One of my favorite commercial meads is Apple Pie mead by Drake Brothers Mead here in columbus, Ohio. I have never brewed a cyser with apple pie type traits (caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg flavors) and i was wondering if any of you fine brewers had any recipes you would like to share. Thanks in advance!
Apple pie mead recipe
- Thread starter cledro711
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Its an amazingly delicious mead that sells out within a month after its release in october every year. I was lucky enough to receive a bottle for xmas last year, but at $35 a bottle and considering the difficulty in finding it I would love to be able to replicate it (or come close lol).
Brann_mac_Finnchad
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Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg flavours are simple to get in there, caramel slightly less so.
Does the mead you're trying to replicate have flavours reminiscant of the crust?
Does the mead you're trying to replicate have flavours reminiscant of the crust?
Brann_mac_Finnchad said:
Not that is determinable by my palate. Its a sweet dessert mead with cinnamonn apple aroma in the nose, fruity apples and lemon taste up front and finishes with a caramelly and vanilla sweet after taste. I plan on using high quality raw cider, clover honey, cinnamon stix, nutmeg, and a strip of vanilla bean but im not sure how to get the complex caramel filling type flavor.
jaegersapper
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Couldn't you caramelize some sugar, dissolve it in water and add it to the secondary?
Originalsconnie
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I am making something similar to this. I started by lightly boiling my honey and starting with bochet, then I added cider to the carboy. In the primary I also added my vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Not sure if it will taste like apple pie, but it was the inspiration.
Brann_mac_Finnchad
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jaegersapper: Yup, look up recipes for caramel syrup and use it to backsweeten.
Originalsconnie: Unfortionatly you have to really boil the honey to get the caramel notes. My first cyser/botchet was supposed to be caramel, and I didn't get those flavour notes at all.
Originalsconnie: Unfortionatly you have to really boil the honey to get the caramel notes. My first cyser/botchet was supposed to be caramel, and I didn't get those flavour notes at all.
NervousDad
BFM
On the latest Beersmith Podcast (7/26) they had a guy from Moonlight Meadery, he talks briefly about his apple pie mead and some of the spices he puts into it.
here is a link.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/07/2...ith-michael-fairbrother-beersmith-podcast-43/
here is a link.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/07/2...ith-michael-fairbrother-beersmith-podcast-43/
Many people do this with great success. Check out the stickies
MarshmallowBlue
Well-Known Member
Here's my Caramel Apple pie cyser. It's aging now and looking great!
February 23 2013
1 gallon batch.
3 lbs mesquite honey
5 Granny Smith apples minus the cores, chopped
1 cup brown sugar, NOT Packed
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cups of apple juice
Red Star Cote des Blancs
1 pound of honey into the pot. Cook it until it starts to boil. After a couple of minutes of foaming action throw in your chopped apples. It will stop boiling. When it starts to boil up again, add your apple juice. Keep on heat just until the apples start to get soft. Once the apples are soft, strain them from your must into somewhere to cool for just a bit. Add water and brown sugar. Now that the must should be a bit over room temperature, dissolve the rest of your honey. Pitch the yeast and add one cinnamon stick.
Put your soft, chopped apples in a freezer safe container and well, freeze em. They will be added in the secondary along with the second cinnamon stick (if you don't like cinnamon you may want to use half a stick in primary and the other half in secondary).
Gravity 1.113
You can read the brew log with updates on the GotMead thread here
February 23 2013
1 gallon batch.
3 lbs mesquite honey
5 Granny Smith apples minus the cores, chopped
1 cup brown sugar, NOT Packed
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cups of apple juice
Red Star Cote des Blancs
1 pound of honey into the pot. Cook it until it starts to boil. After a couple of minutes of foaming action throw in your chopped apples. It will stop boiling. When it starts to boil up again, add your apple juice. Keep on heat just until the apples start to get soft. Once the apples are soft, strain them from your must into somewhere to cool for just a bit. Add water and brown sugar. Now that the must should be a bit over room temperature, dissolve the rest of your honey. Pitch the yeast and add one cinnamon stick.
Put your soft, chopped apples in a freezer safe container and well, freeze em. They will be added in the secondary along with the second cinnamon stick (if you don't like cinnamon you may want to use half a stick in primary and the other half in secondary).
Gravity 1.113
You can read the brew log with updates on the GotMead thread here
Bringing this thread back alive since Apple Pie Day is this upcoming Saturday. I talked to Candi, the head mead maker at Bros Drake and they actually have a "how to make Apple Pie" tutorial at noon on October 5th. I will be in attendance and so should you!
I don't have my recipe book on hand, but this is my general apple pie mead (it varies batch to batch.
Unlike my other meads, I only do one gallon batches (I only drink it on Thanksgiving)
Go to Earthfare (or whatever whole foods store is in your area) and buy two 1-gallon glass jugs of apple juice/cider.
Drink one and then clean/sanitize.
Add 1.5 lbs of honey and the other gallon of apple cider (because of the sugar content of the juice, I cut my ratio of honey to water in half) to the 1-gallon jug.
*I use the no-heat method of making mead.
Put on the cap and shake vigourously.
Carefully remove the cap.
Pitch a rehydrated dry champagne yeast....
I HIGHLY recommend the staggered yeast additions.
*For a five-gallon batch I do a two to one DAP (diammonium phosphate - yeast nutrient) to Fermaid (energizer) ratio. For a five-gallon batch, I will add 1 tsp during my yeast pitch. 1 tsp after 24 hours, 1 tsp after 48 hours, and 1 tsp after 72 hours. Each time I will heavily stir the must to degas the carbon dioxide from the jug.
**Side note: the bung for your carboy will be too big for the jug. I forget which size will fit it, but you can bring the jug to your local homebrew supplier.
....Primary will be done in a week. I''l transfer back to the other jug and let sit in secondary for a few months, and then rerack onto whatever seasonings I want. Personally I don't recommend a lot of spices, but it depends on you. Typically I'll throw in a cinnamon stick for two weeks to a month and then bottle. You can also add a vanilla bean, allspice, and all that good stuff.
Once you have reached your desired spice level, depending on when you plan on drinking it, you might want to overshoot your spice level because you'll lose some of that flavor depending on how long you bottle age.
Then I'll throw it in four wine bottles, cork, let sit upright for 72 hours, and then bottle wax.
It really makes for a great gift to your whichever of your relatives your visiting.
I personally recommend the dry champagne yeast because I don't like it sweet. I prefer to have a nice dry, crisp apple flavored mead but its totally up to you. The apple flavors will definitely stick around.
Hope this helps!
Unlike my other meads, I only do one gallon batches (I only drink it on Thanksgiving)
Go to Earthfare (or whatever whole foods store is in your area) and buy two 1-gallon glass jugs of apple juice/cider.
Drink one and then clean/sanitize.
Add 1.5 lbs of honey and the other gallon of apple cider (because of the sugar content of the juice, I cut my ratio of honey to water in half) to the 1-gallon jug.
*I use the no-heat method of making mead.
Put on the cap and shake vigourously.
Carefully remove the cap.
Pitch a rehydrated dry champagne yeast....
I HIGHLY recommend the staggered yeast additions.
*For a five-gallon batch I do a two to one DAP (diammonium phosphate - yeast nutrient) to Fermaid (energizer) ratio. For a five-gallon batch, I will add 1 tsp during my yeast pitch. 1 tsp after 24 hours, 1 tsp after 48 hours, and 1 tsp after 72 hours. Each time I will heavily stir the must to degas the carbon dioxide from the jug.
**Side note: the bung for your carboy will be too big for the jug. I forget which size will fit it, but you can bring the jug to your local homebrew supplier.
....Primary will be done in a week. I''l transfer back to the other jug and let sit in secondary for a few months, and then rerack onto whatever seasonings I want. Personally I don't recommend a lot of spices, but it depends on you. Typically I'll throw in a cinnamon stick for two weeks to a month and then bottle. You can also add a vanilla bean, allspice, and all that good stuff.
Once you have reached your desired spice level, depending on when you plan on drinking it, you might want to overshoot your spice level because you'll lose some of that flavor depending on how long you bottle age.
Then I'll throw it in four wine bottles, cork, let sit upright for 72 hours, and then bottle wax.
It really makes for a great gift to your whichever of your relatives your visiting.
I personally recommend the dry champagne yeast because I don't like it sweet. I prefer to have a nice dry, crisp apple flavored mead but its totally up to you. The apple flavors will definitely stick around.
Hope this helps!
Foosinho
Well-Known Member
Down on East 5th? Do they charge? How long is the tutorial?
And for those of us that can't make it - you will come back here and share your new found knowledge, yes?
FermentusMaximus
Well-Known Member
I just made moonlights apple pie mead 3 months ago. I am new to homebrewing all together and only have a few batches of beer under my belt. I just sampled my moonlight clone and I must say I am VERY happy with the way it turned out. May even be better than the real thing. I went all out with my ingredients and even emailed Michael for some tips. Heres what I did if anyone is interested.
1 Gallon:
75% Cider (Unpasteurized-from Ipswich Mass)
25% Honey (Dutch Gold Golden variety-Pennsylvania {ordered online})
1gram Potassium Carbonate before I pitched yeast
Lalvin 71B (Staggered schedule of DAP and Fermaid K 1st,2nd,3rd day fermenting and then once more 2/3 of the way through sugar consumption.)
Stirred well with sanatized wisk (give it a good 2 mintues (at least) of good stirring to degass and add O2 everytime nutrients are added)
Fermented at 66 degrees should take about 2 weeks
Moved to secondary
(secondary)
1/8 tsp ground Vietnamese Cinnamon
.5 gram Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean in grain sock (Whole, no scraping, cutting, etc... needed)(let soak for 2 weeks and remove sock)
SG: 1.151
Est ABV: 16.8%
Its been 3 months sitting in a one gallon jug and it tastes great already. A little hot, but not too bad at all.
Sounds delicious. I have never made a mead. Maybe I should try this one.
You say 25% honey... Is that by weight or volume in relation to the cider?
lamarche499
New Member
Ill attempt to bring this form back from the dead. as fall approaches i will attempt to make some apple pie style mead this coming week with what ive read here it shouldn't be half bad
DannyBoy270
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Got a recipe you'd be willing to share?
