I apologize in advance for the long post, but I've a lot to add....
I've been given some hops (goldings, kent hops), i want to make a mead with some hops (i'm an ale fan) any trusted recipes people have tried?
Yes! I can speak with some authority on hop metheglins...I've made several, including the 2 batches that I currently have bottled (see signature). One of these used the exact same hop varieties. I have no idea how much hops you have, what the alpha values are, or what size batch you're making, but I'd recommend using a spread of additions throughout the boil. For some reason, I chose a 45 min boil...this was my hopping schedule:
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.00 oz. Fuggle Whole 4.70 19.8 45 min.
2.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 5.00 21.0 45 min.
1.00 oz. Fuggle Whole 4.70 5.6 30 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 5.00 6.0 30 min.
1.00 oz. Fuggle Whole 4.70 2.9 15 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 5.00 3.1 15 min.
1.00 oz. Fuggle Whole 4.70 0.0 Dry Hop
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 5.00 0.0 Dry Hop
As you can see it takes a $h!tload of hops to do it my way...I was targeting
80 IBU's, and this schedule got me a calculated 79.5.
i'm interested to hear if anyone has done this and how it turned out also. hoppy beers are my favorite, but the subtle sexiness of a mead might not be a good match with more commanding flavors of hops, even mellow ones. plus, since you need to age mead for so long, most of the hop flavor would probably go away in that year to year and a half.
They turn out awesome, and hops match up with a mead quite well, although I think you are correct that the more subdued hops (EKG, Fuggle, and perhaps some of the continental noble hops) are actually better. I did do a hop metheglin with Cascade, Chinook, and Simcoe, and it's good, but the EKG/Fuggle is just a little smoother, and I think the herbal earthiness of those hops blends better with the honey. I do plan on brewing another batch of this style with a mix of noble hops (probably Saaz and Tettanger) when the 2011 hop harvest comes around
darkbrood, i would highly recommend not boiling your honey. it doesn't really need to be boiled and you end up losing a ton of the honey goodness(flavor and aroma) if you do that. also, one pound of honey per gallon water would make a very weak drink.
3 pounds per gallon create something that is around 10-11%, so knock two thirds of your sugars out of there and you have under 4%.
Not only is it absolutely fine to boil honey, and it's absolutely necessary for a hop metheglin. Boiled mead will be different that non boiled, but boiling honey doesn't "ruin" honey...it's not the Devil that some make it out to be. I have referenced
this website/experiment many times before (preview: most of the tasters
actually preferred the boiled mead! when blinded). While the methods used aren't perhaps the "best" from a scientific standpoint, it's a pretty good experiment, and does match my own empirical experience with my metheglins. Now to be fair, I only boiled half of my honey (to improve hop utilization) and added the rest just before flameout.
@frydog - I've noticed that 2.5-3 pounds per gallon seems to be the standard for most mead recipes. Like I said, I haven't tried these yet - the thread for the "justcoz" recipe mentioned it being drinkable like a beer...I guess if it came out beer-strength, that would be pretty weak for a mead.
Would making it stronger drown out the pleasant hop aromatics with the ones from the honey variety? Or would you recommend something to add more body to the weaker-strength recipe?
You could certainly do this as a "session" mead, but I can tell you that a stronger mead does NOT drown out the hops. I used 18 lbs honey in a 6 gal batch for a target OG of 1.126 As noted before, I target about
80 IBU's
you will lose some of the hop goodness as the mead ages, but it should only need a 6 month age, so it should still have plenty of hop flavor/aroma. again though, i have no clue how the hop flavor will translate into mead, but i am anxious to hear back from anyone that tries it.
You'd be surprised how well the hop holds up in mead...the hop aroma and flavor doesn't seem to fade quite as much as it does with, say, an aged double IPA...my two hop metheglins are over 2 years old now, and when I broke them out at Mead Day last weekend, they were a hit, and the hops are still really there. My theory is that the even higher ABV might allow some of these compounds to remain undegraded longer? Interestingly, the aging question feeds back to the question of hops overpowering the mead...I think the American hop version is getting better with age.
One last thing...I will mention that you really need some residual sweetness in a hop metheglin, and depending on your technique and yeast, some back sweetening may be necessary. From my experience, I would say that a lightly-semisweet (FG ~ 1.012-1.014) is probably perfect. I don't suppose it's surprising that this is probably the average FG of many ales....
Good luck whatever recipe you end up using! Be sure to post your results!