The Technical Art�of Mead Making

(and Other Fine Fermentations)

Rob Friesel • Vermont Code Camp 2017

Source: https://twitter.com/founddrama/status/893883049670213634

Rob Friesel

(That’s me!)

• Dealer.com (2003)
• Homebrew (2014)
• Groennfell/Havoc (2015)
• Vermont Mead Maker of the Year (2017)

Why are we here?

Source: http://brulosophy.com/2017/08/24/2017-general-homebrewer-survey-results/

You!

Also some of you!

Likely includes some of you

Probably even more of you

Learn to make mead.

But I’ll probably ramble about having challenging hobbies and what any of this has to do with software development.

What is Mead?

Fundamentally: honey + water + yeast

“Are there different kinds?”

• Traditional Mead
• Sack (Great Mead)
• Hydromel (Short Mead)
• Metheglin (with spices)
• Melomel (with fruit)
• Rhodomel (with roses)
• Coffeamel (with coffee)
• Capsicumel (with peppers)
• Cyser (with apples)
• Pyment (with grapes)
• Acerglyn (with maple syrup)
• Braggot (with grains)
• Bochet (caramelized honey)
• …and dozens of regional, cultural, and historical variations.

“What’s mead’s relationship to…?”

WINE?

Replace honey with fruit (usually grapes).

BEER?

Replace honey with malted grains; add mashing (to extract sugar from grains); add hops.

SPIRITS?

Ferment a beverage (vide supra); later: distillation.

Image from Fine Dining Lovers

Image from Khan Academy

1.035

Average specific gravity points per pound of honey.

E.g., 1 lb. honey + 1 gal. water = 5% potential alcohol.

Simple Dry Mead

So simple we can make it

right here at

Vermont Code Camp.

1. 3 gal. water
2. 3 Campden tablets
3. 2 oz. yeast nutrient
4. 6 lb. honey�
5. 1 sachet Lalvin D-47 yeast (pitched at home)

1.069

Estimated original gravity.

Expected to ferment to 0.984 (≈11.2% ABV)

Demo?

Credits

Illustrations from The Noun Project:

• Bee by Made by Made
• Conical Fermenter by Mark Caron
• Honey Jar by André Telles
• Water by iconsphere
• Erlenmeyer Flask by Rockicon