Leap Year Mead 2

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Just trying to organize this a little better so we can get a better idea what people want to do. The ideas that have been proposed so far have been a citrus, a vanilla, or a previous recipe. So this is what I put in the poll but please feel free to make a suggestion and Ill add that to the poll.
I think were trying to keep this fairly simple. Please feel free to post recipes.
I just thought if the participants voted it would be easier.


Recipe Here:

Here is my vote for a recipe. Please feel free to correct the math, because this is theoretical, and based on a 1 gallon batch size (Makes things easy)

3# of Honey (Best Local Variety you can get)
Yeast Nutrient (Follow your directions)
Water
1 Gram RED STAR Pasteur Champagne Yeast. (Whole pack for a 5 gallon batch)

Rack onto 2 vanilla beans (Split and scraped) for the entirety of secondary ferment.

This should give us a Beginning gravity of about 1.130 and the Pasteur will ferment it Dry.
By not cooking the crap out of the vanilla, it will maintain more of it's delicate flavor, and by adding it at the secondary stage, it will add a crisp clean vanilla taste, and not overpower our drink.

I suppose that the timing of primary ferment needs to be worked out, but we have plenty of time, and secondary ferment could go many moons.

With this we get what we all have talked about, #1. Simplicity, #2 Short shopping list, #3 Dry, #4 Modestly High ABV, #5 Not overly flavored.

 

[Nurmey]

Thank you BSB! Just what we needed to get this thing decided. Times a wasting and I need to buy supplies.

Should we put a closing date for final recipe?

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Not quite sure well need a bit of time to get ingredients. Some will have ore trouble finding ingredients than others.
So those brewers should speak up and help us decide. Ill be stopping around a few places to see what my honey options are.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

I have a 6.5 gallon carboy that Ill be using and I plan on filling it as high as I can. One option we have is to brew our mead and add other flavors after fermentation has slowed. I dont know if I want to do this but if someone doesnt want to do what the group does they can break up their batch and leave half as planned for longer aging and add other flavors to the other half of the batch. Just a thought.

 

[BigKahuna]

If we call the 15th "The Day" for the recipe, that would give us 2 weekends to visit the store.
If we allow for a "Base Recipe" I'd love the hear about the "Splits".

 

[BigKahuna]

If we do the vanilla, and add it at the beginning of secondary, do you think that 1 or 2 beans is enough? If you scraped the bean like Emeil and Alton Brown tell us to do, then add all of the stuff to the secondary, it should flavor up the whole thing pretty good, and I don't think we are looking for over powering vanilla either.
Specifically looking at the Tonga Vanilla from beanilla.com...They are advertising on this page.:fro:

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Lets make the deadlines as follows
Style 11th
Recipe 13th
Any changes to the recipe that people might like to make (including different yeast strands) by the 15th
All specific instructions and ingredients that will be needed posted on the 15th. That will give us plenty of time to buy ingredients and debate over specific details.

 

[Tusch]

I like the idea of doing a vanilla mead. I have no idea what that will end up tasting like, as a newb, but I love the idea. So the plan is to get a recipe settled on by the 15th and then brew on the 29th? I might have to do 1 or 2 one gallon batches, because my one big carboy is currently in use. But hey, if I can get 10 bottles of something tasty, I'd love to see what its like in 4 years.

And it seems that the higher gravity meads are usually chosen for long aging periods, will this be taken into consideration? Perhaps something with as high of an abv as 18 or 20?

 

[archmaker]

I am game for this, and seeing how this is only my second Mead and I have not had a chance to taste any of my first (JAOM) I will follow the lead of the group. I am not going to vote as I do not know enough abut Mead at this point to make a decision.

Let us newby's know and I will start getting it together. Look forward to making a special Mead.

Thanks guys!

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Ya I guess I wrongly assumed this would be a higher ABV mead. I assumed because this was a leap year mead this would be aged longer. But I vote for a higher ABV mead also.

 

[BigKahuna]

Does anyone know what the Pasteur Champagne Yeast will tolerate? I would be for going to a potential near what it can handle to keep it dry. If it'll go 13 or 18%...Let's do it.
On the vanilla bit...I saw a recipe for 2 beans and 8 oz of extract. I'm totally against the extract, but it makes me wonder about the 2 bean question I posed earlier.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Id like to avoid the extract also. Short list of ingredients.

 

[Nurmey]

Does anyone know what the Pasteur Champagne Yeast will tolerate? I would be for going to a potential near what it can handle to keep it dry. If it'll go 13 or 18%...Let's do it.

Here is some info on the proposed yeast

RED STAR Pasteur Champagne Dry
Dry White, Cabernet, Port, Cider, Mead, Fruits
Temp Range (°F): 59-86° F
Alcohol Tolerance Level (%): 13-15%
Fermentation speed: Fast
Flocculation: Medium-Low
White and some red, no tirage, restarts stuck fermentation. Not for sparkling wines. Will readily ferment to dryness.
Produces a very dry, clean mead. It can make a pretty alcoholic mead. Good ethanol tolerance. Minimal off-tastes. High alcohol tolerance.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

I have heard champagne yeast will give you an extremely dry mead. Will that yeast give us something too dry?

 

[Nurmey]

I think it will be very dry. I'm good with a different yeast but would prefer to keep with an easy to purchase dry yeast.

How about this one?

LALVIN ICV D-47 Côte de Rhône
Dry White, Blush, Sweet Mead
Temp Range (°F): 50-86°F
Alcohol Tolerance Level (%): 12-14%
Ferm. Speed: Moderate
Flocculation: Medium
Contributes mouthfeel in Chard and other whites, sweet mead. Can metabolize about 33% of available malic acid.
Makes mead with nice crisp character. Leaves a nice white zinfandel character that some people dislike but others love.Yields chardonnay buttery flavors. Good with cysers. Be sure to supplement with yeast nutrients, especially usable nitrogen.

Lalvin D-47 cost about a buck and can be found at most LHBS. I've used it in ciders and really liked it.

 

[BigKahuna]

Looks like the Pasteur Champagne Yeast will tolerate a bit more alcohol, I wonder if that is a better choice?
Does anyone know how much honey per gallon it takes to hit the 13% or 14% mark?
I am not sure if we want to go any bigger than that, seems like there is a lot of us "Newb's" going to participate, and I want to make sure we are all successful.

 

[BigKahuna]

I'm ok with the Lalvin yeast, but I thought we were shooting for dry? It's up to the committee.

 

[Don "Ho"]

:cross:
How much of the Leap Year Mead is everyone making. I will have to get either another pail or carboy anyway.

Just as I was starting to get a little patience, Here I go getting antsy again!!

Don "Ho"

 

[BigKahuna]

I am going to make 5 gallons if I have enough honey (Depends on how much we decide to use) or 3 if I can't get more. I am hoping someone will make LOTS!!!
:rockin:

 

[nealf]

1 gallon here... Just picked up a 1 gallon carboy; and found a local apiary with some honey.

Neal

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

my yeast vote is the Pasteur
i hate white zinfandel and dont want my mead to have that characteristic

 

[beala]

How on earth can we choose a yeast without a recipe, or even a style decided? At this rate, people will just recommend a yeast because they have it on hand. A better idea would be for people to post recipes, including a recommended yeast, and we'll vote on those. It seems backwards to choose a yeast, then try to design a recipe around that.

EDIT: And I'm actually voting for the vanilla. I decided I'll be making a citrus braggot for a different project, so a vanilla mead would be a good change.

 

[BigKahuna]

Here is my vote for a recipe. Please feel free to correct the math, because this is theoretical, and based on a 1 gallon batch size (Makes things easy)

3# of Honey (Best Local Variety you can get)
Yeast Nutrient (Follow your directions)
Water
1 Gram RED STAR Pasteur Champagne Yeast. (Whole pack for a 5 gallon batch)

Rack onto 2 vanilla beans (Split and scraped) for the entirety of secondary ferment.

This should give us a Beginning gravity of about 1.130 and the Pasteur will ferment it Dry.
By not cooking the crap out of the vanilla, it will maintain more of it's delicate flavor, and by adding it at the secondary stage, it will add a crisp clean vanilla taste, and not overpower our drink.

I suppose that the timing of primary ferment needs to be worked out, but we have plenty of time, and secondary ferment could go many moons.

With this we get what we all have talked about, #1. Simplicity, #2 Short shopping list, #3 Dry, #4 Modestly High ABV, #5 Not overly flavored.

 

[Nurmey]

The recipe gets my vote.

Three pounds honey per gallon, Red Star Champagne yeast, two vanilla beans per gallon (secondary), and nutrient per directions.

Any other yays or nays?

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

Here is my vote for a recipe. Please feel free to correct the math, because this is theoretical, and based on a 1 gallon batch size (Makes things easy)

3# of Honey (Best Local Variety you can get)
Yeast Nutrient (Follow your directions)
Water
1 Gram RED STAR Pasteur Champagne Yeast. (Whole pack for a 5 gallon batch)

Rack onto 2 vanilla beans (Split and scraped) for the entirety of secondary ferment.

This should give us a Beginning gravity of about 1.130 and the Pasteur will ferment it Dry.
By not cooking the crap out of the vanilla, it will maintain more of it's delicate flavor, and by adding it at the secondary stage, it will add a crisp clean vanilla taste, and not overpower our drink.

I suppose that the timing of primary ferment needs to be worked out, but we have plenty of time, and secondary ferment could go many moons.

With this we get what we all have talked about, #1. Simplicity, #2 Short shopping list, #3 Dry, #4 Modestly High ABV, #5 Not overly flavored.

antother yay

 

[Gavzilla]

Yea for me too, recipe sounds great.

 

[rabidgerbil]

hey, I want to jump in on this...
that recipe sounds good to me...

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

So any preferred type of honey for this?

 

[Tusch]

Yay from my camp as well, though I may go for 3.5 lbs. I like the idea of this mead and will start looking at health food stores and ethnic groceries for quality vanilla bean sources.

 

[rabidgerbil]

So any preferred type of honey for this?

Since this is my very first mead, I am just going to stick with the 5# containers of honey that I can get at Sams Club, and get enough of them to do a 5 gallon batch.