I thought I'd take some pics while we make up a batch of mead, to show how we do it.   These are old pics, most making plain mead, we now make a melomel with apple juice instead of water.   There have been numerous changes to our house, floors and kitchen range have been replaced.

First we make up a batch of starter (the yeast), please take a look at our Mead Making Procedure for the recipe.   Here is a starter (in a clear bottle) bubbling away.   Starter is very much like a batch of must only you just make a small amount then let it ferment.   When you make the must you pour this in when the procedure says "pitch the yeast".   This gets you a larger volume of yeast cells to get started.

This one has been going about 24 hours, you can see where the solution bubbled up to alomst fill the bottle, and has now died down a little.

The bubble is just breaking to the top of the double bubble (air lock) we use vodka in our air lock.

The kitchen, you can see the stock pot boiling 1 gal. of water on the stove.   3 more gallons of water on the bar.

Closer pic of the stock pot boiling, note the 1-1/2 gals of Walker Honey on the counter top.

The utensils sanitized and drying.   The sanitizing mixture is in the long white tray (walpaper tray) at the back of the counter top.   The cordless drill is used with the long stainless steel agitator, to stir/whip the must just after its placed into the fermentation bucket.

Fermenter on the floor, sanitized and ready.

While the stock pot is boiling, honey ready to put in the sink with warm water.   Note the sack of ice on the counter, for cooling the must after the honey is added.

Pouring the 3 gallons of distilled water into the fermenter.   We now use 3 gallons of Sams 100% Apple Juice and the result is Cyser (Apple/Honey Mead, a Melomel).

Water in the fermenter closed up, waiting for the rest of the must.

Water is almost finished boiling, we use the timer on the microwave to remind us when it has boiled enough.

Now we've added the honey, and we're pasturizing it by keeping it hot (155° to 165°) for about 15 minutes.   We moved the stock pot to another burner, the high hangover heat from the calrod unit stays hot too long.   Note the 1/4" dowel rod holding the thermometer in the middle and up off the bottom of the must.

Stirrer and hydrometer, sanitized and ready.

Its about 160° here, that just about right.

Note the electric stove small burner is set low.

Almost through pasturizing.

The pasturizing is over, now we have to cool it before adding the yeast.   Phase one of the cooling, using the ice from the store.

Cooling phase two, using the ice from our fridge.   Note, when you try to reduce the must to about 75° using 70° water (thats not much differential), it helps to add ice.

This is how we cool our must now, it is called a Silver Serpent from Northern Brewer.   Hook it up to the kitchen faucet, slowly run cool water through it to cool the must.   The water flow doesn't have to be heavy, just a little more than a dribble really.   This is much faster and easier than using ice.   I put it into the boiling water so it is sanitized before it touches the must.

The must has cooled, we poured it into the fermenter, poured the yeast starter into the fermenter and now I'm oxegenating the must.   Note the foam around the stirrer, as it's blade cavitates.

A little closer look at the oxegenating, you can see the cavitation, it looks like white foam.   I do this for about 10 or 15 minutes, then I take the specific gravity, put the lid on, put an air lock in, and move the barrel to our fermentation facility (utility room).

Here is the fermenter in our fermentation facility (utility room), note two older batches aging here.   The lighter batch in the center is made from Walker Honey Farms Orange Blossom, just like the batch in the fermenter.   On the far right is batch 2, its leaning over, ready to bottle.   The leaning over is to make a puddle to minimize the waste when you leave the sediment, as you bottle or rack.

Fermtech Double Blast Bottle Washer.   This is what we rinse bottles with just before bottling mead.