Mead #1

[Impetuous Brewer]

While I have not made mead before I do have six beer batches under my belt. I am looking to brew a batch of mead to give as Christmas gifts next december. Because I am willing to wait so long I have not desire to rush this along.

I am looking for a recipe including cinnamon and maybe cloves. I want a relatively dry mead, not too sweet. I have already looked at gotmead.com and they did not have a recipe that excited me. Any help would be appreciated.

P.S. It will be a 5 gallon batch.

 

[shunoshi]

I would probably shoot for a spiced cyser. Cinnamon and cloves lend well to apple as well as honey. However, if you didn't like any of the recipes on gotmead.com, I'm at a loss. They have a lot of mead recipes.

The only mead I've made so far is a spiced cyser, but it'll take a bit longer than a year for it to be ready (and it's only 1 gallon )

Wish I could be of some more help....

 

[sirsloop]

I just made a Cyser with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=52132

 

[flowerysong]

How about Starrlight Mulled Apple Cyser, the official Mead Day recipe?

Really, without knowing what you didn't like about the recipes on gotmead it's difficult to answer your question.

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

Basically I am looking for something with a cinnamon(y) flavor. The recipes I found on there all had ginger, which I do not want to use. The idea of a cyser is apealing though. After work I'll look into a few. Being ready by next christmas is an important criteria for any recipe though.

Thanks all, my last post (in a different thread) was totally ignored!

 

[Tusch]

I say you take any of those recipes that sounds good, take out the ginger, perhaps up the cinnamon and you will be happy. That is the best part about all this, make everything how you want to make it, tweak what you see to what you want.

 

[malkore]

If you want it ready for December 2008, you need to brew NOW!

a dry mead will take a while to age out and mellow, and you're looking at 2-3 months before it even goes into the aging process, and possibly 12+ months to age.

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

Thanks for all the advice! I think I'm going to run over to homebrew hq and buy the necessary ingredients.

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

I ended up with 10 lbs of honey and some champagne yeast, decided on a mead and not a cyser. Even if it's not ready by Christmas, I can give them away with a card explaining that patience is a virtue. I think I will just add the cinnamon/cloves in the secondary. Looks like I have a weekend project. Thanks everyone!

 

[skou]

If you got champagne yeast, it's gonna get REAL dry. 10 LBS of honey is a mild mead. Your yeast is capable of digesting 15 to 17 pounds of honey. (I'm assuming that you got Lalvin ECV-1118 yeast.) I'd go with Lalvin D-47. It is my favourite yeast for Meads.

Oh, a fruited Mead, (in my {never to be} humble opinion) is the easiest and best mead around. 4 or 5 (or 7or 8) pounds of frozen berries, of any variety, and 12 to 18 pounds of honey. I get my berries frozen, and thaw them and freeze them a few times, in zip-lock bags. Thaw them the last time, and pour them in the carboy. Warm up my honey, with the same amount of water, add yeast nutrient, and pour in the carboy, on top of the fruit. Add water, mix, add D-47 yeast, and watch for a few months. Try to keep your wine-thief out as much as you can, and let it do it's stuff. Watch your airlock, keep it with water in it. Taste for sugar content, every few weeks, and when the sugar level is OK, use some sorbate and campden to stop fermentation. After you're SURE fermentation has stopped, bottle and layup for as long as you can wait.

Enjoy!

steve

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

I've decided to kick up the amount of honey to 13.5 lbs. Hopefully this will let it finish in the not-so-super-dry realm. I've decided to make a traditional mead, though I might make it sparkling when I bottle, I havent decided. Thanks all!

 

[Tusch]

It will still finish completely dry. You are still 4+ lbs from not having a "not-so-super-dry" mead. With that champagne yeast it will eat every last bit of the sugar in that amount of honey. So either add more honey till you beat overtake the yeast, or back sweeten later on.

 

[Impetuous Brewer]

The yeast I got is Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast. I plan on carbonating the yeast when I bottle it. I have not gotten around to making the mead yet and I can always add more honey to my recipe. Ideally it will be dry, but with a slight hint of honey sweetness. I think I'm going to pick up some more honey to get it in the "not-so-super-dry" range. Thanks all.

 

[beala]

I'm not quite sure if I understood your last post correctly, but if you're going to sweeten by bringing the yeast past its alcohol tolerance, you won't be able to bottle carb. I'd suggest back sweetening with lactose (or splenda, etc) if you want to bottle carb.