Knowledge Weighs Nothing

190+ Homemade Seasoning & Spice Mix Recipes

Seasoning mix recipes

Like most busy people, we always used to reach for a ready-made seasoning or spice mix to flavour our meals. A while back we made the decision to eat less processed foods and try to be a bit more healthy. One of the things we did was to start reading the ingredients on the foods we purchased. I think you need a chemistry degree to be able to interpret most food labels these days one of the things we found is that in lots of the seasoning and spice mixes we used, there is a huge amount of hidden sugar, salt and MSG.

At this point we decided to look into making our own homemade spice mixes and rubs etc. We found two things out WOW, freshly made home seasoning/spice mixes taste way better than store bought, and secondly, these homemade mixes are really quick and easy to make! Most of the dry mixes also keep for months when stored in sealed containers.

I searched online, and I discovered an amazing seasoning mix resource on the Budget101 website. At the time of writing, there are over 190+ DIY spice mixes, rubs and seasoning recipes for you to try. There literally is something for everyone! Check out the recipes themselves on the Budget101 website.

(Image from: Wikipedia)

Dakin’s Solution Recipe: How To Make Dakin’s Solution

Dakin's solution recipe

A member of your family is wounded.  You don’t have an antiseptic solution to clean and disinfect the wound, what can you do? Well, you could make an antiseptic called Dakin’s solution from common household ingredients you already have in your home!

This homemade antiseptic is known as Dakin’s solution (also known as Dakin’s fluid & Carrel–Dakin fluid) and it was developed by English chemist, Henry Drysdale Dakin and French surgeon, Alexis Carrel, it was first used in the first World War to treat soldier wounds and fight infection. The Dakin’s solution recipe is made up with Clorox or similar chlorine bleach, baking soda and water, that’s it…

Dakin’s Solution Recipe

You will need:

  • Clorox or similar household bleach (Sodium hypochlorite solution 5.25%). Don’t use thick or scented bleach
  • Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
  • Tap water
  • Cleaned/sterilized pan with lid, measuring cup and spoon,  jar with lid.

How To Make Dakin’s Solution

  • Wash your hands
  • Measure out 32 ounces (4 cups) of tap water. Pour into the clean pan.
  • Boil water for 15 minutes with the lid on the pan. Remove from heat.
  • Using the sterile measuring spoon, add ½ teaspoonful of baking soda to the boiled water.
  • You can make the solution in one of four strengths. Measure bleach according to the chart and add to the water also:
    1. For full strength – add 3 oz. bleach or 95 ml.
    2. For 1/2 strength – add 3 tbls. + 1/2 tsp. or 48 ml
    3. For 1/4 strength – add 1 tbls. +2  tsp. or 24 ml.
    4. For 1/8 strength – add 2 1/2 tsp. or 12-14 ml.
  • Pour  the solution into the sterile jar and put the lid on.
  • Make sure you clearly label the jar as Dakin’s solution, also including the strength of solution and date of expiry
  • Cover the jar with aluminium foil or store it somewhere dark, to protect it from light.

After opening the jar, throw away the remaining solution after 48 hours. An unopened jar can be stored for around a month if it is not opened, providing it is stored in the dark.

Dakin’s Solution Recipe Infographic

Dakin's Solution recipe infographic

How To Make Dakin’s Solution Video Tutorial

There are quite a few steps to this recipe, so check out the video below for a full demonstration of how to make Dakin’s solution.

Chicken Jerky Recipe: Use It To Make Turkey Jerky Too!

Chicken jerky

Chicken jerky is a nice alternative to beef jerky and it makes a great high protein and low fat savoury snack  This recipe can be used to make chicken or turkey jerky.

Simple Chicken Jerky (Or Turkey Jerky!) Recipe

You will need:

  • 3-4 chicken (or turkey) breasts (whatever your dehydrator can handle)
  • 1 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • Ziplock bag
  • Dehydrator

Chicken Jerky Instructions

  • Cut the chicken into 1/4 or 1/8 inch strips.
  • In the Ziploc bag – add the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. Seal the bag and give it a good, but careful shake, to mix the ingredients.
  • Add the chicken strips to the marinade in the ziploc bag and seal and leave to marinade for at least six hours in the refrigerator.
  • Space the pieces of chicken out on your dehydrator trays(s) and set to the highest temperature (usually 145 degrees), for five to seven hours, but keep an eye on it. It’s ready when  dry.
  • Many people are happy to eat their chicken jerky at this stage, although many others will rightly be concerned about whether all the bacteria that can be found in raw chicken, has been destroyed with the low temperature of the dehydrator. With this in mind, you can also finish your chicken jerky in the oven for 10 minutes at a temperature of 275 degrees.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can also make chicken jerky or turkey jerky in a conventional oven. I don’t have any experience of this, but if you follow the instructions above and then place the chicken strips on a grill rack (or similar) and bake at a low temperature of around 200 degrees, you shouldn’t go far wrong, as long as you keep an eye on things…

That said – if you don’t have a dehydrator, why not? You can get the very popular Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator for between $35-39 on Amazon (the price fluctuates from day to day). This Nesco dehydrator is an excellent low cost investment, as you can also dehydrate other meats as well as fruits and vegetables too.

 (Image from: Bing/Flickr)

5 Luxury Handmade Soap Recipes To Make Yourself

Handmade soaps

Making handmade soap is a simple, fun, and cost-effective process that will allow you to unleash your creativity whilst saving money – you’ll never need to buy another bar of soap again.

As well as saving you significant amounts of money each year, handmade soaps also make a great, quirky gift for friends and family. And, once you have mastered the art of soap making, the possibilities are truly endless!

Ready to venture into the world of soap making? Here are five handmade soap recipes to get you started…

Safety First! 

You shouldn’t be scared of using lye to make handmade soap; after all, people have been using it for years. You should, however, take a number of precautions when using it, to ensure that the process is as safe as possible.

If it isn’t done correctly, handling lye can be dangerous. So it’s crucial that you follow all safety precautions and understand the process before you begin your soap making.

  • Store all hazardous substances in a safe place, out of reach of children.
  • Always ensure that you have a bottle of vinegar close to hand during the soap making process. If there’s any spillage of the lye, pour the vinegar over it straight away to neutralize it.
  • Label all of your equipment ‘For Soap Making Use Only’ so it does not cause contamination.
  • Make sure that you wear the appropriate protective clothing including rubber gloves, goggles, and thick outer clothing.
  • Because lye is an extremely caustic chemical, it is important that you do not let it touch you in any way.

Simple handmade soap for beginnersSimple handmade soap for beginners 

Easy Handmade soap for beginners

First off, here’s a super simple soap recipe that will ease you into soap making and get you familiar with how to make homemade soap.

You’ll need… 

  • 2 ½ Cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • ½ Cup Coconut Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Lavender Essential Oil
  • 20 Ounces Lye
  • 47 Ounces Water 

How to make it… 

  1. Firstly, mix the lye into the water in a glass bowl or other heatproof container. It’s important that you mix the lye into the water and not the other way around!

To avoid filling your house with nasty fumes, it’s always advisable to do this part outdoors.

  1. Once the lye is fully dissolved, leave the solution to cool in a safe area away from children and pets.
  1. Whilst you’re waiting for the mixture to cool, weigh out the olive and coconut oils and mix them together in a large glass bowl. Ensure that your bowl is big enough to accommodate the rest of your ingredients.
  1. When the lye mixture has cooled, pour it into the oil mix (you can bring it back inside to do this) and gently mix them together.

Once they’ve started to blend together, you can then move on to using a hand blender – just be careful not to spray the mixture everywhere!

  1. Once your mixture has thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise, it has reached the stage called ‘trace’. At this point, add your essential oils into the mixture. 
  1. Pour the mixture into soap molds – if you’re using plastic containers, it’s advisable to oil them before hand to prevent sticking.
  1. Cover the molds and set them aside for at least 24 hours.
  1. Once 24 hours has passed, uncover the soap and see if you can easily remove it from the molds. If it’s too soft, simply re-cover and leave it for a few more hours before trying it again.
  1. When you’re able to remove the soap from the molds, cut it into bars. Because it’s homemade soap, you’re free to cut it into any shape or size you like – the only limit is your creativity (and cutting skills!). 
  1. Once you have cut your soaps into the desired shape, leave the bars to set for approximately one month. Turn them everyday at first, and then reduce this to every week. 

Zesty Lemon Handmade Soap Recipe

Once you’ve mastered the basic soap recipe, you can then move on to colorful and fragrant varieties. This homemade zesty lemon soap smells amazing and has a great texture too.

You’ll need… 

  • 1 ½ Cups Goats Milk Soap Base or Shea Butter Soap Base, cut into cubes
  • 4-6 drops Lemon Essential Oil
  • The dried zest of 3 – 4 lemons 

How to make it…

  1. Cut the soap base into small cubes, place it in a large Pyrex measuring cup and microwave it for 30 second intervals for about one minute.
  1. Once the soap cubes have turned to liquid, add a few drops of the lemon essential oil and the lemon zest. Stir the mixture well.
  1. Pour the soap into moulds and allow it to harden for at least an hour.
  1. Once the soap is fully hardened, press the mold to release it.

Handmade oatmeal soapHomemade oatmeal soap

Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey Handmade Soap Recipe

This soft and soothing soap is perfect for young, elderly, or dry skin, as well as those suffering from sunburned or chapped skin – it also smells delicious! 

You’ll need…

  • 2/3 Cup Olive Oil
  • 2/3 Cup Coconut Oil
  • 2/3 Cup Combination of Sweet Almond Oil and Grape Seed Oil
  • ¾ Cup Distilled Water
  • ¼ Cup Lye
  • 2 Teaspoons Ground, Old Fashioned Dry Oats
  • 2 Teaspoons Honey
  • 2 Tablespoons Dry Milk

How to make it… 

  1. Firstly, prepare the lye and water – adding the lye to the water (never the other way round), and mixing until dissolved. Once fully mixed, set aside, and leave to cool until it reaches around 100 Degrees Fahrenheit. 
  1. Next, combine all of the oils together and heat until the coconut oil begins to melt.
  1. Slowly mix the lye/water solution into the oils, and stir gently for around five minutes.
  1. After the initial five minutes, you can either continue stirring by hand or mix with a hand blender until it thickens to the trace stage.
  1. 5. Once your mixture has reached the optimum thickness, add the dry oats and the honey. It’s a good idea to heat the honey first so that it mixes better.
  1. Once the oats and honey are well mixed in, add the dry milk and a little more oil if needed. Now mix well and don’t be alarmed if the mixture turns yellow or orange, this is just because of the milk and will lighten up later in the process!
  1. Once everything is thoroughly combined, pour the mixture into molds of your choice and leave it to set for around 24 hours.
  1. After 24 hours, remove the soaps from the molds and cut them into your desired shapes and sizes.
  1. Leave your perfectly cut, handmade soaps to cure for 3-4 weeks, turning daily at first and then weekly as they begin to dry out.

Chamomile herbs for soapmakingChamomile herbs for yellow chamomile handmade soap recipe

Yellow Chamomile Handmade Soap Recipe

This handmade soap recipe is bight, cheerful and, thanks to its chamomile content, it smells amazing!

You’ll need…

  • 4” Silicone Loaf Mold
  • 8 Ounces Coconut Oil
  • 8 Ounces Palm Oil
  • 1 Ounces Rice Bran Oil
  • 1 Ounces Sweet Almond Oil
  • 4 Ounces Cocoa Butter
  • 9 Ounces Sodium Hydroxide Lye
  • 6 Ounces. Distilled Water
  • Yellow Oxide
  • Titanium Dioxide
  • 1 Ounce Chamomile Bergamot Fragrance Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon Chamomile Extract
  • Chamomile Herbs 

How to make it… 

  1. Slowly and carefully, add the lye to the water, gently stirring until it fully dissolves and the resulting mixture is clear.
  1. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
  1. Mix together the cocoa butter, coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, sweet almond oil, and the palm oil.
  1. Set aside to cool to room temperature (below 130 degrees)
  1. Once both mixtures have cooled to the correct temperatures, add the lye water into the oils and blend carefully until it reaches the trace stage.
  1. When you’re at trace stage, add 1 tablespoon of chamomile extract into the mixture and stir in using a whisk.
  1. Split the batch into approximately half (it doesn’t need to be exact). Add 2 tsp. of dispersed yellow oxide into one of the halves, and stir in using a whisk.
  1. Add 1 teaspoon of dispersed titanium dioxide into the other half of the mixture and whisk this in too.
  1. Add 5 Oz. of Chamomile Bergamot Fragrance Oil into each container and mix thoroughly using a whisk.
  1. Now, hold one color of mixture in each hand and pour into opposite sides of the mold. (By this point, it should be a medium trace, if it’s still a little on the thin side, mix with a handheld blender to thicken).
  1. Insert a dowel (or chopstick) down to the bottom of the mold, and move it horizontally through the soap about four or five times. Then move it vertically through the soap, repeating the process twice.
  1. Tap the soap mold firmly down onto the counter to release any bubbles, before sprinkling the chamomile herbs on the top of the mixture and gently pressing them down to secure them in place.
  1. Spray the soap with 99% rubbing alcohol and leave it to rest for between 48 and 72 hours.
  1. Remove the soap from the mold and cut it into slices. Remember to cut from the side as cutting from the top may result in drag marks from the herbs.

Kitchen Coffee Spice Bar Soap Recipe

This aromatic soap not only smells divine, but it also works to deodorize the hands whilst exfoliating and gently scrubbing all the dirt away. It also makes the perfect gift for those who love coffee!

This soap is made using the hot process method.

You’ll need… 

Base oils 

  • 12 Ounces Olive Oil
  • 10 Ounces Coconut Oil
  • 6 Ounces Sustainable Palm Oil
  • 2 Ounces Castor Oil
  • ½ Ounce Jojoba oil 

Lye Solution 

  • 30 Ounces Lye (6% excess fat)
  • 10 Ounces Triple Strength Coffee, cooled 

Exfoliant

  • 2-3 Tablespoons Ground Coffee, wet or dry

Add-ins

  • 1 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
  • 2 Ounces Essential Oils of your choice 

How to make it… 

  1. Start by preparing the triple strength coffee, using distilled water and a coffee press.
  1. Place the coffee in the refrigerator and allow to cool over night. This is a really important step – under no circumstances should you use hot coffee in this recipe!
  1. Once the coffee has cooled, use a kitchen scale to measure the lye and the coffee in separate bowls.
  1. Gently combine the lye and the coffee, pouring the lye into the coffee (never the other way round), and stir the mixture until the lye has completely dissolved. Once combined, set the mixture to one side and allow to cool.
  1. Whilst the lye mixture is cooling, measure out each of the oils excluding the Jojoba oil, and melt on a low heat.
  1. Once the oils have melted, add the lye and coffee mixture and stir gently to combine. Then use a hand blender to blend until they reach the trace stage.
  1. After 1-2 minutes of blending, add the coffee grounds, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
  1. Continue blending for around 2-3 minutes more, until the mixture reaches a thick, pudding like consistency. Then cover the pot and heat the soap over a low heat, for approximately one hour.
  1. Remove the soap from the heat and quickly add the essential oils and the Jojoba oil, stirring well until the mixture is fully combined.
  1. Spoon the mixture out into the molds and allow it to cool and harden for at least 24 hours.
  1. Next, remove the mixture from the mold, place it on a cutting board, and cut into bars (the size of the bars is completely up to you).
  1. Place the bars on a tray with good airflow so that they can harden.

5 Moonshine Recipes You’ll Be Over-The-Moon About!

Moonshine recipes

So you’re looking for some moonshine recipes? That’s quite understandable as there are few things as enjoyable as creating the perfect moonshine, particularly when you’ve waited for the mash to ripen into something truly delicious. What’s more, with so many moonshine recipes out there, you can be spoilt for choice as to what to create next. With this in mind,  we’ve collated some of our favourite recipes. Happy mashing people!

Important note: Distilling alcohol is illegal in the US unless you have a fuel alcohol or a distilled spirit plant permit. Be sure to review your state/country laws on distilling alcohol.

Moonshine Recipes

Southern Whiskey Moonshine Recipe

This special moonshine has the distinct taste of the south and makes for a real kicker for those looking for something more potent.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • ¼ of Corn syrup (per 1 1/2 gallons of water)
  • Water
  • One cup of honey (per every ten gallon batch)
  • 1 – 3 ozs yeast (per ten gallons of mash)

Equipment that you’ll need

Southern Whiskey moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Add between 1 and 3 ounces of yeast for every ten gallon batch

Step Two – Heat up around a quarter of your water and then stir in the corn syrup, followed by the honey

You’re aiming for heat of between 120 and 130 degrees (a temperature which will melt your corn syrup).

Step Three – Pour the mixture into the fermenter and finish with cool water, until it reaches 80 degrees.

Step Four – Take a hydrometer reading

To give you an idea about this, you should have had a reading of about 60 to 65, and you shouldn’t exceed a reading of 70.

Step Five – Add in your yeast (being sure to read the instructions on the packet)

Step Six – Leave for between 6 and 14 days for fermentation to take place – then you’re ready to serve.

How To Make Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe Infographic

Apple Pie Moonshine Infographic

How To Make Apple Pie Moonshine Recipe

This recipe has to be one of the most popular around and there are all sorts of variations on it; however, this seems to be one of the most common moonshine recipes (although you’re free to experiment as you wish with the various flavours).

Oh, and did we mention that this particular recipe is ready within 1 hour and 10 minutes? Making it perfect for those who get a little impatient awaiting fruit fermentation.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 2 Cups of white sugar
  • 2 Cups of brown sugar
  • 1 Gallon of apple juice
  • 4 Cinnamon sticks, or more to taste
  • 1 Pinch apple pie spice
  • 1 (750 ml) bottle 190 proof grain alcohol
  • 1 Gallon apple cider
  • 1 (750 ml) bottle vodka

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Large pot for the stove
  • Glass jars

Apple Pie moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Mix together the apple juice, apple cider, white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon sticks, placing them all into a large pot upon the stove. You should bring this almost to boiling point.

Then, cover the pot with a lid and allow the mixture to simmer  for approximately 1 hour before removing it from the stove and leaving it to cooling completely down.

Step Two – Add the grain alcohol and vodka syrup to the mix and stir. At this point you can also remove the cinnamon sticks.

Step Three- Serve up!

That’s all there is to it, you can now serve this up into glass jars or bottles and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to drink it. I think apple pie is the king of all moonshine recipes, but that’s my personal preference!

Black bear's moonshine recipeThe best image I could find to represent the Black Beard’s moonshine recipe…

How To Make Black Beard’s Rum Moonshine Recipe

This is one of the best moonshine recipes for the rum lovers, although you do need to be a little patient with it as it can take up to 14 days to ferment.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 2 Pounds of brown sugar (for each gallon of water)
  • 1 Cup of honey (for every ten gallon batch of the mixture)
  • Water
  • 1 – 3 ozs yeast (per ten gallons of match)

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Sauce pan
  • Hydrometer
  • Food safe fermentation bucket

Black Beard’s Rum moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Begin by heating up a quarter of your water to around 120 degrees

At this point it will be hot enough to melt the sugar, so add this in and stir. After the sugar, you can add the honey.

Step Two – Pour the mix into your fermenter

Add cool water, according to the measurements above, to cool the mixture to 80 degrees.

Step Three – Take a hydrometer reading and adjust if necessary

To give you an idea about this you should have had a reading of about 90, and you shouldn’t exceed a reading of 100.

Step Four – Add your yeast into the mix as per the packet instructions

Step Five – Leave for between 6 and 14 days to ferment, then serve.

Watermelon for the watermelon for one of the moonshine recipesWatermelon-peach moonshine brandy – oh yeah!

How To Make Watermelon-Peach Moonshine Brandy Recipe

Coming in at a five week fermentation time, this moonshine recipe is the longest of the moonshine recipes listed here. However, with the sweetness of a watermelon, the bitterness of the lime, and an alcohol punch to finish, this is one moonshine recipe that is well worth waiting for.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 1 ¼ of a large watermelon
  • 1 ¼ Cup chopped golden raisins
  • 15 limes (you’ll need these to be juiced as we aren’t using the pulp or the zest)
  • 25 Cups of sugar
  • Water (to make 5 gallons)
  • Either wine or distillers yeast
  • 10 peaches

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Sauce pan
  • Hydrometer
  • Food safe fermentation bucket
  • Large bowl

Watermelon-peach moonshine brandy: Step by step

Step One – Juice the watermelons and peaches

You should save the leftover pulp in a sauce pan.

Step Two – Boil up the pulp with five quarts of water for around 30 minutes

Once boiled, strain off the pulp and then add water to the extracted juice.

Step Three – Cool your mixture down to around lukewarm temperature

You should then add in the water to make up a five gallon mix in total.

Step Four – Add in the remaining ingredients, asides from the yeast, to the fermentation bucket

Cover over the mix  with a cloth and leave to stand for 24 hours.

Step Five – After 24 hours add in the yeast

Step Six – Stir the mixture daily over the course of a week and strain off the raisins

Step Seven – Add a fermenting trap and leave to rest for 4 weeks before serving.

How To Make Rye Whiskey Moonshine Recipe

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 7 pounds of Rye
  • 2 Pounds of Barley
  • 1 Pound of Malt
  • 6 Gallons of water
  • 1 oz of Yeast
  • 1 gram of ammonium-floride

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Sauce pan
  • Food safe fermentation device
  • Large bowl
  • Pillowcase

 Rye Whiskey moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Heat the water to 70 degrees, then mix in the malt and the grain

Step Two – Stir the mixture, slowly raising the temperature by approximately 5 degrees every 2 minutes, until it reaches 160 degrees

Step Three –Keeping the mixture at 160 degrees, stir it constantly for 2 to 3 hours. This will convert the starch into fermentable sugar and dextrin

Step Four – Filter off the liquid, place it into your fermentation device, and allow it to cool to between 70 and 80 degrees

Step Five – Once the mixture has cooled, add 3 grams of yeast followed by 1 gram of ammonium-floride to prevent secondary fermentation. Stir the liquid for 1 minute, then cover and seal with an airlock.

Step Six – Leave for 5 – 7 days to ferment, then pour in to a container, filtering through a pillowcase to remove any remaining solids.

Strawberries for to make strawberry moonshineYou’re going to need lots of strawberries to make this strawberry moonshine recipe!

How To Make Strawberry Moonshine Recipe

Strawberries are one of the first fruits to ripen during the summer months, so it only seems right that there should be plenty of moonshine recipes made from them. So, here’s a quick and easy moonshine recipe that is deliciously sweet (you’ll need to pay attention to the instructions however, as otherwise you could just end up with one large mushy strawberry mess on your hands!).

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 1 to 3 pounds of Cane sugar
  • 2 Packets of bread yeast
  • 20 pounds of Strawberries
  • 1.5 pounds of Raisins

Equipment that you’ll need

  • 1 Airlock
  • Cutting Board and knife
  • Blender
  • Funnel
  • Large auto-siphon (this really needs to be a minimum 1/2″ tube)
  • Copper immersion chiller
  • Hotplate
  • Large stock pot
  • Large spoon or paddle
  • 2 Fermentation buckets (obviously these need to be food safe)
  • Mesh strainer
  • Refractometer
  • Thermometer

Strawberry moonshine: Step by step

Step One – Rinse off all of your strawberries.

It’s advisable that you use a high pressure hose for this, as it can knock away wild yeast and bacteria which can otherwise taint the taste of the moonshine.

Step Two – Cut all of the tops off the strawberries and throw them away.

Be careful not to miss any of the leaves as these will make the moonshine taste bitter.

Step Three – Check your strawberry batches carefully for any mouldy or rotten fruit. If you find any, discard them straight away as they could contaminate the mash

Step Four – Use only the strawberries that are ripe and un-ruined.

Place them into a blender and create a puree by lightly blending them together. You should take care not to blend them too much however as you don’t want a consistency that is too thin and difficult to separate.

Step Five – Add in your raisins and blend them until they are within the mixture.

Step Six – Pour your mixture into a sanitized bucket (it makes things a lot easier if you use one with a scale on the side)

Step Seven – Once you’ve mixed all of your strawberries and have a total of 2.5 gallons of puree, you can transfer it over to a stainless steel boil kettle.

Step Eight – Mix in 3 gallons of water, making the mixture up to a total of 5.5 gallons.

Step Nine – Use your brix refractometer

To determine the alcohol content of the mixture, you should take a brix reading. To do this, use a small pipette to suck up some of the mixture, this is then placed on a glass plate on the Brix refractometer. You finally view the reading by looking into the contraption’s sight.

Step Ten – Knowing your ideal alcohol measurements

You should really look towards an 8% reading, going any higher than this can result in moonshine that tastes too yeasty. However as this leads to a relatively low gravity reading (where low is considered as less than 15 brix / 1.061 Gravity) cane sugar will need to be added to sweeten the mix.

Step Eleven – If necessary add the cane sugar

For this amount of mixture a measures of 4 pounds of cane sugar should sweeten the moonshine up.

Step Twelve – Stir the mixture once more and take a brix reading to ensure that the gravity has come down

You should now be aiming for a Brix reading of 14 and a gravity reading of 1.055.

Step Thirteen – Cover over and heat to 160 degrees Fahrenheit

Step Fourteen – Cool the mixture down in an immersion chiller

Step Fifteen – When waiting for the mixture to cool you can begin to make the yeast

Use the instructions on your yeast packet for guidance

Step Sixteen – Once cooled to 70 degree Fahrenheit move the mix to your fermentation bucket and add the yeast

Step Seventeen – Cover over and add an air lock.

The temperature where your bucket is stored should be around 70 degrees, leaving it for around a week.

Step Eighteen – Siphon off your mix and run it through a strainer

In doing so you can separate the pulp out and throw it away. You should then add only the strained juice to the still, ignoring any settled yeast that may have formed at the bottom of the barrel.

Step Nineteen – Undertake a spirit run

Distil the product from the stripping run, you should use a low heat for this and run the distiller at a slow rate (this should result in the mixture dripping rather flowing). To ensure this goes as it should you should create at minimum 200 ml fore shots cut, and healthy heads and tails cuts, being sure to save only the best part of the middle of the run for the hearts.

Step Twenty – Serve up!

Serve up your moonshine in glasses filled with fresh, chopped strawberries!

(Images from: Dominic Lockyer, Adam Barhan, Harsha K R & Pixabay)

How To Make Mead: Plus 5 Delicious Mead Recipes To Try

How to make mead

Mead makes for one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in history and, using a basic recipe that consists of just honey, water and yeast, it can also be considered as one of the simplest. That said, for the many that may have tried to make mead and suffered some form of misstep, this drink can also seem like a frustrating mix to get right. So with that in mind, here is a complete introduction to mead, and five solid recipes for the beginner to get to grips with what this wonderful home brew can offer. If you are interested in making mead, you may also be interested in our moonshie recipe post!

Mead: The world’s most varied drink

From being completely flat through to being super sparkling; from being crisp and dry through to seriously sweet and from straight up mead flavour through to being fruit flavoured, it seems that mead may very well be the world’s most varied drink. So, after you’ve gotten to grips with the five recipes within this article there is a whole world of other recipes to try out, so…. let’s get started!

Recipe One: Dry/Semi-Sweet Mead

This recipe produces a mead that strikes the balance between dry and sweetness just right, and makes for an excellent first timer recipe.

 Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 14.5 Pounds of Honey
  • 4 Gallon soft water
  • 10 Grams of Fermaid-K
  • 14 Grams Diammonium phosphate (DAP)
  • Liquid yeast
  • 5 Grams of calcium carbonate
  • ¼ Teaspoon of potassium meta-bisulphite

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Primary food safe fermentation bucket
  • Hydrometer
  • Pure oxygenation system OR an air pump and a sterile air filter

Dry/Semi Sweet Mead: Step by step

Step One – Soak your honey in water for 15 minutes

This will help loosen the honey from its original thickened state.

Step Two – Add in one gallon of high quality soft water (this needs to be no more than 150ppm TH)

You should also use a sanitized fermenter.

Step Three – Add in the honey and stir until dissolved

Step Four – Add in a further 3 gallons of room temperature soft water

At this stage you should take a gravity reading with a hydrometer, writing it down in your logbook.

Step Five – Add your Mermaid-K and Ammonium phosphate (DAP) to the mix

Step Six – Add your liquid yeast to the must

Before undertaking this step be sure that the yeast has warmed to room temperature.

Step Seven – Add your calcium carbonate

Step Eight – Oxygenate the must

You do this by either splashing or shaking the mix (which, to be honest, if pretty ineffective) or through a professional pure oxygenation system (alternatively you may opt for an air pump and a sterile air filter).

Don’t oxygenate the mix for any longer than 60 seconds if you’re working with pure oxygen. If you go for the aquarium pump then you can leave it to run for around 30 minutes.

Step Nine – Place your lid on

Ideally you’ll be using a lid airlock, and you should fill the bucket with water or vodka to the airlock’s fill line. The fermentation should take place at between 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Ten – Stir each and every day

Once the must has used up around a 1/3 of its sugar add in about 5 grams of Fermaid-K and 7 grams of DAP.

Step Eleven –Keep an eye on your mix and somewhere between 7 and 20 days it’ll be ready for the next step

Your must is ready when the activity within it slows down to around 1 bubble every two minutes or less. Once this happens you should take a gravity reading, which should be 1.018 or below). Then go ahead and siphon your 5 gallon carboy and add into the mix ¼ teaspoon potassium meta-bisulphite (which should have been hydrated with a 1/8 of a cup of room temperature water).

Step Twelve – Allow to rest for 3 to 4 weeks and then rack one more time

Recipe Two: The fastest, most efficient way of making mead (kind of)

So the first recipe may seem a bit intimidating to some, so here is a simpler mead recipe for those who want to make mead fast! However whilst it’s super quick to mix together, the brewing time still takes a couple of months.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 1 Gallon of Spring Water (room temperature)
  • 3 Pounds of honey (this needs to be pure)
  • 1 Pack of Yeast
  • 1 Box of raisins
  • 1 Orange

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Water jug
  • Rubber band
  • 1 Balloon pack (these should be large enough to cover the mouth of the water jug)

The fastest, most efficient way of making mead: Step by step

Step One – Pour half of your water into a container

Step Two –Slice up your orange into 1/8’s

Then place the slices, honey, twenty-five raisins and the yeast into a jug. Pour a little water back into the jug so there’s around a couple of inches space at the top. Put the cap on and give it a good shake (ideally for around five minutes)

Step Three – Pinprick one of the tops of the balloons and remove the cap from the water jug

You should then place the balloon over the mouth of the jug; the idea behind this is that the gases from within will fill the balloon, so place a rubber band around the jug mouth to secure it.

Step Four – Leave to rest on the side and keep an eye on it

After around twenty four hours you’ll see the balling being to inflate, this then means that your yeast is busy working on transforming the contents of the jug into delicious mead wine! If it gets too large you should prick another hole into it… you want to avoid it bursting.

Step Five – After two weeks…

After around two weeks you should see that the balloon has gone limp, this will then mean that fermentation has finished.

Step Six – After 2 months…

Following two months you should notice that the mix has become a whole lot clearer and is now ready to serve!

Recipe Three: Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!)

OK, so for those who really are impatient, here we have a recipe that takes just two weeks, rather than the months that the other recipes require.

Ingredients that you’ll need

  • ½ Gallon of cheap white wine
  • 1 Pound of honey
  • 1-2 cloves
  • Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg

Equipment that you’ll need

  • Sauce pan
  • Jug
  • Corkscrew (for the wine)
  • Spatula

Super-fast mead (otherwise known as cheat mead!): Step by step

Step One – Empty the wine and honey into a large sauce pan

Heat this up gently being sure to stir the mix frequently until a scum forms on the top of the mixture.

Step Two – Scrape the scum off and chuck away

Step Three – Pour the liquid into your wine bottle

Step Four – Place the cap on and leave the mixture to rest in a cool, dark space for a minimum of two weeks

Step Five – After two weeks…

Your mix should be ready to drink after just two weeks, however the longer that you can manage to leave it, the stronger it will be!

Recipe Four: Metheglin (Flavoured mead)

Metheglin is the name for flavoured mead, and it’s this stuff that can date its roots back to a time before even wine existed. Unfortunately Metheglin fails to get much attention nowadays, so I wanted to include it here for those who want to mix up mead with a difference.

This drink hails from Wales in the United Kingdom, with the Welsh word ‘meodyglyn’ being translated over time, as such many of the recipes that are out there use traditionally English sourced herbs, with a lot of recipes being focused upon serving up as an excellent accompaniment to Lamb.

Possible Metheglin flavours

Metheglin can and very much has been created from all sorts of ingredients to create practically every flavour going. Documented in history are recipes that use the following flavourings: watercress, fennel, liverwort, marshmallow roots, scurvy grass, cloves, borage, marjoram, ferns and flowers.

 Ingredients that you’ll need

  • 3 Pounds of runny honey
  • 1 Gallon of water
  • 2 Tablespoons of chopped rosemary
  • 1 Dessertspoon of thyme leaves
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 2 lemons – You want both the juice and zest
  • ¼ Teaspoon – Grape tannin
  • Yeast nutrient (be sure to follow the instructions on the yeast packet)
  • White wine yeast (again, follow these instructions to the letter)

 Equipment that you’ll need

  • Large sauce pan
  • Muslin cloth
  • Demi-john
  • Food safe fermentation pot

Metheglin (Flavoured mead): Step by step

Step One – Place the water in a large pan and heat up

Once boiling you should pour in the honey and wait until it’s dissolved; boil for ten minutes, skimming off any scum that may form on the surface.

Step Two – Turnoff the heat

Once the heat is off you can add in your herbs, grape tannin, lemon zest and lemon juice. Then you can leave the mixture to rest, being sure to cover it over – leave to cool.

Step Three – Pour the mixture into your sterilised fermenting bucket

Once in the bucket you can add in your yeast. Once well mixed allow to ferment for a period of around three days.

Step Four – After three days…

Pour your mix into a demi-john, being sure to filter the mix through a muslin cloth.

Step Five – Fit on a bubble trap/air lock and leave to rest for two months

Melomel meadMelomel mead

Recipe Five: Making Melomels (otherwise known as fruit filled mead!)

Recipe four is pretty flexible as far as flavourings and herbs go, but if you want a mead recipe designed specifically for fruit, then this is it. However rather than re-running through the steps of the other mead recipes, this instead provides guidance on how and when you should add fruit to any traditional mead recipe.

 Melomels: Common fruits flavours

The official term for fruit flavoured mead is ‘Melomels’, and is commonly brewed with the following combinations (with each having a specific name for its flavour):

– Cyser-is: Honey and apple juice/apple cider

– Capsicumel: Chile peppers

– Morat-is: Honey and mulberries

– Omphacomel-is: Honey and verjuice (verjuice is the juice from unripe grapes)

– Perry-mead: Honey and pears

– Rhodomel-is: Honey and rose hips

– Other fruits that can be used: Other fruits that are used within this recipe can be anything of your choosing, and are simply named with the fruit placed before ‘Melomel’, so you can have apple melomel, cherry melomel, orange melomel or strawberry melomel.

Adding your fruit: Stage by Stage

Regardless of what fruit or flavouring you choose to use there are many stages at which the fruit can be added. Each will make for a different end taste of the fruit, so this really is a recipe that benefits from experimenting with. You may even wish to make up multiple batches so you can add the fruits at varying stages with one brew.

Stage One: Adding your fruits and flavourings during primary fermentation

Adding fruits at the primary stage of fermentation is a particularly common way of making melomel. This isn’t so surprising given that it provides for certain benefits, such as the early introduction of nutrients that the yeast can work with to create a mixture with a regulated ph. What’s more when adding fruit into the mead mix early on you’ll find that the mead ferments more quickly.

Lastly you’ll also find that this method still retrains the flavour of the fruit, as the majority of the volatile aromatics will be gassed off.

Stage Two: Adding your fruits and flavourings during secondary fermentation

When adding later on most will choose to mix in the fruit when the mead is almost fermented completely. This is, once more, something that benefits from experimentation as everyone has varying tastes.

The one drawback of adding at this stage however is that is the fruit will take a longer time to blend in, and may lengthen the overall brewing time. This can additionally make it a little more difficult to judge the exact right time to bottle up.

Stage Three: Adding your fruits and flavourings just before bottling

This latter option of adding in the fruit may be the most straight forward, although you will need to be absolutely sure that the yeast is dead (e.g. the must has stopped producing bubbles) before adding the fruit, as you otherwise could end up with exploding bottles!

You can be sure of this by sulphating the must, which requires the addition of potassium sorbate, followed by the addition of the various fruit juices or extracts to the bottling bucket.

A further way of avoiding exploding bottles is by bulk aligning the mead for a particularly long time, and then follow this with a couple of cycles of racking up. This may lengthen the process further, but it does mean that you can be sure that the must is safe to bottle.

Fruit: How much should you add to your mead mix?

The amount of fruit that you should ideally add differs fruit by fruit (which makes sense, given that fruits feature drastically differing strengths of flavour). So here’s my guide on how much fruit makes for the perfect mix.

– Cysers-Apples: 4 Gallons of apple juice or cider (primary stage).

– Cysers-Apples (strong): 3 cans of apple juice concentrate (16 oz.) (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel: 7 to 10 pounds of blueberries (secondary stage).

– Blueberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 pounds per gallon (secondary stage).

– Cherry Melomel (strong): 7-8 lbs of cherries (secondary stage).

– Citrus Melomel (medium): 6-8 lbs (secondary stage 1.2-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Citrus Melomel (strong): 1.8 lbs/gal.

– Melon Mead (medium): 6-8 lbs of pulp (secondary stage).

– Melon Mead (strong): 1.8 lbs per gallon.

– Peach Melomel (medium): 8-12 lbs (secondary stage – 1.2-2.4 lbs/gal).

– Peach Melomel (strong): 2.5 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Plum Melomel (medium) -Add 8-9 lbs to secondary (1.4-1.8 lbs/gal).

– Plum Melomel (strong): 2 lbs per gallon (secondary stage).

– Raspberry Melomel (medium): 5-7 lbs (secondary stage – 1-1.6 lbs/gal).

– Raspberry Melomel (very strong): 1.8 lbs/gal (secondary stage).

– Strawberry Melomel (medium): 8-10 lbs.

– Strawberry Melomel (strong): 2.2 lbs per gal (secondary stage).

(Image from: Ryan McDonough)