Fall Spice Metheglin

Makes one gallon of mead.

Ingredients

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp. (2.5 g) ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. (2.5 g) ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. (2.5 g) ground allspice
• 1 large orange, juiced
• 2 lbs. (900 g) clover honey
• 1 tsp. (5 g) pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp. (5 g) acid blend
• 1 package Montrachet yeast (5 to 7 g)   
• 1-1/2 cups (360 mL) orange juice
• 1 tsp. (5 g) yeast nutrient
• 1/4 tsp. (1 g) grape tannin
• 1 campden tablet

Step by Step

Put the spices and juice of the orange into a two-gallon plastic container. Boil the honey in water (1 part honey to 2 parts water) in a large non-reactive pot for 10 to 20 minutes, skimming off the foam. Pour the honey-water mixture over the spices and juice. Cool. Add the acid, the pectic enzyme and water to make a gallon. Add the campden tablet and let the mixture sit, well-covered, for 24 hours.

Make a yeast starter culture by combining the yeast and yeast nutrient with the tepid orange juice. Cover, shake vigorously and let stand until bubbly (1 to 3 hours), then add to the must. Allow the mixture to ferment. Rack after the most vigorous fermentation and siphon the wine into a one-gallon, airlocked fermenter. Rack into another airlocked fermenter in 3 months and again in 6 months. Rack again right before bottling, one year after fermentation started. Bottle and cork the finished metheglin. Store for 6 months.