Help me plan!

So, I want to flavr some meades so any feedback (even if you think it would be disgusting) is welcome

Im thinkin.... Sage/thyme- What amounts would you use? should I freeze it to break down the walls like with fruit?


Juniper- how much? I want a nice flavr but not gin

Mint- same as above



Thoughts?

What size batches are you planning?
I would think with sage or any herb, if you can get it fresh, that would be best. Then thoroughly wash it before adding to your mead base. Then add a campden table and let set overnight before pitching. If you were only able to get them dry, I'd make tea out of any leafy ones and add that to your mead.
Sage could be interesting, maybe with a little buckwheat honey along for the ride. I'm not sure about thyme. Mint would be excellent I think. And juniper could be a little different. I saw some Pine Honey at a grocery, that might be an interesting combo with the juniper.

my general habit is to make strait meades, and after it hts gravity, rack off yeast, sorbate and add fruit. so i figured i would do the same with these. I have 5.6 G batches and 6.5 G batches.

I found a sage wine recipe that provides a hint on quantity. He used fresh in the primary, about 7 oz. for a 2.5 gal. batch. Since you prefer to add in the secondary, you could used dried sage and make a tea. For a 5 gal. batch, a guestimate is about 7 oz. dried herb. Someone thought a little orange would work good with sage. Maybe just the peels from two?
It would probably work about the same way with the mint. You could just get mint tea bags and do the same thing. Make tea and add to secondary.
It would make for an interesting presentation to float a leaf in the bottle.
Do you already have juniper berries?

meading_of_minds said:

I found a sage wine recipe that provides a hint on quantity. He used fresh in the primary, about 7 oz. for a 2.5 gal. batch. Since you prefer to add in the secondary, you could used dried sage and make a tea. For a 5 gal. batch, a guestimate is about 7 oz. dried herb. Someone thought a little orange would work good with sage. Maybe just the peels from two?
It would probably work about the same way with the mint. You could just get mint tea bags and do the same thing. Make tea and add to secondary.
It would make for an interesting presentation to float a leaf in the bottle.
Do you already have juniper berries?

Click to expand...

I do not, but I did find a place to buy them

claphamsa said:

So, I want to flavr some meades so any feedback (even if you think it would be disgusting) is welcome

Im thinkin.... Sage/thyme- What amounts would you use? should I freeze it to break down the walls like with fruit?


Juniper- how much? I want a nice flavr but not gin

Mint- same as above



Thoughts?

Click to expand...

For the sage and/or thyme, if you're using fresh, I'd at least bruise the leaves and I'd use only the leaves. I would think freeze/thaw/freeze/thawing would break down those cell walls effectively. I'm guessing you're doing 1 gallon experiments with these herbs & spices, so I'd start with 2 or 3 leaves of sage and/or an equal amount of the thyme. Thyme leaves are smaller, so it'll take more leaves to equal the sage. If you're using dried leaves, I'd start with a 1/2 teaspoon of dried & crushed leaves. Same for the mint. I'd use a sort of "teabag" to contain those herbs/spices.

As for the juniper berries, I'd keep it to 1 dried & cracked/split berry, or 1/2 of 1 fresh berry. Juniper can be pretty potent stuff, so you might want to taste it every other day until you get the level of flavour you want. I'm trying to imagine just what a sage or thyme or sage/thyme metheglin would taste like & I'm having a hard time thinking that it would be somthing I'd like.

I think the sage/tyme might taste like a combination of soup, medicine & booze. I think the mint will taste like mouthwash. The juniper though, that might have some potential. I can easily imagine a nice "bite" from the juniper, but I think it should be balanced with residual sugars or just left dry. I could also be wrong, I've never used any of those herbs/spices in a mead/metheglin, I'm just guessing. It'll be interesting to see how these experiments turn out, keep us posted. Regards, GF.