Hopped Mead Questions.

[Nathan Cordes]

Hello All!

I'm fairly new to making mead on my own, so please keep that in mind as you read this.

So getting down to the question at hand...I'm working on a mead recipe from the Meadist, a website that I really enjoy. (http://meadist.com/making-mead/mead-recipes/hop-head-mead/)

I've made this recipe once before with fantastic results, but I didn't follow the recipe to the degree that I would like to this time around. I have a question I posted on the Comments section of this Recipe, but I'm worried I won't get a proper reply in time, as I'm already to the "Second Ferment stage"

If you read the recipe it says after the must is made, wait two weeks and re-rack to glass and add leaf hops to muslin bag, wait two more weeks then re-rack to the final fermenting vessel for aging.

My question is this- After the initial two week primary fermentation, do I have to re-rack the Must into a glass carboy when I add the leaf hops?
I ask because I’m worried about actually getting the Muslin bag full of leaf hops into the entrance of my Glass Carboy and then also taking them out once the leaf material is “Super Saturated” and expanded.
Could I A.) Just add the leaf hops without the muslin bag?
And B.) Just add the Leaf hops to my fermenter without re-racking?
And if I need to use the Glass Carboy, is there any suggestions for putting in/taking out the muslin bag of hops?

Thank you!

 

[Solstice Meadery]

I see zero significance in racking to glass vs a bucket. Bucket makes clean up easier, muslin bag, same thing. Dropping the hops into primary vs racking and hopping could change flavor pallet but I am unsure how much that would really happen. Just because you rack off what lees there is doesn't stop fermentation.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Nathan Cordes - and welcome and thanks for a very interesting question. Here's my quick thought - and bear with me for a little more context.
I occasionally make hopped meads but I don't boil my honey. Brewers learned to boil their wort in order to extract full bitterness from their hops but historically, before hops were used in ales wort was sufficiently pasteurized at the temperatures at which the grains were mashed. The author of this recipe is a brewer turned mead maker. Me? I would boil the hops in water (add a drop or two of lemon juice as isomerization of the active ingredients is helped with a lower pH of the water. Adding sugar to the water (wort or must) does diddly squat and indeed, if the solution is too sugary isomerization is inhibited: the molecules need to be very active and the less dense the liquid the more active they will be with less (heat) energy applied. OK

Now to your question - the reason why the author suggests you rack after 2 weeks is because active fermentation is more or less over and the yeast will no longer be pumping out CO2. That means you want to protect the mead from oxidation and that means you want to transfer (rack) the mead from the primary (where presumably there was a large amount of headroom) to the secondary (where there will be very little or no headroom. Can you use a bucket? You can, but I wouldn't unless your plan is not to age or store your mead. Though, I do agree that unlike fruit wines, mead does not oxidize as readily. But there is an alternative - and again, you "hear" the brewer in the author. You assume that all carboys have very narrow necks. That is not true. Brewers - and some wine makers - use wide mouthed carboys (usually plastic) and those would allow you to insert and (easily) remove bags of whole hops. Of course, if what you have is a narrow-mouthed carboy then you might want to use hop pellets -and be prepared to rack off those pellets after the 10 -14 days (any longer and you get grassy flavors rather than hoppy aromas from what brewers refer to as "dry hopping". In other words, while I am sure that some folk can distinguish beers (and meads) made with whole hops from those made with pellets I certainly cannot and I don't know that I know anyone who can... but yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance (chance being a "ticket" or a "turn" and not a "risk"). Good luck! And be sure to tell us how your hopped mead turned out

 

[CKuhns]

What Bernard said +1

AND Pellets just make a freaking mushy mess unless in a bag and are really hard to manage when racking.

 

[Redeemer]

Hello All!

I'm fairly new to making mead on my own, so please keep that in mind as you read this.

So getting down to the question at hand...I'm working on a mead recipe from the Meadist, a website that I really enjoy. (http://meadist.com/making-mead/mead-recipes/hop-head-mead/)

I've made this recipe once before with fantastic results, but I didn't follow the recipe to the degree that I would like to this time around. I have a question I posted on the Comments section of this Recipe, but I'm worried I won't get a proper reply in time, as I'm already to the "Second Ferment stage"

If you read the recipe it says after the must is made, wait two weeks and re-rack to glass and add leaf hops to muslin bag, wait two more weeks then re-rack to the final fermenting vessel for aging.

My question is this- After the initial two week primary fermentation, do I have to re-rack the Must into a glass carboy when I add the leaf hops?
I ask because I’m worried about actually getting the Muslin bag full of leaf hops into the entrance of my Glass Carboy and then also taking them out once the leaf material is “Super Saturated” and expanded.
Could I A.) Just add the leaf hops without the muslin bag?
And B.) Just add the Leaf hops to my fermenter without re-racking?
And if I need to use the Glass Carboy, is there any suggestions for putting in/taking out the muslin bag of hops?

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum Nathan; this place is awesome, with lots of helpful and knowledgeable folks. I've learned so much from the people here.
I actually bottled a 5 gallon batch of hopped mead yesterday, and I did things a little differently from the recipe you used. My yeast was Mangrove Jack M05 Mead yeast. It's ABV tolerance is 18% just like the EC-1118 in your recipe but it takes a little bit longer, and appears to contribute esters that the EC-1118 does not.

Also I used Orange Blossom honey, and Mosaic hops only, so I'm thinking my hop profile is much less complex than the recipe you used. They were pellets, and I boiled them in spring water before adding them to the must in the primary. My honey was't heated at all. @CKuhns is absolutely correct about the annoyance and mess of pelletized hops, but its not a huge issue in the primary. I racked after 30 days, and it sat in secondary for 30 days. It wasn't as clear as I wanted but I wasn't able to cold crash. I feel like this is purely cosmetic, since it tastes quite nice. I would be interested to see what it comes out like using the whole leaf hops, and as others have posted, bucket or wide mouth carboy for the secondary is fine, but do pay attention to your head space. Also keep in mind, plastic vessels aren't the best choice for any kind of bulk aging as they are not completely air tight.