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If you’re looking for a new hobby and you just so happen to love mead, we have the perfect new activity for you. Mead making kits are a fun way to learn about one of the oldest alcoholic beverages out there – mead.
Whether you have sampled mead at a renaissance fair or you just love the taste of mead, it is an interesting drink that can be made to your exact specifications with a mead-making kit.
We have a rundown of some of the best mead-making kits you can find and buy online right now. We made our choices based on their ease of use, overall value, and taste! Keep reading for all the information you’ll ever need when it comes to finding that perfect mead-making kit.
Top 3 Picks
Best Overall: Shepherd Made Mead Making Kit
A great mead-making kit for beginners, this Shepherd Made Mead Making Kit comes complete with all of the essentials. You can make up to one gallon of your favorite kind of mead with this complete, easy-to-use kit.
Best for Small Batches: Master Vintner Small Batch Fruit Wine Making Kit
Great for making small batches, this kit is perfect for making fruit wines, which also include a variety of meads. This kit has all that you need without giving you too much in case you prefer to make a variety of small batches.
Best for Beginners: Mead Kit by Must Bee Store
This mead kit is easy to use, which makes it ideal for beginners. Whether you have made mead before but want some more practice, or you are completely new to the experience, this kit comes with everything you need to make a fresh batch of homemade mead.
What Is Mead?
Mead is an alcoholic type of fruit wine that is usually made by fermenting fruits with water and honey. You can use a variety of different kinds of fruits to create mead, and you can spice up your mead batches by incorporating spices, grains, and hops.
What makes mead different from other fruit wines is that mead is fermented with the sugars from honey instead of regular cane sugar.
Using honey to ferment mead can give mead an alcoholic range or ABV of anywhere from about 3.5 percent to up to 18 percent. These rates can be lower or higher depending on the fermentation time, the amount of sugar, and the brew overall. Mead is considered one of the oldest wines, going back to ancient Greek scrolls.
Mead Vs. Beer Vs. Wine
Mead is a bit different from beer as mead will have much more sugar in it than beer. While beer is typically made from a blend of hops and yeast, mead is fermented with a sweeter blend of fruits, honey, and spices. Beer will not be sweet, where mead will be much sweeter than beer by comparison.
Mead is also much sweeter than most wines due to the high honey content in meads. It will have a higher sugar content than wine; it will usually be much sweeter than standard table wines.
Mead can have just as much alcohol in it, if not more, than standard wines, but this all depends on the type of fermentation and the ingredients.
What Items Do I Need to Make Mead?
To start a mead brew, you really need to stick with these basic essentials:
- Fermentation bucket with lid
- Glass carboy
- Airlock
- Carboy brush
- Siphoning tube
- Siphoning hose
- Shut off clamp
- Hydrometer
- Hydrometer jar
- Carboy thermometer
- Rubber stopper for the airlock
For a basic honey mead recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Honey
- Water
- Yeast
- Whichever fruits you prefer
- A variety of spices
What to Look for In a Mead Making Kit
Instead of having to find all the elements you need for making your own mead at home, a mead-making kit will have everything you need in one kit.
It’s much easier to buy a kit instead of hunting down your necessary items, so it may be in your best interest to purchase a kit instead of having to gather all of these materials. Here are some of the key specifications you should look for in a mead-making kit.
Durability
You will want to be sure that your mead-making kit is durable. This means that your glass carboy is made of ultra-thick glass, your mead-making materials are excellent quality, and your airlock items are super tough.
The last thing you’d want is to have your mead-making kit be made of flimsy or cheap materials that could essentially ruin your mead brew.
Making sure that your items are of high quality will help ensure that your mead-making kit will get the job done, and you can use it for more than one brew. Your glass carboy is important as this will house your mead, and you don’t want to use thin glass that can break easily.
Price Range
Your mead-making kit does not have to be expensive. You can find great mead-making kits of high quality for less than $80.
If you want a fancier mead-making kit or a kit that comes with several different jugs or accessories for making more than one brew, then the prices can start to rise a little bit. But overall, these kits should not be very expensive at all.
Ease of Use
A mead-making kit should be easy to use and easy to understand when it comes to instructions. Your mead-making kit should come with plenty of information on how to use it properly, especially when it comes to the recipes or ingredients options.
While not every mead-making kit will come with your ingredients already, it should come with the basic formula on how to make mead at home.
All of the items you need to make your mead should also come within the kit, so you don’t have to hunt around looking for items. Plus, having to buy all your items from different shops can be a bit pricey, so your mead kit should come all-inclusive with everything you need to help take the guessing game out of finding materials.
What It Comes With
Your mead-making kit should come with all the parts you need to make a perfect batch of mead at home. If your mead-making kit is not complete, it should have suggestions as to where to find necessary materials and ingredients.
While some mead kits may not have all the natural ingredients you’d need to make mead at home, they should at least include a recipe book so you can shop for your own fresh ingredients.
Some mead kits may include ingredients such as yeast, but that may be it as far as ingredients go. Your mead kit should include everything else, but if not, it should include a list of materials that you’d need to make a perfect first batch of mead.
Sizes
There are different sizes of mead-making kits, and this usually means the gallon size. The most common size is one gallon, and these kits will usually come with a gallon-sized glass carboy and enough yeast to make a gallon of mead.
There are half-gallon sizes and two-gallon sizes available, as well as up to five-gallon gas carboys that can be used. However, keep in mind that the larger the glass carboy, the heavier it will be, so this may make it a bit more difficult to move.
Best Mead Making Kits
Shepherd Made Mead Making Kit
Shepherd Made brand has made a great, basic mead-making kit to compete with your gas carboy, instructions, stopper, airlock, tubing, and some yeast packets.
- Price Range: Less than $20
- Complete Kit: No
- Carboy Size: One gallon
- Warranty: Free returns through Amazon Prime
This kit is great when you just need the basics of a great mead-making kit as the materials are high quality and the instructions are easy to read and understand. You can make all sorts of mead brews with this perfect mead-making kit.
Who It’s Best For?
This kit is best for anyone who is a little bit familiar with the process of making mead at home and wants to try it out. This is a great kit for someone who has some prior knowledge in mead making as the instructions are not as extensive as some other kits.
Pros
- Contains yeast packets
- Comes with instructions inside the box
- It can hold up to a gallon
- Comes with all the necessary materials to get you started
Cons
- Doesn’t contain too much instruction
- Pretty basic kit
One Gallon Mead Starter Kit
Home Brew Stuff has made an ideal one-gallon mead starter kit, complete with a one-gallon glass carboy, a primary fermentation bucket, a mini auto-siphon with tubing and a clamp, and a complete guide to mead and ‘how to make mead’ recipe book.
- Price Range: Less than $70
- Complete Kit: Yes
- Carboy Size: One gallon
- Warranty: Free returns through Amazon Prime
This is an all-in-one mead-making kit that is ideal for first-time mead makers.
Who It’s Best For?
This kit is pretty complete, which makes it ideal for anyone who wants to start making mead that hasn’t tried to make mead at home before. It has all the supplies you need along with an easy-to-read and understands instruction book complete with a few recipes to try at home.
Pros
- An all-inclusive kit
- Comes with an easy-to-read instruction manual
- Has a recipe book for recipes to try at home
- Comes with a gallon glass carboy
Cons
- Pricy
Home Brew Stuff Mead Making Kit, Nano
Another great mead-making kit from Home Brew Stuff, this kit contains a one-gallon capacity carboy, a siphon tubing for transferring your mead to bottles, and enough yeast and yeast nutrients for your very first batch of mead.
- Price Range: Less than $40
- Complete Kit: Yes
- Carboy Size: One gallon
- Warranty: Free returns through Amazon Prime
This is a basic kit with everything you need to make mead except for the honey.
Who It’s Best For?
This mead kit is best for someone who is just starting out to make mead and needs a very basic kit. This kit will help you add a new fermenter to your brewing equipment and gives you all of the essentials you need to help you get started.
Pros
- An all-inclusive kit
- Very affordable
- High-quality materials
- Comes with a gallon glass carboy
Cons
- It may be too basic for some
- Does not come with a recipe book
Fruit Wine Kit
This extensive kit gives you everything you need to make super great wine or mead from home. This kit comes with plenty of supplies to make 15 one-gallon batches of fruit, wine, or mead. There are plenty of quick tips within this kit that are easy to read to help you make all sorts of variations of fruit wines and meads.
- Price Range: Less than $70
- Complete Kit: Yes
- Carboy Size: One gallon
- Warranty: Free returns through Amazon Prime
This kit includes all of the necessary materials, including a handbook to help you on your brewing way. This kit has an unusually large number of parts, but this is a good thing as this will help you get multiple brews that will taste amazing made with high-quality parts. You know this kit will last; all you would need to buy for future brews would be more yeast, fruit, and honey.
Who It’s Best For?
This kit is all-inclusive and is great for anyone who is just starting out or for someone who loves an all-inclusive kit to get them on their brewing way. The only things not included in this kit are the fruit, honey, corker, corks, and bottles, which are all easily attained.
Pros
- An all-inclusive kit
- Has a lot more materials than most kits
- Can make wine in one hour
- Comes with a gallon glass carboy
Cons
- It may be too extensive for some
- Comes with a plastic fermenter
Basic Mead Kit
This basic mead kit by Must Bee Store guarantees that you will have ready-to-drink mead straight from your home in a few short months. The longer you let your mead sit, the more flavor it will have, but this kit guarantees mead in a month if you just can not wait.
- Price Range: Less than $50
- Complete Kit: Yes
- Carboy Size: One gallon
- Warranty: Free returns through Amazon Prime
All you really need within this kit is your honey, your fruit flavor, and whatever spices you would like to incorporate into your mead brew.
Who It’s Best For?
This kit is best for someone who is just starting out making mead but maybe has a bit of experience under their belt. Since this kit doesn’t have an extensive recipe book, it would be best for someone who knows the kind of mead they would like to make and who knows the basic steps in making mead.
Pros
- A great starter kit for someone with some experience making mead
- Fully complete kit with all the necessary parts
- Comes with a one-gallon, thick glass carboy
- Contains yeast and yeast nutrient for extra healthy brews
Cons
- Not great for someone who is not experienced with mead making at home
- Does not come with a recipe book or ingredients suggestions book
FAQs
Question: Is the Mead the Same as Wine?
Answer: No. Mead is a much sweeter brew than wine as it derives all of its sugar content from honey. While mead may have more sugar than wine, depending on the brew, this may not mean it will necessarily be sweeter.
Question: What Does Mead Taste Like?
Answer: Mead tastes like a thick, sweet fruity wine that can have a lower or higher alcohol content due to the honey in it. Mead can have a variety of flavors and textures depending on the types of fruits and spices fermented with it.
Question: Is Mead Healthier Than Beer?
Answer: Not necessarily. Mead will have a lot of sugar in it due to honey, but it may have fewer carbohydrates than beer by a minimal number.
The Bottom Line
So, there you have it – some of the best mead-making kits you can find online today. Whether you have some experience making your own homemade mead, or you are a first-timer who would love to start to learn the process, these kits won’t steer you wrong.
Each of these kits has impressive reviews and has been hailed as the best mead-making kits you can find.
Personally, I’d go with the Fruit Wine Kit for the fact that it’s got literally everything you need. Plus, I like fruity mead.
Did you find this article useful? We hope you did. Do you have any experience with making your own mead? We would love to hear from you. Feel free to drop your comments or suggestions in the section below, and then check out our guide to the best hops for home brewing!