Dry hopped mead

[boydster]

I'm brand spankin' new to making mead. I made a small batch last year just because I wanted to brew something and I had a bunch of extra honey on hand. I liked the results, but for some reason I didn't make any more. Last week, I made a cyser and the must tasted great. Took a hydro sample tonight and again, it tastes great.

I've had the B. Nektar Evil Genius and thought is was pretty meh. I think they bittered with some of the hops(?), as opposed to just dry hopping, and I'm interested in dry hopping. Has anyone here dry hopped a mead or cyser that made you stop and say DAMN! that's good? I'm sure it's been done, just wondering what hops you more experienced meaders use for something like a straight honey mead or a cyser. I have a bunch of Simcoe, Cascade and CTZ, and also some Galaxy, Nelson and Mosaic. Any experience with those or should I go shopping?

 

[twofocused]

I haven't hopped one yet but, I did get some responses last week

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/hopped-mead-454929/

 

[boydster]

Cool, thanks Think I'm going to try some simcoe in my cyser and see how it goes.

 

[Zaffo]

Crafted Artisan Meadery makes a dry hopped mead that's really tasty. Called Hop Nectar.

http://craftedmead.com/crafted-mead/

It's on my list of things to try.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[boydster]

That does look good. I am going to do a mead with some mosaic when the cyser is done, that should be a tasty combo.

 

[fatbloke]

Ok, so having kept reading the thread title for ? now, I "don't get it"

If you made a straight dry mead, it can have very wine like qualities. Yet hops are added to beer as a bittering agent, so why would you want to add them ?

Honey sweetness can be used to mask a bitter taste (like the residual sugars in a benchmark JAO or if the maker gets over ambitious and uses a wine yeast and needs to back sweeten to mask the pithy bitterness from such an error).

So what is the point in using an ingredient that adds a negative ? You wouldn't use them in any wine recipe/method so why in a mead, unless just to reduce some excess sweetness ?

I have no idea what hops give other than bitterness.........i don't make beers....

 

[Zaffo]

It's my understanding (and I have very little experience with brewing beer), that the bitterness in hops is imparted with boiling. The longer it's boiled, the more bitter it is.

I talked with the owner about this mead. There was no boil involved. He just dumps a boatload of hops in, lets it sit for a few weeks, then removes it prior to bottling.

The hops imparts a nice, citrusy aroma. His mead is not super sweet, either. I'd guess the final gravity to be around 1.000.

Anyway, I like it.

 

[boydster]

Hops are also used for flavor and aroma. In order to add bitterness, they have to be boiled. Adding hops to the fermentor after fermentation is complete will not impart any bitterness at all, but will have a big impact on flavor and aroma.

 

[fuelish]

Can't say that I've dry-hopped mead (yet), but can't say it's never gonna happen....the right hops in the right amount in the right mead could be a very heady experience

 

[fatbloke]

It's my understanding (and I have very little experience with brewing beer), that the bitterness in hops is imparted with boiling. The longer it's boiled, the more bitter it is.

I talked with the owner about this mead. There was no boil involved. He just dumps a boatload of hops in, lets it sit for a few weeks, then removes it prior to bottling.

The hops imparts a nice, citrusy aroma. His mead is not super sweet, either. I'd guess the final gravity to be around 1.000.

Anyway, I like it.

Hops are also used for flavor and aroma. In order to add bitterness, they have to be boiled. Adding hops to the fermentor after fermentation is complete will not impart any bitterness at all, but will have a big impact on flavor and aroma.

Thanks for the replies both. That explains what they would do.......

Personally, I don't add anything "citrussy" to my brews. If I add acids to taste, it's usually a mix of 2 parts malic and 1 part tartaric.

Though maybe it's time to look into a batch with a citrus character.........