!
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reuse those bottles, for the cost of the deposit.
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All your equipment must be sanitized or sterilized before use.
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Ordinary unscented household bleach does the job fine.
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Put all the equipment (including the lid and stirring spoons) into the fermentation bucket, fill with water, and add 2 teaspoons of unscented bleach.
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Let it sit for 30 minutes.
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Drain the water through the spigot, rinse everything in hot water, and allow to air-dry.
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Bring the 4 1/2 gallons of water to a boil.
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Well water, by the way, should be avoided because of potentially high levels of strong tasting minerals like iron.
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Boiling should remove harsh chlorine from municipal tap water.
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If you don't own a pot large enough to hold five gallons of water, boil as much as possible.
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You will add the remaining water to the fermenter later.
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Once the water reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and stir in all of the honey.
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Do not boil the honey, as it reduces the aromatic quality of the finished mead.
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While the honey dissolves in the water, put a cup of lukewarm (90 to 100F) water into a clean bowl.
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Sprinkle in the yeast and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
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When the honey has been fully dissolved in the water and the pot is cool to the touch (not over 80F), pour the honey-water into the fermentation bucket and stir in the yeast mixture.
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Note: Cooling the honey-water should take about half an hour.
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This process can be accelerated with a so-called sink bath, that is, repeatedly immersing the pot in cold water in a sink or basin.
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If you have not already added the full 4 1/2 gallons of water, top it off with the balance in bottled water (or tap water if you're confident of its quality).
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Seal the bucket and allow the mixture to ferment for two weeks to one month.
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The progress of fermentation can judged by monitoring the carbon-dioxide bubbles escaping from the air lock: When they drop to one bubble every sixty seconds, fermentation has nearly concluded.
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Note that is only an issue during this primary fermentation; secondary fermentation has more to do with aging and mellowing and hence is more flexible.
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When primary fermentation has subsided, siphon the mead over to your secondary fermentation bucket and seal it.
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Allow one to four months aging time.
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Do not open the fermenter, as this risks contaminating the mead.
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When you decide it has matured enough (and the mead has cleared), you will want to siphon it into sterilized bottles and cap them.
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Follow the same procedure as you would for home-brewed beer.
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My book Beer for Dummies has a detailed guide in its Chapter Ten, or consult the web site of the American Homebrewers Association.
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Keep in mind that this is a recipe for still (i.e., non-carbonated) mead.
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Mead typically improves with age, so the longer you can wait to open the bottles, the better.
