Fig Mead

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BillyGHusk

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Hello all!

New to the site.

Have been homebrewing for about 6-8 months, just beer and a so-so cider(my first ever brew, man I have learned so much since) so far.

I am finding myself drawn to mead. I have found no real mention of a fig mead. It seems to me this would have been a natural combination, thinking historically anyway.

Thoughts? I must be missing something.

Tim
 
I have been wanting to do a fig mead. I was thinking fresh juicy black forest figs. Non-dried. You can find dried figs at any time of the year. But will it make good mead? I have heard some people over at gotmead.com have done fig and it makes a great dry mead. I however want a sweet mead. My puzzlement is how many figs to use and to have a carboy open and honey when figs are in season. I hear that the fig season to get them is short and you need to be very picky on the figs for a good flavor. Beyond that love to hear your suggestions and ideas and if you do a fig mead then let us know the recipies or even do a brewlog. Recipie first then updates on how it is going and then when it is done and aged how it tastes and what you would do diffrent. Good Luck.
 
That does sound like it would be a definite go-with for mead. Even better, start the mead as a burnt mead to develop the caramel. Now I'm getting ideas, too.
 
I used dried figs in the wine I made. I will try to find the brew notes for it. The grape concentrate would probably sub equally for the honey. Or would at least be a good place to start from. I only made a gallon at the time and it was years ago at this point. The last bottle of that wine was served at a few months ago.
 
I was planning on using dried figs. Have used dried cherries for a couple of beers and been happy with the results. Amount of figs is yet to be determined, was looking for some insight here. Will be brewing in 1-2.5 gal. batches. Any thoughts on an herd/spice that would work well? I will definitly post what I do.
 
Fig melomel can be outstanding. However, figs don't add a lot of distinctive aroma/flavor; it tends to stay in the background. It adds great body, acidity and mouthfeel, and gives the result a very vinous quality. I used fresh Brown Turkey figs from my Father's tree which he froze for me - they will spoil very quickly if not handled carefully. I'd use at least 3 pounds per gallon. If you use dried figs, the amount could be adjusted.
 
Fig mead recipe
2 gal. batch
7.5 lbs honey
1 TBS yeast - Prise de Mousse
Assorted yeast nutrients (as prescribed in the faq sheet)
All of the water used will have been steeped with the figs. Most likely 2 lbs. fresh.
1st racking onto .5lb to 1lb of dried figs.
2nd racking to include a spice – 1 cinnamon stick at this moment, open to ideas.
Planning on using the Bochet technique

Please any thoughts are most welcome.

Tim
 
I've never made a bochet mead, but it seems like that would definitely get rid of any fig aroma or flavor from the water, and overwhelm anything from primary. I think if you're going to do a fig bochet, maybe make a bochet mead and a separate fig mead, then blend them. That way, you can do maybe 20% bochet and 80% fig mead to control the balance of the flavors.

I'd be curious what others think, though, especially those who have made or tasted a bochet.
 
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