Sweet Potato Pie Mead

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summersolstice

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Last March I decided I wanted something for the holidays and pumpkins just aren't available that time of year. Even finding canned pumpkins in March is difficult. Having been raised in the south I knew how similar sweet potato and pumpkin pies taste.

Since I mentioned this mead in another thread I've had a couple of requests for the recipe. It's kinda complicated but now, at almost 5 months old, it's pretty good. I only made two gallons since it was the first time making it. In fact, I've never even heard of anyone making it before.

5 lbs fresh sweet potatoes
4-4.5 lbs alfalfa honey
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
10 oz raisins
1.5 cinnamon sticks
1T blade style mace
5 green cardamom beans
6 cloves
1T fresh grated ginger
71B1122 yeast

OG 1.071 before adding sweet potatoes

Steam sweet potatoes and mash. Place in straining bag along with the spices and the raisins. Pitch yeast. There'll be many suspended solids, even with the straining bag.

rack in 3 weeks and top with dark rum (no more than a pint for this amount). The mead will ferment to dryness at this point.

After another month rack onto 8 oz alfalfa honey and 4 oz apple juice concentrate. Add two campden tablets or 1/8 t (teaspoon) k-meta and 1/2 t of potassium sorbate.

Wait another couple of weeks and bottle when clear. It provided me with 5 750ml and 3 375ml bottles.

This is a medium sweet mead that tastes just like sweet potato/pumpkin pie and should accompany a holiday dinner very nicely.
 
I made this last night and was a little short on sweet potatoes and I had to add water to come up to 2 gallons did yo uadd any water to yours? And if I'm reading this correctly you let it go for three weeks then rack onto the rum and add k meta correct? how much k meta?
 
I made this last night and was a little short on sweet potatoes and I had to add water to come up to 2 gallons did yo uadd any water to yours? And if I'm reading this correctly you let it go for three weeks then rack onto the rum and add k meta correct? how much k meta?

I edited this recipe to include precise amounts of k-meta and sorbate. For some reason I said to add the k-meta when racking onto the rum. It should be added after fermentation is complete and when you backsweeten.

I don't remember about the water but you'll be fine.

It's really quite good and goes very well with Thanksgiving dinner for either the main course or the pumpkin pie dessert.
 
I would love to try this out. Wish I had looked at the recipe a couple of months ago so it would be ready in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm thinking if I start it now or a month or two, then the added wait time should make it all that much better.

When you made your first batch, what was your primary fermenter? A 3 gallon or a 5 gallon? How much water did you use? Where did you find the alfafa honey & could I use a clover honey? Where did you find the blade mace and the green cardamon beans?

Sorry, for all the questions, but I'm still new to the process but I'm already looking into bigger batches.
 
When you made your first batch, what was your primary fermenter? A 3 gallon or a 5 gallon? How much water did you use? Where did you find the alfafa honey & could I use a clover honey? Where did you find the blade mace and the green cardamon beans?

Sorry, for all the questions, but I'm still new to the process but I'm already looking into bigger batches.

I always use a plastic pail or trash can for my primary and I think the smallest is five gallons, and that's what I would have used.

Almost all our local honey here in Central Nebraska is alfalfa and it's really just a sub-variety of clover anyway so yes, clover would be just fine. Any light to medium honey would work since the spices predominate.

I bought the spices at a farmers market in Kansas City but you can also order them from a spice house online. Crushed would be ok and you can use nutmeg instead of mace. Mace is a bit more delicate in flavor than nutmeg but they can be used interchangeably.

Good luck!
 
I bought the spices at a farmers market in Kansas City but you can also order them from a spice house online. Crushed would be ok and you can use nutmeg instead of mace. Mace is a bit more delicate in flavor than nutmeg but they can be used interchangeably.

Good luck!

OOOH when I lived in MO I used to go to the Farmer's market every Friday. Did you buy the spices from the spice shop on the perimeter (I forget the name) or one of the vendors?
 
OOOH when I lived in MO I used to go to the Farmer's market every Friday. Did you buy the spices from the spice shop on the perimeter (I forget the name) or one of the vendors?

It was one of the vendors - I believe a Middle Eastern or East Indian guy. They had many bins of spices on the covered walk and it may have been affiliated with the shop.
 
The spice shop down here in the Kansas City market is awesome! New to the forum and glad to see some fellow (or at least previous fellow) Kansas City brewers!
 
What about baking the sweet potatoes to carmalize some of the sugars in them first? WVMJ
 
This sounds amazing!
Here is my understanding of the process with some questions, could someone correct me where I'm wrong?
Add water to honey to make 2 gallons of liquid.

Cook and mash sweet potatoes (using whatever method)
Do I mix the brown sugar with the mashed potatoes or into the water/honey mix?
Do I mix the spices/raisins with the potatoes or just put them in the bag on top of them?
Pitch yeast and cover with cloth or coffee filter and rubber band and leave for a few days (3-5), stirring daily, and then replace with an airlock.
After 3 weeks, rack and leave the bag/trub/whatever-you-call-the-junk-at-the-bottom behind and fill with dark rum back up to 2 gallons.
Wait one month and then add sulfites and stabilize and back sweeten.
Two weeks later, if it is stable, bottle.

Am I on the right track?
 
I followed basically the steps I wrote above last night, but with boiling potato squares and keeping the boil water for my water and baked the resulting mashed potatoes a bit before putting them in the bag.

Any recommendations on what rum to use? I was never a rum drinker. Alternatively, I may just add a teaspoon or so of vanilla (I made by soaking some vanilla beans in brandy in January) and maybe add some other spices? I'm concerned by the lack of molasses if I don't use rum. Any thoughts?
 
Last call :)
I'm thinking of either using Gosling's Black Seal Rum or forgoing the rum altogether (and maybe add some vanilla extract at that time).
Any advice?
 
Last call :)
I'm thinking of either using Gosling's Black Seal Rum or forgoing the rum altogether (and maybe add some vanilla extract at that time).
Any advice?

I saw it's been close to a month from this post. What did you end up doing?
 
On 6/24/14 I got nervous about oxidation and decided to rack early (since most people rack away from fruit after 7-14 days. I squeezed out the potato bag (lots of liquid came out) and strained out the raisins. I then siphoned into a 1 gallon carboy and topped up with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract I made by soaking vanilla beans in brandy and somewhere between 3 and 5 ounces of Gossling's Black Seal Rum. I should have measured. I tested SG and it was at 1.003 at that time.

In early August, I am planning on racking it again, stabilizing it, sweetening with honey and water mixed and slightly warmed and "topping up" with marbles since I don't want to add anything else to it. Now I just need to find a bunch of marbles and sanitize them...

To backsweeten, I am planning on pulling a glass and sweetening to taste and then checking what SG it ends up at. Then I'll add honey/water to the main batch until I match my desired SG.

Then I plan to let it sit for as long as I can stand before bottling :)

Does this sound like a good plan to you mead makers out there?
 
I should mention that it is currently crystal clear with about an inch of sediment at the bottom.
 
So I checked the SG and it was at 1.000. I racked the mead and increased the SG to 1.020 with a 50/50 water/honey mixture and then added k-meta and sorbate.
I intend to let it sit for at least 3 months in the carboy before bottling.

Any advice on aging from this point on? Do I need to rack any more and is there a specific time I should wait before bottling?
 
Can someone convert this to a 5 gallon batch? I want this to be my first mead.
 
Calculating it is not hard, That recipe makes 2 gallons.... So doubling it makes 4 gallons, tripling it would makes 6 gallons.

So double + 1/2 of the recipe would give you 5 gallons... for example 12.5 pounds of sweet potatoes for 5 gallons... 25 oz or raisins, 15 cloves, etc.
 
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