Sweet Mead
Ingredients:
4lb Honey (for a drier lighter Mead, use 2 ½ or 3 lb of honey)
1 orange 1 lemon
1 gallon water
Yeast suitable for high alcohol/dessert wine
Nutrient + B1 tablet if available
Method:
Put honey into the water and bring just to the boil. Pour into a bucket and allow to cool. Add juice from lemon and orange and other ingredients. Ferment for about a week and then rack into a demijohn. Allow to ferment to completion. Add Campden tablet, allow to settle for a few days, then rack off and bottle.
My Tips:
A good supply of nutrients is needed, without the B1 tablet; there is a risk of the fermentation sticking. Mead takes much longer to ferment than a country wine (could be 6-8 weeks), so be patient. The final gravity of a sweet mead will be quite high (probably in the range 1030-1040). The Mead improves with age and should be allowed to mature for a few months.