No. 3557 — Making Genuine Monastery Mead

Use the cleanest best honey without traces of wax. In a well-lined iron or copper cauldron combine 1 garnetz honey and 2 garnetz water, stirring thoroughly.

Bring to a boil, then simmer over even gentle heat for three hours. Put hops in a loose cloth bag with a clean pebble sewn in below them to hold it under the liquid.

Use 2 lots hops per garnetz liquid, or 6 lots for the full 3-garnetz mixture. Simmer with the hops for another hour.

Measure the liquid against a mark on a wooden splinter. If it has fallen below the mark, add hot boiled water to restore it, slightly exceeding the mark because the source says the boiling liquid expands. Bring briefly to the boil again, remove and cover.

While still warm, strain through cloth into a wooden or glass container filled only four-fifths full, cover with tulle and keep warm at a stated 18–20 degrees, by a stove in winter or in sun in summer.

The author says fermentation or foaming should begin after about two days. She reports that colder storage can lead to mould and spoilage and that fermentation usually lasts three to five weeks.

After three weeks, listen for hissing: if vigorous, wait longer; if hissing has stopped and the liquid smells of mead and seems stronger, the author judges it ready.

For stronger mead she recommends allowing it to ferment until the hissing ends. For sweeter and weaker mead, she strains it while still slightly hissing.

Before filtering, add 1 glass strong tea infusion made from 1 teaspoon good tea and 1 glass boiling water to the three-garnetz batch.

Carefully decant without stirring sediment and filter through flannel repeatedly until clear. The author says it is drinkable then, better after six months, excellent after a year, and improves even over twenty years.

A note offers a sweeter, stronger variant with 1 garnetz water per garnetz honey, subsequently topped to the measurement mark, and permits using fewer hops and more tea. Spices are considered unnecessary because honey is fragrant enough.

The author suggests that mead fully settled after all hissing stops could go into ordinary thin bottles, while a still-fermenting batch needs stronger bottles. She warns against prolonged storage in barrels in wine cellars because they can become mouldy or musty.

The source recommends soft river water, or well water suitable for washing, and insists that all vessels be very clean and bottles rinsed and inverted to dry several days in advance.