Sweet Chili Mead

The following recipe is for one of my latest experiments. A sweet dessert wine with cinnamon and chillies.  It is best to use a Hydrometer and measure the specific gravity to make sure you add the right amount of honey.

I recently bottled my chili mead at an alcohol percentage of around 13%. Now I will have to patiently wait a year.

Recipe. Makes around 25 liters:

• ±7.5kg honey, try to find a local beekeeper.
• 17.5L water, preferably from a spring so it doesn't contain chlorine.
• 8 grams of yeast. I use Vintner's Harvest Wine Yeast SN9
• 5 to 10 cinnamon sticks.
• 3 chillies

Make sure all your equipment is properly cleaned. You will need a 25L fermenter with an airlock.

1. Poor the 17.5L of water in the fermenter.
2. Dissolve around ±7.5kg of honey in the water. Aim for a specific gravity between 1.130 and 1.135 (at 24°C). Dissolving the honey is easiest if the water is warm but don't go above 40°C or the honey will start to loose its flavour. 
3. Add the yeast when the mixture is about 24°C. Add nutrients if you want a better fermentation process.
4. Add the cinnamon sticks. Don't add the chillies yet
5. Measure the specific gravity. This is used at a later stage to determine the amount of alcohol in your wine. OPTIONAL, measure the PH of the wine (shouldn't go below 3.7).
6. Close fermenter and place it in a location where the temperature doesn't fluctuate too much.
7. Leave to ferment for around two weeks or until the must reaches the preferred Alcohol By Volume (ABV).
8. Rack the mead (transfer it to another fermenter leaving the dead yeast behind). And remove the cinnamon sticks.
9. Cut the chillies in quarters and add to the must. This will kill all the yeast so make sure must is at the desired alcohol percentage!
10. Taste test the wine until it reaches the desired heat. I checked it every two days and removed them after six days.
11. Bottle the wine and store it in a dark and cool place for at least a year.
12. Enjoy your mead.