Dandelion mead is a bright floral honey wine that’s well worth the effort each spring. It’s a bit like old-fashioned dandelion wine, but with more body and character since honey always makes a better floral wine.
Dandelion mead is hands down my absolute favorite mead to make at home. The delicate floral flavor of dandelion petals combines with the honey to create a truly unforgettable mead.
Old-fashioned dandelion wine is well known in rural areas, especially in Appalachia, but it can be a bit thin and lacking in body. That’s because plain sugar feeds the yeast, rather than honey, and sugar wines often lack body. To counter this, winemakers often add all manner of additives…bananas, white grape juice, or honey.
But if you use honey from the start, and make a dandelion mead, which is more or less just a dandelion honey wine, the results are absolutely spectacular.
Harvesting Dandelions for Dandelion Mead
The hardest part about making dandelion mead is harvesting and cleaning the dandelion flowers themselves.
To make a one-gallon batch of dandelion mead, you’ll need about 1 quart of cleaned dandelion petals, which comes from about 1 gallon of fully opened dandelion flower heads.
In a dense patch, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to pluck a gallon of dandelion flowers. Those same flowers though, will take about an hour to clean by hand.
Everyone has their own technique, but the end goal is that you pull out just the yellow petals and leave all the green sepals/leaves behind. Those green parts will turn your mead bitter, while the cleaned petals will instead give a light floral taste.
We love making big batches of dandelion mead, so I bribe my kids to help out. They love sitting outside in the spring sun, hanging out with Mama, listening to the birds, and cleaning dandelion flowers…
But they also know that when they help clean dandelion petals, there will inevitably be dandelion desserts. Every year, we make a few new dandelion treats. In the past, it’s been:
- Dandelion Ice Cream
- Dandelion Marshmallows
- Dandelion Cream Pie
- Dandelion Cookies
- Dandelion Gummy Bears
The list goes on…but if you want little dandelion helpers, you’ve gotta pay them well!
Once the dandelion flower petals are cleaned and separated from the greens, the process for making dandelion mead is the same as making any other herbal mead or floral mead. (The recipe is actually more or less the same as if you’re making elderflower mead or rose petal mead.)
I’ll walk you through all the steps, but if you’re at all confused, I’d suggest reading through my beginner’s guide to making mead at home.
Ingredients for Dandelion Mead
The ingredients are pretty straightforward and not all that different from any other basic mead recipe. If you’re looking for substitutions, read through my guide to wine/mead-making ingredients, as it’ll give you options for substituting just about all of the winemaking ingredients for common things you’d otherwise have in your kitchen (i.e. black tea in place of tannin powder).
For a basic one-gallon batch, you’ll need the following:
- 1 quart of dandelion petals (no green parts)
- 2 1/2 to 3 lbs honey*
- 2 tsp acid blend (or 2 Tbsp lemon juice from 1 lemon)
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/4 tsp wine tannin (or 1 cup of strongly brewed black tea)
- 1 packet wine yeast
All the pictures in this guide are a 3-gallon batch, and we tend to make a big batch every few years rather than a small batch every single year. We’ll sometimes make a 5 or 6-gallon batch if we’re feeling really ambitious (and bottles make excellent holiday presents).
To make a larger batch, simply multiply all the ingredients (except the yeast) by 5. A single yeast packet is sufficient for anywhere from 1 gallon up to 5 gallons, as the wee beasties will rapidly multiply anyway. It’s just a starter, and a packet will start various quantities easily, at least up to 5 gallons per pack.
You can use any wine yeast, but good choices are:
- Red Star Cote des Blancs (Geisenheim Epernay) ~ Great choice for a sweet finish, as it has a low Alcohol tolerance of 12-14%. Ideal temperature range 64 to 86 F.
- Lavin D47 ~ Adds a strong fruity, floral character, with spicy hints of tropical fruit and citrus. Only a moderately vigorous fermenter, and may start slowly. Alcohol tolerance to 15%, ideal temperature range 59 to 86 F.
- Lalvin K1-V1116 ~ A dependable fermenter that works well in difficult fermenting conditions (low/high temperatures, low nutrients, etc). It’s also known for contributing more fruity and floral esters than other types of wine yeast. High alcohol tolerance, up to 18%, and an incredible temperature range from 50 to 95F.
If you’d like other options, see my guide to winemaking yeasts. Whatever you do, don’t use bread yeast. The yeast actually contributes a lot of flavor to the finished wine, and bread yeast will make it taste like bread (and it’ll die out at only 2-3% alcohol, whereas mead yeast usually goes up to 12 to 18% alcohol, depending on the type).
For the honey amount, that’s adjusted based on how sweet or dry you want the finished mead, and your yeast choice. I’d suggest starting at 3 pounds, as this recipe works well as a reasonably sweet mead, and scaling back if it’s too sweet for your tastes.
Equipment for Dandelion Mead
This is the same equipment you’d use to make any wine, mead, beer, or hard cider. It’s well worth the investment if you plan on doing any other fermenting. That said, you can get the job done with things you’d have in a well-stocked kitchen, and my guide to winemaking equipment walks you through what you can use instead.
The basics include the following:
- One Gallon Glass Carboy (x2) ~ A narrow neck fermentation vessel, also called a carboy, will hold the flower wine while it ferments. You’ll need two since the wine needs to be moved to a clean container (leaving the sediment behind) after 7-10 days of active primary fermentation. They often come in a kit with a rubber stopper and water lock together.
- Rubber Stopper and Air Lock ~ Basically a one-way valve that allows CO2 to escape, but prevents contaminants from entering the fermentation vessel, and it helps prevent the wine from turning to vinegar.
- Brewing Siphon ~ Used to move your flower wine from one container to another, and for bottling.
- Wine bottles ~ The best option for bottling, wine bottles will allow the flower wine to be stored for longer periods. Beer bottles and Flip-top Grolsch bottles will sometimes work in a pinch for short-term storage.
- Bottle Corker ~ If you’re using wine bottles, you’ll need a corker as well. Be sure to use clean, new corks for bottling the wine.
- Brewing Sanitizer ~ A one-step, no-rinse brewing sanitizer cleans and sanitizes all equipment before use.
With flower wines, I tend to use a wide-mouth fermenter for the primary, since the flower petals can clog the narrow neck of a traditional carboy and be a mess to clean. Since I’m making a three-gallon batch in the pictures here, I’m using a mesh brewing bag and infusing the petals in a bucket fermenter for primary.
For secondary, I move it to age in a glass 3-gallon carboy (they also come in 5 or 6-gallon capacity).
The picture below shows the wide-mouth one-gallon fermenter I used to make a dandelion wine a few years back. The dandelion petals really do mat together, and you can’t use a narrow-neck carboy with the petals in there, as they’ll clog it up and eventually blow the top.
How to Make Dandelion Mead
Since the flavor of dandelion petals is pretty delicate, I opt for “cold infusion” rather than making a tea from them. That helps them retain more of their volatile aromas and flavors. That can be tricky in a traditional narrow-neck carboy, so I usually start the fermentation in a wide-mouth fermenter.
In this case, I’m making a bigger batch, so I place the petals into a mesh brewing bag and infuse the petals in a bucket fermenter for primary.
Place the flowers in the fermenter, either loose or in a brewing bag.
Next, bring about half a gallon of water to a boil on the stove. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir to dissolve. Allow the mixture to cool completely, and then pour over the flowers in the fermenter (along with the remaining ingredients, except the yeast. This includes yeast nutrients, lemon juice, and tannin powder).
Add Yeast
Yeast is added right before fermentation, and it’s rehydrated in a bit of plain water first.
Dried yeast can “shock” if it goes directly into your sugary wine mixture. Be sure that the wine mixture is at room temperature before adding the yeast (if you heated the water to make a warm flower tea, rather than a cold infusion).
The mixture should start vigorously bubbling within 24 to 72 hours.
Primary Fermentation
For the first 7 to 14 days, the wine is in what’s known as primary fermentation.
The yeast are working fast and rapidly multiplying, it’s often vigorous and creates a lot of sediment at the bottom of the fermenter.
There’s little alcohol at this point, so primary fermentation is often done in an open bucket that’s just covered with a towel. An airlock isn’t strictly required at this point.
Still, I think things are a bit cleaner if you use a wide-mouth fermenter with an airlock, especially if you have kids or pets at home. Anything without a lid is subject to problems with cats in the house.
Racking
After the initial vigorous fermentation is complete in “primary,” the wine is “racked” into a clean container.
This is done with a brewing siphon to avoid stirring up the sediment or “lees” at the bottom of the primary fermenter. If wine is left on the lees, it can develop off flavors.
At this point, the flowers are filtered out of the mix, and you should just have a liquid that’s moved into the next step.
Secondary Fermentation
Once the wine is racked into the secondary, it’s sealed with an airlock. That’s a one-way valve that prevents oxygen from getting in, but allows the CO2 produced during fermentation to escape.
This prevents the alcohol that’s produced from turning into vinegar.
Dandelion mead is in secondary for about 2 months, but you can extend that up to 4 months if you’re fermenting in a cool location (below 65 F).
The wine should be kept at a cool room temperature, and in a dark place without direct sunlight. Ideally, a basement or back closet that’s about 65 to 68 F (18 to 20 C).
At higher temperatures, the mead will ferment faster, but that also causes a lot of the more delicate flavors to volatilize. Regular room temperature will work (70 to 75 F), but slightly cool is better.
For secondary, I move my meads to glass carboys so that they ferment cleanly. Buckets are great for a quick primary, but in secondary, the mead is in there for longer, and the quality is better if you ferment in glass (plastic will work in a pinch, though).
Tasting and Adjusting
After secondary, it’s time to taste the wine and adjust as needed.
At this point, it’ll taste very “rough” as it hasn’t bottle-aged at all, but it should give you a rough idea of the final flavors to expect.
If it’s very dry, this is where you’d add some sugar or honey, or if it’s too sweet, you can consider adding some acidity to balance (or pitching in a more vigorous yeast strain such as Lalvin K1-V1116 to eat up more of the sugars).
You can add more tannin or really anything that might be needed.
Or, if it’s good, just go right to bottling.
Tertiary Fermentation (optional)
If you have made adjustments, you’ll need to rack the wine into another fermenter for another couple of weeks to allow things to settle out before bottling.
Bottling
To bottle, use a brewing siphon to move the wine into wine bottles and seal them with corks.
Some people opt to sterilize their wines with potassium sorbate at bottling, which prevents additional fermentation in the bottle.
I do not sterilize; I just make sure the secondary is long enough that the yeast has died off, and I’ll rack into tertiary if necessary to get any last activity out of the yeast.
Floral Wine and Mead Recipes
Looking for more flower wines and meads?
Dandelion Mead
Dandelion mead is a luscious floral honey wine that's the perfect way to celebrate spring.
Ingredients
- 1 quart of dandelion petals (no green parts)
- 2 1/2 to 3 lbs honey*
- 2 tsp acid blend (or 2 Tbsp lemon juice from 1 lemon)
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1/4 tsp wine tannin (or 1 cup of strongly brewed black tea)
- 1 packet wine yeast
Instructions
- Add about half a gallon of water to a stock pot and bring it to a boil on the stove. Add the honey and stir to dissolve. Allow the mixture to cool completely before proceeding. If you're hot-infusing the petals, add them once you've removed the pot from the heat. For a cold infusion, add them into the primary.
- If doing a cold infusion of flowers, add them into the primary fermenter and pour the cooled honey water over the top of them. Ideally, you'd use either a wide-mouth glass fermenter or a bucket fermenter with a brew bag. I do not recommend cold infusing in the fermenter if you're using a narrow-neck glass fermenter, as the petals will clog the top and make a mess. If you only have a narrow-neck glass fermenter, do a hot infusion.
- Add the remaining winemaking ingredients (except yeast), and stir to incorporate.
- Add cool water to the fermenter to nearly fill the container, to bring it up to within 1 inch of the top. (If using a large bucket fermenter, you'll need to actually measure the amount. The total amount of water to use in the primary is 3 quarts or 3/4 gallon. The honey and other ingredients use the remaining volume of the gallon.) Make sure the mixture is cooled, and no hotter than 90 degrees F, but ideally around room temperature.
- Once cool, dissolve the yeast packet in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup room temperature water and allow it to rehydrate for 10 minutes. Add the yeast water to the fermentation vessel.
- Fill with water (if necessary) to reach the neck of the fermentation vessel, and seal with a rubber stopper and water lock.
- Allow the wine to ferment for 10 to 14 days until fermentation slows (primary fermentation).
- Use a siphon to transfer the wine to a clean fermentation vessel, taking care to leave any sediment behind. Filter out the flower petals at this point (or remove the brewing bag containing the petals), and switch to a narrow-neck fermenter if you've been using a wide-neck fermenter. Re-cap with a water lock. For wine, allow it to ferment in secondary for about 2 to 4 months, until fermentation is complete. (Longer at cooler temperatures.)
- Bottle the wine or mead. Allow wine to bottle condition for at least 2 months before drinking. Flip-top Grolsch-style bottles will work in a pinch, but corked bottles are much better for mead in general.
Dandelion Recipes
Every part of the dandelion plant is edible, from root to blossom! These dandelion recipes will keep you busy in the kitchen (and stock your apothecary too).
- 12+ Dandelion Root Recipes
- 60+ Dandelion Flower Recipes
- 12+ Dandelion Seed Recipes (Coming Soon)
- 50+ Dandelion Leaf Recipes (Coming Soon)
Edible Flower Recipes
Looking for more ways to use edible flowers in your kitchen?
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