Dandelion Wine!

This is one of my personal favorites. This recipe can be used to create any flavor mead, all you have to do is substitute the dandelions with your favorite fruit / plant / flavor! No preservatives though!

What you'll need:
-3 pounds of honey (clover honey, the kind you find at the supermarket)
-Yeast (also found at the supermarket. I use 3 packs of rapid-rise yeast)
-Lots and lots of dandelion flowers and leaves (This is not an exact science and I have never adhered to particularly close measurements. Just know that the more you put in the stronger the taste.)
-I usually add some sugar to my mead as well, around 2-4 cups depending on how you're feeling. Remember that yeast eats sugar and the longer you leave your mead to ferment the more sugar it's going to eat up.
-About 250 fl. oz. of water.

What you'll need to do:
Boil the water with the honey, the dandelion and the sugar. If you have a suitable flavored tea it might be tasty to throw in some of those tea-bags into the boiling water for extra taste. Also, if you'd like to make Apple-Dandelion mead then you can replace the 250 oz. of water with four 64 oz. bottles of natural apple juice. Boil for about 15-20 min. There should be some foam at the top but if there isn't don't panic. I've done it with no foam forming at all when I worked with a peach mead.
Take the tea-bags out and let it cool down. You can throw some ice cubes into the pot to help it out. After it's cool pour it into a plastic bucket (IMPORTANT).
Now while all of that is cooling get about a cup or two cups of warm water and dissolve the yeast into it. After your original mixture is tepid slowly stir the yeast water into it.
Now pour it into a bucket, put the top on and let it sit in a clean, warmer place in your house.

DO NOT LET THE MEAD TOUCH METAL AFTER YOU'VE PLACED THE YEAST INTO IT. THIS CAN MAKE A RATHER NASTY POISON MEAD THAT WILL NOT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD AT ALL!!!!!

The key to making mead is experimenting to see what you like. You can always look up different types to make and there are tons of other ways you can make it.

Have fun, and remember.. NO FUCKING METAL!

-MrNiceHigh

Me? I stick with the bottle of grape juice, couple teaspoons of sugar and some yeast...

5-7 days later, Im tanked


M

Duuuude, I so am ganna make some wine this week! I've been telling myself that I'm going to learn how for the past 2 months, and with this post it's official! I even wanted to try dandelion wine. I mean.. they're growing eveywhere I look up here. Hows the taste?

-budo.

This should be in the brewing forum. It's a sub-forum of Cooking With Cannabis forum.

Well, it doesn't actually involve Cannabis so I wasn't really sure where to put it.

The dandelion wine that I make tastes delicious, sometimes I add peaches. It'll take a few months to really get some punch behind it.

-MrNiceHigh

Hmm.. few months eh? I always heard it took like a week or two.. are there different methods?

-budo.

Yes there are a few different methods. I've found that the quicker the time the worst the mead tastes. If you let all the flavors really settle and ferment with the rest of the mixture you'll get a nice winey taste.

There are quick ways, of course. But it's like anything else. The longer you let it sit the better it'll be. I let mine go for about 2-3 months before I start to drink it. I'll take cups and continue to let it sit so that even while it's good to drink it just gets better!
I've been able to get my mead to around 20% alcohol content and sometimes even more.

Good luck with whatever method you choose. If you search for it on google you'll probably find some faster ways than mine.

-MrNiceHigh

Ahh all good to know. I think I'll probably just use your method, sounds fine. Just ganna have me some wine in time for 4:20 it sounds.. haha. I don't care what it is I'm doing, taste is important, and I'm willing to wait.

-budo.

i too love this wine, the only thing i like better is wild rose pedal. mmmmmmmmm

Yes, rose wine is really great! Usually I like to make my rose mead with some ginger, it gives it a nice kick.

-MrNiceHigh

I just go to a winery about 30 minutes away and get a bottle . I go to a winery all the time as long as weather is nice. last summer I got a few bottles of blueberry wine and a few J's of Shishkaberry, got my girl and a blanket and had a nice time. The have bands playing on hillside throught the summer so it makes for a nice crowd. most smoke so its a great day










Nevermind

This isn't what you'd consider as a conventional "wine." It's really a mead. They have some commercially made meads as well though they aren't nearly as common as wineries. Generally a mead is sweeter - depending on what you put in it. Mead goes back as far as Anglo-Saxon England where the great tribes and kingdoms build huge buildings in which they would party and drink their mead: "mead halls."
If you've read Beowulf you know what I'm talking about.

If I had to describe mead I'd put it between an ale and a wine.
You can decide for yourself though!

-MrNiceHigh

I made some today(minus the dandelions) I used a clear bucket, will light effect it in any way, also do I need to let air out or stir?

ah home made wine ,her is a picture of mine two months in ,been racked twice and is just about ready to go into the bags, 5 galons of strawberry wine

Yeah you should occassionally take the top of the bucket to let some of the CO2 that forms out and also stir it but make sure to use a wooden or plastic spoon (no metal remember). I don't rack mine at all, I just let it sit and let it be! I learned this recipe from a friend who works with bees. He went to NYC and Bard and now he's working at a damn honeybee farm - go figure.

-MrNiceHigh

My grandpa says to NEVER use glass for fermenting, any reason why??


M