aliu630
Well-Known Member
Has this been done before? I get the impression that it'll take more effort in getting proper fermentation. Any ideas on how the flavor profile will come out?
Lager a mead?
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IF you used quality Lager yeast, you could probably get 'er done...but you'd really have to go easy on your honey. I haven't seen a lager yeast that will tolerate the potentially very high alcohol content of mead.
Might be an interesting experiment though.
Might be an interesting experiment though.
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aliu630
Well-Known Member
What would be considered a quality lager yeast? I'm not too concerned about hitting high alc %, but more w/ the sweetness if it pooped out too early I guess.
I am a huge fan of Fermentis, and dry yeast, so my #1 would be Saflager S-23 Dry Lager Yeast
You'd probabaly expect cleaner taste from a Liquid, however I have NO experience with them to tell you. But WLP800 or WLP840, or Wyeast 2035 or 2007 should do very well.
You'd probabaly expect cleaner taste from a Liquid, however I have NO experience with them to tell you. But WLP800 or WLP840, or Wyeast 2035 or 2007 should do very well.
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aliu630
Well-Known Member
thanks BK, I'mma find some time to try this out. Curious to see how this will turn out.
I know that White Labs Zurich Lager Yeast (WLP 885) is known as one of the lager yeasts with high alcohol tolerance (listed as the only lager strain with "very high" alcohol tolerance I believe). I guess I'm only thinking of it because I'm fermenting a Vienna with that strain at the moment and it's one of the platinum strains that happens to be available around now. Now, this is the first time I've used the strain, so I can't speak to its actual performance.
Good luck, it sounds really interesting!
Good luck, it sounds really interesting!
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aliu630
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tip on the yeast Jabic! I think I will do 2 batches now w/ different yeasts and check out the results.
aeowyn
New Member
If you use lager or ale yeast for a mead, it becomes a "small" or "short" mead. It's done/drinkable in 1.5 weeks or longer and is usually 6-9% alcohol by volume. I've got an awesome recipe (it's dead easy to make; it's hard to make small mead come out bad) that I've been using with ale yeast but now that it's cooler I think I need to switch to lager yeast because my fermentation is slow (can't remember now which yeast is better for the cooler temps but I'll experiment). Safale - 05 ale yeast is what we've been using in the Pacific NW. The recipe I'm using comes from a guy who brewed for personal use for years down in Calif. and is now trying to start a small meadery up here. Unfortunately he's finding that no one seems to have heard of small meads, even the OLCC and FDA!
I have very little mead experience but it might be worth trying a braggot at lager temps. Then you are only fermenting half of the honey you otherwise would be. This actually sounds interesting, I might have to try it...
aeowyn
New Member
I actually don't like malt beverages much and haven't brewed my own yet. Braggots aren't bad: I rank them with the beers that taste really fruity or chocolatey and are therefore more drinkable. It's the bitter hops flavor I don't care for. I did just find a site that convinced me lager yeast is better for the lower temp fermenting and I think it would taste just as good for braggots as with an ale yeast. At least I was told to use them interchangeably for the small mead depending on what temp I'm brewing at. Now that I've done several with the Safale - 05 I'm going to start experimenting with different strains to see what the differences are.
OK, you know you can't just come on here and just casually mention that you have a mead that tastes awesome and is drinkable in 1.5 weeks, and then just saunter off without giving the recipe! Come on, there's honey languishing on the store shelf and carboys gathering dust out here--give it up already! 
OK, you know you can't just come on here and just casually mention that you have a mead that tastes awesome and is drinkable in 1.5 weeks, and then just saunter off without giving the recipe! Come on, there's honey languishing on the store shelf and carboys gathering dust out here--give it up already!
it doesn't exist. No mead is drinkable in 1.5 weeks. Even the people utilizing the fast mead fermentation technique with KOH, DAP and other nutrients, checking pH, and degassing daily as shown at the 2008 NHBC don't get a finished product in 1.5weeks.
Add lager yeast, and well a lager beer is not ready in 3 weeks.
Nevertheless, I'd be curious to see the recipe. I did a search for "small mead" on here and didn't turn up anything remarkable. Even if it's longer I'd be interested in a short mead recipe other than JAOM. I agree 1.5 weeks would be very unusual, but Joe Mattoli has a pyment recipe that's supposed to be drinkable in 3 weeks.
drinkable is in the eye of the beholder. I made my first cyser at age 17, never racked it to another vessel, and we drank it form the gallon jug as soon as it finished fermenting.
sure, it tasted like zippo fluid and apple juice...but it was 'drinkable'
sure, it tasted like zippo fluid and apple juice...but it was 'drinkable'
Oh I understand--not looking for hooch, just would like to see this recipe. All you have to do is browse the threads for both Joe's and your versions of Ancient Orange--the "drinkable" ages range from 3 weeks to a year. My own batch is about two months old and is nice, but I can tell it will eventually be much nicer. And I'd bet that Joe's quick grape pyment is better at 3 months than 3 weeks. But if aeowyn has a nice "small mead" recipe that doesn't take that long to taste OK, it would be a handy one to fill in the occasional gaps in the pipeline.
Yan
Well-Known Member
I'm bulk aging a metheglin at about ten degrees cooler than it fermented at. I guess that's what a brewer does with beer when lagering. I used EC-1118 yeast for it.
