Mead recipe

Many times we go to the supermarket and buy honey without realising it may be adulterated with glucose syrup or simply be very low‑quality honey. Sometimes they even try to pass off molasses as honey, calling it “cane honey” or similar names.
You should know that honey can only come from bees, and one way to check whether it’s 100% honey or adulterated is to put it in the fridge and see if it crystallises. Crystallisation at low temperatures is a guarantee of quality — if it isn’t pure, it won’t crystallise (at least European varieties won’t).
Another simple way to check its purity is to read the ingredients: it should only say “honey”. It may sound obvious, but it can save you from buying a honey substitute.

Then there’s the important matter of origin. While it’s true that every country has excellent honeys, the ones arriving from places like Argentina or China at very competitive prices are usually low‑quality.
And yes — Argentina and China absolutely do have excellent honeys. But those aren’t the ones you’ll find cheap in the supermarket.
The issue with these low‑cost honeys is that beekeepers often feed bees with glucose syrups to increase production. And honey produced by bees that consume large amounts of syrup results in low‑quality honey.
We’d bet our hand — or a first‑edition RPG manual — that this fact caught you off guard and without any faith points left.
You can use these honeys perfectly well, but it’s better to make sure they come from your region or country.

Lastly, and no less important: taste the honey.If it’s not very floral and tastes like caramel, it probably contains glucose syrup or the bees were fed with syrups.
Here’s some homework:
Take one jar of honey you know isn’t good quality and another that is. Taste one, then the other… you’ll notice the difference.

Fermentation temperature is crucial for producing good mead — it can be the difference between Thor himself showing up to taste your batch, or your mead going straight to the toilet.

You should know that yeast, being a living microorganism, is very affected by temperature.
It’s simple: you can’t work properly under 40°C in full sun, nor at –4°C in a climate colder than your ex’s heart. Yeast is exactly the same.

Depending on the yeast strain you choose, it will have a specific working temperature range, but most perform well between 20°C and 23°C at room temperature. They generate their own heat during fermentation, so if the room is at 25°C, they’ll push the mead up to 27–28°C. But if the temperature drops below 18°C with yeasts like Safale T58, you’ll see fermentation practically stall.
And that’s without mentioning that high temperatures are the perfect environment for unwanted microorganisms to reproduce, generating off‑flavours and unpleasant aromas. Yeast exposed to high temperatures will also produce undesirable notes.

Every time you approach the fermenter to watch the CO₂ bubbles rise — or simply to fantasise about the day you’ll finally taste the result — how do you know if things are going well? How can you tell whether your yeast is comfortably enjoying a glorious honey feast, or struggling to metabolise a single miserable molecule of fructose?

Two tricks to know if your mead is fermenting properly:

• First trick: smell and taste your mead in progress. If you’ve used light honeys, the aroma should remind you of green apple. This comes from acetaldehyde, a compound that tells you fermentation is underway in its early stages. This aroma disappears once the mead reaches around 5–6% alcohol.
  It’s not considered a defect if it’s part of the recipe’s expected profile.
  So, if you detect a floral‑green‑apple aroma, you’re on the right path.
  The flavour should be sweet, with nuances from the honey you used. It may also remind you of sweet cider, or show fruity notes like pear or banana if it’s fermenting at a warm — but not excessive — temperature.
  After a few days, taste your mead again. The green‑apple notes should start decreasing, though other fruity notes may remain if they were generated.
  If you detect aromas like egg, cooked vegetables, or sewer, these are classic signs of contamination — a clear indication your batch is heading straight for the drain. If this happens, don’t get discouraged. It’s normal for a batch to get contaminated, especially when you’re starting out.
  If your mead becomes too fruity, try placing it somewhere cooler. This means it’s producing a lot of esters, likely due to high temperatures, and this can lead to various types of contamination.
• Second trick: monitor the evolution of sweetness. If after 5 or 6 days the sweetness hasn’t dropped much, it’s probably fermenting in a place that’s too cold — move it somewhere slightly warmer. Another possibility is that you added too little yeast, which would slow down fermentation.

Many people aren’t aware that we’re surrounded by microorganisms — they’re everywhere. On the table, on your hands, in the pot, in the honey, in the fermenter…

These microorganisms aren’t always harmful. In fact, in mead, flavour doesn’t depend solely on the yeast you add; there’s an entire microbial flora that complements fermentation.

While the microorganisms naturally present in honey aren’t necessarily harmful for mead‑making, many others are. And most of the time, they appear due to poor hygiene.

One of the easiest defects to encounter is a vinegar aroma, produced by acetic bacteria, which transform the alcohol created by the yeast into vinegar.

The best way to avoid this is a proper sterilisation process for all equipment before use. If possible, it’s worth buying specific cleaning and sterilising products from shops specialising in wine or beer making. These products work perfectly.

Another common contamination comes from oxygen exposure. When you prepare the mixture, it’s good for the honey‑and‑water must to be in contact with air, since oxygen dissolves into the liquid and helps the yeast. But once you add the yeast to start fermentation, you must use an airlock so the gas produced can escape while preventing air from entering and contaminating the batch.

This has always been the best‑kept secret among mead makers, because it’s one of the pillars that holds the entire craft together. Very few producers are willing to talk openly about their pasteurisation process — but we’re ready to break that silence and give you the guidelines you need to do it properly, without bottling little grenades waiting to turn your living room into a mascletà.

Why is pasteurisation so important in mead?

The answer is simple: you don’t want a bottle exploding on your table or in your fridge. When you bottle a sweet, low‑alcohol mead, there are still fermentable sugars left. Fermentation continues inside the bottle, pressure builds up, and two things can happen:
When you open it, you get a geyser of foam.
It explodes in your face.
Pasteurisation stops fermentation and locks your mead at the exact sweetness and alcohol level it had at bottling time.

Can you make mead without pasteurising?

Yes, you can.But if you want your mead ready in two weeks instead of six months, and under 12% alcohol, the Odin method is the way to go.

What equipment do you need?

A pot. Something to place at the bottom so the bottles don’t touch the metal directly. A thermometer that measures up to 100°C.
And remember: heating the bottles increases internal pressure, and they can explode. So you must take proper precautions:
Wear a protective face shield (like the ones used for angle‑grinder work).Wear gloves — leather if possible. Protect any exposed skin.
If you do everything correctly, no bottle should explode — but you never know.
You can pasteurise carbonated or still mead. Recycled beer bottles work for carbonated mead.Wine bottles work for still mead. The more carbonation, the higher the risk of explosion; the less carbonation, the lower the risk.
Pasteurisation is done after sealing the bottles hermetically.

How long and at what temperature?

Place the bottles in hot water, making sure they don’t touch the bottom.
Leave one bottle filled with water instead of mead — this is the one you’ll measure with the thermometer, since the others are sealed.Measure the temperature at the bottom of the bottle and let it rise to 70°C.Once it reaches that temperature, remove the bottles from the pot and let them cool at room temperature.
Do not put them in the fridge or in cold water — the thermal shock can break the glass (and the fridge won’t appreciate it either).

At this point, your mead will be ready to chill and drink whenever you like. If you’ve followed all the steps of the Odin method, you’ll end up with a stable, delicious recipe with a solid technical profile.

Finally — and as promised — here’s why we’re revealing the Odin method:

We’re convinced that if people start making quality meads at home and sharing them with those around them, a growing gastronomic culture around mead will begin to take shape. And that’s a huge benefit for us as producers because, let’s be honest, it will increase the number of fans of this drink that was already vintage before the world had tutorials — and therefore, it will also increase the number of our customers.
With nothing more to add: may Odin accompany your mead.