How to Make Your Own Mead 

If you want to be the perfect modern rogue, you need the ability to mix any drink. When your special someone asks for a drink, what're you gonna do? Get them a lukewarm PBR from a floating keg? Are you gonna grab a red solo cup and pour equal parts margarita mix and failure? HELL NO. You're gonna make the perfect lemon drop, mojito, martini, you name it. And you'll have the all-in-one tool to make anything: The Bar10der. With 10 essential tools--including jiggers, a knife, zester, strainer, and muddler--The Bar10der gives you everything you need to keep up with our favorite bartender Trever. We're giving away Bar10ders to two lucky winners of our free giveaway, just signup at gimme.scamstuff.com (no purchase necessary, ends 3/22/2018 EXTENDED!). For more info on the Bar10der: www.scamstuff.com/products/the-bar10der Congrats to our winners of the Get Out Of Jail cards: Thomas Laws, Syed Mustafa, Omar Guillen, Klisk Midori, Jesse Hogate, Noah Wer, Nick Morgan, Isaiah Aguirre, Garrett VanFleet, and Ryan Wehking.

Bar owner: What are your qualifications for our bartender position? Me: I have consumed all of the base properties of mead.

“I’d be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a belly full of mead.”

Okay, so... 2 1/2 years ago I watched this video. It came out 4 days before my 18th birthday(which here in The Great White North is the legal drinking age). I was so fascinated by how easy it was to make homemade alcohol that I was sold. So on March 13th 2018 exactly, I made my first batch of Mead. I have never tasted it, and haven’t broken the seal that I kept them in to age for 2 1/2 years. This weekend I’ll be doing it tho and finally bottling them. When I tested the alcoholic volume when I first transferred it into a better keg I measured it at 14% 😅 a little stronger than I thought, but hey it worked! Anyways, just wanted to share that someone out there actually followed your instructions and successfully made a batch of mead and am pretty hooked on the art of honey wine brewing. Thanks Guys for the many years of entertainment and knowledge. It’s been like 4-5 years now I’ve been a subscriber, and I’m excepted to die a Modern Rogue. MOOOOODEEERRRRNNNN ROOOOOOGUUUEEE

“its very easy to make” the mother who just bought her 12 year old yeast and honey 👁👄👁

"I have consumed the base properties of mead." I love this.

Living in the backwoods of PA, as I do, I'm no stranger to making mead. I like to back-sweeten it with more honey & berry juice, from plants in my back yard. Sometimes I use elderberry, sometimes wild raspberry, sometimes cherry. I tend to ignore the finer, more technical aspects of it, so it was no real surprise when I made a batch that clearly had a very extreme alcohol content to it. My wife had two wine glasses of it, and ended up with the spins. I always use champagne yeast, and don't chemically stabilize it, just let it run 'til it dies. Not sure what the content was with that batch, but when I bottled it, I labeled it "Snake Bite Mead." It wouldn't cure snake bite, but if you could get the snake to drink it, He'd be too damn drunk to strike straight.

I'm more of a Honningbrew man myself

Underage kids: *Write that down, write that down!*

"The sons of Skyrim spill their own blood"

Our first ever brewing project was mead made from Florida honey that had a slightly orange flavor due to the orange groves the bees pollinated. We let it sit a little over 3 years... wondering if we were crazy or if we'd end up with nasty yellow-orange vinegar water. Let me tell you - don't be afraid to let that stuff sit for several years. We finally pulled that carboy from the basement, poured a couple of glasses for our anniversary, and Oh Wow... Pure Ambrosia!!! If you have a chance to use flavored honey - the real stuff made by bees that feed on specific plants, not the artificially flavored stuff - you won't be sorry. Clover, thistle, rose, orange, etc., all make pretty great simple meads.

Here's what I learned during my 2 1/2 years in prison over a youtube video. To make great pruno, I learned through trial and error the perfect recipe. A veteran prisoner who had 20 years in prison under his belt told me I made the strongest liquor he ever had. Use store bought jelly. For every one bottle of jelly add 3 bottles of water using the empty jelly bottle to measure your water. Keep in a very warm place, between 75 and 95 degrees. No less than 75 degrees. The warmer the climate the stronger it will be, and the quicker it will ferment. In prison I worked in the boiler room which was very, very warm 24/7. I made my best pruno during that time. Once your batch starts fermenting, let it keep fermenting for at least 7 days or until it stops bubbling/fermenting. If you're pruno is sweet to the taste and/or sticky on your skin, then it's NOT done. You don't want to taste sugar. That means the yeast didn't finish fermenting it OR you put too much sugar in it. Yeast will die after a certain alcohol content is reached in your batch, regardless of how much sugar you put in it, and believe me, a little sugar goes a long way. If you drink a batch that has too much unfermented sugar in it, you can get a bad stomach ache, and some serious, serious heart burn. I've been through it. Now, the same measurements apply for mead. For every one bottle of honey, add 3 bottles of water using the same honey bottle to measure your water. I make my pruno using honey, and jelly. Jelly gives it a wine look/taste, and honey gives it a good kick. The end product is a very smooth, clean taste, and most importantly, it is a clean smooth buzz. I drank 5 bottles once and passed out at work (in prison).

Great presentation! Mead was so prevalent and so important in ancient times that when a couple were to marry, part of the dowry for the marriage would be a month’s supply of mead, this would help to ensure a smooth transition into married life.......we still refer to this “month of honey” as the Honeymoon

Use the child hand as a tasting stick *FBI* : *HEAVY BREATHING*

"sanitise everything" "ok now I'll double dip this random bit of junk from my workshop in the ingredients, and mix it with my saliva"

just the look on Brian's face at 29:50 when he looks into the cup of the sweeter mead and says "dangerous" cracks me up

11:06 when I realized these guys had started drinking a whole lot earlier. 😂

i thought i was just clicking on an instructional video of how mead is made but i ended up being thoroughly entertained and enlightened and gained another channel in my sub feed!

Highschool kids: *heavy breathing* Edit: Reply down below if you wanna bitch at me like 80% of them.

his face when he said lets get the pruno bucket could be a meme

21 year old American: “Can’t wait to finally drink alcohol legally” 14 year old German:”Is this some American joke I’m too German to understand”

The 'tasting stick' and all subsequent laughter are one of the greatest reasons for me to subscribing to a channel, ever.

"I have consumed all of the base properties of mead." Gents, Please don't stop making this show. I love your videos. SO much. :3

“I never had mead” Both, simultaneously: “REALLY?” That was really cool

When I saw that bottle that said it had a sarsaparilla flavor I immediately thought of Sunset Sarsaparilla. I mean, I know that’s actually a flavor in root beer, but I don’t think we should just be stopping at Skyrim references here.

How to modern rogue: Get a best friend and have entertaining banter over drinks. Love you guys.

Me and my roommate in Afghanistan made quite a bit of Meade. We ordered some champagne yeast and some other brewing chemicals and made about 20 gallons over a year. The highest ABV we were able to get was 18. It also gave the worst hangover in human history so I only actually drank it once and gave the rest away.

Jason Murphy is a Gift to this world.

I watch this channel about once every six months and every time I come back to see Brian looking like a normal human being and say "Wait, that's the Scam School guy" after about twenty seconds.

Wait, that guy teaches medieval weapon martial arts *_and_* makes mead?! I'm moving to Texas, I want to be best friends with this guy!

High schoolers : mom csn you get me yeast honey and water Mom: why honey Highschooler : i saw a fun diy Mom: okay

I finally decided to actually try this. Used literally the cheapest honey I could find and bread yeast (red star active dry). I'm floored. I just racked it to age (siphoned it off the yeast into my second gallon jug, which I saved). I took a taste and even pre aging it's delicious!

Brian: “I’ve never had mead” Everyone in sync: “Really?”

Murphy: *Says something, anything* Brushwood: *Starts giggling off-camera*

Fights with a sword, has a beard, and makes mead. This guys business card should read “Anthony Bounomo, Texas Viking”

"Unless you're bringin' me another round, you can just keeeeep walkin'."

"Like it's some sort of bio experiment" well technically it is a bio experiment I would say

I feel like the concept of the show is, Brian and Jason start with a quite interesting and/ or novel subject and then Jason makes it weird and Brian breaks down crying; sometimes in laughter... This show is the best xD And I am inclined to try it, seems simple enough...

You can see how their Mead turned out (6 months later) on the video "3 Mead Cocktails" posted September 22, 2018 at minute marker 14:00

Murphy: *does literally anything* Brushwood:*Wheeze*

Thank you to Brian and Jason for inspiring me to create mead! I've been a fan for a while and I loved this video when it came out. I watch it every once in a while. My girlfriend thought it was a stupid obsession but here I am a year later. I just started my first batch yesterday and its doing great! So again thank you to the Modern Rogue lol

The "tasting stick" had me in tears

Finally now when I have my viking horde rampaging through the post apocalypse with our Potato-gun SUV tanks, smoke bombs, and improvised body armor we wont be thirsty when we retire to enjoy a good cigar properly :)

I love that you can actually see the progression of their mead buzzes here.

It's always a good episode when Anthony shows up.

As someone that has made a lot of mead, I'd like to add two things. One: It's best not to disturb it after it starts to give off CO2 bubbles. It will have a lot of CO2 in liquid suspension, and moving it too aggressively can cause them to be released. Think mentos in a bottle of diet coke and you have the visual of what can happen. Two: I would advise long-term aging in glass, not plastic. This is something you're going to be drinking and alcohol is a powerful solvent. Over the course of a year's aging it can start to make plastic release some of the petroleum bases it's made from. You would taste that as an "off flavor" or bad aftertaste. The old gallon glass apple juice jugs worked beautifully for this. The glass office water cooler bottles from the past were even better since you could make more mead in one. Or if you like you can get a 5-gallon glass carboy from any brewing supply, and (unless you drop it) it will last you forever. Or a 14-gallon Demijohn. Now we're talking. Happy mead making.

It's a small thing, but I do really enjoy the slow buildup of past Modern Rogue stuff in the background. Kinda like Mythbusters, but maybe not quiiite so overwhelming. and less likely to be closed down by Discovery.

30:38 This one feels like it's going to slow me down. Yeah that you mead to sip it.

I can't lie I like these guys and their nerdy vibe about booze.

Fun fact: the consumption of alcohol is not unique to humans; we've discovered that animals also eat fermented fruit, even intentionally (which makes sense, as the initial effect on animal perceptions is pleasant). So it follows that our pregenitors also occasionally ate fermented fruit, which is important, because humans evolved a great resistance to ethanol toxicity (basically, our bodies evolved to catabolize it more effectively than most other animals); this is futhermore relevant in that ethanol is a calorific source for humans. Long story short, humans were aware of fermented stuff before we had to invent alcoholic beverages; it follows that humans toiled to invent alcoholic beverages deliberately, and that humans did so by figuring out that sweet foods ferment.

hey its been two months… can we see you guys trying your mead?

Finally. I can be a lot warmer and a lot happier with a belly full of mead.

The synchronization on the “really” at the beginning is awesome

I approve

I swear you guys live in my search history. As I gain interest in a topic, y’all come out with a video on that topic within the week.

31:42 "D R I N K O F M E A N D K N O W E T E R N I T Y" well, first off, thank you for some DnD cosmic horror inspiration next time I DM a campaign...

3 cool guys having the time of their life

I tried to get my own tasting stick. Turns out I'm not allowed back in Sears.

"Mead, mead, mead, mead. Would it kill him to get some ale once in a while?"

6:40 That's where all the ideas for the Candy Wine episode came from!

I could literally watch you guys all day the chemistry that you guys present while conducting the video is absolutely amazing hilarious and downright entertaining I love it don’t stop even with the disturbing jokes the weird puns and the double entendres

Actually the reason why honey is self stable is due to its extremely low water content and it's slightly acidic so any bacteria that enters honey almost immediately has their cell walls ruptured due to the low water content that just wants to absorb as much water as possible.

When are we getting an episode on how to grow a beard, build a longship and go pillaging? XD

To calculate how much honey produces how much alcohol... just remember that on average, honey will add .035 gravity per pound, in a gallon of must. So, they added 3 lbs of honey, that would be a gravity of about 1.105. If that were to ferment "dry" or 1.000 being neutral gravity (no more sugar left) then there would be about 13.8% alcohol by volume in that mead. The formula to calculate that is (Original Gravity minus Final Gravity) multiplied by 131.25 equals ABV of your mead, wine... beer, whatever. Thanks for the video guys, love the entertainment value and glad to see he kept it pretty simple, aka, didn't add a bunch of chemicals!

Dammit why did I watch this, I can see it now, having to throw/cater parties to get rid of my mead so I can make room for new mead experiments

My friend's mom raises bees....Time to make some mead

“What wait really!?” - inspirational quotes with the Modern Rogue

So glad I stumbled across this video. I think I laughed for 5 minutes straight at the "tasting stick" lol

When he pulled out the tiny hand I lost it

Brian’s laugh is one of life’s greatest beauties...

I can't wait for Making Mead pt. 2, Return of the Tasting Stick...

Watched this video 3 years ago, college student living in a dorm. Now that I'm out in the world, I'm ready to start my own batch!

This is one of my favorite MR videos. Making mead is fun, I enjoy it but its mainly because it has scenes that make me laugh so hard that I cry.

Cant think of mead without thinking about skyrim.

Me (Watching LotR when Gimili had a drinking contest with Legolas): "Gee, i wonder how mead is made?" Few Hours Later: The Modern Rogue has uploaded a new video

I bought everything I needed 2 years ago (star san, airlocks, transfers tubes, high-proof wine yeast, etc), but I did nothing. Yesterday, I decided to cut some corners and get something to try. I took a glass that had been previously washed and was upside down on a drying rack and put some water from a newly opened water bottle in it, with some honey and microwaved it, let it cool to 115*f and every few degrees, added some bread yeast, then when it was foaming, i poured most of it back into the bottle (which i added lots of honey to) and screwed the lid on until it expanded. Then I worked on unscrewing the cap to release pressure to the minimum amount, until it looked safe. I wish myself luck.

Shorter dudes laugh is great. Made me laugh just hearing him laugh.

So... When are you guys going to start selling Modern Rogue taste sticks?

I came across some pecan flavored home brew mead. About the only downside was I had to explain why I was running around naked; it seems to sneak up on you and hit you in the head. I'll give you a challenge; absinthe.

These two are the funniest guys they know. The expert just smiles/fake laughs & waits for them to stop.

Thanks heaps guys. So much more imformative than other youtube videos, not to mention fun. Had me cracking up..

Now i can stop going in my parents liquor cabinet

The sugar in honey is actually only part of the reason that it doesn't go bad. Bees also add their own kind of antibodies and that is also what helps it keep so long

“Aruba, Jamaica, NOT KOKOMO....YOU SUNNUVA” 🤣🤣🤣

I followed your basic advice here, and used leftover buckwheat honey from my hives last year. After a month and a half of fermenting, I bottled. Left it a few days and it’s actually amazing to drink!! Love this more than wine. Sort of wine meets dark beer meets cognac? Excellent and thanks for the vid!

Skyrim vibes

"I have consumed all of the base properties of mead" Love it!!!

Love the MR! You guys are two parts funny, three parts informative and one part crazy, okay, maybe four parts crazy! Keep this show going!

Low key your channel is a hidden gem that deserves more recognition due to the effort that you put in your videos.

I fucking cried with the tasting stick XD

I'm gonna do my first two batches soon. Really excited. I'm doing it slightly differently in that I'm adding fruit to the initial fermentation. I don't really want to mess with fruit in the carboy or getting another bucket or anything. Going to try orange and lemon in one and bananas in the other.

On Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry says to John, "Most men think they're funny". John says "Oh...that's true"

Always delivering consistent quality content on a regular basis, impressive dedication to say the least. Thank you for the hard work , Rogues, you're amazing!

I will be disappointed if a Skyrim Nord mead joke is not made.

Anybody else mesmerized by the harmonious "really" in the first seconds of the video?

They flamed buddy for the “tasting stick” Lmaoo got on his ass 💀💀😂

I really want them to make a try the tasting stick T shirt now

Had too much fun watching this! Lmao Brian's laugh is contagious 😂😂

I believe honey is stable because of the low moisture content. Not just the high sugar content

"So your the new guy in the companions, what do you do, fetch the mead"