Can anyone help me out with a winter recipe?

[Purdaddy]

I'm still new to mead making, and I want to get started on making some kind of cinnamon/vanilla mead for the winter time. I can't really find any recipes combing both, but I'm open to variations that would taste somewhat near a cinnamon / vanilla flavored mead.
Any help I get would be awesome, thanks err'body.

 

[biochemedic]

I had a cinnamon vanilla metheglin once and it was really nice...simply had cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans in it. I forget exactly what the amount of cinnamon and vanilla were, but I think it was 3-4 of each added in secondary

 

[Purdaddy]

I had a cinnamon vanilla metheglin once and it was really nice...simply had cinnamon sticks and vanilla beans in it. I forget exactly what the amount of cinnamon and vanilla were, but I think it was 3-4 of each added in secondary

Hmmm what was the batch size?

 

[biochemedic]

I actually just checked the old e-mail I had saved from the original brewer...it was actually 6 of each, and it was a 6 gal batch, so essentially 1 bean and 1 cinnamon stick per gallon. He used a very large amount of honey (22 lbs) in a 6 gallon batch, and as I recall it had some residual sweetness, but it wasn't overly sweet. Personally, if I were to do this, I'd probably use about 3 lbs per gallon, and then backsweeten if necessary to taste at the end.

I had sent some further questions to the brewer regarding when the spices were put in, and for how long, and never really got a reply. That being said, I'd probably add them to secondary, and do serial sampling until I liked the spice level...

 

[Purdaddy]

Sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. My only concern is the vanilla beans. I've seen a few people talk about how strong they are and mention that usually one or two beans split in half give a strong enough flavor. Also have you ever tried using brown sugar? It would probably go good with these flavors.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

For a winter beverage, I like cyser; that's mead made with apple juice instead of water, VERY tasty. Cinnamon goes great in cyser, so does molasses if used sparingly. Brown sugar works well too, but all brown sugar in the US is really just white table sugar with a wee bit of molasses added, and a hint of vanilla could be a really nice touch; would certainly help smooth all the flavours & add a bit of depth.

I'd go with 3lbs honey per gallon, apple juice, yeast nutrient/energizer, 3-4 oz. molasses in primary. Add 2 or 3 four inch cinnamon sticks & 1 or 2 split vanilla beans in secondary. If you start out using a little spice at a time, you can always add more later until you reach the flavour profile you want, without going over. Just put them in a hop sack & drop 'em in.
Regards, GF.

 

[Purdaddy]

Awesome thank you. I was consoderig a cyser...but I wanted to use code instead of applejuice. Would that work?

 

[huesmann]

Look up Wayneb's Christmas Spice metheglyn over at Gotmead.

 

[StitchMySmile]

For a winter beverage, I like cyser; that's mead made with apple juice instead of water, VERY tasty. Cinnamon goes great in cyser, so does molasses if used sparingly. Brown sugar works well too, but all brown sugar in the US is really just white table sugar with a wee bit of molasses added, and a hint of vanilla could be a really nice touch; would certainly help smooth all the flavours & add a bit of depth.

I'd go with 3lbs honey per gallon, apple juice, yeast nutrient/energizer, 3-4 oz. molasses in primary. Add 2 or 3 four inch cinnamon sticks & 1 or 2 split vanilla beans in secondary. If you start out using a little spice at a time, you can always add more later until you reach the flavour profile you want, without going over. Just put them in a hop sack & drop 'em in.
Regards, GF.

GF,

Is that three cinnamon sticks, and four oz molasses per gallon? This sounds like a recipe I wanna try, and I wanna get these proportions right.