Brewing Basics
The goal is to make mead. In order to do this, you need to dissolve honey, and any other ingredients, in water. When starting out I boiled everything, as this is the way it's done in the beer-brewing world.
We'll start out with a recipe for one of the first meads I made. This is a very tasty melomel, and is relatively trouble-free. The only downside is that it takes a relatively long time to reach the best flavor. I was drinking it about two months after brewing, but it didn't come into its full flavor until about six months later. I present it here because it does taste pretty good initially. If you can brew up a batch and taste it quickly, you can get an idea of what meads are like. If you can hold onto some of it for more than six months, you'll have a pleasant surprise, and a reason to try and hold aside more meads for longer periods of time. Also, it includes some hops. Hops help in the fight against bacteria, so there's less risk of anything going wrong, even if you're a little sloppy your first time.