TheBrewingMedic said:B.Nektar in Michigan recently released an "IPA Style Mead" they call "Evil Genius"
This is from the label:
"In an obscure industrial lair resides the man known only as the evil Dr. I.P.A. Using his hadron colider, hidden deep underground, he has conducted his most remarkable experiment to-date. The result is a perfect balance of honey and hops. But there are side-effects... His lab rats can't get enough of the stuff. And soon, neither will you. Introducing the Evil Genius. The big bang is no longer a theory, it's your reality."
Product Facts: Made with raw Michigan wildflower honey and hops (Chinook, Cluster, Cascade). Lightly carbonated. 6% ABV
B.Nektar has bourbon barrel mead and a couple cysers that they've aged 1-1.5 yrs
Yup! that stuff is awesome! it's my favorite store bought mead... well cyser...
NineMilBill said:So based on their brewing style - I'm assuming this is really a hopped hydromel or simply a weak metheglin in a sense. It is sans malt (according to the posted description) - and comes in at only 6% ABV.
If it were "quite sweet" as reported by roadymi - my initial thoughts are, per gallon:
2 lbs clover honey
.2 oz hops
Safale US-05
The trick is getting close to the 6%. That's some serious hydromel status. I would watch your FG after a day or so and stop fermentation as necessary. SNA will not be needed in a mead this 'small'. I haven't done the math on it - but at 6%, I'm sure even less honey could be used per gallon and still be plenty sweet. You're simply going to have to base your stopping point off of your OG reading.
NineMilBill said:So based on their brewing style - I'm assuming this is really a hopped hydromel or simply a weak metheglin in a sense. It is sans malt (according to the posted description) - and comes in at only 6% ABV.
If it were "quite sweet" as reported by roadymi - my initial thoughts are, per gallon:
2 lbs clover honey
.2 oz hops
Safale US-05
The trick is getting close to the 6%. That's some serious hydromel status. I would watch your FG after a day or so and stop fermentation as necessary. SNA will not be needed in a mead this 'small'. I haven't done the math on it - but at 6%, I'm sure even less honey could be used per gallon and still be plenty sweet. You're simply going to have to base your stopping point off of your OG reading.
Chinook.for bittering, cascade for flavor. I don't know about cluster though.
I made a blended braggot from an IPA and a traditional mead this past season and it was awesome. An upside to the blended approach, which is also historically authentic, is that you actually get three things to enjoy from two brewing sessions (IPA, mead, and braggot!).
This experience put braggots way high on my list of near future brews. I've got 10 gallons of traditional mead perking away now and ingredients for an IPA on the way.
That sounds really cool. Did you blend in secondary I assume? That must've been an interesting racking process.
PattyM said:Thanks YeastieBoys! I'm going to get the hops this weekend and will try a 1 Gal test batch.
BTW...I see you started a Funky Monkey clone awhile back...how did that turn out? Do you have a recipe you can share? (I have yet to try the Funky Monkey...but it sounds good).
PattyM said:I haven't tasted the Funky Monkey yet. No one near me has it on the shelf. I'll have to pick up a bottle next time I'm at B Nektar (I'm lucky enough to live near by). I'd still be interested in your recipe if you could post it.
igliashon said:So, I've been thinking of making an IPA mead for a while, too. I'm gluten-free and haven't been very impressed with the whole rice and sorghum extract thing, but I love me some mead. Here's what I'm thinking of doing--please give me some feedback, as a lot of the techniques I'm planning here I've never done before!
3 gallon recipe:
Ingredients:
6 lbs wildflower honey
0.25 oz Millenium hops (pellet, 17.4% AA) at 60 min
1 oz Simcoe hops (pellet, 13% AA) at 15 min
1 oz Simcoe hops at 1 min
1 oz Czech Saaz hops (whole-leaf, 4.5% AA), dry hop
8 oz maltodextrin
Buckwheat honey, to taste
US-05 dry yeast
Boil:
Do a 60-minute boil with water, maltodextrin, and Simcoe hops. Add honey at flame-out. Ferment completely, racking as necessary, and add dry hops for 1 week after the final racking. Back-sweeten/prime with buckwheat honey to taste, then bottle in 22-oz bottles. Reserve enough to fill 2 plastic soda bottles (use first and last runnings from the bucket). When the soda bottles first begin to feel tight, open the first one to check carbonation. If adequately carbonated, pasteurize (on the stove) all the remaining bottles to kill the yeast. If not, give another day or two and then check the second one, and then pasteurize if satisfied. Refrigerate and enjoy some sparkling, sweet, IPA mead!
Now, questions:
1) I expect this to come out to about 8% ABV, so is my use of ale yeast okay?
2) Do I need to add nutrients? If so, how much, and when? Seems like staggered nutrient additions wouldn't be necessary given the low gravity, but I'm no expert.
3) How much buckwheat honey would you guys estimate as a good starting-point for back-sweetening? I don't want an overly-sweet mead, but I also don't want it to be as completely dry as it probably will be at this low gravity. I'd want it probably about as sweet as an American double-IPA.
4) Is my plan of adding honey post-fermentation to both prime AND back-sweeten sensible?
5) What's a realistic turn-around time for a sparkling low-gravity mead? 3 months? 6? If I brew this tomorrow, could I be enjoying it by Christmas, or will it take longer?
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