Lemon/Lime Mead?

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I am interested in making a Lemon/Lime Mead. I would like a lemon/lime dominate mead, not as a complimenting flavor. I am wondering if there needs to be any special concerns with to much citric acid and the pH. If anyone has tried this how did it turn out, and maybe a recipe.

Thanks in advance,
AJ
 
Wow what a coincidence that you posted this question, I logged on just now to ask/suggest this just now. I plan on adding lemon zest to part of the batch thats fermenting right now. I am just going to infuse lemon peels or zest after its totally done fermenting. I think it will contrast the sweetness awesome.
 
I think you'll have better flavor if you made a good mead first, then add the lemon/lime flavor in the secondary. By putting it in the secondary you won't have to worry about the acidity of the citrus in the must. Also, I believe it will give you a "cleaner" citrus flavor if the mead is already fermented.

Sounds like a fun project and I wish you luck with it.
 
I would use mainly zest. Too much lemon/lime juice might add too much acid, which could affect fermentation and flavor. You don't want to pucker when you drink it. A friend of mine used lemon extract in a beer. It tasted like Pledge! Next time he used zest and some juice and it tasted great.
 
I am hoping for a defined lemon or lime flavor. Has anyone ever used lime honey. I was looking a honey sold from lime groves. I still not sure if the zest will give me the flavor i'm looking for. And the unfortunet thing about mead is you have to wait so long before it reaches its prime that you want more, and you have to wait againl.... I'm sure that discussion has been made many times.

I know Lemon/Lime is a stronger acid than most oranges, but most orange melomels have oranges in the primary/secondary.
 
You've got me thinking that I might give this a go. I think I will do a Key Lime mead, and then serve with lemon wedges if there isn't enough lemon flavor. I think I'll also do a very light mead...2# of honey per gallon, and use a nice clean wine yeast....Cote Des Blanc? or maybe Premiere Cuvee. Either way, it will ferment very dry and have plenty of gods left to carbonate. I Think I'll juice the limes, AND add the zest, but both will go in after primary fermentation is complete. I like the way that method tends to preserve the flavor of the fruit.
 
If you want a dominate lime/lemon flavor, make some mead. When it's totally done rack onto whatever or add some flavoring.

I'm no expert but that is what I would do.
 
I put lime into a beer and I created both an extract and a bitter for it, and the flavor came out exactly how I wanted it. Using both extract and bitter gave the lime more balance and it didn't taste artificial at all.

To make an extract, just steep zest in vodka for a while.
To make a bitter, steep the whole peel (zest and pith).

If I was going to do this, I'd do it that way for both lemons and limes and use that to get my flavor - this came out extremely cleanly and well balanced.
 
I don't see lime honey giving much actual lime flavor. The lime fruit is limey...I doubt the lime tree blossoms are very limey.

I too suggest a very light honey, and then a lot of zest added to secondary
 
Well I've done this the other way round i.e. I just made 2 batches (1 gallon) of Joe's Ancient Orange, but instead of orange, I used lemon and lime. One of the 2 then had the bread yeast pitched, and the other one was pitched with 71B.

I can't tell you how they taste yet as I'm still waiting for the fruit to drop before I rack them off.

regards

fatbloke
 
I put lime into a beer and I created both an extract and a bitter for it, and the flavor came out exactly how I wanted it. Using both extract and bitter gave the lime more balance and it didn't taste artificial at all.

To make an extract, just steep zest in vodka for a while.
To make a bitter, steep the whole peel (zest and pith).

If I was going to do this, I'd do it that way for both lemons and limes and use that to get my flavor - this came out extremely cleanly and well balanced.

If you steep the zest in vodka, do you then add the vodka to the secondary? For the bitter do you steep the zest and pith in the secondary or the zest and pith in vodka? This is a method i am not familar with. What have you steeped in vodka, how long do you let it rest?
 
I infused vodka with lemon zest when I made Limoncello and the it took 1 week, the zest turns white thats when its done. also swirl it once a day.
 
If you steep the zest in vodka, do you then add the vodka to the secondary? For the bitter do you steep the zest and pith in the secondary or the zest and pith in vodka? This is a method i am not familar with. What have you steeped in vodka, how long do you let it rest?
The vodka holds the flavor, so yeah, that's what you add. And the bitter is steeped in vodka as well.

It's pretty much the same thing as putting something in secondary - the alcohol is leeching flavors out of it. But if you do it in vodka, you're dealing with a lot more alcohol and it gets the flavors a lot more quickly.

And then you can add the vodka just to get it to taste right instead of wondering how much total fruit to use or any of that stuff.

One thing I would also mention is if you intend to carbonate this mead, be sensitive adding lemon/lime flavors to it. Carbonation does a lot to liven citrus flavors.
 
I am hoping for a defined lemon or lime flavor. Has anyone ever used lime honey. I was looking a honey sold from lime groves. I still not sure if the zest will give me the flavor i'm looking for. And the unfortunet thing about mead is you have to wait so long before it reaches its prime that you want more, and you have to wait againl.... I'm sure that discussion has been made many times.

I know Lemon/Lime is a stronger acid than most oranges, but most orange melomels have oranges in the primary/secondary.

I know from personal experience that using large amounts of lemon juice in the primary will kill your fermentation. There's just too much acid in it to allow a healthy fermentation. I'd make straight mead, maybe a sweet mead, or a medium mead & rack it onto zest in your secondary. I've been experimenting with a small batch for a while now & have learned the hard way that 20 oz of lemon juice into 3 gallons will effectively kill your yeast & clear your mead QUICK. Also, that 20 oz of lemon juice added NO discernable lemon flavour, not even after several months. All it did was make my mead harsher than it was. It's also a high alcohol mead, so I attempted to "fix" it by adding fresh lemon zest that I simmered in a pan of water & honey to make a sort of lemon syrup & added that to the offensive stuff. It's still pretty harsh, not sure if it'll ever settle down on it's own, but now it has the distinct aroma of lemon. If I'd done this from the start, I think my lemon melomel would be far less harsh & might even have been drinkable by now. You mentioned that you were looking for lime blossom honey. I've never heard of it, but it might be out there somewhere here is a link to a supplier of some rather exotic varietals http://www.beefolks.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=5&cat=Honey,+Bulk They might be able to help you out. I'm curious to see just what method(s) you end up using & your results. Hope you find this info useful, GF.
 
If you insist on a certain variety on monofloral honey, this website has a search engine for suppliers and farms: http://www.honeylocator.com/
Kickass link!

Apparently there's a distributor near me with chestnut, pine, fir, heather, and thyme honey beyond the usual stuff.

I wonder if pine or fir would make a good base for a juniper mead...
 
I just meet with a fellow brewer tonight to pick up some kegs and he let me try his JOAM that he modified with the addition of lime and I have to say...WOW

It was super good. I'm getting details from him on this and will be making a batch myself. From what I gather during our conversation he just replaced the orange with limes. There was no bitter taste to it at all...it was very smooth. I throughly enjoyed it.
 
dont know if anyone cares but Im awake so heres my input, zest your fruit and get a small amount of the pith as well, then juice your fruit if you dont get enough juice go buy a couple of the plastic ones from the grocery store. then put all the juice in a pot and bring to a low boil and add the zest, then simmer for...lets call it 10 minutes or less dont reduce the liquid just bring out the zestyness then cool and pour this into your secondary/tetiary or whatever point you are at and rack your mead on top of the zesty-juice.
 
I know I am resurrecting a long dead thread, but I wanted to know how the JOAM lemon/lime replacements went?

I found this recipe and was about to throw it together when I was summoned to help w/ kids homework... plans spoiled.

http://www.joyofwine.net/vinlemonmead.htm

So, on the spot, I quickly took 3lb of wild flower honey, 3/4 gallon of water, two lemons cut in quarters and pitched 1 tsp of Fleischmann's bread yeast over it (then ran to give a hand).

All that said, I am sure this will be undrinkable, but thought I would save myself 9 months of wondering by seeing what experiences were had by fellow HBT'ers.
 
Funny you should post this as I had the same thought and put together a JAO-inspired lemon mead in early November.

I did the following 5 gallon batch...

10 lbs Clover
2 lbs table sugar
2 oz. fresh ginger
1/2 box of white raisins

71B - 2 packets

SG 1.080
FG 0.099

About a week into fermentation I removed the lemons because it seemed it was fermenting really slowly. I think I read gratus comments regarding lemon juice and got scared. I wonder if I could have left them in?

Either way it fermented dry so the lemons didn't kill the ferment but if I make this again I will probably add the lemons in secondary.

It tastes really good right now. The ginger is the dominate flavor but I was going for that. I may add some more lemon after I rack to secondary. I plan to add some vanilla beans and oak.

I bet you'll be surprised and your mead will turn out great. Yeast are some tough buggers!
 
I traded a few bottles with someone last year and they made a lemon/lime mead. It was amazing. It tasted like Mountain Dew. I still have a bottle, that I'd like to carbonate.
 
I hate to bring this old thread up yet again, but does anyone have a surefire recipe for this?
 
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