Coloring A Mead

[jguy898]

I may be making 10 gallons of a Rose Mead using White Sage honey and 10 pints of culinary grade rose petals for a wedding. It will all be professional quality labels and bottling, very beautiful designs done by a professional as well, so I would like it if the product could be a little more in line with the slightly 'pinkish' theme going on. Rose petal meads are extremely subtle and soft, with excellent bouquet, but their color is still very white, almost clear. I've been trying to think of ways to color the mead a lite shade of pink and I'm worried that Food Coloring will leave glass and tooth with a slight pink stain, and that's a big romantic turn-0ff, and not good for a wedding. Has anyone ever used a small amount of food coloring in a mead? Any good brands? Or maybe some other ingredient or substance to provide the color?

Any suggestions/advice is extremely appreciated!
Jonas

 

[KingBrianI]

In keeping with the flower theme, how about hibiscus?

 

[jguy898]

I have never used, or even tried, hibiscus in anything.

What does it taste like fermented? Added to secondary? What shades of color does it provide, and how much do you use per gallon?

Jonas

 

[KingBrianI]

Beats me, I've never used it. I think you can buy hibiscus for tea making to get an idea of the flavor and color. I just know it is used both as a red colorant and a food/drink.

 

[dummkauf]

Haven't made one yet, but I have a hibiscus mead on my to do list....that said, I have had a professionally made hibiscus mead that was light pink in color, so it would definitely give you the color you are looking for, but it will also add the taste of hibiscus to your mead, which may not be a good thing if you're only looking for color

 

[user 54565]

I was just looking through Clone Brews and saw the Lindeman's Framboise recipe. In this recipe, for a 5 gallon batch, they use .5 tsp of elderberries boiled for 45 minutes for coloring only. Not for flavor.

I've also used rose syrup, or some people use rose water, to give the rose flavor/scent in a mead that I made. The mead smells beautiful, and tastes the same. As an added benefit, the rose syrup I used left my mead very beautifully pink. You could think of using it for back sweetening or for enhancing rose flavor if it is a bit lacking in the end. I found it at a local Asian Market. I believe it is more of an Indian thing, so I would also check at markets that cater to that crowd.

Also, make sure to properly treat the mead prior to bottling (meta and sortbate), because they help prevent the loss of color. Or, add a bit of acid, like maybe a touch of lemon juice and/or cream of tartar. I had a prickly pear mead that faded to almost clear, but in a batch of prickly pear skeeter pee I made (with lemon juice) the color has maintained a beautiful Barney like purple color.

 

[roadymi]

How bout just adding in a little red wine to color

 

[huesmann]

Maybe some beets? They have a fairly mild flavor.

 

[Matrix4b]

I probablly would go with a bit of raspberry juice. No more than 8 oz of raspberries, reduced to juice then put in some pectic enzyme and simmer for a bit. Run through a coffee filter and let settle for a day. Then add the whole thing to your Mead. I have found that red raspberries are very red.

I did a raspberry batch that ended up a dark wine color , I used like 14 pounds (for a 6 gal batch) reduced to juice and removed pulp and seeds. Then added to the must in secondary. Now, I didn't do the simmer and settle of the juice but then I could handle a couple of rackings to remove some pulp. Sounds like you are ready now. So that is why I recomend the coffee filter and some patients to process the juice ahead of time. Ofcourse if you are in a much more hurry you can find some very red juice in a bottle already sorbated and settled out like just strait Cran/Raz from ocean spray. Since you are going for color only and a subtle one, I would only use about 4-6 oz of juice at most. The flavor should be thined out enough to just add a little bit and not affect the mead too much.

Let us know how it went when you decide and pics would be nice. Curious on this one.

Matrix

 

[jguy898]

Thank you everyone for the great ideas, I may do some smaller Half gallon satellite batches and test most of them.

I think that what I'm going to do for the 5 gal. batches; The first batch made with 5 pints of fragrant, culinary grade, rose petals and 1 - 2 ounces of dried Hibiscus (sabdariffa) flowers. I will determine the amount of hibiscus by the intensity of flavor in the flowers.
For the 2nd batch I will ferment 5 gallons of a lighter honey traditional and after it has cleared I will add a few oz. per gallon of a high grade Rose Extract Syrup. Like this one.

It may be a good while before I have a chance to start this project, but I will post my final recipe and pictures when I get going.

Thanks everyone!
Jonas

 

[BBBF]

Beats me, I've never used it. I think you can buy hibiscus for tea making to get an idea of the flavor and color. I just know it is used both as a red colorant and a food/drink.

I made a mead using a hibiscus and rosehip tea. This would be my suggestion.

 

[jguy898]

I made a mead using a hibiscus and rosehip tea. This would be my suggestion.

My big problem is locating high quality dried hibiscus flowers in large quantities. Do you happen to remember where you purchased yours? Or maybe a good site dedicated to such ingredients?

Jonas

 

[BBBF]

It was a local store, but it wasn't a specialty item. I bet a store with a decent tea selection would have it or something similar.

I think I used this brand: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NY6Q74/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[MedsenFey]

Maybe some beets? They have a fairly mild flavor.

The color compounds in beets (betacyanins for you science geeks) are very unstable in aqueous solution and tend to break down quickly. They make a lovely color that tends to fade away with age.

A small amount of elderberry juice can add a lot of color with virtually no aroma and flavor. I've done this with a few batches in the past that lost color.