Lemon Balm Mead
Servings: 4 Bottles (One Gallon)
Ingredients
- 1 gal water divided
- 1 lemon sliced
- 1/8 cup raisins chopped, or 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 cup strongly brewed black tea or 1/4 tsp tannin powder
- 6 cups Lemon Balm Fresh Leaves, gently packed
- 3 lbs honey about 4 cups
- 1/2 Packet Lalvin D-47 yeast or 1/2 packet champagne yeast
Instructions
- Heat 3/4 gallon water in a stockpot to near boiling and remove from heat. Add sliced lemon, brewed black tea, and honey.
- Stir to dissolve the honey.
- lemon balm leaves.
- Add the lemon balm leaves and allow to infuse for 15 minutes, then strain the herbs and lemon.
- Pour the strained mixture into a 1 gallon carboy using a funnel.
- Add cool water to top off the brew, filling to the neck of the fermenter.
- When the mead is at room temperature, add the yeast.
- Cap with a bung and airlock and allow the mixture to ferment for 1-2 months.
- Siphon the mead into a clean carboy, leaving any sediment behind. Re-cap with a bung and airlock and allow the mixture to ferment for another 1-2 months.
- Bottle using wine bottles and corks, and allow the herbal mead to bottle condition for at least 1 month (preferably longer) before drinking.
Notes
The original recipe notes that this herbal mead is best made with fresh lemon balm, and that dried lemon balm makes the mead a bit too tannic and bitter.