Mead

One of the reasons I have decided to get into Beekeeping is obviously for the honey but there are other uses to honey than just spreading it on your toast. One of these uses is for mead production. Again with mead I have no experience making it but decided to give it a go anyway. It will be about a year before I can get started though as without any bees there's no honey and with no honey there's no mead but thought it was a good idea to start researching now.

The process for making mead looks relatively simple once you have all the equipment needed. It basically the same equipment used in making wine. It involves heating up honey and water so that all the honey is dissolved into the water, some people advise to boil the mix to kill any natural yeasts, some don't. When it has cooled you add yeast and leave to ferment for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I will continue to research this over the coming year and find a recipe that would be suitable to me and publish my findings. Once the mix has fermented the mead can be left for a considerable length of time, periodically racking your mead (racking is where you siphon from one container to another leaving the sediment behind), until it is ready to be bottled.
Various things can be added to mead in its production to aid fermentation and help the brew clarify but these aren't essential and I will look in to the various options closer the time.
There are many different variations of mead and one that interests me is Melomel or mead made with fruit. As my dad has a allotment that always has a abundance of plums I think at some point I will try a plum Melomel!