Technoviking Mead

Ingredients:

• 8-10 lbs pure raw honey (for light, delicate Mead)
• (or) 12-13 " " " " (for medium sweet Mead)
• (or) 15-16 " " " " (for very sweet or alcoholic Mead)
• 4-5 gallons purified spring water (not distilled)
• 3 tsp. yeast nutrient (or 5 tablets)
• 1 tsp. acid blend (combination malic/citric acid)
• 5-7 oz. sliced fresh ginger root (1 finger's length)
• 1/4 tsp. fresh rosemary (optional, as desired)
• 5-6 whole cloves (optional, as desired)
• 1-2 vanilla beans (optional, as desired)
• cinnamon/nutmeg (optional, as desired)
• lime/orange peels (optional, as desired)
• crushed fruit (peaches, strawberries, grapes, etc.)
• 1 tsp. Irish Moss (to clarify Mead)
• 1/2 tsp. clear gelatin (to clarify Mead)
• 1 spotted newt's tail (optional, as desired :)
• 1 packet yeast (champagne or ale yeast)

Preparation:

• Heat spring water 10-15 minutes till boiling.
• Stir in honey, yeast nutrients, acid blend, and spices (rosemary, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon peel).
• Boil for another 10-15 minutes, (overcooking removes too much honey flavor), skimming off foam as needed (2 to 3 times during last 15 minutes).
• After 15 minutes, add Irish Moss or clear gelatin to clarify.
• After last skimming, turn off heat, add crushed fruit, and let steep 15-30 minutes while allowing mead to cool and clarify.
• After mead begins to clear, strain off fruit with hand skimmer and pour mead through strainer funnel into 5 gallon glass carboy jug.
• Let cool to room temperature about 24 hours.
• After 24 hours, warm up 1 cup of mead in microwave, stir in 1 packet "Red Star" Champagne, Montrechet, or Epernet yeast (or Ale yeast in order to make mead ale), and let sit for 5-15 minutes to allow yeast to begin to work.
• Add this mead/yeast mixture to carboy jug and swirl around to aerate, thereby adding oxygen to mead/yeast mixture.
• Place run-off tube in stopper of bottle, with other end of tube in large bowl or bottle to capture "blow-off" froth.
• Let mead sit undisturbed 7 days in cool, dark area.
• After initial violent fermenting slows down and mead begins to settle, rack off (siphon off) good mead into clean sterilized jug, leaving all sediment in bottom of first jug.
• Attach airlock to this secondary carboy.
• After 4-6 months, mead will clear.
• During this time, if more sediment forms on bottom, good mead can be racked off again to another clean sterilized jug.
• When bottling, in order to add carbonation, add either 1/4 tsp. white table sugar per 12 oz bottle, or stir in 1/2 to 1 lb raw honey per 5 gallons mead (by first dissolving honey with a small amount of mead or pure water in microwave).

Source: http://www.blue-n-gold.com/halfdan/meadrecp.htm