Hey Guys and Gals! Roasted acorns give mead a nutty, oaky character, like it spent time in a barrel. Makes one gallon.
Ingredients
Step 1
- 1 cup shelled acorns
- 3 lb honey
- 1 gallon water
Step 2
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 packet Lalvin 71B-1122 yeast
Directions
- Leach the acorns first. Raw acorns are full of bitter tannin. Chop them and soak in several changes of hot water until the water runs clear and a piece no longer tastes bitter.
- Dry the acorns and roast at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until brown and fragrant. Let cool.
- Warm some of the water and dissolve the honey in it. Pour into the carboy with the rest of the water and the acorns.
- Stir the yeast into a cup of water, let stand 15 minutes until bubbling, and add it with the nutrient.
- Bubbling should start in 24 to 48 hours. Leave a third of the carboy empty for foam.
- After 2 weeks, rack off the acorns to a secondary carboy.
- Ferment 1 to 2 months or more, then bottle and age.