Hey everyone! So I'm getting ready for my second mead and the overall idea is a sweet fortified mint mead with a hint of lime, aimed to be drank cold in the summer, like a mojito-inspired dessert wine. Here's my plan and a few questions. All thoughts and suggestions welcome.
Ingredients:
Must of 8 kg honey + 14L water
Aiming for OG around 1.130
Extra 1 kg honey for back sweetening
Yeast that can tolerate at least 16%
Unedo berry brandy to fortify
1. make a "mojito" mint tea with some black tea
2. let cooldown to 70C, stir in 8 KG honey for 10 min to eliminate competition / pasteurize
3. let it cool to 20C, then stir in yeast and yeast nutrients
4. add lime zest in tea bag
Primary
Run primary 3-6 weeks until low activity
Secondary
Wrack and wait a few months
Final adjustments
When gravity is near 1.00X
1. Stabilize with Potassium Sorbate and Metabisulphite
2. Do a back-sweetening and fortifying pilot to find out adjustment ratios to taste
3. Back-sweeten with approx/estimated 1 KG of honey and fortify with brandy
Questions:
- Should I add lime zest in initial tea, infusion on primary or infusion on secondary?
- Should I add black tea when doing mint tea or add black tea together with lime zest for infusion?
- Should I go heavy on mint side? Or heavy on lime side? Or balanced? I feel mint with a hint of lime would work better... but perhaps someone has tried similar things...?
- Considering I want to stabilize, back-sweeten and fortify, is there any recommended yeast?
- Any other recommendations / thoughts?
Ingredients:
Must of 8 kg honey + 14L water
Aiming for OG around 1.130
Extra 1 kg honey for back sweetening
Yeast that can tolerate at least 16%
Unedo berry brandy to fortify
1. make a "mojito" mint tea with some black tea
2. let cooldown to 70C, stir in 8 KG honey for 10 min to eliminate competition / pasteurize
3. let it cool to 20C, then stir in yeast and yeast nutrients
4. add lime zest in tea bag
Primary
Run primary 3-6 weeks until low activity
Secondary
Wrack and wait a few months
Final adjustments
When gravity is near 1.00X
1. Stabilize with Potassium Sorbate and Metabisulphite
2. Do a back-sweetening and fortifying pilot to find out adjustment ratios to taste
3. Back-sweeten with approx/estimated 1 KG of honey and fortify with brandy
Questions:
- Should I add lime zest in initial tea, infusion on primary or infusion on secondary?
- Should I add black tea when doing mint tea or add black tea together with lime zest for infusion?
- Should I go heavy on mint side? Or heavy on lime side? Or balanced? I feel mint with a hint of lime would work better... but perhaps someone has tried similar things...?
- Considering I want to stabilize, back-sweeten and fortify, is there any recommended yeast?
- Any other recommendations / thoughts?