Been collecting sloes today to make the traditional sloe gin for Christmas, and started thinking about other things I could do, and was wondering about mead.

Has anyone ever made there own? it doesn’t look too complicated and looks like it could be interesting experimenting with different honeys. Just interested what sort of results people have had.

I tried and wasted 4lbs of honey ( good job i have my own hives ) it was a disaster

I have made beer with 50/50 honey and sugar it worked well

But I have just bottled 4 gallons of elderflower wine tastes bloody superb

i made mead once, it took a really really long time to finish fermenting. but it was strong as hell.

I’ve made Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead a couple of times, and worked out really nice. Make it now and it would be ready to give away by christmas. Google the recipe or search for it on the Other Brews section of Jims Beer Kit forum.

I used rowse honey and allinsons fast acting bread yeast but the recipe specifies American products that likely aren’t available here. This version is simple to make, recipe said not to rack, though I did both times.

On the sloes, how did that go? My local bushes here despite lots of blossom earlier on in the year just don’t seem to have many sloes on them.

We made a few lots at uni. Each time it was a bit nicer, but ultimately still disgusting. Very strong though 🙂

On the sloes, how did that go? My local bushes here despite lots of blossom earlier on in the year just don’t seem to have many sloes on them.

The sloes where not nearly as good as last year, a lot of the bushes I went to last year had virtually no fruit on at all – in fact the bushes looked half dead. The ones I did find that had plenty of fruit, the sloes were pretty small. I got what I need though, but I was disappointed.