Ingredients:                       Materials:
                                   1.5 gallon pot and lid
1 pt honey                         long handle spoon
9 pt water                         1 gallon glass jug 
ginger root                        rubber stopper with hole
orange rind                        fermentation lock
wine or champane yeast             strainer
                                   funnel
optional:
yeast nutrient (dose on package)
acid blend     (2 tsp)
grape tannnin  (1/4 tsp)

Procedure:
Clean and sanitize all items that will come in contact with the
fermenting mead (those, like the pot and spoon, that will be imersed
in boiling must, will be sanitized by the heat).  Contamination is the
scourge of homebrewers everywhere, so try to keep everything as clean
as possible.

Put the water and honey in the pot.  Stir to mix completely.  Bring
the mix to a boil.  I usually microwave my honey to make it thin and
runny.  This helps in pouring and mixing it with the water.

While the honey and water are heating, skin and slice the ginger root.
You will need about 1 teaspoon worth.  I try to slice it thin to allow
faster flavour absorbtion.  Peel off about the same amount of the orange
rind.

Some tips:  It is the mission in life of must (the honey and water mix) to
boil over and create a huge, sticky burnt-on mess on your stove.  You must
be ever watchful for this (it is more likely early in the boil).  If the
must is threatening to boil over, stir it vigoursly with a long spoon.
This seems to calm it faster than trying to remove the whole pot from the
heat.  

While the must is boiling, a yellow-white scum will form on the surface.
Skim this off with a spoon and discard.

The must should be boiled about 30 minutes.  About 2 - 3 minutes before the
end of the boil, toss in the sliced ginger root and orange rind.  If you
are using the acid blend, nutrient, and/or tannin, add these now too.

When the boil is done, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and allow to
cool.  This can be speeded by puting the pot in a sink that has been
filled with cold water and ice.

When the must is sufficiently cooled to keep it from shattering cold glass,
pour it from the pot through a strainer and funnel into the glass jug.
When cooled to nearly room temperature, add the yeast and seal the jug
with stopper and fermentation lock.  Fill the lock about halfway with
vodka (this will kill any bacteria that try to get through the lock).

Put the jug in a dark place (it need not be pitch dark, just keep it out
of sunlight) at about room temp.  Fermentation will be evident in a few
hours.

Fermentation times vary widely, but bet on at least a couple of months.
Using a yeast nutrient will help speed the fermentation, and is reccomended.
The mead will appear cloudy and the fermentation lock will bubble as long
as the yeast are active.  When the lock stops bubbling, and the mead
becomes clear, it is ready to bottle.

The mead can be poured out of the fermenter, but you risk disturbing the
yeast sediment and pouring that out too.  The best bet is to siphon the
mead off the yeast dregs into bottles.  Wine bottles are best, but plastic
soda bottles will work just as well.

Label your bottles (including the date), and keep records of the recipe,
date, and other relavent data (i.e. fermentation time) so you can figure out
what works best for you.

Some yeast sediment will form in the bottles during storage.  This is
normal, and won't hurt anything.  Just try not to distrub it while you
are pouring it out, as it will make the mead have a yeasty flavour and
appear cloudy in the glass.

If the mead is bottled too early, fermentation will still be taking place,
and pressure will build up in the bottles.  This is sometimes used to
make the mead sparkling, but can also cause the bottles to burst.  When
storing freshly bottled mead, it is a good idea to put it in a plastic
bag or in a container to catch the mead should a bottle burst or blow it's
cork out.

Mead, like beer, is sensitive to light, so store it in a cool, dark
place.