This mead was started in September of 2020, during the pandemic we were missing our friends. We started making some wine and mead with the idea that once we could meet again we would be able to share a drink to celebrate making it through.
Ingredients
- 1 packet Yeast – EC-1118 Lavin
- 4 lbs Fresh Peaches skinned, pitted, and cut into pieces
- 1 Tbs ground ginger
- 9 lbs Honey
- 1 Tbs yeast nutrient
- Boiling water (enough to fill primary fermenter to 5.25 gallons)
Basic Steps
- Sanitize all the items you will be using
- Boil water adding honey as you go stirring continuously until all the honey is dissolved into the water. I don’t have a pot large enough so I complete this step in batches.
- Add water honey mixture to the primary fermentation container (I use a bucket designed for this purpose)
- Place peaches in a must bag and add to the fermentation container
- Once the water / honey mixture has cooled to about 97 degrees add the yeast nutrient, ginger, and yeast.
- Cover & let the mixture sit for one week stirring daily making sure to push down the bag to let all parts of the peaches submerge.
- At one week remove the must bag (I like to squeeze out the juices in the bag) and move the mixture to a sanitized secondary fermenter (usually a carboy).
- Place an air lock on the carboy and wait..and wait…and wait..
- Approximately every 2 months rack the carboy to remove the sediment at the bottom
- When the Specific Gravity is 1.0 and the liquid is clear it is ready to bottle. You can add potassium sorbate at this point to kill the liquid, but I like to add as little chemicals as possible to our drinks.
- Transfer the the mead to bottles and then…more waiting!
- I usually open a bottle at month 3 to test if it is ready yet with most meads ready at about 6 months and getting tasty at about 9 months.
Notes & Follow-up
This mead ended up being a little bit sharp for our taste (still working on the right amount of sugar depending on the fruit) so we back sweetened with a water / honey mixture and had to wait for it to go still again before bottling. Next time we make this I will be increasing to closer to 15lbs of honey.
It is 2025 and the wine is still a little sharp, but is nice chilled on a summer day.