Wedding Mead

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Tusch

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Well plenty of people have come up with brews for peoples' weddings but now I find myself planning my own. I got engaged to my wonderful fiancee on Christmas Morning. We are planning on a fall or winter ceremony and I'd like to provide some unique brews for people to try. I know I should know better, but I am just now looking at what I should brew. I have this week off and would like to start a couple meads this week, just small two gallon batches, not trying to fully stock the reception just something special.

Just looking for suggestions. I was thinking one could be a nice dark berry melomel and maybe a vanilla/cinnamon metheglin. I know I should have started these a few months ago (I know better but hey I was kind of preoccupied by the proposing thing!) I prefer dry meads, so while a sweeter mead will cover any flaws of underaging, I was hoping for some support from my fellow meaders.
 
The last thing you need is to be stressed about your mead being ready in time for the weeding. I'd suggest using the recipe for Joe's Quick Grape mead and then choosing whatever frozen concentrate you like, such as Blueberry/Pomegranate or whatever. You can have it in the bottle by summer and easily ready to drink by autumn.
 
we served two bottles (or rather, i did...drunkenly) at our wedding in November. One bottle was a plain mead and the other a sort of braggot. I should have decanted both as many people got some yeast cloud and such. Start it now if you can. It's a slow finish and takes more time than i allowed it. Still, it was damn strong stuff with good flavor once the dryness passed.

Def. go for one of the quick recipes. You will be happier for it.
 
I understand Solstice, but hey screw it! I'll get it going this week and give it a try before the wedding, if it's ready hooray. If its not I'll bottle it in 375's and give it away with notes saying celebrate our one year anniversary with us by opening this bottle.

I don't have too much interest in doing a Joe's, I've done a few but I'd rather do something different for this. I still liked JAOM best but I now use wine yeast and zest for a nice dry citrus mead.
 
Making a dry mead that tastes good in under a year can be a challenge, but if I was going to try it I'd probably make a cyser, using a lighter honey. Something where the alcohol is kept to a level where it won't take so much time to integrate - say a starting gravity of around 1.090 (probably close to 1.5 pounds of honey per gallon). I'd use DV10 yeast which can produce relatively smooth results right out of the primary, and I'd ferment it cool (around 60 F) to prevent fusel alcohols, and maximize the retention of the fruity esters.

Something like that will give you a very drinkable result in 6-9 months.

Congratulations!

Medsen
 
Joe's Quick Grape is nothing like JAO - it's a completely different animal and really a decent melomel.

Glad to see the comments about Quick Grape--been wanting to do one and wondered what it was like. What about doing a Quick Grape Mead with white grape juice? Just me, but I think a white wine/melomel would look attractive in gift bottles with all the typical white wedding decorations, etc. Plus I've been wondering what a white grape melomel would taste like.
 
Ignoring the difficult part of whether it will be refined in time and just focusing on the fun/flavours, I'd go with something either seasonal (blackberries or an apple cyser and/or spices for fall/winter) or else thematic for your wedding. Your girl would probably love that **** :p Will you have a theme? You could go for a flavour that reminds you or your spouse of the colours used in your reception (such as a vanilla mead for white, or a peach melomel if your decorations will be autumnal?) But whatever you choose, you should probably make/have a backup!
 
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