Looking for some suggestions

[Dtkubitski]

I'm a new brewer (about a year into it) and I'm also 30 weeks pregnant with my second, a little girl we are naming Morrigan. I wanted to make a micro batch (1-1 1/2 gal) of mead for her birthday that will be opened many years down the road. So many recipes! I'm looking for something others have had success with and is on the sweeter side.

10 weeks to do this!

 

[fossilcat]

Congratulations. You must be super excited. My wife and I are empty nesters but still talk about stuff that happened when the kids were young like it was yesterday. A very happy time.

My suggestion is loveofrose's Acacia Rose. It's simple, quick to mature (it's a BOMM), and delicious. I substituted my friend's honey (very tasty, very aromatic) because I couldn't get a hold of any Acacia. I also finished mine at 1.015 because 1.020 is too sweet for me. Sounds like you want to keep it for a while. Others here know better than I about how long it lasts in the bottle. The longest any of mine has lasted is a couple of years (*because we drink it). I have heard that mead peaks at 5 years, but I also believe that's without any k-meta/sorbate.

Here's the link: https://denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Acacia-rose/ . Check out the rest of his site, it's very informative.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Wow the baby will be making an entrance pretty soon! The meads I have made were on the dry side accept for a Cyser that is very sweet like ice wine. Many people on the forum get good results with JAOM and say follow the recipe, and use baking yeast. Happy brewing and I wish you a smooth delivery.

 

[Titus_Pullo]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRPcfAXI8A[/ame]

I've done a couple batches of this metheglin and had pretty good success with it. Just scale the ingredients down for a gallon batch. What I've done with it is to just get a tube of already crushed ginger from the grocery store produce dept and use the whole thing with 1/2 tsp each of vanilla and almond extract. Good luck with the baby and the mead.

 

[bernardsmith]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJRPcfAXI8A

I've done a couple batches of this metheglin and had pretty good success with it. Just scale the ingredients down for a gallon batch. What I've done with it is to just get a tube of already crushed ginger from the grocery store produce dept and use the whole thing with 1/2 tsp each of vanilla and almond extract. Good luck with the baby and the mead.

One tube for five gallons or for one gallon?

 

[Titus_Pullo]

Here's the recipe I used. I didn't follow the video to the letter but it was close enough for government work.

3.5 lbs of wildflower honey
1 4.0 Oz tube of crushed ginger
1/2 tsp each almond and vanilla extractso
1 packet D47 yeast
1/2 tsp yeast energizer
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
- I did a staggered nutrient addition adding another 1/4 tsp every other day for a total of 1 tsp
1 gallon of spring water
- I used the whole gallon of water so I ended up with roughly 1.25 gallons of total volume of must.

At 1 month I racked it and added a campden tablet and potassium sulfate per directions.
At 2 months I back sweetened with1 cup of honey dissolved in 1/2 cup of water, added 1.5 tsp of acid blend and bottled it.

Final yield was a little more than 5 750 mL bottles. It's definitely on the sweeter end of the spectrum. I've got another batch of it going and think I may reduce the back sweetening a little bit.

 

[Titus_Pullo]

Here's the finished results and what it looked like after the first racking.

 

[theblackwolf]

ive no advice, but skol, may the mead be strong and flavorful : D