Mead ideas?

[jim_reaper1066]

I just freed up 3 1 gallon jugs from my JOAM, which will hopefully be drinkable after a few years in the bottle (holy cloves batman!). Any suggestions as to what I should fill then up with next? Im definitely going to do a nice show mead, but wouldn't mind trying something like a chocolate or rhodomel. Any good recipe suggestions?

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Never made it, but try this.

I made a strong melomel a few years ago with about 20# of honey and about 5# of blueberries. Very good. Not sure how chocolate would be in a mead....

 

[BillyGHusk]

New to mead making but I'm wondering about a savory sort of mead. Pepper and fennel, but using the fennel bulb instead of the seed? Someone shoot me down now.

 

[Yan]

New to mead making but I'm wondering about a savory sort of mead. Pepper and fennel, but using the fennel bulb instead of the seed? Someone shoot me down now.

I don't think the bulb would give much flavor. It's got a pretty mild fennel taste even when eaten raw that very well might not show up in a mead.

 

[ZooBrew]

Try a Cyser. 2+lbs. honey, the rest apple juice, Cotes De Blanc yeast, and a cinnamon stick (maybe a clove or 2). Don't forget the yeast nutrient series additions.

 

[jim_reaper1066]

A cyser sounds nice, but im a little weary of spices. My JAOM was overpowered by the cloves and cinnamon. Hopefully it will mellow out with age.

 

[KCWortHog]

If you want a chocolate mead, you could try extract. You could make a melomel (strawberry, maybe, or perhaps orange!) then add a little chocolate extract to it. Not much, because it quickly overpowers the subtlety of the fruit. But then you don't have to worry about the mess of chocolate/cocoa and can easily control the amount of chocolate flavor you have in it. I've used extracts in a few meads & beers - placed in a competition for a cherry vanilla mead. Cherry melomel + Nielsen Massey vanilla extract. mmmm

 

[PinkyOFloyd]

Here are some proven recipes: http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/MeadRecipes

 

[LightningInABottle]

I see lots of unessecary steps/ingredients in those recipes. You don't need to boil and Irish moss is not needed. I suggest browsing the recipe section here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/

 

[PinkyOFloyd]

I see lots of unessecary steps/ingredients in those recipes. You don't need to boil and Irish moss is not needed. I suggest browsing the recipe section here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/

Okay. I just thought NHC Gold Medals meant something. Never mind......

 

[LightningInABottle]

Just the first 2 or 3 I clicked on had Irish moss, not needed. And you can omit the boiling because it removes some of the flavor of the honey. Not that they are bad recipes, just omit those steps. Things like lemon juice and irish moss tend to show up in recipes that are older. The link was just to show him the recipes here on HBT. Same things apply to the older ones in there.

Sorry if I my post came across as snippy. Just posting up quickly from work. It was not intentional.

 

[PinkyOFloyd]

Cheers!!!

 

[BBBF]

I like to use fruit juices for my 1 gallon batches. I've had good luck with cranberry, pomegranate (I added lime zest) and blueberry. I also made a blackberry mead that I used frozen Goya fruit.

If you have a larger carboy/bucket availible, I would also recomend starting a larger batch of straight mead and racking onto the juice later.