Sampled my "winter warmer" mead yesterday...it's a-gonna be a good one :)

[fuelish]

Made it a couple months back, 3 gallon batch using 12.5 or 13 lbs of honey, 4 or 5 habaneros, maybe 1 lb of grated/chopped/processed fresh ginger root, now sitting in glass on some medium toast oak chips, used either Lalvin 1116 or 1118 (don't have my notes in front of me).....decided to finally try a gravity sample yesterday, this will be excellent for cold winter nights. Right now sitting a lil above 17% abv, definitey warming, but not flaming habanero heat....looks to still have a lil ways to fully clear, perhaps it might ferment just a tad more, but there should still be plenty of residual sweetness to keep the heat at bay. Might have to dole this out in shotglasses to guests, as I don't think it's for everyone (....it's for ME!!!) Considering I just winged it, it's very close to the same as i made when I lived in MI, when you NEEDED something like this on a long frigid Detroit winter night. OOOOOOOH, am thinking I should've done a 5 gallon batch, but, whatever, shall just have to make another....soon!!!

 

[fatbloke]

So which is the more prominent of the flavours, the chilli pepper or the ginger ?

 

[TedLarsen]

So which is the more prominent of the flavours, the chilli pepper or the ginger ?

I have a mango/chili pepper mead now gently clearing....I had it on chilis and jalapenos in the primary ferment for about 10 days (sans seeds and veins), but upon first racking, it was seriously hot. Tasty (sort of), but hot with capsaicin. I liked it, but figured it would not be generally drinkable for the masses -- or even me except in small amounts.

But now, only a couple of months later, upon the next racking, that heat has mellowed tremendously, and the taste of the mango pulp is coming through already. Still sends a nice warming sensation up the throat upon drinking it, but I think the mellowing helped it a lot.

 

[fuelish]

fatbloke - the ginger is the prominent flavor (although the real ginger "spicyness" has dissipated, but the "earthy" flavor and bite are there up front). There weren't enough habs to impart "flavor," per se, but the heat creeps up after the initial taste of ginger (and oak....) Am thinking of, next time, racking onto the ginger in secondary to preserve some more of the "essence"......just getting back into the mead game, still using the old beer brewing habit of tossing most of everything in up front.
TedLarsen....interesting to read your post here.... I have a batch of straight up mango mead here in secondary, trying to be patient awaiting it's clearing (and if it doesn't, I don't care....the murky mango color makes it appear more "mango-ey" in my mind's eye). The idea of spicing a mango mead occured to me previously, am thinking, come bottling day, that I might divert a gallon or 2 to a jug or two, and adding perhaps a bit of habanero or maybe black peppercorns......a gallon of each would be a nice experiment, and that'd still leave me about 2.5 gallons of the plain....win/win

 

[IJesusChrist]

hmm I just don't know if I could go for habaneros in a drink..

 

[fuelish]

hmm I just don't know if I could go for habaneros in a drink..

I think you could .... I only used 4 or 5 small habs in the primary (3 gallons), deveined and deseeded, it brings a building warmth to the palate and lips, not the "**** ******* ****," my mouths on fire, I can't breath kinda heat....works well with a sweet mead...seriously. Dunno if I'd want to drink it on a hot summer day, but is great for a cold winter evening at home Of course, everyone has different "tolerances" for pepper heat, so perhaps you may not...but really, on a scale of 0 to 10, I'd put the pepper heat in this batch at maybe a 3 or 4 at most...of course, there's the kick from the ginger as well...it's my favorite mead that no one but me wants to drink a 12 oz bottle of LOL!!!

 

[IJesusChrist]

After reading some of these 'capsicumels' or whatever they are called with hot peppers, I was wondering if something with not hot peppers (pepperoncini) would be interesting.

I'm almost considering looking into a chocolate / habanero mead. Something tells me that would be a good combination. BUT WHY!?

 

[fuelish]

I'm almost considering looking into a chocolate / habanero mead. Something tells me that would be a good combination. BUT WHY!?

Small amounts of habaneros work well with sweet meads.....wouldn't wanna know how a dry habbed mead would be...chocolate and habanero sounds intriguing

 

[IJesusChrist]

Small amounts of habaneros work well with sweet meads.....wouldn't wanna know how a dry habbed mead would be...chocolate and habanero sounds intriguing

I think you may have piqued my interest!