Caramel Apple Mead

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I'm going to try this as my first mead batch coming up. I'm thinking of serving it sparkling from a keg. Has anyone tried that with this recipe?
 
Beek said:
I don't know if this has come up yet, but is there something that can be used in place of Super Kleer? It's derived from shellfish which SWMBO is allergic to.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

Seems to me you could use regular unflavored gelatin or agar, if you don't want to use an animal product
 
Hey I wanted to give this recipe a try but right now I'm out of dme and clover honey so I was thinking of increasing the orange blossom honey to 9pounds and using a 3 pound bottle of Maillard Malts Amber Malt Extract. think that will get the same kind of flavor as the original?
 
Bulk aging - does it need to be relatively temperature controlled or can I throw it in the garage somewhere?
 
Just curious, what's the DME for, gravity points?
I've rarely ever looked at it so excuse the not knowing.

I have already 5 gal of cider, 71B or D47, fermaid o, caramel malt, clover and wildflower honey. Could I up the grains per gal to achieve the same goal. I understand that the darker the roast the less starches are there for conversion, is that the reasoning for the extract?

I'm giving this a go next weekend and can make the trip to the lhbs if needed.
 
Hard to determine what the DME is for. This is not supposed to be a braggot unless it is... and if it is a braggot then the DME is to add grain to the mead - which is what a braggot is (a hybrid of beer and mead). But some one in 2009 talks about this being a cyser - which is a mead made with apple juice - not grain. But using DME is a good way to make a braggot because you are not trying to make a beer by style but simply want the malt flavors that the extract can provide (saves you from mashing and boiling and spending all day producing the wort. With DME that's all done for you.
 
Thanks, I think I'll skip the DME and still use the caramel malt for flavor anyway. Heat the cider to 153, pour over the malt in my insulated cooler and hold for an hour+
During that time I'll make my yeast starter and crush some other grains I need for another brew.
I'll also just use one type of honey (clover) for the primary.
With the cider being at 1.050 by itself I don't believe I'll have to use 3 lb per gal honey as it would go well above 1.120 so I'll just use the hydrometer to read when I'm there.

This seems like it will taste very good and I'm hoping so and will find out in a couple months.
 
But cooked apple taste liked cooked apple.. Better might be to increase the amount of malt and so the amount of water and simply add that volume to the apple juice when cool enough. Folk on this forum (more associated with brewing than wine making) tend to want to heat everything they ferment. Wine makers tend to brew only their coffee and tea and try to ensure that their fruit remains uncooked.. But to each their own..
 
Didn't think of that, thanks a bunch.

Makes alot of sense tho.

bernardsmith, you have a wealth of knowledge and thanks for sharing the way you do.
 
Hey guys, I got excited when i read this thread and decided to do a version of this.

Im doing 3 gallons.
-2 lbs of crystal malt
-8 lbs of honey
-Lalvin K1v1116
-OG1.139

Looking forward to this one. I was thinking of making some apple jack with it too.
 
Mine is still very young but imho it's wayyy too malted, I believe I could've went with .5lb malt and gotten the flavors I needed.

It may improve with some time and I hope so but for now it's just too much.

Are you going to use juice or cider?
 
Shine0n said:
Mine is still very young but imho it's wayyy too malted, I believe I could've went with .5lb malt and gotten the flavors I needed.

It may improve with some time and I hope so but for now it's just too much.

Are you going to use juice or cider?
Click to expand...

I used 1 gallon of Northcoast organic apple juice and 2 gallons of motts. I should have just grabbed some local Cider but went the juice route. Was it still drinkable with the amount of malt it had ?
 
I still have 2.5 gal aging, I haven't tasted it since I took the other half gal. Drinkable...yes
Too much malt...yes
I'm hoping with a year it becomes better and mingle with the cider more, you can still taste the cider from my last tasting and the malt was overpowering the thing as a whole.
Just not a good ballance on my end, that's why I said I'd personally lower the malt in the next one I do.
 
Shine0n said:
I still have 2.5 gal aging, I haven't tasted it since I took the other half gal. Drinkable...yes
Too much malt...yes
I'm hoping with a year it becomes better and mingle with the cider more, you can still taste the cider from my last tasting and the malt was overpowering the thing as a whole.
Just not a good ballance on my end, that's why I said I'd personally lower the malt in the next one I do.
Click to expand...
So I've been considering a crystal malted cider for some time and came across this.
Did you steep the grains in cider or water?
I don't know if you are a brewer, but 1-2 qt/lb of water to grain ratio is common in brewing, so for 2 lb grain, I could see using just 3-4 qt of water, which would dilute the mix overall, but you can just add honey back in to plus up the gravity (rather than cooking the cider).
 
I actually used the cider. My 2nd job is at a distillery and I use 2-2.25lb per gal for my beer.
But after some new batch recipes we've found a little specialty malt goes a long way.
3-7% is our max as it can easily overpower the grain bill and mask other flavors.

I thought 3 lbs would be much but I've just gotten into meads back in Aug last year. I'll know more in about 6 months or so.
 
summersolstice said:
Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Lalvin K1v1116
Yeast Starter: yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.120
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: n/a
Steep Time (Minutes): 45
Color: golden brown
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 15 days at 68F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 35 days at 68F

4 Gallons apple juice
2 lbs DME
3 lbs 60L Crystal malt
7 lbs Orange blossom honey
2 lbs clover honey
2 lbs buckwheat honey


2 vanilla beans

Steep grains in 1.5 gallons of apple juice at 155F for 45 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in the DME and honey. Rinse grain sack with 1/2 gallon apple juice. Add the remainder of the apple juice. Aerate by vigorous stirring for at least five minutes. Aerate some more. I now use oxygen with a diffuser stone to aerate (better). Pitch yeast starter (hydrated with Go Ferm per container instructions) directly into the primary (plastic pail fitted with an air lock).

At about 1.075 add 5g Fermaid K
At about 1.035 add 5g Fermaid K
(Dissolve your nutrients in water before adding them to your must. This helps to minimize foam.)

Within about two weeks this should ferment out to 1.012 or so. Rack to secondary and add vanilla beans. Allow to remain in the secondary for about a month.

Rack again onto 1 lb of buckwheat honey and 1/4t potassium metabisuphite or 5 campden tabs and 2 1/2t potassium sorbate to stabilize. Add Super Kleer to clarify. Bulk age for six months to a year before bottling.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on gotmead.com. Mine is about 14 months old and tastes just like caramel apples. It's a medium sweet mead that's very drinkable. At about 13.75% alcohol and no alcohol bite one should exercise caution since it goes down so smoothly.
Click to expand...
So after the clarifying agent do you rerack or just let it sit on all the nasty stuff on bottom of
thx for your reply
 

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