Before the yeast take over, you have to create the environment they will live in. That mixture of honey, water, and anything else you add before fermentation is called the must. Preparing it well makes the rest of the batch easier, from the first bubble in the airlock to the final gravity reading.

In this part of the Intro to Making Mead series I will walk through how I mix the must, make sure the ingredients are fully combined, and take the first gravity reading with a hydrometer.

Mixing the Must

The basic ratio is simple: honey diluted with water. A common starting point for a one-gallon traditional mead is about two to three pounds of honey per gallon of total volume. More honey means a higher starting gravity, more potential alcohol, and usually a sweeter finish if the yeast do not ferment it all. Less honey gives a lighter, lower-alcohol mead that may finish dry.

I warm the honey container briefly if it has crystallized, but I do not boil it. Boiling drives off delicate aromatics and can darken the honey. A warm water bath is enough to make it pourable. I add the honey to my fermenter first, then pour in about half the water, and stir until the honey is fully dissolved. Once it is mixed, I top up with the rest of the water to reach my target volume.

If I am adding fruit, spices, or other solids, I usually add them to the fermenter before the liquid so they are easier to distribute. For delicate ingredients like rose petals or tea, I sometimes make a strong tea or tincture separately and add it to the must instead of adding the raw plant matter directly.

Combining Everything Thoroughly

Honey is denser than water, so it can settle at the bottom of the fermenter even after it looks mixed. An uneven must will ferment unevenly, and a hydrometer reading taken from the top may read lower than a sample from the bottom. I take the time to stir well, scraping along the bottom of the fermenter to make sure no honey is clinging there.

I also make sure anything else in the fermenter is evenly distributed. Fruit should be submerged or floating uniformly. Spices in a bag should be moved around so they are not clumped in one spot. The goal is a must where a sample taken from any depth gives the same reading.

This is also the best time to add oxygen. I sometimes seal the fermenter and shake it vigorously for a minute or two, or I stir it hard enough to splash. Yeast need oxygen at the start of fermentation to build healthy cell membranes and reproduce. Once fermentation is active, oxygen becomes the enemy because it can oxidize the mead and create off-flavors. So I take advantage of this moment: shake, stir, or whisk the must aggressively now, then seal it up and leave it alone for the rest of fermentation.

Taking an Original Gravity Reading

A hydrometer is the most important tool at this stage. It measures how dense the must is compared to water, and that density comes almost entirely from dissolved sugar. The reading you take now is your original gravity, or OG. It is the baseline you will compare against later to know when fermentation is finished and to estimate alcohol content.

To take a reading, I use the hydrometer cylinder that came with my hydrometer. Everything is sanitized before it touches the must — the cylinder, the hydrometer, and any spoon or tool I use to stir. I lower the hydrometer into the cylinder first, then pour the must into the cylinder until the hydrometer floats freely without touching the bottom. This prevents overflow and gives enough liquid for an accurate reading.

The hydrometer floats higher in denser liquid. I read the number where the liquid surface crosses the scale, making sure the hydrometer is not touching the sides of the cylinder and that no bubbles are clinging to it. Bubbles will lift the hydrometer and give a falsely high reading, so I give it a quick spin to shake them off.

Once I have the reading, I pour the sample back into the fermenter carefully, letting it run down the side to avoid splashing. Since everything was sanitized, there is no reason to waste the must. The only thing I watch for is oxidation — I pour gently and do not agitate the must once fermentation is underway.

For a standard mead, an OG around 1.080 to 1.110 is common. A lighter session mead might start at 1.040 to 1.060. A strong sack mead can start at 1.120 or higher.

The gravity number itself does not tell you the alcohol content yet. It tells you how much sugar is available for the yeast to convert. When fermentation is done, you will take a final gravity reading and compare the two. The larger the drop, the more sugar was consumed, and the higher the alcohol percentage will be.

I always return the sample to the fermenter if it is still clean and fresh. Wasting a cup of mead on readings adds up over a one-gallon batch.

My Approach

I keep must preparation simple and methodical. I measure the honey by weight, mix thoroughly, and take an OG reading before pitching yeast. Those few steps take maybe fifteen minutes, but they give me the numbers I need to track fermentation and the consistency I need for repeatable batches.

The next article covers primary fermentation: what the yeast are doing, how to tell when they are finished, and why patience matters more than the calendar.