The Complete Guide to Making Mead: The Ingredients, Equipment, Processes, and Recipes for Crafting Honey Wine

Learn to make your own mead with techniques and tips from an award-winning mead-maker.Although mead may have been “discovered,” as some suggest, when one of our not-yet-upright forebears got a little sloppy with the honey and water he left sloshing about in a clay vessel, rest assured that The Complete Guide to Make Mead is a thoroughly modern and authoritative guide. Award–winning mead-maker Steve Piatz begins with a rundown of the various types of mead, along with the available honey varieties and the characteristics they impart. Readers also learn about yeasts and special ingredients, as well as the equipment needed to begin making mead successfully. Piatz shows the steps involved in making a batch of mead—stressing his no-boil process, the use of healthy yeast, and the staggered addition of yeast nutrients—and even introduces advanced techniques like clarifying, aging, blending, and recipe development. Illustrated with color photography throughout, the book encourages further discovery with the inclusion of more than two dozen of the author’s recipes for meads of all types. With information sure to appeal to stone-cold beginners and seasoned veterans alike, The Complete Guide to Making Mead is the perfect starting point for the curious and an indispensable reference for the experienced.Praise for The Complete Guide to Making Mead“In his first book, 2008 American Homebrewers Association Mead Maker of the Year Piatz beautifully tackles the science and art of mead making. . . . Recommended for experienced home brewers seeking a new challenge as well as novices who want to begin their brewing practice with mead. With honey as the basic component, this title may also appeal to readers interested in beekeeping.” —Library Journal Read more