First gruit

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Krayton

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So I started my first gruit. It is a 2 gallon batch. I used the BOMM method with the new nutrient guide. I used the sweet mead yeast. Bog myrtel and marsh rosemary and yarrow... The yarrow was supposed to be here today or tomorrow. So I hope it shows up. The starting gravity was 1.120, today it is at 1.100.

0910171448.jpg
 
Well for both of them I used between 12-14 grams. I forgot when I was weighing them that I was doing a 2 gallon so I had to weigh twice but both times my scale bounced back and forth between 6-7 grams.
 
Sounds good. For the yarrow, I would recommend less. Probably about 1-2 grams is enough yarrow for 2 gallons in my experience. Maybe 3 grams at most. It adds some floral character as well as some tartness and bitterness that is different from hops (of course).
 
dmtaylor said:
Sounds good. For the yarrow, I would recommend less. Probably about 1-2 grams is enough yarrow for 2 gallons in my experience. Maybe 3 grams at most. It adds some floral character as well as some tartness and bitterness that is different from hops (of course).
Click to expand...

Okay thank you
 
My gruit meads are far lower in ABV (about 2 lbs of honey to the gallon, so about 10% ABV) and I use about 15 grams of each herb plus 15 grams of heather tips, which is to say that I use a tablespoonful of each herb, to make a tea with the water I use to dissolve the honey. I boil the tea for 10 minutes and when cool strain the herbs and then mix the honey and the tea in a blender to aerate the bejesus out of the must. Pitch the yeast and then add a full dose of nutrient) I bottle and prime this mead. It's dry but there is still a perception of sweetness. For my last batch I used eucalyptus honey.
 
You use 15 grams of each herb per gallon? I like the idea of the blender lol. Oh eucalyptus honey ?!?!? how do you like that? I used some bamboo honey in a BOMM. It is different not sure on my take of it yet though.
 
I have kinda noticed the smell and that might be why I want to add more menthol. I might go with the licorice though.
 
Krayton said:
You use 15 grams of each herb per gallon? I like the idea of the blender lol. Oh eucalyptus honey ?!?!? how do you like that? I used some bamboo honey in a BOMM. It is different not sure on my take of it yet though.
Click to expand...

Bamboo honey in the US is a version of buckwheat honey (or Knotweed)
 
I didn't know the buckwheat part I thought it was Knotweed.... So the way you wrote that are you saying buckwheat and knotweed are the same thing? If so I am going to have to look at that some more. Also means I learned something new.
 
Krayton said:
I didn't know the buckwheat part I thought it was Knotweed.... So the way you wrote that are you saying buckwheat and knotweed are the same thing? If so I am going to have to look at that some more. Also means I learned something new.
Click to expand...

Looks like the two are related. Bernard, what does the knotweed honey taste like? I have never seen it for sale. The local (Eastern Washington) buckwheat honey is strong and dark.
FWIW, the yarrow that is found all over my local area will most definitely add an extra strong intoxicating effect to a mead. It is a Hippy-Dippy, dream enhancing herb. I don't care for the effects.
 
But that's why I usually make my gruit meads relatively low in alcohol - closer to 6 or 7% though this last batch, as I say was about 10%. The gruit herbs enhance the effects of the alcohol.
 
bernardsmith said:
But that's why I usually make my gruit meads relatively low in alcohol - closer to 6 or 7% though this last batch, as I say was about 10%. The gruit herbs enhance the effects of the alcohol.
Click to expand...

This is exciting ! lol Just hope it taste good also.
 
It's not really about the recipe but about the protocol - the process. But here's the recipe for one gallon:

1 gallon (slightly more) spring water
1 T yarrow
1T mugwort
1T sweet gale
1 T heather tips
Boil herbs in water for 10 minutes. Cool. Strain.
In blender mix 1.5 - 2 lbs honey (I used clover honey) with gruit tea
Pour into fermenting bucket
Add more water to ensure that after first racking there is enough mead to fill carboy to top
Pitch yeast - I used 71B - and I use 1 pack per gallon.
Add beer or wine nutrient (they are identical despite label) I used for the batch I sent to the Mazer Cup, Fermaid O. But I add about 4 or 5 times the suggested dose (I use about 1 teaspoon for each gallon )- and I add all the nutrients minutes after I pitch the yeast. My current regime is to use the WYeast wine or beer nutrient and with that I use 1/2 t per gallon. They recommend 1t for 5 gallons. But I think working with honey is not the same as working with fruit.
I cover my fermenter with a towel and stir twice a day to agitate the must and so keep the yeast in suspension. This also degases and so reduces physical and chemical stress on the yeast.
Rack when active fermentation comes close to the end (around 1.005). Seal with bung and airlock. My basement has an ambient temperature of around 60 - 65 F
Bottle and prime after 2-3 months
 
Also I just ordered some licorice root and seeds for the bog myrtle and marsh rosemary so I can try and grow my own.
 
thanks for the recipe... it is interesting. I had not thought about using just honey for the sugars... I'm thinking about using grain like I was making a brown ale, but then adding the gruit rather than the hops. I guess I need to make some small 'teas' using each of the herbs so that I can get an idea what each smells and tastes like...
thanks again bernardsmith-
:mug:
 
Adding grain to honey or honey to grain makes what is called a braggot. It's neither a mead nor a beer (or it can be either a mead or a beer)... Don't want to hijack Krayton's thread but I have a braggot (of sorts ) in secondary - it is a chocolate bochet- braggot but it uses chocolate malt for the flavor and uses caramelized clover honey (cooked 2 hours in my slow cooker). I added some East Kent Golding hops 15 minutes before flame-out (The bochet was added to the cool wort).
 
bernardsmith said:
Adding grain to honey or honey to grain makes what is called a braggot. It's neither a mead nor a beer (or it can be either a mead or a beer)... Don't want to hijack Krayton's thread but I have a braggot (of sorts ) in secondary - it is a chocolate bochet- braggot but it uses chocolate malt for the flavor and uses caramelized clover honey (cooked 2 hours in my slow cooker). I added some East Kent Golding hops 15 minutes before flame-out (The bochet was added to the cool wort).
Click to expand...

Oh that sounds GOOD!!!!!
 
Krayton said:
Oh that sounds GOOD!!!!!
Click to expand...

I hope it is. The chocolate flavor is light and the color is dark as coffee but the caramelized honey is quite delicious (The secret is not to burn the honey - those youtube videos are great for laughs but they don't make a very pleasant mead. Burn the honey (or follow historical recipes ) and the results are bitter.
 
bernardsmith said:
I hope it is. The chocolate flavor is light and the color is dark as coffee but the caramelized honey is quite delicious (The secret is not to burn the honey - those youtube videos are great for laughs but they don't make a very pleasant mead. Burn the honey (or follow historical recipes ) and the results are bitter.
Click to expand...

So you cook it in a slow cooker for like 2 hours and you dont burn it, takes talent I am guessing.
 
I'm guessing you use one of those slow cooker bags since you didn't mention your wife trying to kill you?
 
My wife and I both cook ...so the kitchen is ours - not "hers" or "mine".:rockin:. and we don't use bags... Honey does not harden like sugar when you cook it and in any event when it reaches the color (and flavor) you are looking for you need to cool it FAST and you do that by adding water (since you plan to dissolve the honey anyway to ferment it). That water should be HOT - not ice-cold) , perhaps close to boiling (if you heat the honey stove-top) so that when it touches the SCALDING hot honey the water does not instantly turn to steam (and so burn you) - working with a slow cooker means that the honey is HOT - not scalding and so the water can be far cooler and the lid can be used as a shield to prevent the unlikely event of vaporised water hitting skin...
 
Well I racked it over today. Gravity at just below the 1.000 so im guessing like 1.001 or 1.002 not sure now how much that makes a difference. Right now the taste is hard to describe, I can taste the herbiness of it... now to mix in some licorice extract.

1002171405.jpg
 

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