Mead Ideas for a light fruity/ floral honey

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Lukeduke02

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Location
Charlotte
Hey everyone,
I haven't ever brewed mead before, but want to give it a shot. A client of mine has a hobby sized company that supplies honey in the local area. The honey I got is labeled wildflower... however it isn't the same deep rich flavor that I've experience from other wildflower honeys.. and way different than a clover honey. She did also say that it is kind of a mix of honeys b/c it is the tail end of their processing and is considered "wet honey" b/c it is a higher moisture content (like 17% or something).

This honey is interesting.. I don't have a refined palate or anything, so I'm sure I'm missing some flavors, but what I pick up on is a strong grape-type flavor, somewhat like a white grape juice/apple juice mix flavor. There are also some floral notes, but pretty subtle.

What I'm looking for from you guys is a few good recipe options to use with a honey of this nature. I have 18lbs, so thinking of trying 2 or 3 different batches with different flavors. I'm probably going to do one batch just straight, no other flavors added.

I welcome full recipes or even just a suggestion of what to add.
 
I did something similar to what it sounds like you want to do recently. I brewed a 10 gallon batch of plain traditional mead, using a light varietal honey (similar in general to what it sounds like you are describing). I let primary fermentation mostly complete and then racked into 4 separate carboys. In 3 of the 4 I added fruit and racked onto the fruit. The fourth I left plain. I used: strawberry, pineapple, and sapote (not sure what you would call "sapote" in the USA, but you can find it with Google). This was my first attempt at "melomels" (fruit flavored mead).

Suggestion: take a hydrometer reading before and just after racking onto the fruit. You will probably get additional fermentation from the sugars in the fruits and without a reading you don't know the alcohol contribution. Not a big deal really, but my melomels are noticeably stronger than the plain so wish I new more precisely.

The fruit flavors, and in the case of the pineapple the acidity, came out a bit intense. So, I blended them with plain traditional mead to taste. The result has been quite popular. The plain mead has proven to be the favorite followed by the strawberry. The sapote has a spicy taste to it, much like the fruit, and is not for everyone but I think blending at lower levels will help. I need to do some acid reduction on the pineapple and then blend it as well. I have another 5 gallon batch of traditional mead brewing now to use for more blending.

This approach of brewing a plain traditional mead and then blending is also recommended by Ken Schramm, author of "The Compleat Mead Maker".

Another great blending idea is Braggot. I've made a couple of blended Braggot's that were delicious. See other threads on Braggot here.

So, in short, I suggest brewing a nice big batch of plain traditional mead and then racking some onto fruit and blending. This gives you lots of flexibility and a variety of interesting things to drink without a lot of additional effort.

Also, lots of great info here on the forum. See esp hightest's extensive FAQ at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/sticky-mead-making-faqs-83030/. Particularly the sections regarding staggered nutrient additions and aeration (these are key things that are different from brewing beer).

Cuatro Melomels SDC12140.jpg


Plain and Fresa SDC12243.jpg


Sparking Braggot SDC12136.jpg
 
Back
Top