My Fireball Mead Attempt

***Warning*** I have lots of pics lol

I just bought Radical Brewing so I decided to make the Fireball Mead

15 lbs of honey
50 fireballs
2 tsp nutrient
2 tsp energizer
CR51 Yeast (I wanted Wyeast 4028 but they didn't have it. but this one should work)

The closest thing to "Red Zinger Tea" in my area seems to be "Raspberry Zinger Tea" I made a cup to see what it was like. It had a nice red color but I did not like the taste so I did not put it in my brew. I let the fireballs sit over night in the brew pot with about 1 and 1/2 gallons of water. Next day I heated it up to 160 F for a few minutes. Added the Honey at flame out and stirred it up good. Cooled it to about 80 F in the sink. Poured into glass fermentor and topped it up to 5 gallons. (I think??) anyone know where the 5 gallon mark is on one of these? lol My hydrometer said 1.050 but that didn't seem right to me. this is also my first 5 gallon mead so who knows. anyway I pitched the yeast Saturday and it is fermenting very very slowly lol

The plan:
I think I will leave it alone in the primary and secondary for 3 months (each) then rack it one last time for the cinnamon oil addition. then bottle. What do you all think?

To carbonate or not to carbonate, that is the questions?

Pictures so far

the last pictures I have for today see you in 3 months lol

place holder #1 (most likely this will be when I rack to secondary)

place holder #2 (pictures of the final racking and cinnamon oil addition)

place holder #3 (bottling and tasting)

I am making a similar mead though I am using equal parts apple juice with cinnamon tea by Harney and Sons, 3# honey per gallon and the fireballs are going in secondary.

15 gallons of honey maybe you mean lbs?

I've got a mini brew of this on, just in a 2l plastic bottle. 1.5lb of honey, no tea (couldn't find it either), 5 fireballs in secondary, and I'm gonna put a cinnamon stick in it shortly. I imagine it will taste rank, but it's mainly for a friends birthday in June so hopefully all goes well!

I look forward to hearing how your 5gl brew goes!

gayleygoo said:

15 gallons of honey maybe you mean lbs?

I've got a mini brew of this on, just in a 2l plastic bottle. 1.5lb of honey, no tea (couldn't find it either), 5 fireballs in secondary, and I'm gonna put a cinnamon stick in it shortly. I imagine it will taste rank, but it's mainly for a friends birthday in June so hopefully all goes well!

I look forward to hearing how your 5gl brew goes!

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Don't do the cinnamon stick in it, consider making a cinnamon extract by covering a few cinnamom sticks with pure grain and let them soak away. I just stuck in refrig for two months then removed the cinnamon sticks and coffee filtered to clear the extract. Will not take much for your bday batch. Which should turn out well!!

gayleygoo said:

15 gallons of honey maybe you mean lbs?

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LOL yes lbs thanks for catching that. I made the changes
I'll blame that one on the brown ale I was drink while posting

Got my Cinnamon oil today but I have to wait a few more months before I use it

RDWHAHB: I'm drinking a simple blonde ale right now

dennisjonesjr said:

Got my Cinnamon oil today but I have to wait a few more months before I use it

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Do you know if that oil will incorporate in alcohol? A chef told me to keep gum arabic on hand when wanting to incorporate oil into beer/wine, because it will allow the oil to homogenize. I forgot to ask how to use the gum arabic, and she has since passed away, but I suspect the info is online.

From what I have read it takes a long time for any oil to blend into a mead. an example would be the chocolate mead (liquid sex), takes 2 years if I remember right. I will read more about combining oil and alcohol , I have another 6 months before I add it so I'm not to worried just yet I will look up the gum arabic as well. thanks

Just moved my fireball mead from the glass carboy into a bottling bucket and back to the carboy. I don't have another carboy so that's what I had to do lol oh and I did kick up a bit of sediment unfortunately so you will see some of the red from the fireballs in the bucket.

I used 20 fireballs in a gallon I did last year. Excellent flavor

Out of curiosity, if you cracked a fireball in half and dropped it into your carboy would you get a mentos type degassing reaction? I love me some fresh fireballs. Are you guys going to spice it up a little with some hot peppers also or just go with the straight fireball flavor? Do you plan on adding some red food coloring to recapture the color? Have you started on your fireball label yet? WVMJ

This thread reminded me to go check my fireball cyser. I used 10 fireballs per gallon and 5 fire jolly ranchers (for color and a bit more oomph). I do have cinnamon oil if I need it. It smelled/tasted amazing two months ago.

madcowbrewing: I went with 10 per gallon so that you get roughly 1 fireball per 12 ounce bottle. I may try a smaller batch like yours to see how 2 per bottle taste

WVMJ: I'm not sure about the fireball/mentos reaction, not sure I want to try it with my first 5 gallon of this I will be "spicing it up" with the cinnamon oil in another 3 months. For this batch I will not be adding red food coloring but I might on the next one. My labels usually consist of masking tape and a marker

saramc: This is my first time brewing with candy, does the jolly rancher color settle out like the fireball color does?

dennisjonesjr said:

saramc: This is my first time brewing with candy, does the jolly rancher color settle out like the fireball color does?

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Hoping the photo gives some insight. But in the glass it appears to be a golden rose color. Jolly Rancher dissolves completely, no sediment. The carboy as a whole definitely appears more deeply colored. And the sample is so smooth with a definite cinnamon kiss on the end, gives your mouth that 'been chewing cinnamon gum' feeling.

That is definitely a better color than what I got right now. When I'm done with this one I think I'll make a few small batches and try a few of these ideas and see how it goes.

I'm getting ready to do this!
My plan is 10 fireballs per gallon in primary Then some fire jolly ranchers for secondary not sure yet though. Ferment dry then back sweeten with some fire jolly ranchers and honey.

Sounds good. I would like to rack mine one more time before I add the cinnamon oil so I will probably do that this weekend.

I should totally do this. I had a Red Hots mead at a homebrew party couple of years ago and it was really good. I think the guy use a big bag of red hots candy instead of fireballs. It will give something for my 2.5 gallon carboy to hold onto during the winter months.

I added the cinnamon oil finally. I will check again in a few days to see how well the oil dissolves into the mead.

How did it turn out with the cinnamon oil?


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saramc said:

Hoping the photo gives some insight. But in the glass it appears to be a golden rose color. Jolly Rancher dissolves completely, no sediment. The carboy as a whole definitely appears more deeply colored. And the sample is so smooth with a definite cinnamon kiss on the end, gives your mouth that 'been chewing cinnamon gum' feeling.

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I did finally make my cinnamon mead. I think it turned out ok, but it's a bit cloudy. I admit I did not use a clarifying agent at all. When I get better at making meads in general I think it will turn out better yet and hopefully look as nice as yours.

I'm looking for a cinnamon candy or something to back sweeten with. I was going to go with the cinnamon jolly ranchers but the store that sold them say they are now discontinued. My fireball mead was done for a while now just need more cinnamon taste. Any suggestions?
Also the fireballs have to much fallout when dissolved. Unless I use them in my clear mead and wait to clear once again.