Quick mead recipe

Hi All

Can anyone offer some advice please? I have some mead that I am bulk aging at the moment and it looks great, i followed a classic recipe and I understand it is going to take a long time for it to age and develop which I am fine with.

A friend has now challenged me to make him a small batch of semi sweet mead for an occasion meaning it would need to be drinking well in five months from now.

I am pretty new to the mead game and have only made mead the long way round.

Is it possible to get a gallon of really good sweetish mead in five months??

Cheers

Paul

Do a search for Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. Per the recipe it is ready in 2 months.

I made a 5 gallon batch for some guys at work and they all finished their bottles within 2 weeks of me giving it to them. I have been disciplined enough to only have consumed 2 bottles, still 7 left. Tasty stuff. But it is is pretty sweet though.

I am about to put my 2nd batch together.

Cheers Fathand I will check it out

I guess if it sounds too sweet i can adjust acordingly

Paul

Paul,

Sometimes "Joe's Ancient Orange" is ready quickly, sometimes not. It can still be a little infuriating waiting for the fruit to drop, but if you try that one, stick to the recipe, and it still comes good (usually).

The other one that came to mind, is "Joe's Quick Pyment". I've only made a gallon the once, and it came out fine. I think it was either 3 or 4 months...... I just used all "Welch's Concord" for the grape juice (from Tesco's), the only bugger was tracking down the Buckwheat honey. You'll probably have to google search for it, as it's not readily available in the UK (I've seen it advertised at about the £5 per lb mark from a couple of the mail order suppliers in the UK).

The issue is usually that people think that it should be able to be a quick brew as it's "only" honey, without understanding how it's actually made.

Both the JAO and Joe's quick pyment recipes are available with a google search (might be quicker to look directly at gotmead though).....

With meads, ageing is all..........

regards

fatbloke

Its usually the bread yeast, and the orange peel pith in Joe's Orange mead that can make it not tastey right away.

My two cents: degas the primary, 2-3 times per day, and do staggered nutrient additions for the first week when degassing too.
I like Narbone 71-B yeast for my meads...but mostly don't get champagne yeast or use bread yeast IF you want to age quickly.

A lightly spiced metheglin might work better than a melomel, just due to fruit and clearing issues.

You can do it.

Start with a high gravity, say 1.145 and mix up 5 gallon of must, add plenty of berries (black, blue, straw - take your pick) 15-20 pounds (hint - use a large bucket, the bigger the better). Your total starting volume will be around 7 gallons and you'll net out 5.5-6 gallons. If you put the fruit in large paint strainer bags life will be easier. Pitch 71B for yeast and add staggered nutrients. Punch the cap down 3 times a day (at least) and and remove and gently squeeze the bags when the fruit looks bleached (usually 5-7 days).

When the fermentation is complete (expect the gravity to be somewhere around 1.020) rack it to a carboy and let it clear and add 1 campden tablet per gallon (you don't want any malolactic fermentation with this fruit). With the tannins from the berries you'll have fairly rapid clearing and it should be able to be bottled within 6-8 weeks (you probably should add another campden tablet per gallon before bottling). You may find you want it a bit sweeter and you can add more honey if needed.

This will give a sweet, fruity, berry melomel that will be drinkable within a couple of months. That's not to say that it won't get better with age - it most certainly will. There is nothing in terms of a mead that you are going to make that is going to be at its peak at 5 months. Even JAO takes a good 6-9 months to really shine. This will be tasty though.

Let us know what you decide to do.

Medsen

Many thanks again for all your help. I really appreciate your words of advice.

I think I am going to go with the recipe Medsen as kindly posted. I love the detail and this gives me confidence, will no doubt have more questions again soon

thanks agian all

Paul

Why not just serve the mead you have? Should be better in five months than anything you could start now. If it is not sweet enough, add sulfite and sorbate and honey to taste.