Roasted Vanilla Pumpkin Mead?

1 Gallon Batch

3 lbs Honey
1 vanilla bean Boiled in 2 cups water
1 Cinnamon Stick Boiled in 2 cups water
2 ounces chocolate malt boiled in same 2 cups water
.5 tsp nutmeg
.5 tsp allspice
1 can pumpkin

Primary with everything added
Rack off of cinnamon, malt and vanilla after 2 weks into secondary

I am not trying to extract any fermentable sugars from the malt, just the roasted flavor. My main concern is the chocolate malt is going to overpower everything and it is just going to end up tasting like coffee.

Any experience or thoughts on how to go about this?

Note: I am being graded on this so it has to be good!

I'm a newbie - but I think I remember that high temps even for "specialty" malts can extract a tannic astringency. I do extract brews with specialty grains for character like you're suggesting here, and I only go to 170 or so with them. I have tried a mead with a roasted barley addition, and it was a bit of an issue - I either used too much or boiled it too hard. The stuff was kind of awful, but I think if you use the 2 oz you suggest here it could be tasty. I've had commercial braggots that were awesome. Good luck!

dxgord said:

1 Gallon Batch

3 lbs Honey
1 vanilla bean Boiled in 2 cups water
1 Cinnamon Stick Boiled in 2 cups water
2 ounces chocolate malt boiled in same 2 cups water
.5 tsp nutmeg
.5 tsp allspice
1 can pumpkin

Primary with everything added
Rack off of cinnamon, malt and vanilla after 2 weks into secondary

I am not trying to extract any fermentable sugars from the malt, just the roasted flavor. My main concern is the chocolate malt is going to overpower everything and it is just going to end up tasting like coffee.

Any experience or thoughts on how to go about this?

Note: I am being graded on this so it has to be good!

Click to expand...

Well 1st off, allspice tastes a LOT like a combination of nutmeg & cinamon, with a bit of clove thrown in. You might consider dropping the alspice. I'd try to avoid using powdered spices (unless you make a sort of sachet or teabag for them), as they're messy & impossible to remove once they're in. Whole or cracked spices (when possible) are easier to use/remove.

I'd save that vanilla bean for secondary, just split it, scrape it & add it pulp & all. Now when you say "chocolate malt," do you mean the malted & kilned barley that is called chocolate malt due the chocolate like flavours it imparts to beer, or do you mean something more like Ovaltine or Nestle's Quick?

Well, that's my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.

Rosted Barley

Good tip on the whole spices, I had every intention of using powdered & I will save the vanilla for the secondary.

I agree, put the vanilla in secondary, it needs alcohol to extract the flavors. Also do steep the grain, ~160 degree water will be fine.

I made a 5-gallon batch of beer, not mead, that I added spices to, in about the quantities you listed for this 1-gallon batch. Couldn't drink it until much later, after the spice character died down. That said, mead tends to age longer than a 1.060 beer and probably has a little more flavor, so maybe the spices will be balanced.