Leap Year Mead 2

There is lots of good info on the net about Vanilla beans.
Madagascar is the preferred "gourmet" beans.
Beware of dried out beans.
Beware of beans with little or no aroma.
Best flavor comes from longer beans (7-8 inches or longer). Also much more expensive.
I'm not sure that the prices on the Vanilla Bean ad are the best.
I've always bought my beans from a local Mediterranean store but we have a new spice store here that I will check out so I can see (and smell) them before buying.

I'm in on this. Don't know crap of vanilla beans either. So pretty much just tell me what to make and I'll make it.

I got a pound of Madagascar prime beans online for $40 last year (over 100 beans). This sounds like a good way to use up 2... I can't describe how great the Madagascar beans are. The beans were very moist, and I've already gone through 750ml of homemade extract.

I'm thinking I may have to try adding some bitter orange to some vanilla mead... mmmm creamsicle...

I'm in.

What is everyone thinking about the yeast issue? Do we need another poll?
I'm still voting for using an easily available Montrichet or Pasteur Champagne yeast. We are getting close to our date for completion, and I am headed to the city this weekend. I'd like to know what I'm shopping for.
This is going to ROCK:rockin: ...4 years from now

SOOOO......

This is the recipe I will be following.
I will probably do more than a gallon but you can scale it any size batch.
3 pounds honey (I will be using my VERY local wildflower made right down the road so I encourage the use of wildflower but chose whatever you like.)
yeast nutrient
little over 1 gallon water (accounting for loss to sediment etc)
1 gram Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast
Estimated OG: 1.130
Estimated FG:1.000???
After primary fermentation rack onto 2 vanilla beans

looking for feedback
type of bean we have decided on
gravity estimations
what do we do to the vanilla beans before throwing them in the carboy?

I'm going to be using:

3 pounds of Arizona wildflower honey
Pasteur Champagne yeast
2 Bourbon Vanilla Beans 8 inches + into the secondary fermenter

I wonder how black berry would taste with the vanilla~

At 3 pounds per gallon, we're cutting it pretty close to that yeast's tolerance. According to this calculator, we'll be at 14.85% abv, while pasteur champange only gets up to 13-15%. That could turn out to be a sweet mead. If we want to make sure it's going to ferment dry, we should use something like ec-1118 or Premier Cuvée.

Calc: http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=745&Itemid=16
Yeast Table: http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=625&Itemid=42

BuffaloSabresBrewer said:

looking for feedback
type of bean we have decided on
gravity estimations
what do we do to the vanilla beans before throwing them in the carboy?

Click to expand...

All of the best cooking shows have said that you take a sharp knife and split the bean lengthwise, then scrape the goo out of it, then add ALL of that into the recipe.

NOTE: Pull the bean throuth the knife, just poke the tip into the bean, then pull the bean instead of the knife.

I am with BuffaloSabres. My recipe will match what he just said. I have ordered beans. Got 13 (10 for the batch, 3 to play with)for just under $16.00 including shipping, and they said I'll have it in 3 to 5 days.
This is a call for the banana.

Im waiting on buying the beans. Its gonna ferment first anyways.

Uh so you guys did read my post about the yeast, right? Using that yeast, your mead may end up sweet.

Beala, Yes. I did. Taking that into consideration, The complete Mead maker says that this yeast is good to 16%, so I'm not real concerned with the yeast crapping out too soon, and I'm ok with any residual sweetness that comes along with this mead. Mostly, I am looking for a fun, easy mead that we can think about for 4years knowing that a handful or 2 of other people are also building. That is not to say that I would not be open to, or that I would be upset if someone uses a different yeast. I think that the most important part is that you brew on the 29th, and save it for 29ths to come.

P.S. what is HefeApfelwein like?

Okay

It looks like things are settled now I need to get the ingredients.

I appreciate the more experienced people chiming in. Going to follow BuffaloSabre's recipe.

Figure I would do a gallon, as this should give me four wine bottle that should last me the next 16 years!

archmaker said:

Okay

Figure I would do a gallon, as this should give me four wine bottle that should last me the next 16 years!

Click to expand...

Didn't think of it that way...I'm doing 5 gallons!! If I get 30 bottles...that is....120 years. Is this too much? Wonder if it'll last that long?

BigKahuna said:

Didn't think of it that way...I'm doing 5 gallons!! If I get 30 bottles...that is....120 years. Is this too much? Wonder if it'll last that long?

Click to expand...

You never know how long people are going to start living so you can never have too much or be too prepared. Im hoping I can do 5 gallons honey is expensive stuff though.

I think I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and make some of this too. But my experience with vanilla is that it fades fairly quickly. Will the vanilla flavor be able to survive that long? I've never made vanilla mead before, so maybe the mead part changes things.

I do like Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast. I've always had good luck with that one.

I spoke with 3 "Masters" at 3 different Brew stores yesterday. They all came to the conclusion that if you drink this stuff early, it will have a true Vanilla flavor. They also agree that probably by the first and surely by the second leap year, the vanilla "Flavor" will be gone in lieu of a super complex depth of flavor and nose. I am excited to see what happens with this.

I expect that the vanilla nose will pretty much dissipate but with two beans per gallon, we should still get a nice complex flavor. I'm planning on buying the longest, plumpest beans I can find. I'm not going to purchase those until closer to racking day.

We don't have a lot of choice around here for "local" honey so I'm pretty excited that I found some produced within 100 miles. The down side is that it doesn't say what those bees were using to make the honey. It's probably co-op honey but that's okay with me.

I still need to pick up some more nutrient but I've got my yeast, honey, and water already. I'm so excited to get this going, I'm having a hard time waiting until the 29th. The good news is that I also bought enough honey to make up a batch of Malkore's Not So Ancient mead so that should keep me satisfied until the big day.

BigKahuna said:

hey also agree that probably by the first and surely by the second leap year, the vanilla "Flavor" will be gone in lieu of a super complex depth of flavor and nose. I am excited to see what happens with this.

Click to expand...

Sounds awesome to me!!!

That does sound pretty cool! Can't wait to get this stuff started. Only four years to go!

Yet41 said:

That does sound pretty cool! Can't wait to get this stuff started. Only four years to go!

Click to expand...

We may have to start a support group to help keep everyones fingers out of this stuff....or just talk SWMBO into another Carboy so we can keep busy with other stuff.

I just got my vanilla from Beanzilla. 13 of them for $15.00 and they don't suck. They are vac packed and seem to be very moist and smell awesome. My new problem...What the heck do I do with them till we rack?

I sure hope that someone smarter (and more artistic) than I is working on a label that we all can use.

Just grabbed some vanilla beans the other day, they smell delicious!
Looking forward to seeing how this goes....

I've got a blueberry vanilla mead clearing right now. When I sampled it a while back, the vanilla came through quite nicely. Not overpowering, but certainly present.


Well, technically it is a Blueberry Vanilla Melomel.

4 days till "assembly"...

Getting my honey tomorrow from my co-worker that raises bees...(she only charging me $20 for 9 lbs!!)

Gonna order my vanilla later...I figure that we have at least a month before racking to secondary for clearing.

Anybody gonna try adding a little vanilla extract to the primary? Do you think it would do anything?

-Will

Can any 1 tell me how to make mead. This sounds interesting. What does mead taste like? Please see my other link MEAD? WHAT IS IT?

Ok. Someone more artistic that Me needs to do this, but maybe this will get the ball rolling.
Wouldn't it be cool if we all had the same labels? With the spot to put our own brewery name at the bottom.

We have plenty of time...lets make something great.

I like it!! But I'm easy!! :cross:

Guess I'm easy too because I like it.

I just came across this thread and I'm in...
This recipe just went transatlantic…

Quick question about the vanilla for everyone. Does everyone plan on boiling the vanilla for sanitization purposes or are we just going to drop them into the secondary and presume the alcohol will be sufficient enough to keep the mead safe from infection? One day to go!!1

Neal

If nobody tells me any better, I intend to just put them in the bottom of the secondary and go to town!
I do plan on splitting and scraping them though.

35Hours till my intended brew time.

Would it be considered Post Whoring if I count down the hours till Brew Time...15 minutes at at time?

Today is the day!

Will get my started tonight when I get home from work.

Me Too! 10 Hours from now.
I wonder how many gallons of this will be made. We should make a guest book. So we know how many states (Countries) and how many gallons have been made.

A few last minute questions for you guys:
How much yeast nutrient are you guys adding per gallon?
Are you boiling your honey at all or just enough to dissolve the honey in the water?

Unfortunately I don't have access to a local apiary except for buying their stuff at the grocery store, and they ain't cheap there! But for this mead, if I'm going to wait 4 years, I'm getting the best stuff I can get my hands on. I'm only making 1 gallon anyways.

So excited! Not sure on nutrient, but I am definitely not boiling. Just softening in a hot water bath.