Kriek Style Mead

[BRGriffith]

Hello everyone,

I've been brewing beer and making wine / mead for a while now, and I've decided to do something a little different. Lambic meads are a bit of an unexplored front as far as mead making goes, and after reading this great post I'm ready to try it.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/lambic-sour-and-funky-mead-making-pt-1.html


Recipe is planned as follows:

Kriek Mead - 5 Gallons

- 6 Lbs. Raw Wildflower Honey
- 1 Lbs. Maltodextrin
- 3 Tsp. Yeast Nutrient
- Water To 5.5 Gallons
- WYeast Roselare Blend
- 1 Oz. Galaxy (Dry Hop | Secondary)
- 1 Cup Med. Toast French Oak (Secondary)
- X2 Qt. Tart Cherry Juice (Secondary)X
- 3 Qt. Tart Cherry Juice (Secondary)
- 1 Packet Danstar Belle Saison (Secondary)

Procedure:

Bring the Maltodextrin to a boil with enough water to dissolve it, then let cool. Place the honey, nutrient and maltodextrin in the fermentor, then top up to 5.5 gallons. In the meantime, smack the WYeast Roselare pack and let it activate. Pitch the yeast and primary for at least a month.
After primary, transfer to secondary on the cherry juice, hops, and oak. I'm also planning on harvesting the yeast slurry after primary for future batches. I'll be letting this secondary for quite a while, then priming and bottling in 750ML Belgian bottles for extended conditioning.

1/13/17: OG was 1.046. Pitched lambic yeast blend and observed signs of healthy fermentation.

1/19/17: Decided to go with 3 quarts of tart cherry juice when I transfer to secondary. Also, I'm eager to open the primary. Here's hoping for a pellicle!

2/4/17: Racked today onto 3 Qt. tart cherry juice, 1 cup medium toast French oak, and 1 Oz. Galaxy hops. Gravity was 1.022, making it just over 3% ABV at the moment, so I decided to pitch a packet of Belle Saison to ensure that there is enough Saccharomyces to attenuate properly. Worst case scenario is that the yeast simply does nothing, but then becomes food for my little bug friends. The brett should have no trouble bringing this down to 1.000. The aroma is fantastic already: huge floral notes from the wildflower honey and a bit of funk from the brett. I tasted the gravity sample, and all I can say is wow. Already there is a bright, lactic acidity and funk, followed by a sweet honey finish. This is right on track to being the best thing I've ever made. The cherry juice has given it a beautiful ruby red color, more so than I thought it would. It's a little difficult to tell from my phone picture, but most of the juice was at the bottom of the bottle when I took this. Now we play the waiting game while this ages in secondary.

I'll be updating this thread as the mead progresses.
Cheers!

Thanks for reading,
Ben

 

[ten80]

Seems like a bit of low starting gravity and perhaps a very thin mouthfeel. Honey has about 35 ppg and maltodextrin 40 ppg, giving an OG of about 1.045 and an ABV of around 4% (no contribution from maltodextrin) before addition of the fruit juice. I've used that brand of juice before and it is very flavorful, but it will really "thin out" the mouthfeel of a beer or mead because it has the potential to ferment below 1.000. Additionally, that may not be enough juice to impart a "tasty" level of cherry flavor, my gut feeling is that the flavor may be very dilute. I'd suggest reducing your total volume to about 4 gallons total including the juice. That would bring you closer to the OG of the mead recipe you linked above.

Let me know if I'm missing something in my interpretation of your recipe.

cheers!
Christophe

 

[BRGriffith]

Well, the OG came out at 1.046, and if that drops to 1.000 (which I expect it to), that comes out to 6.1% ABV before the cherry juice and priming sugar. Regular lambics routinely finish at 1.000 or around there, so I'm not to worried about it being too dry or "thin" by comparison, but we'll just have to see I suppose.

The maltodextrin I added to feed the bugs specifically, in an attempt to emulate the longer chain sugars produced during a grain mash, which should help to up the funky, sour, farmhouse characteristics. I do see what you mean about the amount of cherry juice, so I may opt to go with 3 Qt. when I transfer to secondary. Or I may use the juice as the priming sugar... Hmm.. Either way I'm hoping to finish up right around 7% ABV. This is an experiment, so if I end up wanting something different out of it, I can always tweak it for the next time!

I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[bmwr75]

My wife and I love lambics. Am watching this thread to see how it goes.

 

[ten80]

I do see what you mean about the amount of cherry juice, so I may opt to go with 3 Qt. when I transfer to secondary.

You might consider freeze-concentrating 3QT of juice down to about 1.5 QT to double the sugar and concentrate the flavors. That would increase the flavor and sugar contributions from the juice.

 

[BRGriffith]

I racked this mead into secondary this morning and I've updated the original post with the procedure and some tasting notes. It's excellent already!