bottledwater said:
I think that mead drinking is very different from beer drinking, but some of my friends wish that my meads would hold a head and basically be more like beer.
So I am wondering, has anyone made mead with hops? What level of success would you say was acheived? What troubles did you encounter and how might they have been avoided?
Or should I tell my friends to make their own beer?
I'd agree -- mead is very different from beer. Tell them to either enjoy mead on its own merits, or brew their own beer. ;D
Interestingly, a lot of old Medieval recipes for mead included hops.
Here's a couple of Lithuanian recipes for mead which, I suspect, are very old . . . (Supplied by one of my co-workers, Casmir Petkunis II)
Mead (Midus)
1 handful juniper berries
2 nutmegs
1 handful hops
7 quarts honey
14 quarts water
1 oz yeast
1 tsp sugar
Break and crush berries and nutmeg. Tie with hops in cloth bag. Place in honey and water, boll about 1/2 hour, skimming off foam. Cool to lukewarm (about 100 degrees F.) Pour into a 5 gallon bottle. Do not overfill, allow about 4 inches space from surface to top of bottle. Cream yeast with sugar and 1/2 cup of honey-water liquid, set in warm spot for 10 - 15 minutes until it begins to bubble. Slowly pour into liquid in bottle. Stopper bottle with cork into which a glass tube (thistle tube or medicene dropper with bulb removed) has been set (to allow fermentation gases to escape). Allow to ferment at temperatures of 60 degrees no less than 6 months. At end of that period, filter off with rubber pipette or siphon, pour into botles, cork. Ready to drink a month after
bottling.
N.B. -- aging improves mead. It is at its best 2 - 3 years after making.
Mead
Ancient Recipe
Midus
2 quarts honey
5 gallons water
1/2 lb. hops
yeast
1 slice bread
Measure and pour exactly half of the honey and water into a large kettle. Using a stick, mark on the stick the distance from the top of the kettle to the surface of the contents. Pour in remaining honey and water. Bring to boil. Tie hops in clean cloth, place in kettle. Boil until one-half of the liquid remains (ascertain by using the marked measuring stick). Cool. Strain through several thicknesses of cloth into a barrel or crock. Spread enough yeast on bread to cover thickly. Place bread in liquid. Mead will begin to ferment in 3 days. Strain again, pour into bottles, set in cool spot. Mead can also be stored and aged in barrels (oaken preferably).