Herbed Mead

[MzAnnie]

Great Morning,
The Honey Man is going to be bringing me some of his dark honey that no one will buy, because of the color. My question(s) are, can I use lemongrass and lemon balm to make this mead. Has anyone ever tried it? I have used passionflowers in mead before, but I don't think I got as good of a fermentation as I should have. Would a beer yeast be better? I read about using beer yeast and wine yeast together in Agave wine. I was hoping to use a standard mead recipe and using the H2O, beforehand to brew the herbs, then reheat the water and add to the honey. Does this sound correct? Thank you for any tips...Annie

 

[huesmann]

I would add the herbs in secondary, if you think they will affect fermentation.

 

[tauschung]

You could make a tisane, as you said and mix that water with the honey to form your must. However, fermentation will affect the aroma and flavor of the herbs. It is best to, as was mentioned earlier, add the herbs in at secondary so you can control the final product more.

 

[MzAnnie]

Thanks so much. I tried make an Hoja Santa Mead, and it was AWFUL. I thought that, because the Hoja Santa tasted like root beer, I could impart that flavor in the mead. But in my 'Mad Scientist' ways, I threw it all in together and came out with a big mess, which was a colossal waste of time. Now I will have to try both herbs, and hope doing it this way, I can utilize all the flavors and goodness of the herbs. Thank you so much!