Legacy mead

[danishd43]

I have gotten into the habit of making a mead for each of my children when they are born. They are put away for future graduations, weddings, etc. and the entirety of the batch will be given to them on the first occasion a bottle is opened.
Our third child is due in December and I’ve so far used mostly seasonal produce that is available around their births. I’ve made a pumpkin pie mead and a sassafras blackberry mead.
I’m looking to make a mead based on a Christmas sangria my wife makes with cranberries, apples, and rosemary in white wine.
I’m thinking
8lbs cranberries
5lbs apples
10ish 8 inch rosemary sprigs
12-15lbs honey
Maybe some brown sugar

I am thinking I’ll use about half the cranberries, a pound or two of apples, and 2-3 sprigs rosemary in primary then add the rest in secondary.

I don’t pasteurize my honey (it’s procured locally) and to date I’ve never use any additives (sufides, pectin, etc) outside of yeast nutrient and energizer and they have turned out really good so far.

Is using the fruit and herbs in primary a waste of flavors?
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on my proposed quantities?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

A lot of aromatics & some flavor is lost in primary, but the flavor remaining has more of a wine-like quality, whereas fruit added to secondary retains more of a true fruit flavor & less of a wine-like flavor. I like to add fruit to both primary and secondary, as I think doing so adds more depth to the overall flavor of the melomel.

Now I've never aged anything I've made for 18 yrs (going on the graduation thing you mentioned), but I can tell you that a lot of aromatics will be lost during that time. It really depends on what you're adding; things like vanilla will age out rather quickly, cloves take a long time to lessen & age out.

Of the things you mentioned, I think the apple flavor would disappear pretty quickly. I'm not sure how the rosemary would age, as I've never used it in a fermentation, but I'd guess it would fade before the cranberry would. If you want to retain apple flavor, why not go with a cyser & add the other things to it? I think you'd get a bit more of a balanced flavor that way. Just drop the apples & replace the water with apple juice. This will change your starting gravity, so you may need to reduce the amount of honey or brown sugar to keep the same OG. Just my 2 cents worth.
Regards, GF.

 

[Miraculix]

I have gotten into the habit of making a mead for each of my children when they are born. They are put away for future graduations, weddings, etc. and the entirety of the batch will be given to them on the first occasion a bottle is opened.
Our third child is due in December and I’ve so far used mostly seasonal produce that is available around their births. I’ve made a pumpkin pie mead and a sassafras blackberry mead.
I’m looking to make a mead based on a Christmas sangria my wife makes with cranberries, apples, and rosemary in white wine.
I’m thinking
8lbs cranberries
5lbs apples
10ish 8 inch rosemary sprigs
12-15lbs honey
Maybe some brown sugar

I am thinking I’ll use about half the cranberries, a pound or two of apples, and 2-3 sprigs rosemary in primary then add the rest in secondary.

I don’t pasteurize my honey (it’s procured locally) and to date I’ve never use any additives (sufides, pectin, etc) outside of yeast nutrient and energizer and they have turned out really good so far.

Is using the fruit and herbs in primary a waste of flavors?
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on my proposed quantities?

I cannot give you any answers on your questions, but if you update this thread in 18 years with the results, you'll be the hero of the forum.

 

[danishd43]

Thank you, very helpful points. I didn’t realize apple juice would would retain flavor better than using the actual fruit.
Not sure I fully understand why but I’ll take your word for it.

It also makes sense adding fruit in primary makes for a more wine like flavor. That explains a lot about a blueberry mead I made last year. I used about 10lbs of blueberries all in primary and while the taste is ok it is a dry wine with no discernible blueberry flavor.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[wildmazer]

it's just that it take a fair amount of apples to make cider. your 5lbs of apples would make a bit more than 1/3gal of cider - and that's if you actually pressed the juice out. using cider/juice as a base (cyser) just has that many more apples involved, and thus that much more apple flavor.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You can also "juice-up" your apple juice by adding frozen apple juice concentrate (FAJC) to the juice. I've done this & had good results, but keep in mind that doing so also increases the OG & the acid content. I typically add between 1 & 4 cans of FAJC (thawed, of course) to a 6 gallon batch.
Regards, GF.

 

[danishd43]

So. It’s been about 2 1/2 years since I made this. I made a few .33l bottles to test along the way to make sure I didn’t show up to my daughters wedding one day with some swill I hung on to for a couple decades.
this stuff is delicious! The cranberry really comes through. At 1 year it was too much and I thought I had overdone it because the cranberry flavor just dominated but it’s mellowed now, has a beautiful pink hue and I’m really happy with it. We’ll see how it is in another 5 years or so.

 

[Dan O]

So. It’s been about 2 1/2 years since I made this. I made a few .33l bottles to test along the way to make sure I didn’t show up to my daughters wedding one day with some swill I hung on to for a couple decades.
this stuff is delicious! The cranberry really comes through. At 1 year it was too much and I thought I had overdone it because the cranberry flavor just dominated but it’s mellowed now, has a beautiful pink hue and I’m really happy with it. We’ll see how it is in another 5 years or so.

What was the FG, please? Thanks in advance.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

So. It’s been about 2 1/2 years since I made this. I made a few .33l bottles to test along the way to make sure I didn’t show up to my daughters wedding one day with some swill I hung on to for a couple decades.
this stuff is delicious! The cranberry really comes through. At 1 year it was too much and I thought I had overdone it because the cranberry flavor just dominated but it’s mellowed now, has a beautiful pink hue and I’m really happy with it. We’ll see how it is in another 5 years or so.

Sounds yummy. I’m making a grapefruit rosemary right now. So I’m interested in what you think of the rosemary addition. My plan is to pull some of the mead and do an infusion to blend in at packaging. Not planning to hold it for many years though. Thanks.

 

[Raptor99]

@danishd43 This sounds delicious! Does the rosemary come through? How about the apples? Your original post sounded a bit tentative about the ingredient amounts. What was the final recipe that you used?

 

[Ty520]

Just an FYI, from everything I've heard, mead doesn't age well like wine - 7 years is pushing it.

 

[Maylar]

Just an FYI, from everything I've heard, mead doesn't age well like wine - 7 years is pushing it.

Nonsense. There's at least 1 commercial mead that says on the label that it's best after at least 5 years of aging.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Long term storage /aging is all about packaging. If one uses a cheaper grade of cork, one should not expect the wine or mead to keep for the long term. Higher ABV likely also plays a roll, but I can’t back that one up.

 

[Raptor99]

I found a good discussion on this topic here: Any tips on making a mead to age a long time?

Many wines peak within 2-3 years and go downhill if aged longer than that. Most commercial wines are designed to be consumed within a year, but some high-end wines are designed for extended aging. Likewise, some meads benefit from long-term aging while others do not. I don't think that there is a general rule as to how long you should/can age all meads. The article linked above gives some tips on the characteristics of a mead that will benefit from long-term aging, including a higher ABV, more oak/tannin, residual sugar. As @Hoppy2bmerry said, the quality of the cork matters too.

 

[Ty520]

Nonsense. There's at least 1 commercial mead that says on the label that it's best after at least 5 years of aging.

A circumstantial instance doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of meads aren't crafted for long term aging.

If the necessary properties aren't there, it won't matter how good your bottle is either

 

[bwible]

Just an FYI, from everything I've heard, mead doesn't age well like wine - 7 years is pushing it.

I’ve heard exactly the opposite. Stories can be found everywhere about people finding meads they lost of forgot about sometimes up to a decade later and how great they turned out to be.

Alcohol percentage would be a factor. Higher alcohol beverages of any kind keep longer. Like you find Scotch that is 20 or sometimes 30 years old. Brewing techniques can also be a factor - was the mead boiled, what was done to minimize oxygen, etc.

But yeah, a hydromel is not going to stay good as long as a sack mead, etc. Just like a best bitter won’t keep as long as a barleywine.

 

[T Murph]

I once had the pleasure of drinking a wild cherry mead that was aged seven years. I had tasted that mead when it was one year old and thought it was probably the best mead I had ever tasted. But at seven years it was wonderful. The wild cherries had mellowed considerably and the sweetness had dried to a beautiful semisweet example.

I currently have three aging and will try them around Christmas. They were made middle of January. They began as one large batch that I decided into 3. A blackberry, a raspberry and a mixed berry. OG 11.66 before they were devided and transferred to secondary onto processed fruit. After 3 months they were transfered to new corny kegs for aging. At six months they were back sweetened to produce a finished semisweet mead. All sealed transfers were done under pressure.

They are kept in a concrete cellar with a moderate 65 degree temperature. I am eager to sample them around Thanksgiving to evaluate their maturity.