Rhubarb Melomel (Mead) -- Part 1

One of the reasons I want to get into beekeeping is to experiment with making meads, which are basically wines made with honey instead of sugar. You can make a grape mead, which is called a pyment, a fruit mead, which is called a melomel, or herbal or spice mead, called metheglin.

We own the book Making Wild Wines & Meads, but true to our form, the first one we wanted to try wasn't in the book: Rhubarb Mead. We hunted the internet and found this recipe, but the method didn't match up to the book. So, a blended method.

First, the list of ingredients:
18 cups chopped rhubarb
1 package champagne yeast
12 cups honey
48 cups water
1 lemon
1 tea bag

So here's what we've done so far, along with what we expect will happen over the next few months if all goes according to plan. Here's my rhubarb plant!



Eighteen cups of chopped rhubarb, coming right up.



It takes a long time to bring all that honey and half the water to boiling. Almost an hour. Then I boiled it for 20 minutes. As you can see, the waxy impurities floated to the top and needed to be skimmed off. (If you're buying pasteurized honey, this will already be done, but I bought mine from a local apiary's farm stand.)



Once the honey/water blend had been boiled and skimmed, I dumped in the chopped rhubarb and stirred.



Once it had cooled a bit, we poured the blend into the primary (large plastic tub) and added the remainder of the water, stirred well, and put the lid on it to sit for 24 hours. That was yesterday.

So this evening I juiced the lemon, warmed the juice to baby bottle temperature, and sprinkled the packet of champagne yeast over the top.



15 minutes later, I stirred it thoroughly. Then we added it to the rhubarb/honey/water blend in the primary along with one tea bag (I tossed in an Earl Grey) for the tannin. Stir well to distribute the yeast.



Here's what we expect to happen next:

Allow to ferment for ten days, during which the temperature needs to remain between 68-77 degrees and we need to stir several times a day.

Then transfer to an airlock carboy for three months, then rack. (This basically means the liquid is siphoned off and the solids discarded.) Rack again every month or two as needed to clarify.

Six months from now it can be bottled, and six months after THAT we'll have an idea if we'd ever make this kind again! We'll keep you updated as we go through the various steps.