Oooh, yeah! Got my hands on 18 lbs of honey and 10lbs of raspberries. What to do with them? Why, make mead, of course!
Empty Honey Containers
The recipe is really simple. Add honey to 1 gallon of water, boil for 15 minutes while skimming off the white proteins that float to the surface. After 15 minutes kill the heat, add the raspberries and let them steep for 20 minutes to pasteurize them.
Honey in the pot
Once pasteurized, add the whole lot to a large enough fermenter to handle 6 gallons with lots of empty space, or if you can’t do that then use two 5 gallon fermenters.
Canned raspberries
This morning I took the initial gravity and pitched the yeast. After removing all raspberry floaties from my hydrometer reader, the initial gravity came out to 1.124. This thing has the potential for up to 15% alcohol by volume. I doubt it will get that high, but holey guacamole that is high!
In about two weeks I’ll rack it off to another fermenter, then after a month or two I’ll rack it off again and let it sit.
Next year, once this mead is done, I’m in for some good holiday libations!
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