This assumes you are producing a gallon (5 l) of mead in a demijohn. If you wish to increase production and use a five gallon container, just increase everything by 5.

1. Clean the demijohn and airlock. Measure into the demijohn 1 gallon (5 l) of water (8 pints) and mark the demijohn at 7 pints (4.5 l) and 8 pints (5 l). Tip the water out again.

2. Put the honey into the demijohn. If you are using set/fresh honey, you may find it easier to melt the honey in a little bit of warm water (warm - NOT hot), then pour the mixture into the demijohn. In the case of fresh honey, you will also need to skim any scum off the top of the mixture before putting it into the demijohn. It's a lot easier if you use a funnel at this point.

3. Add enough cold water to the demijohn to bring it up to the 7 pint(4.5 l) mark. Add the yeast (following the directions on the packet). Put the airlock and bung onto the demijohn.

4. Wait for 1 week. Remove the bung and airlock, top the demijohn up to the 8 pint (5 l) mark with cold water, replace the bung and airlock and leave for six months.

5. Clean the second demijohn and airlock, then siphon the liquid from the first demijohn into the second one, being careful not to transfer too much of the sediment from the first demijohn. This process is known as "racking". If you do get some sediment into the second demijohn, don't panic, as long as most of it stays in the first demijohn.

6. Clean out the first demijohn and airlock.

Your mead will taste better the longer you leave it, so while you can drink it after six months, it is quite "rough". Mead left for 12-18 months is a much nicer drink.

It is important that while you are fermenting the mead, it is kept at room temperature. Under no circumstances put it into an airing cupboard as this will get too warm for the yeast to work properly.

Once you are happy with the way the mead tastes, you can either store it in the demijohn, or you can bottle it. If you choose to bottle it, you will need to drop two crushed Camden (sterilizing) tablets into the mead to kill off the yeast or you'll get the corks blown out of the bottles.

[Note : all metric measurements are approximate conversions]