Home-brewed Mead
In a world of instant gratification, commodities are always accessible. With industrial production, consumables like food and drinks can be made cheaply. It used to be that most families would brew their own beers, make their own wine and mead, and grow their own ingredients. It was often out of necessity for people living in rural areas, but I'd like to think that the investment and process of making your own is rewarding enough that they wanted to do it for the enjoyment as well. Otherwise people wouldn't still be doing it.
Perhaps there is an element of bucolic nostalgia rooted in fantasy for a simpler time, or maybe it helps to avoid excess preservatives or ingredients. What is it that encourages people to revert back to making their own brew?
No matter the reason for home-brewing, the truth is that it is not extraordinarily difficult to make, it just takes time and patience. Mead is one of the oldest forms of alcoholic beverage, and is very forgiving when it comes to measuring, and so the ease and enjoyment of making it can outweigh any concerns for error.
Mead Flavor Sampler, 2020. Digital Photograph.
What is Mead
Mead is a simple ratio of water and honey. The sugar in honey mixes with water to feed an added yeast, which eats of the sugar and produces alcohol and gases through the process of fermentation. The yeast adds a flavor that can be paired with other spices, fruits, or ingredients. Also called a honey wine, or a melomel if fruit is added, the flavors of mead develop over time and can vary in so many ways that make it an easy medium to play around with.
Time and patience are essential. The first period of the process is two weeks of fermentation. After that you can test the alcoholic content, transfer the liquid to another container called racking, and then continue to let it sit and age until the flavors mature.
Brewing is much of an art; with understanding of chemistry technique and exercising creative control, brewing is a similar form to photography. By studying time and using subtle alteration, the medium is an experience absorbed by our senses, an artwork of flavor.
Lavender Tea Mead Jar, Measured Mead, Orange Zest Mead Jar, 2020. Digital Photographs.
Brewer's Artistic License
Mead has a great musky floral flavor to begin with depending on the honey and yeast you choose, but the exciting part is deciding what flavors to infuse with it.
Some are added at the beginning, some ingredients are added or pulled out after the first rack. It all depends on personal preference and is very flexible.
The sweetness can be altered based on the ratio of honey to water and the type of yeast
potency. The alcoholic percentage can change between racking, but generally has a limit that the yeast will grow in. The sweetness and alcohol content vary based on how long you decide to ferment and rack. When you finally find the level and palette you want, then the fermentation process can be stopped.
After that you could age it indefinitely, and the flavors will continue to mature from a musky yeast flavor with a punchy taste, to a dry or crisp, slightly carbonated consistency. All up to the brewer, and it can be done on small quantities with many different variations. I think this is why people are choosing to brew their own alcohol. It brings a lot of significance to consuming it, makes it feel more special and also gives you new flavors you might never have imagined you would enjoy.
Orange Zest Mead, Spiced Mead, Lavender Tea Mead, Cardamom Mead, 2020. Digital Photographic Series.
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