First, decide whether you’re making herbal wine (with sugar) or mead (with honey). The ingredients are almost identical, except that mead uses honey in place of sugar. For herbal wine, adding 4 to 6 cups of white grape juice in place of some of the water can help enhance the body of the wine, but this is optional. Mead, with its natural richness from honey, doesn’t require the grape juice. If you do use grape juice in your herbal wine, reduce the sugar by about 1/2 to 1 cup.

In a large stockpot, pour in about half a gallon of water and bring it to a boil. Stir in your sugar or honey until it's completely dissolved. Once fully mixed, remove the pot from the heat and let the liquid cool completely before continuing. If you’re infusing herbs with heat, add them to the pot now that it’s off the stove. For a cold infusion, skip this step and move to the next.

If you're doing a cold infusion, place your herbs directly into the primary fermenter. Then, pour the cooled sugar or honey-water mixture over the herbs.

Now, add the rest of your winemaking ingredients (except for the yeast) and stir to combine them thoroughly. This is the point where you can adjust any other flavors or additions, depending on your recipe.

Fill the fermenter with cool water, leaving just enough space at the top of the container for the fermentation process. If you're making mead, you may need to add more water since you won’t be using grape juice. Make sure the mixture has cooled down to room temperature and is no hotter than 90°F (32°C) before moving on.

Dissolve your yeast packet in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of room-temperature water and let it rehydrate for about 10 minutes. Once it’s ready, add the yeast-water mixture to the fermenter.

If needed, top off the fermenter with additional water to fill it up to the neck. Seal the container with a rubber stopper and attach a water lock to allow gases to escape while preventing contaminants from entering.

Allow the fermentation to take place for about 10 to 14 days. During this time, the yeast will be actively working, and you should notice bubbles in the water lock. Once fermentation slows down, you'll know primary fermentation is complete.

Once the primary fermentation is done, use a siphon to transfer the wine or mead to a clean fermenter. Be sure to leave the sediment behind and strain out any herbal material. If you’ve been using a wide-neck fermenter, it’s a good time to switch to a narrow-neck vessel. Seal it again with a water lock and leave it to ferment in secondary. Herbal wine typically stays in secondary for about 4 to 6 weeks, while mead should ferment for at least 4 months.

When secondary fermentation is complete, it’s time to bottle your herbal wine or mead. For wine, allow it to bottle condition for a minimum of 2 weeks. Mead requires at least 2 months of bottle aging before it's ready to enjoy. While Grolsch-style flip-top bottles are fine for short-term storage, wine bottles with corks are best for long-term storage, especially if you plan to keep your wine for more than 2 to 3 months.