Tangerine Mead

Has anyone had experience making Tangerine/citrus meads? I have a tree full of tangerines in the backyard that will be ripe in about a month. I have no idea what kind they are but we eat them every year. They are very sweet and fairly tart. How many tangerines per gallon? How much zest should i use? Thanks for any help/ideas/comments

I would look for a proven recipe. I hear tangerines and other citrus fruits mess up the fermentation because of acidity. I'm sure you could incorporate them some how though.

I'd probably treat them like oranges, and build a recipe around that, adjusting for your personal taste and the sweetness of your particular fruit. I have blackberries in my back yard, and I plan on taking full advantage come next fall. I was too late this year, and the crop was lost to the jam makers.

I would also use Orange Blossom honey to help with citrus flavor. you might not have to add that many tangerines then

I did my grapefruit mead with a clover honey, and used about 7lbs in a 6 gallon batch. I would use about the same amout of fruit by weight for a 6 gallons batch with the tangerine. Also do the primary fermentation without the fruit and add them at secondary, this way you get more flavor and only minimal fermentation with the added sugar, also this way any interference with the pH of the fermentation due to the added acid should be avoided.

Also for mine I believe I use 71B as the yeast.

I've made citrus mead a few times. most recently with tangerines and oranges. The problem I always have is with the acid levels being to high. I started to ferment the honey (orange blossom) and the citrus in different carboys and blend together after fermentation and a little bit of aging. It's a real pain in the ass...but it's the only way that i can get the taste i want.

While I've never made a pure citrus mead, I've used various types of oranges and tangerines in JAOM. I think that the citrus level is just about right and that recipe calls for one large orange (I use two small oranges or tangerines) per gallon. That way you don't end up with your acid level too high. Of course, in JAOM the spices offset the acidity.

jesse said:

I've made citrus mead a few times. most recently with tangerines and oranges. The problem I always have is with the acid levels being to high. I started to ferment the honey (orange blossom) and the citrus in different carboys and blend together after fermentation and a little bit of aging. It's a real pain in the ass...but it's the only way that i can get the taste i want.

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Question: what kind of taste were you looking for? SWEET? bitter? Just curious since we are also venturing down that road. I figured that the acidity would be high but I did not consider adding the tangerines in secondary.