AZ-Inspired Mead Recommendations

[tenordrummer4life]

Hey guys!

My brother just recently got into homebrewing through a Golden-Hive mead kit he bought on Amazon about a year ago. Since then, he has decided it's time for him to try out making a recipe. We were talking, and he really wants to make an AZ-flavor inspired mead. While neither of us has a ton of experience making mead, we came up with some things that we wanted out of the final product.
- 1 gallon batch
- Mid ABV: 8-12%
- Using Arizona native flavors, such as Desert Blossom honey, prickly pear fruit, etc.
- Use D47 yeast to leave the mead with a fuller body and a semi-sweet to semi-dry finish.
- Slight tart notes, possibly from berries such as raspberry, huckleberry, or blackberry.
- All flavors highlight and complement the AZ ingredients, such as the desert blossom.
- The mead can stand alone without a food pairing, and is served room temperature

I would appreciate any help and advice that you can give! Again, my lack of experience making mead leaves me scratching my head at some points. If you have any suggestions as to what kind of ingredients or process we could use, I would greatly appreciate it! Cheers

 

[Maylar]

My only comment would be that D47 is famous for creating off flavors (fusel alcohols) when fermented at temperatures above 65 deg. F. Given that this is summer in the US, if you are a noob without temperature control capabilities I would pick a different yeast.

 

[tenordrummer4life]

Yeah, as I have been reading more about that, I noticed a lot of people talk about the off-flavors. Is that fermentation temperature or ambient?

 

[Maylar]

Fermentation temp. One of the reasons why I do my meads in the winter months.

 

[tenordrummer4life]

That makes sense. Would a swamp cooler be suitable for controlling the temps, or should I switch to something like a Kviek or 71B?

As for other yeasts, I've tried making ciders with both EC-1118 and QA23 at room temperature before. The EC-1118 dries the crap out of anything you put it in, and the QA23 puts a sharp tartness in the final product, in my experience. I've looked into other yeasts, such as KV-1116, on some of the other posts you made, and I don't think it would be well-suited for this application.

 

[Abysssarim]

I would personally use the 71b. In my experience it is a little more elevated temp friendly (assuming you are going to ferment in a semi-temp controlled environment like and air conditioned room in you house and not a shed in the back yard). D47 seems to work better in the northern states in the winter where the ambient temp is usually a lower than AZ gets during winter time.

 

[Maylar]

A swamp cooler is definitely better than nothing. How you proceed will depend on your commitment to the hobby. In my early days I limited mead and ciders to winter months, where Connecticut weather was a big help. Eventually I acquired a basic temp control system and I will say that it was the best investment that I've made so far. It lets me use whatever yeast I want at its ideal temperature. It's a huge advantage. This is what I'm using:

Cool Zone Temp Control

 

[tenordrummer4life]

Ok, thank you for your responses.

Here's my first crack at a recipe/process. I'd appreciate any input.

- 1 gallon Great Value Spring water
- 2.5# Arizona Desert Bloom Honey
- 1 tsp Fleischmann's Active dry yeast boiled/cooled (Yeast nutrient)
- 1x use of Craft-a-Brew Yeast Nutrient (5.3 g Day 1, 3.3g+3.3g Days 2 + 5)
- 1x packet of Lavin 71B
- 2 lbs of prickly pear cactus fruits

For the mead, I was planning to start by boiling the AD yeast in about 1 cup of water on the stove. Then, after sanitizing my fermenter, put the honey into the bottom and pour the rest of the water, Day 1 yeast nutrient, and water+yeast mixture over the top. I would stir it with my paddle until everything is mixed thoroughly. I would use distilled water and rehydrate the 71B yeast packet before putting it in. I'd cover the top with a stopper and shake like mad for 5 min. to make sure the mead is aerated before putting on an airlock and putting it in the cabinet.
I would then let the mead ferment at room temp (70-74 F) for 2-3 weeks, depending on activity. Throughout those weeks, I would add the yeast nutrients as necessary. Then, I would wash, de-needle, and put the cactus fruit into a secondary; rack the mead off the lees into the secondary; and let the mead sit for about 4-7 days before bottling. Afterwards, stabilize and backsweeten with the last 1/2# of honey.

According to my calculations, this should make a dry mead between 8-11% ABV, with a cactus fruit flavor and desert blossom finish.

If you have any recommendations or tips of suggestions, I would love to hear it!

 

[Abysssarim]

That looks like a tasty recipie. A bit of input i would use just a bit of your 1 gallon spring water to rehydrate your yeast instead of distilled. The minerals and such in the spring water will be beneficial to the yeast. I would also after like 5-10 mins of rehydrating put a little of the honey water mix in to help them acclimate a bit to the sugar level. Second thing I would recommend doing the cactus fruit to taste instead of doing a set number of days. I'm not super familiar with cactus fruit living in SD but I know some fruit takes longer to extract flavor and some things like cinnamon can over extract in a hurry. These are just the way I would personally do it but I definitely want to hear how it tastes when it's finished!!