"Regal" Mead recipe from befrore 1950

[Gitruih]

Hi all,
I'm continuing my journey through recipe book that I found at home and wanted to ask your opinion on this one (also if something should be adjusted). As far as ingredients goes it does look tasty
"Regal" mead:

1. 3kg of honey;
2. 12 L of water;
3. few handfuls of "Jeronimo" leaves. While I was able to easily locate this plant in my country it was not that easy in UK. I think it's this one as description matches more or less (Pelargonium);
4. half a glass of hops;
5. handfull of linden flowers;
6. few leaves of wild strawberries;
7. 200g of yeast. I guess they meant bread yeast which is normally sold in 200g batches and need to be started before you can use them. I have some Lalvin K1-V1116;
8. Glass of (each) Strawberry, Raspberry, Cranberry, Red Currant, Black Currant juices.

Preparation:
Put all leaves, flowers and hops into water and boil it, then strain it and add all the honey. Once cooled down add started yeast and all the juices. Store in warm place and let it ferment for 24h. After that pour it into bottles and keep it in cool place. Ready to drink after 3-6 months

 

[Kyzaboy89]

Hi all,
I'm continuing my journey through recipe book that I found at home and wanted to ask your opinion on this one (also if something should be adjusted). As far as ingredients goes it does look tasty
"Regal" mead:

1. 3kg of honey;
2. 12 L of water;
3. few handfuls of "Jeronimo" leaves. While I was able to easily locate this plant in my country it was not that easy in UK. I think it's this one as description matches more or less (Pelargonium);
4. half a glass of hops;
5. handfull of linden flowers;
6. few leaves of wild strawberries;
7. 200g of yeast. I guess they meant bread yeast which is normally sold in 200g batches and need to be started before you can use them. I have some Lalvin K1-V1116;
8. Glass of (each) Strawberry, Raspberry, Cranberry, Red Currant, Black Currant juices.

Preparation:
Put all leaves, flowers and hops into water and boil it, then strain it and add all the honey. Once cooled down add started yeast and all the juices. Store in warm place and let it ferment for 24h. After that pour it into bottles and keep it in cool place. Ready to drink after 3-6 months

1) what is the volume of half a glass or a full glass.
2) 200g of yeast is well over board, 5 grams of K1V-1116 is plenty in your must volume.
3) Making a tea from the leaves and hops, understand how long it takes to extract the flavors and tannins you are looking for, then combine with honey, water and juices.
4) Plan on fermenting for a couple weeks, I don't know of anything that will ferment all that in 24 hours. Check gravity and let it finish before you bottle anything.

 

[Gitruih]

1) what is the volume of half a glass or a full glass.
2) 200g of yeast is well over board, 5 grams of K1V-1116 is plenty in your must volume.
3) Making a tea from the leaves and hops, understand how long it takes to extract the flavors and tannins you are looking for, then combine with honey, water and juices.
4) Plan on fermenting for a couple weeks, I don't know of anything that will ferment all that in 24 hours. Check gravity and let it finish before you bottle anything.

1. Glass is around 250 ml
2. 200g that's brick of fresh bread yeast. not sure how that translates to dryed yeast. Recipe is old and back then there was no wine yeast available. Those bricks are sold even today in stores
3. Will look into it before I start making this. I can't get pelargonium at this time of the year
4. I guess it's same as other recipes in the book where it's considered to be "Young Mead" and is for immediate consumption even though they say to wait half a year. They are not supposed to be strong. I might pour a bottle or 2 and leave rest to ferment properly, but I'm concerned about leaving bottle of young mead for 6 months in sealed bottle...

 

[Barzahl]

Preparation:
Put all leaves, flowers and hops into water and boil it, then strain it and add all the honey. Once cooled down add started yeast and all the juices. Store in warm place and let it ferment for 24h. After that pour it into bottles and keep it in cool place. Ready to drink after 3-6 months

You might already know this but you should siphon it into bottles at the end instead of pouring which could cause it to oxidize as well as increases the chance it will become infected and turn to vinegar, I believe you can prevent this by adding stabilizers but I don't have much experience with them.

Part of the reason for the quick fermentation time is the large amount of yeast used which is common in old recipes so if you pull of a couple bottles early they'll be very weak compared to if you used the bread yeast, they're also going to keep fermenting unless you do something to stop then.

 

[Gitruih]

You might already know this but you should siphon it into bottles at the end instead of pouring which could cause it to oxidize as well as increases the chance it will become infected and turn to vinegar, I believe you can prevent this by adding stabilizers but I don't have much experience with them.

Part of the reason for the quick fermentation time is the large amount of yeast used which is common in old recipes so if you pull of a couple bottles early they'll be very weak compared to if you used the bread yeast, they're also going to keep fermenting unless you do something to stop then.

I brought auto siphon for bottling. As far as I know young mead is supposed to be barely alcoholic. I'm more afraid of making glass bomb by bottling something with yeast

 

[Kyzaboy89]

I brought auto siphon for bottling. As far as I know young mead is supposed to be barely alcoholic. I'm more afraid of making glass bomb by bottling something with yeast

The bottle bombing was my concern as well. Are you hoping for low abv and some residual sweetness, if so there are easier ways to do that rather than possibly blowup a bottle. 24 hours and I would think the yeast are just getting started and wouldn't even try to stop in a bottle with plenty of honey to consume.

1.25 liters of juice may give some tart/sweet flavors which I like but I don't use hops so venture a guess at how much that will change everything. How long will you boil them?

 

[Gitruih]

The bottle bombing was my concern as well. Are you hoping for low abv and some residual sweetness, if so there are easier ways to do that rather than possibly blowup a bottle. 24 hours and I would think the yeast are just getting started and wouldn't even try to stop in a bottle with plenty of honey to consume.

1.25 liters of juice may give some tart/sweet flavors which I like but I don't use hops so venture a guess at how much that will change everything. How long will you boil them?

I have no idea. According to all flower shops I have good few months to figure it out (that's when they will start selling Pelargonium so I could get my hands on leaves)
For steeping from what I can see online I might try 2-4 hours

 

[Kickass]

Please, do not bottle until fermentation is complete. You will have bottle bombs, blown corks, geysers upon opening or some combination of all three of them.

 

[Gitruih]

Please, do not bottle until fermentation is complete. You will have bottle bombs, blown corks, geysers upon opening or some combination of all three of them.

I think I will do just that. I don't feel confortable in leaving active yeast in sealed bottle for half a year

 

[SimPilot]

Looks like it has a potential of 8.5% abv if it completes fermentation to dry.... reminds me of my attempt of low abv mead. One month, low abv mead test.

 

[Gitruih]

Finally got myself palergonium leaves so went ahead and mixed it "Regal" mead