I've been wanting to try this for ages! A beverage made from fermented milk and honey.
I've used a recipe from a US forum (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/milk-me ... fo-381045/) and tweaked it a bit. (sorry I dunno how to condense the link!)
Ingredients:
2 litres semi skimmed Lactofree milk
1-2lb honey
Yeast (I used cider yeast)
Pinch of yeast nutrient.
Water to the gallon.
Method:
- Make a starter from the yeast 24 hours in advance
- Leave milk out to come up to room temp
- Dissolve the honey in hot water
- add milk and honey solution to DJ, top up with cold water to happy yeast temps, then add yeast and nutrient.
- Shake it up (with lid on!) and cover with foil (because this can apparently mess up an airlock)
- after inital fermentation has settled down, top up with water and add the airlock.
- The curds and sediment will separate from the mead, and after a week or two the liquid in between can be racked and cleared and bottled. The curd that forms can be eaten! :sick:
- can be drunk just weeks after bottling, best drunk within 6-12 months.
How that worked out for me...
I made a yeast starter from Youngs Wine Yeast Compound the day before, as per orginal instructions. No action the next day, so I threw that tub of yeast away and tried a different one, only opened a few weeks ago, which didn't work either. I made a starter from a fresh packet of cider yeast which frothed nicely and I'm just about to add it to the milky water.
The honey: that Tesco honey must be terrible (what did I expect for the price ), it had no smell at all and the taste was barely pleasant, but it's all I had, it was midnight and I'd already poured the milk in the DJ, so I threw it in anyway. It needs another pound of honey anyway to make it a decent ABV, those Americans use "wrong" gallons :mrgreen: I'll spend a few extra quid and get some nice orange blossom honey, man that stuff smells good and tastes like dreams and wishes
As for the milk, the supermarket (typically) had run out of fresh semi skimmed Lactofree milk. I bought a fresh whole milk version and a semi skimmed UHT (which was more expensive). Hopefully it wont matter too much. I'm letting the cider yeast grow a bit more before adding, so I'll report back if I get any activity...
DH is not optimistic about this one :lol:
I've used a recipe from a US forum (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/milk-me ... fo-381045/) and tweaked it a bit. (sorry I dunno how to condense the link!)
Ingredients:
2 litres semi skimmed Lactofree milk
1-2lb honey
Yeast (I used cider yeast)
Pinch of yeast nutrient.
Water to the gallon.
Method:
- Make a starter from the yeast 24 hours in advance
- Leave milk out to come up to room temp
- Dissolve the honey in hot water
- add milk and honey solution to DJ, top up with cold water to happy yeast temps, then add yeast and nutrient.
- Shake it up (with lid on!) and cover with foil (because this can apparently mess up an airlock)
- after inital fermentation has settled down, top up with water and add the airlock.
- The curds and sediment will separate from the mead, and after a week or two the liquid in between can be racked and cleared and bottled. The curd that forms can be eaten! :sick:
- can be drunk just weeks after bottling, best drunk within 6-12 months.
How that worked out for me...
I made a yeast starter from Youngs Wine Yeast Compound the day before, as per orginal instructions. No action the next day, so I threw that tub of yeast away and tried a different one, only opened a few weeks ago, which didn't work either. I made a starter from a fresh packet of cider yeast which frothed nicely and I'm just about to add it to the milky water.
The honey: that Tesco honey must be terrible (what did I expect for the price ), it had no smell at all and the taste was barely pleasant, but it's all I had, it was midnight and I'd already poured the milk in the DJ, so I threw it in anyway. It needs another pound of honey anyway to make it a decent ABV, those Americans use "wrong" gallons :mrgreen: I'll spend a few extra quid and get some nice orange blossom honey, man that stuff smells good and tastes like dreams and wishes
As for the milk, the supermarket (typically) had run out of fresh semi skimmed Lactofree milk. I bought a fresh whole milk version and a semi skimmed UHT (which was more expensive). Hopefully it wont matter too much. I'm letting the cider yeast grow a bit more before adding, so I'll report back if I get any activity...
DH is not optimistic about this one :lol: