Answers.Body: <p>If you want to make a small amount of mead, you can follow those directions, but you will need modern equipment. A carboy and an airlock is basically all you need. Actually, you will probably need two. One to ferment and one to age the mead. </p>
  
  <p>Mead is pretty simple to make. Water, honey and some yeast. Most people get filtered water. Then boil it with the honey to sterilize the honey (especially important if you use unfiltered). Then let it cool off and add yeast. I would also add yeast nutrients since honey lacks the nutrients to really work good. Also, use wine yeast since it's adapted to higher alcohol levels than beer yeast.</p>
  
  <p>Once it's cooled off you pour it in a fermentation vessel. You will need some space between the level of the fermenting mead and the airlock for foaming. After fermentation has stopped, then you need to have it almost to the top of the bottle so there is no oxidation occurring.</p>
  
  <p>I am not sure about the sun exposure, in fact I would keep it out of the sun unless you need to warm it up, which is what they may have been trying to do in ancient times.</p>
  
  <p>It will look something like this during fermentation (this is someone's picture of some cider fermenting):</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/hIL8m.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/hIL8m.jpg" alt="Carboy and Airlock fermenting cider"></a></p>
  
  <p>This is what it looks like aging and clearing:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7EYee.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7EYee.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-26T18:42:23.633Z
Answers.Text: Thanks for your answer! I have a few follow-up questions: how long should water and honey boil? What goes wrong If I don't add some yeast? If I add yeast, should the whole thing be boiled again before pouring it in the vessel? Finally, do you think sun exposure can have negative effects or is it just a matter of warm vs cool ? I'm sorry, I guess it's more than a few, +1'd already 
Answers.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-26T19:23:40.430Z
Answers.Text: Oh, just another thing, how much mead should result from the quantities in the recipe?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-26T22:59:31.430Z
Answers.Text: You only need to bring it to a boil for a few minutes. But, if you want to be totally authentic, just warm the water up and dissolve the honey without boiling and let nature take it's course, but getting the right yeast to ferment is a crapshoot. Never boil after adding yeast, it will kill it. Remember they ancients weren't using glass vessels to ferment and did not have packaged yeast and just relied on the yeast that was in the honey already (random chance that you will get a good one) and likely needed to warm it up which is what I think the sunshine was for.
Answers.UserDisplayName: farmersteve
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-26T22:59:46.433Z
Answers.Text: Oh, I think the recipe will make about 1 liter
Answers.UserDisplayName: farmersteve
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-31T09:01:10.790Z
Answers.Text: I've been wondering, what alcohol content could Columella's mead achieve when it was good?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-04-01T07:05:49.860Z
Answers.Text: Or is it hard to answer? I would hope one could have an approximate understanding of the matter
Answers.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-04-01T20:52:26.040Z
Answers.Text: It depends on how much they dilute the honey with water but you can achieve the same levels of alcohol as wine as there is an upper limit to what yeast can digest. I would say the upper limit is probably 15-16% alcohol, but averaged much lower, probably 10-12% or even lower maybe even as low as beer levels.
Answers.UserDisplayName: farmersteve
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-26T17:51:29.727Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-03-26T17:51:29.727Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: farmersteve
Body: <p>I found online an ancient recipe for mead, given by the Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella in "De re rustica":</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius (around 1/2 litre) of this water with a [Roman] pound (about a 1/4 kg or half pound) of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I've read that mineral water of low fixed residue is suitable for this. My questions are:</p>
  
  <p>What are some tips (like the container, how to close the container)? How does the whole process work? How about the sun exposure part in winter?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-30T01:22:32.440Z
Comments.Text: Huh, the recipe doesn't mention boiling at all.  It sounds like this recipe is the mead analogue of cold-brew coffee.  Unless Columella just left that part out as obvious, which sometimes happens in pre-modern recipes.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-30T18:54:33.877Z
Comments.Text: @Monica: From Steve's comments, I would infer that they didn't boil water and honey together because they actually _had to use_ honey's yeast, and boiling would kill it. Am I wrong?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-30T19:02:50.630Z
Comments.Text: Vincenzo, Steve's instructions include boiling, but it sounds like Columella's don't, hence my confusion.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-30T19:59:50.557Z
Comments.Text: @Monica: Yeah, but I'm talking about his comment to his own answer.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-03-30T20:01:13.143Z
Comments.Text: Oh, I missed the comment.  It'd be better if one of you were to edit that additional info into the answer.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Monica Cellio
Tags: <recommendations><mead>
Title: Roman recipe for mead
UserDisplayName: Vincenzo Oliva
ThreadText: # Roman recipe for mead
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-26)
  
  I found online an ancient recipe for mead, given by the Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella in "De re rustica":
  
  > Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius (around 1/2 litre) of this water with a [Roman] pound (about a 1/4 kg or half pound) of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water.
  
  I've read that mineral water of low fixed residue is suitable for this. My questions are:
  
  What are some tips (like the container, how to close the container)? How does the whole process work? How about the sun exposure part in winter?
  
  **Tags:** recommendations, mead
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Huh, the recipe doesn't mention boiling at all.  It sounds like this recipe is the mead analogue of cold-brew coffee.  Unless Columella just left that part out as obvious, which sometimes happens in pre-modern recipes.  
  > **username_0**: @Monica: From Steve's comments, I would infer that they didn't boil water and honey together because they actually _had to use_ honey's yeast, and boiling would kill it. Am I wrong?  
  > **username_1**: Vincenzo, Steve's instructions include boiling, but it sounds like Columella's don't, hence my confusion.  
  > **username_0**: @Monica: Yeah, but I'm talking about his comment to his own answer.  
  > **username_1**: Oh, I missed the comment.  It'd be better if one of you were to edit that additional info into the answer.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-03-26. Score: 2 | Accepted answer
  
  If you want to make a small amount of mead, you can follow those directions, but you will need modern equipment. A carboy and an airlock is basically all you need. Actually, you will probably need two. One to ferment and one to age the mead.
  
  Mead is pretty simple to make. Water, honey and some yeast. Most people get filtered water. Then boil it with the honey to sterilize the honey (especially important if you use unfiltered). Then let it cool off and add yeast. I would also add yeast nutrients since honey lacks the nutrients to really work good. Also, use wine yeast since it's adapted to higher alcohol levels than beer yeast.
  
  Once it's cooled off you pour it in a fermentation vessel. You will need some space between the level of the fermenting mead and the airlock for foaming. After fermentation has stopped, then you need to have it almost to the top of the bottle so there is no oxidation occurring.
  
  I am not sure about the sun exposure, in fact I would keep it out of the sun unless you need to warm it up, which is what they may have been trying to do in ancient times.
  
  It will look something like this during fermentation (this is someone's picture of some cider fermenting):
  
  [![Carboy and Airlock fermenting cider](https://i.sstatic.net/hIL8m.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/hIL8m.jpg)
  
  This is what it looks like aging and clearing:
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/7EYee.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/7EYee.jpg)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks for your answer! I have a few follow-up questions: how long should water and honey boil? What goes wrong If I don't add some yeast? If I add yeast, should the whole thing be boiled again before pouring it in the vessel? Finally, do you think sun exposure can have negative effects or is it just a matter of warm vs cool ? I'm sorry, I guess it's more than a few, +1'd already   
  > **username_0**: Oh, just another thing, how much mead should result from the quantities in the recipe?  
  > **username_2**: You only need to bring it to a boil for a few minutes. But, if you want to be totally authentic, just warm the water up and dissolve the honey without boiling and let nature take it's course, but getting the right yeast to ferment is a crapshoot. Never boil after adding yeast, it will kill it. Remember they ancients weren't using glass vessels to ferment and did not have packaged yeast and just relied on the yeast that was in the honey already (random chance that you will get a good one) and likely needed to warm it up which is what I think the sunshine was for.  
  > **username_2**: Oh, I think the recipe will make about 1 liter  
  > **username_0**: I've been wondering, what alcohol content could Columella's mead achieve when it was good?  
  > **username_0**: Or is it hard to answer? I would hope one could have an approximate understanding of the matter  
  > **username_2**: It depends on how much they dilute the honey with water but you can achieve the same levels of alcohol as wine as there is an upper limit to what yeast can digest. I would say the upper limit is probably 15-16% alcohol, but averaged much lower, probably 10-12% or even lower maybe even as low as beer levels.  
  
  ---
  
  