Something New vs Something True

So this question goes out to some of the veteran mead makers out there. How do you find yourself choosing the meads you make. Do you often remake the same recipes that you loved the first time, or are you more likely to try something new?

Especially after participating in this forum, I'm finding that there is always some new idea I'm getting from others that I want to try. So far I have not gone back to redo any of the recipes that I dug the first time around.

Do you find yourself gravitating towards new experiments? Have you found a set of recipes that you like and pretty much stick with them? My wife would never let me buy enough honey to brew to my hearts content, so unless I'm always brewing something new I'll never get through my "honey-do" list, and it ain't the list SWMBO is interested in.

Well, I find I make many 1 gallon batches and if I get a feel that I will really like it then I will usually make a larger batch. So far my larger batches have all been melomels, and I am never without raspberry mead.

I usually do at least something a little different every time. More often than not I do something REALLY different.

For example my aging meads right now include banana, grape, and carrot. I also have a passion fruit in the primary.

Something different for me. I've made 7 different batches and each one has been pretty different from the rest besides 2 cysers, but even those are different still. However I've had the same conundrum as you about wanting to maybe repeat a batch that turned out well. Problem is there's so many new ideas that I get excited about.

I'm not a veteran by any means(batch 13 starts tonight), but there are some I think I'll make regularly, in large batches. I have several one gallon jugs for small experiments. I always have to try something new, so right now I am impatiently waiting for some of the one gallons to clear and degass so I can bottle the contents.

I have a list of experiments I want to try, but it will take a few years to get through the list. In the mean time I think I will likely do 5 gallons of wild raspberry a year, and a 5 gallon of peach this fall.

I have prickly pear key lime, blood orange granadila, cherry chipotle, hibiscus JAOM and others in secondary right now.

I like doing something slightly different if I re-make a batch. For example:

I did a Blueberry Primary, then a Blueberry with the fruit in the secondary, then Blueberry Lemon, then a Blueberry Vanilla.

Another track I am on is I did a Raspberry Thyme, I got a request to redo the batch with cinnamon, I am also going to do a Raspberry Chocolate after I figure out how my chocolate and chocolate mint batches come out (did those at the same time).

I did a Peach Spearmint and then did a Peach Vanilla.

I did a pumpkin spice, pumpkin nutmeg, and a pumpkin toasted almond.

I did a Pineapple Lime Mint, plan on replicating that due to popularity but improving on the mistakes that I made on the first one. The mistakes I know about but my friends don't really understand. Basically I like improving myself.

Then I have my standard brew: A sweet honey show mead. On that one I am experimenting with techniques. Oaking vs not Oaking, Three different toast of oak batches, Step feeding vs not step feeding, Then I plan on doing a yeast test with the same honey but different yeasts as my only factor. This has lead me to what techniques do I use for my other experiments to judge what flavors I want.

I have about 30 5-6 gal batches under my belt and more on the way. This does not even dent my to-do list as I am developing a few standard flavors.

So really, I am about improvement as well as trying different things.

Plan on brewing for a good 30-50 years. I keep back 1 six pack of 12 oz bottles from each batch. When I can't brew anymore, I will have a stock of mead to carry me into my really old age.

Matrix

Matrix4b said:

I have about 30 5-6 gal batches under my belt and more on the way. This does not even dent my to-do list as I am developing a few standard flavors.

So really, I am about improvement as well as trying different things.

Plan on brewing for a good 30-50 years. I keep back 1 six pack of 12 oz bottles from each batch. When I can't brew anymore, I will have a stock of mead to carry me into my really old age.

Matrix

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So, let's see if I got this right. You have a mead reserve of 180 bottles just sitting around to age for the next 30 years... Have you decided who gets the mead in your will yet??? :-D