Anyone ever heard of an "oak" mead?

I'm just starting in homebrewing. Got my first beer in the fermentor now. Never knew anything about mead. I have a very good friend (he gave me a kidney!) who's a WW2 re-enactor. Someone brought some mead to an event and he loved it. He said they called it oak mead. I would like to brew him a batch but so far can't find any recipe by that name. Also, my local brewshop guy never heard of it either. Any help would be appreciated!

Terry

Most likely answer is the mead was oaked, as in aged in either a barrel or chips. I have a few different meads which were barrel aged, it's fairly common around here.

I heard of a Welsh mead seasoned with oak leaves.

That's sorta what I was thinking. I have a basic understanding of mead. Basically water, honey and yeast. How and when would you add oak chips to it and how do you control how much oak comes though in the final flavor? I'd like to make maybe a 2 gallon batch for him and do it right. After all, it's one of his kidneys keeping me on the right side of the grass!

Terry

Wow... nice trade!

Thanks for the kidney! Here, let me kill your liver....

Hey, he asked me to make him some and he's one guy I never say no to!

Terry

Shadow56,
I can see how you want to make the very best mead that you can for such an incredible friend, I would as well if I were in your shoes.
I would add an ounce of medium toast french oak chips during fermentation per 5 gallon batch, Using chips in the primary , the active yeast metabolizes and buffers the oak. much like a barrel ferment (thanks to Bzac for this info), or you can purchase oak cubes, the major difference is this; oak chips will release all that they can give within a short time frame, 1 ounce is a very small amount for a 5 gallon batch, but you can start with 1/2 ounce if you feel more comfortable, oak cube take several months to impart the full amount of oak that they will give making it a much more controlled solution as you can remove the oak cubes as soon as it reaches a level of oak that suits your taste.
Just keep in mind, as you age the mead, the oak will dissipate some, especially since you'll probably have to age it 6 months - 1 year or more, you can always add more while aging.
If you are looking to make a mead that can be ready faster, fruit meads or Melomels can be ready is as little as 6 months.

I agree that it sounds like oaked mead. There are many ways you can go about it. I would personally ask him what the mead tasted like, if you don't know that it. I have used American oak in wildflower honey and in alfalfa honey. Oak chips come in various levels of toast. Most commonly: Light toasted, medium toasted, and heavy toasted. I have found that Light toasted oak makes for a slightly fruity, as in a bare hint, with a smooth mead, Medium will have some vanilla like tones and heavy will have some smoky notes just like scotch. I have not yet experimented on mixing them but I think that a mix could produce great results. Personally, I put the oak in for a couple of weeks (1 oz for 5 gal batch is good) in the secondary. Not only does it age better but a little quicker. Still, be patient on the aging.

I also go a bit light on the oak chips with it only being 2-3 weeks in the secondary after it clears and prior to bottling. The Alcohol extracts out the essences that you want and slow enough to really tell.

I haven't used French Oak and didn't like the taste of Hungarian Oak. If you try other woods I would fist check for toxicity as some woods like Cedar are actually toxic and not suitable. Hmm, a Rosewood or a Cherry wood? In combination with oak? Might be something to try. But for your "Oak Mead" I would recommend you find a nice robust honey, such as alfalfa and make a batch, then oak it. It is best, IMHO, to put the chips in a hops bag for ease of removal, but loosly pack it, not tightly. In this case quality of honey is paramount as it is your main flavor that you are altering.

Since you have brewed beer, Be patient with Mead, don't even taste it until it hits 8 months aging. The aging starts when the Mead is clear enough to read through. Remember you are going for taste and quality, not quick and ready fast. There are no hops (although you can hop it) in mead. You also do not do any boiling. You keep much of the aromatics and flavor when you just heat it up enough to melt the honey, not much more. If it's boiling, it's too much. Also, as with beer, sanitize your equipment prior to use.

Good Luck
Matrix

I'd assume it was oak leaf - you need fresh young shoots for it and a lot of them. Can't find a recipe that's directly a mead but this wine recipe gives you an idea -

http://www.wine-making-guides.com/oak_leaf_wine.html

Oaking mead is not uncommon. And thankfully meadmaking isn't very time consuming compared to beermaking.

I would recommend reading The Compleat Meadmaker, but Ken Schramm. Great book and lots of ideas and information in there.

For the home meadmaker I'd add oak chips or oak cubes from the brew supply store. French oak cubes are pretty common.

You may also consider adding a bit of bourbon to some of your mead. Just a little bit can give an oaked mead more complexity and make it more interesting.

Thanks! I'm on my way to Amazon to order that book now.

Terry

Has anyone soaked the wood chips in bourbon to get the "bourbon" effect? I am considering doing that with a batch of mead.

JDWebb said:

Has anyone soaked the wood chips in bourbon to get the "bourbon" effect? I am considering doing that with a batch of mead.

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Just what exactly is the "bourbon" effect??? I have no idea...

fuelish said:

Just what exactly is the "bourbon" effect??? I have no idea...

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It makes it delicious!

If you're a bourbon fan, adding a little bourbon will impart just a hint of extra flavors like caramel, vanilla, oak, etc... All the stuff bourbon is famous for.

I've had an oaked, bourbon mead and to me it's way better than plain mead. Don't add too much though.

Oak leaves presumably add tannins to the mead whereas using oak chips (or aging in a barrel add additional flavors (vanilla and the like). Tannins add to the complexity of the mouthfeel not so certain that oaking has the same effect...
As to the need to wait 8 months before you taste a mead I think that with good wine making yeasts (71B for example - rather than aggressive champagne yeasts) and with treating the honey as if it contains volatile aromatics and flavor molecules (that means do not boil or heat the honey) and if you aim to ferment at lower rather than higher temperatures and if you do NOT add acids (citric or acid blend before the fermentation is complete) and if you provide nutrients to the must (the diluted honey prior to pitching the yeast) then the mead should clear bright in a couple of months, be quite drinkable in 4 or 5 months and continue to improve over years... The need to age a mead for about a year or more was because mazers treated their honey as if it was crap and stressed the bejesus out of the yeast. Today, I think we know far better how to encourage a really good fermentation.. Certainly no harm in allowing a mead to age for a couple of years ... but Loveofrose and others have shown that a good mead can be finished in a month or two

b-boy said:

It makes it delicious!

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....delicious if you like bourbon, I guess....

JDWebb said:

Has anyone soaked the wood chips in bourbon to get the "bourbon" effect? I am considering doing that with a batch of mead.

Click to expand...

Haven't done this but if you use Medium Toasted oak AND heavy toasted oak you should get a similar effect, touch of vanilla is always nice to add too.

The instructions on the bag say to soak them in boiling water for 30 seconds, I'm thinking this is to maybe sterilize them. Then it says to just add them to your mead/wine. I'm thinking of adding them to a small amount of bourbon and keeping an eye so they won't go dry with the absorption, and keeping them wet for a few days before adding them to my cider or mead.