Grendel's Cup Traditional Mead
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Geoff Reeves

Recipe for a 5 gallon batch:
12 lbs Blue Mtn. Wild Virgin Honey
5 lbs wild Mojave Desert Honey
1 tsp acid blend
3 tsp yeast hulls
5 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp more yeast nutrient
10 g K1V-1116 dry yeast
another 5 g K1V-1116 dry yeast
another 5 g K1V-1116 dry yeast

Procedures:

Heated the honey and water to 190F and held for 1 hr.
Chilled the must.
Added the acid, nutrients, and yeast at 100F.

Batch History & Stats:
Brewed 10/17/93 SG = 1.091
Racked & yeast nutrient 11/2/93
Kegged 11/17/93 SG = 1.004
Added 5 lb Mojave desert honey 12/7/93
approximately 11.41% by volume

Notes:
I fermented in a glass carboy and aged the mead in a keg. Aging in a keg
allowed me to adjust the recipe as it aged. The mead started out too dry so
I added more honey. Then it was too sweet so I added new yeast to let it
ferment some more. It took nearly a year (and a lot of sampling) to settle
down to its final state. The mead scored a 41 from both judges at the Mazer
Cup. The main flaw in the mead is a slightly strong acid/citrus note in
the flavor. Doing this again I would leave out the acid blend.