Mead Recipe Concern

[superpig0]

Hey all, I’m messing around with a fairly out there cinnamon mead recipe, and I’m really looking for feedback. I’m primarily concerned that I’m going to end up shocking or stalling the yeast, so if you have any suggestions for ensuring that doesn’t happen or ways to get around that it would be amazing. I’m hoping to get a mead with a sharp cinnamon taste that fades into a sweet orangey aftertaste as well, and I’m considering switching when I put the orange and the peels in to get closer to that. If you see any other issues with this please let me know, but I think it will at least work, I can’t say if it’ll be any good though.

Muad’Mead - ~5 months

Ingredients:

• 1 gal water
• 3 lbs cinnamon honey
• 1 orange
• 1 cup of orange peels
• D-47 yeast
• 25 atomic fireball candies
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient

Directions:

1. Boil 1 gallon of water, and add the 25 fireball candies into it. Stir, and let cool, then refrigerate overnight.

1. Strain out any remaining candies, and boil the water. Remove from heat once bubbling, and pour in honey when the bubbling stops. Stir until the honey is fully dissolved.

1. Wait for the gallon of must to cool to room temperature.

1. Add must, yeast nutrient, and rehydrated yeast into the carboy. Stir.

1. Peel the orange, and cut it into eighths before adding into the carboy as well.

1. Ferment the mead for 2 months in a dark place.

1. Siphon, and re-rack the mead into a different carboy.

1. After 1 week, add 1 cup of orange peels into the carboy.

1. After 2 weeks, siphon, and re-rack the mead. Age the mead for 2 months.

1. Fill sanitized bottles. Let age for an additional month or more.

 

[MightyMosin]

I gallon of water and 3Lb honey should get ~1.25 gallon of mead before racking at about 11.5% ABV.
I don't know what the candies will add as sugar. Cinnamon sticks will add nice amounts of cinnamon, especially if you blend it into smaller bits.

You can juice the orange into the must but you need to be careful that the pH doesn't drop down into the 3.2 range. I'd zest the orange and add the zest into primary and avoid the pith to keep away from that bitterness.

I'd skip peels in secondary and go with more zest in secondary if you need it.

D-47 is a fine yeast if you can keep it at a lower temperature. 71B would likely be a fine yeast to use. Any of these yeasts will take it dry and you will likely need to sweeten some afterwards to balance against acids from the orange juice and/or zest.

Cinnamon is one of those odd flavors that you kind of need to creep up on so it doesn't dominate everything. It's easy to let it sit in secondary and taste every few days to determine when you want to pull the cinnamon out. It can take a long time to fade if you over do it.

Use a TOSNA or similar calculator to figure out your hydration and nutrients.

 

[Dan O]

When you say cinnamon honey.....can you describe that a little better, please?

Ingredients:

• 1 gal water
• 3 lbs cinnamon honey
• 1 orange
• 1 cup of orange peels
• D-47 yeast
• 25 atomic fireball candies
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient

Varietal honey is usually taken from a source. Are you saying that this is honey has been flavored with cinnamon already?