Classic Traditional Mead
The one-gallon dry mead every brewer should make first.
ABV
13% ABV
Time to bottle
~3 months
Original gravity
1.106
Final gravity
0.998
A simple show mead: good honey, spring water, and a clean wine yeast. Nothing hides behind fruit or spice, so this batch teaches you what your honey actually tastes like, and it becomes the baseline you compare every future brew against.
What you'll need
- 3 lb (1.4 kg) wildflower or clover honey
- Spring water to 1 gallon
- 1 packet Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast
- 2 tsp yeast nutrient (e.g. Fermaid-O), staggered
- Batch size
- 1 gallon (3.8 L)
- Yeast
- Lalvin 71B-1122
Taste profile
What a finished batch should taste like.
Aroma
Flavor
How to make it
- 1
Sanitize everything that touches the must: fermenter, airlock, spoon, hydrometer.
- 2
Dissolve the honey in about half a gallon of warm (not hot) water, then top up to 1 gallon. Take a gravity reading; you want around 1.106.
- 3
Add the first nutrient dose, pitch rehydrated yeast, and seal with an airlock at 60–70°F (15–21°C).
- 4
Add remaining nutrient doses at 24h, 48h, and 72h, degassing gently each time.
- 5
After 3–4 weeks primary fermentation slows; confirm with two identical gravity readings a few days apart.
- 6
Rack off the yeast into a clean vessel and let it clear for 6–8 weeks.
- 7
Bottle once crystal clear and stable, around week 12.
Brewer's notes
- Cheap honey makes cheap mead, this recipe has nowhere to hide, so buy honey you would eat.
- 71B chews through malic acid and softens young mead; D47 works too if you can hold 65°F or below.
- Patience is the real ingredient: taste one bottle a month and watch it improve.
After bottling: 6–12 months. It transforms, harsh at bottling, honeyed and smooth by month six.
Brewing this one? Let MeadMate keep it on track.
Log gravity readings, get reminded when it's time to rack, and compare your taste notes against this profile.
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