@$$! Hellp meee !$$@

[taetae_the_god]

Complete newbie and this is a long post so i apologize.
Soo i seen a recipe for a nice tropical mead and it sparked some crazy thoughts that should probably be answered before i make an epically huge uh oh on my very 1st mead project.
The guy made a 5gallon batch ill make it short. He made his must mixed in chopped pineapple and mango let it do its thing. Then he racked it over pineapple and mango puree. Then racked it a final time over vanilla beans and coconut shavings. Then racked it again and added wine tannin and some acid blend to his own personal taste and let it clear before bottling.
NOW ive done alot of research nearly everywhere and became obsessed with wanting to make mead.
I plan on making a 6 gallon batch of epicness go big or go home right? So my thoughts are 22pounds of raw honey. Idk if it will work but an organic juice mix of equal parts pineapple and papaya with a smaller amount of Orange mango instead of water. Using WLP715 champagne yeast. Let it do its thing.
Then i rack it over a organic dehydrated pineapple papaya mango orange.
Then finally rack over coconut shreds Madagascar vanilla beans and a little bit a cinnamon not alot but just a small hint of flavor just like the orange mango.
Then final rack with wine tannin and acid blend to taste and let clear and then bottle and age for more than a year.
Any ideas? Im going to make a large amount for my 1st try regardless im just stubborn like that. Looking for helpful ideas. Dilute the juice must? Or not? Anything flaws or suggestions will help. Aiming towards a fruity warm tropical high alcohol 16% maybe 18 hopefully nothing higher lol something once aged will be delish to enjoy when i move to California in a year and a half. Something to on the beach with some cigars or some herbal medication ;p.
Im making aanother more simpler mead to enjoy while i wait for this epic mead that will turn the heavens to be done. Any suggestions for the tropical mead pleasee and anything for the simple mead remember these are my 1st batches ill be making and again extremely sorry for long post.
Before all the omg another young kid trying to get loaded or you dont respect mead or your an alcoholic no....im a 24 soon to be 25yr old peaceful stoner who enjoys something that packs a huge punch while being smooth. Something to compliment a blunt or a nice romeo y juliata meduim flavored cigar

 

[Benenantor]

Complete newbie and this is a long post so i apologize.
Soo i seen a recipe for a nice tropical mead and it sparked some crazy thoughts that should probably be answered before i make an epically huge uh oh on my very 1st mead project.
The guy made a 5gallon batch ill make it short. He made his must mixed in chopped pineapple and mango let it do its thing. Then he racked it over pineapple and mango puree. Then racked it a final time over vanilla beans and coconut shavings. Then racked it again and added wine tannin and some acid blend to his own personal taste and let it clear before bottling.
NOW ive done alot of research nearly everywhere and became obsessed with wanting to make mead.
I plan on making a 6 gallon batch of epicness go big or go home right? So my thoughts are 22pounds of raw honey. Idk if it will work but an organic juice mix of equal parts pineapple and papaya with a smaller amount of Orange mango instead of water. Using WLP715 champagne yeast. Let it do its thing.
Then i rack it over a organic dehydrated pineapple papaya mango orange.
Then finally rack over coconut shreds Madagascar vanilla beans and a little bit a cinnamon not alot but just a small hint of flavor just like the orange mango.
Then final rack with wine tannin and acid blend to taste and let clear and then bottle and age for more than a year.
Any ideas? Im going to make a large amount for my 1st try regardless im just stubborn like that. Looking for helpful ideas. Dilute the juice must? Or not? Anything flaws or suggestions will help. Aiming towards a fruity warm tropical high alcohol 16% maybe 18 hopefully nothing higher lol something once aged will be delish to enjoy when i move to California in a year and a half. Something to on the beach with some cigars or some herbal medication ;p.
Im making aanother more simpler mead to enjoy while i wait for this epic mead that will turn the heavens to be done. Any suggestions for the tropical mead pleasee and anything for the simple mead remember these are my 1st batches ill be making and again extremely sorry for long post.
Before all the omg another young kid trying to get loaded or you dont respect mead or your an alcoholic no....im a 24 soon to be 25yr old peaceful stoner who enjoys something that packs a huge punch while being smooth. Something to compliment a blunt or a nice romeo y juliata meduim flavored cigar

Im not sure you will get such a high percentage ABV without distilling, but definitely give it a try. Remember to be really careful with your sanitation, I currently have 5 gals of beer that is turning into vinegar, and I have no idea what im going to do with it. Remember to use fresh pressed juice with meta-k or pasteurized, but make sure there is no preservatives.
As for the fruit, I recommend you freeze it first to break up the cell walls and then puree.
Remember a steady fermentation temp is also necessary, and since you mentioned you where moving, remember that 6 gallons is a lot of mead, so it might be hard to transport.
May I recommend you start out with some cider? It will give you the jizt of the whole process and what to expect, and is easy to make, just add yeast and nutrients to apple juice. The champagne yeast I have used usually ferments till around 0.990, so you would need to raise the OG to about 1.130 to get and ABV of around 18%.
As for recommendations... well im a firm believer that peaches make everything taste better, just my two cents. Also, think about adding some golden dragon to some bottles when it comes time to bottle the mea. It will get you as stoned as an edible if not more hahaha, and the effects last hours.

Please keep us posted on this epic journey you are about to begin.

Happy Blazing,
Benji

 

[taetae_the_god]

Oh my oh my lol ive made green dragon before i could only imagine haha. But thank you. My main concerns with doing this with juice is 1: i dont know how it works idw to start and then the juice completely screw everything up. 2: thats alot of acids and i dont want that to kill off the yeast. I was thinking seeing that the juice is organic and made of pressed juice and puree mix that i should mix up what im using then dilute it with water to keep it from being to acidic. Would that completely take away fron the taste? Or would the honey make it less acidic. I was going to freeze the fruits but i might use dehydrated fruit in the 2nd rack. Heard you get more flavor that way. Would i freeze the beans and coconut shreds too? Or no? And i will definitely let people know how this journey ends. I will hopefully be starting this epic mead that will have Zeus crying from its glorious deliciousness by the end of this month beginning of march hopefully.

 

[bernardsmith]

Going big is one way - Going small and experimenting with one gallon seems to me to be a better idea if you have never made a mead before. The fact that there are folk who make 5 or 6 gallons of mead at a time is their business. The cost of a poor batch that stalls because of the acidity introduced by the pineapple or is full of mercaptans because of poor nutrition for the yeast seems to me to outweigh the benefit of a one gallon maiden voyage.....Me? In guess I don't have enough spare money to spend on 22 lbs of honey that I am not confident I know I can make into a drinkable mead... But to each their own...

Oh... and I wouldn't dilute the juice... wine and meads need the fruit juices at the concentrations you generally drink the juice and fruit...Dilute the juice and you dilute the flavor but if you prefer your mango or pineapple juice diluted with water then by all means.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I made a tropical mead (Melomel) using frozen blend of tropical fruits from the grocery store, the recipe that you are trying to follow is way over complicated in my opinion. I agree with Bernardsmith, start small and a bit simple.
There are probably far more experienced mead makers than me on this website, but I will tell you that an 18° ABV will take 1 year or more at a minimum to age, mine too far more, it's on it's 3rd year I believe and you can finally taste the "tropical" notes again, I've found that Pineapple takes a long time, but remember, you are using a lot of delicate flavors that the high ABV will strip away and over power.
22 lbs of Honey for 6 gallons is about right, I believe the rule of thumb is 3 lbs per gallon, but not the crap found in the supermarket, you need to source high quality wild honey.
With all that said, the Melomel I made from 4 berries, Blackberry, Blue Berry, Strawberry and raspberry was much better, I couldn't make enough, and we could drink it after 6-7 months.
My suggestion is to find an easier recipe.

 

[taetae_the_god]

Im changing to liquid yeast. Im also buying some stuff that i seen oimg research but im very confused due to all the different methods. Im buying yeast nutrient and energizer that goes into the must. Im getting campden tablets which i crush and throw into my must as well before ferm and again before bottling? Pectic enzyme for my secondary cuz of the fruit. Tannin and acid blend before bottling. Potassium sorbate at the end/aging process before bottling to avoid bottle rockets? Is that all right or alot of unnecessary things?

 

[taetae_the_god]

I made a tropical mead (Melomel) using frozen blend of tropical fruits from the grocery store, the recipe that you are trying to follow is way over complicated in my opinion. I agree with Bernardsmith, start small and a bit simple.
There are probably far more experienced mead makers than me on this website, but I will tell you that an 18° ABV will take 1 year or more at a minimum to age, mine too far more, it's on it's 3rd year I believe and you can finally taste the "tropical" notes again, I've found that Pineapple takes a long time, but remember, you are using a lot of delicate flavors that the high ABV will strip away and over power.
22 lbs of Honey for 6 gallons is about right, I believe the rule of thumb is 3 lbs per gallon, but not the crap found in the supermarket, you need to source high quality wild honey.
With all that said, the Melomel I made from 4 berries, Blackberry, Blue Berry, Strawberry and raspberry was much better, I couldn't make enough, and we could drink it after 6-7 months.
My suggestion is to find an easier recipe.

Do you mind sharing your berry melomel recipe??? Just reading that gave me the goosebumps haha

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I'd be happy to share the recipe, I'll message you.

Im changing to liquid yeast. Im also buying some stuff that i seen oimg research but im very confused due to all the different methods. Im buying yeast nutrient and energizer that goes into the must. Im getting campden tablets which i crush and throw into my must as well before ferm and again before bottling? Pectic enzyme for my secondary cuz of the fruit. Tannin and acid blend before bottling. Potassium sorbate at the end/aging process before bottling to avoid bottle rockets? Is that all right or alot of unnecessary things?

For all of my wine, I use dry yeast hydrated using Go-Ferm to help produce a healthy yeast colony.
Yeast Nutrient is a must, Fermaid-K is the best in my opinion.
I never use yeast energizer, Fermaid K contains all the essentials needed.
Pectic enzyme should be added before fermentation.
I use Meta (Potassium Metabisulfite) instead of campden tablets, in my opinion it is easier to use.
I use tannins, there are so many out there, but most times my tannins come from either oak or from the fruit when I'm making wine.
Acid blend for fruit based mead or wine is good to have on hand, with this recipe, I added 6 lbs of blueberries on top of the other fruit to add the acidity.
The only time that you need to add Sorbate is if you are back sweetening, sorbate will stop any new fermentations, it cannot however stop an active fermentation.

I hope that this helps, check your messages.

 

[taetae_the_god]

So add pectic enzyme before ferm. What about when i rack it over the frozen mashed fruit cubes on my secondary? Do i need to add again? And thank you everything helped alot lol. My minds a sponge i tend to just research for hours then it just all overflows and boom im lost haha. Thank you for your help and i will definitely check my messages

 

[pumpkinman2012]

There are some that add fruit to the secondary, I don't, but that doesn't mean that you can't, I've read that it gives it a more intense fruit flavor. I made another batch where I added a 96 oz Can of Vintners Harvest Raspberry Fruit base prior to fermenting, this added more fruit flavor, everyone loves it, I was making 8 gallon batches at first, I had to increase the volume because everyone wanted some...lol...it gets real expensive, I was purchasing 6 gallon pails of wild honey straight from the bee keeper.
Don't hesitate to ask questions, I'm sure that more experienced mead makers will chime in as well.