Hi,
Apologies in advance for the very long post. I live in a sanctioned, dry, overseas country. The back-alley local arak tastes like it’s been made in an oil drum and I need something I can make myself at home.
For storage and personal security reasons I don’t want to make more than a 2 gallon batch at one time and there are limitations on what I can buy. Clarity and colour are not an issue, neither is carbonation as I wont be bottling it. Given where I am even taste, unfortunately, is not a primary concern, it’s the time, alcohol content and making sure I don’t go blind drinking it.
What I don’t have access to: brewers shops, specialised yeast, yeast starters/nutrients, carboys, airlocks, hydrometers, sulfates, sorbates, cheesecloths, airstones, small-top juice and milk jugs we get in the West (and vessels of similar design)
What I do have access to: copious amounts of ridiculously cheap, organic unprocessed honey/buckets and bottles of various shapes, material, volume (though I’m favouring a 3 gallon food-grade thick-walled plastic water bucket with lid and exit tap an inch from the base for the primary fermenter)/baking yeast (manufacturer unknown as its in Arabic)/non-organic raisins/plastic stirrers, whisks, etc/balloons, rubber bands, etc
So these are the ingredients for a 2 gallon batch I’m going to try
• 2 gallons (7.5 litres) of bottled water
• 4 pounds of honey
• 2 grams of dry, instant, baking yeast
• 15 to 20 raisins
And this is the process:
• Sterilise equipment. Place honey in warm water. Add bottled water and warmed honey into a plastic mixing bucket, stir until mixed thoroughly. Hydrate yeast with a pinch of water, add yeast and raisons, stir briefly.
• Pour into 3 gallon bucket mentioned above and stir vigorously 3 to 5 times a day for 2 minutes each time, cover with sarong and leave in dark cupboard.
• After 3 to 5 days, it should bubble, foam and fizz.
• After 3 to 5 days, stir gently just once a day, until reaction slows down around the 7 to 10 day mark.
• Around 7 to 10 days, decant via the exit tap to 8 1-litre glass/plastic bottles, attach balloon with pin hole to the mouths, leave in fridge another 7 days.
• Drink
I know making it this way and drinking it this quickly is going to produce a terrible mead, but such is my life at the moment.
So I guess my two questions are:
Will the above recipe and process produce an alcoholic mead in the time I’ve allowed myself?
Given the lack of sensitive equipment, what physical signs should I be looking for to know when the fermentation has started, finished (e.g foam, bubbling, density, colour, etc)?
Many thanks for any ideas
Apologies in advance for the very long post. I live in a sanctioned, dry, overseas country. The back-alley local arak tastes like it’s been made in an oil drum and I need something I can make myself at home.
For storage and personal security reasons I don’t want to make more than a 2 gallon batch at one time and there are limitations on what I can buy. Clarity and colour are not an issue, neither is carbonation as I wont be bottling it. Given where I am even taste, unfortunately, is not a primary concern, it’s the time, alcohol content and making sure I don’t go blind drinking it.
What I don’t have access to: brewers shops, specialised yeast, yeast starters/nutrients, carboys, airlocks, hydrometers, sulfates, sorbates, cheesecloths, airstones, small-top juice and milk jugs we get in the West (and vessels of similar design)
What I do have access to: copious amounts of ridiculously cheap, organic unprocessed honey/buckets and bottles of various shapes, material, volume (though I’m favouring a 3 gallon food-grade thick-walled plastic water bucket with lid and exit tap an inch from the base for the primary fermenter)/baking yeast (manufacturer unknown as its in Arabic)/non-organic raisins/plastic stirrers, whisks, etc/balloons, rubber bands, etc
So these are the ingredients for a 2 gallon batch I’m going to try
• 2 gallons (7.5 litres) of bottled water
• 4 pounds of honey
• 2 grams of dry, instant, baking yeast
• 15 to 20 raisins
And this is the process:
• Sterilise equipment. Place honey in warm water. Add bottled water and warmed honey into a plastic mixing bucket, stir until mixed thoroughly. Hydrate yeast with a pinch of water, add yeast and raisons, stir briefly.
• Pour into 3 gallon bucket mentioned above and stir vigorously 3 to 5 times a day for 2 minutes each time, cover with sarong and leave in dark cupboard.
• After 3 to 5 days, it should bubble, foam and fizz.
• After 3 to 5 days, stir gently just once a day, until reaction slows down around the 7 to 10 day mark.
• Around 7 to 10 days, decant via the exit tap to 8 1-litre glass/plastic bottles, attach balloon with pin hole to the mouths, leave in fridge another 7 days.
• Drink
I know making it this way and drinking it this quickly is going to produce a terrible mead, but such is my life at the moment.
So I guess my two questions are:
Will the above recipe and process produce an alcoholic mead in the time I’ve allowed myself?
Given the lack of sensitive equipment, what physical signs should I be looking for to know when the fermentation has started, finished (e.g foam, bubbling, density, colour, etc)?
Many thanks for any ideas