BRGriffith
Well-Known Member
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
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