Mead - the homebrew thread

[abanton]

About a month in and I racked my first batch (3 gallons) off the raspberries and onto 12oz of montmorency cherry concentrate today. Sitting at 1.002. Fruit is coming through but it’s pretty harsh right now. Smell is a bit medicinal. I’m hoping some months will turn it into something good!

 

[mjohnson171]

About a month in and I racked my first batch (3 gallons) off the raspberries and onto 12oz of montmorency cherry concentrate today. Sitting at 1.002. Fruit is coming through but it’s pretty harsh right now. Smell is a bit medicinal. I’m hoping some months will turn it into something good!

Time usually rounds out those fusal alcohol flavors (perhaps it was fermented at too high of a temperature. A lot of yeast give off those fusal characters at anything over 65-68). The cherry will add to that medicinal taste too. More so when you use juice as opposed to fermenting on whole cherries.

alcohol heat + medicinal cherry = reminds me of children's cough syrup. You may have to let it sit for a few months.

 

[MooseLang]

Has anyone here ever done any "Short Meads?" Is that even a real thing?

Something with less honey, lower abv, quicker turnaround time?

Curious if anyone has any good methods / recipes / etc...

 

[Beerontwowheels]

Has anyone here ever done any "Short Meads?" Is that even a real thing?

Something with less honey, lower abv, quicker turnaround time?

Curious if anyone has any good methods / recipes / etc...

axeman9182

 

[rcubed1]

Has anyone here ever done any "Short Meads?" Is that even a real thing?

Something with less honey, lower abv, quicker turnaround time?

Curious if anyone has any good methods / recipes / etc...

I haven't made one but people in my club do. I think they use beer yeast and usually aim around 5-6% ABV. Typically they'll keg it and give it some carbonation.

 

[MooseLang]

I haven't made one but people in my club do. I think they use beer yeast and usually aim around 5-6% ABV. Typically they'll keg it and give it some carbonation.

I figured it was something as simple as that. Didn't know if beer yeast was the best call, or if wine yeast would be better.

I think I'm going to do something like this, add some Tart Montmorency Cherry concentrate after it reaches final gravity, then pop it in the keg. Could be nice to have on hand.

 

[rcubed1]

I figured it was something as simple as that. Didn't know if beer yeast was the best call, or if wine yeast would be better.

I think I'm going to do something like this, add some Tart Montmorency Cherry concentrate after it reaches final gravity, then pop it in the keg. Could be nice to have on hand.

Sorry, I can't remember but I'll post if I find out. The versions I had were fruited. One particularly good one used the Costco Three Berry blend frozen berries. Those were added at the beginning of fermentation.

 

[axeman91821]

I've done a mango short mead a couple times and I've got a galaxy dry hopped short mead on tap now. I typically use 7lbs of honey in a 5 gallon batch and if I'm fruiting I add a can of Vintner's Harvest puree when I make up the must. All the fruited batches went to 1.000 within two weeks, at which point I'd stabilize and then keg a few days later on top of enough honey to backsweeten to ~1.010-1.012. The dry hopped batch was only at 1.010 a couple weeks in so I stabilized it there and then kegged without backsweetening. Used 71b for all of them. I've been really happy with them so far.

 

[MooseLang]

I've done a mango short mead a couple times and I've got a galaxy dry hopped short mead on tap now. I typically use 7lbs of honey in a 5 gallon batch and if I'm fruiting I add a can of Vintner's Harvest puree when I make up the must. All the fruited batches went to 1.000 within two weeks, at which point I'd stabilize and then keg a few days later on top of enough honey to backsweeten to ~1.010-1.012. The dry hopped batch was only at 1.010 a couple weeks in so I stabilized it there and then kegged without backsweetening. Used 71b for all of them. I've been really happy with them so far.

Thanks! What yeast do you use for these?

 

[soySmelliot]

Bottled two 1 gallon batches last night. They've both been bulk aging for around 4 months now. On the left is a 14% vanilla cyser I made with some Whole Foods apple juice, a split and scraped vanilla bean, some wildflower honey, and Lalvin D47.

On the right is my try at an experimental "rhodomel". I found some rose petal spread at a local Indian grocer which was just rose petal and sugar, so I popped that into my must. Used wildflower and D47 here as well. Ended up dry at around 13%. Is already very drinkable. It is slightly sour and floral, so I'm wondering if something extra infected it or if the sour comes from the spread.

I've got three one gallon session mead experiments ready to bottle as well, so I need to start thinking of my next batches. I'm thinking I'll do a 5 gallon morat, but I only have around 11 lbs of mulberries where I'd ideally have more like 15. Or I could try doing a bochet, which has been a tempting prospect for quite a while now.

 

[soySmelliot]

Bottled three one gallon experimental batches of 'cream soda' mead. I basically did three Hydromels, one traditional, one with three pounds of cherries, and one with three pounds of strawberry. When I transfered to secondary on each, I added some cream soda extract. When bottling, I added enough corn sugar for 3.2 volumes of carbonation and bottled three bottles. Then I added 2-2.2 oz xylitol to sweeten and bottled the rest. This was just to get a comparison between a dry and a sweetened version of each. My guess is that the sweetened cherry one is going to be the best in the end based on some samples I drank. Hopefully one of the fruit ones turns out well enough to expand into 5+ gallon batches for a nice "scarlet and cream" Husker gameday drink.

 

[Jb123]

Bottled three one gallon experimental batches of 'cream soda' mead. I basically did three Hydromels, one traditional, one with three pounds of cherries, and one with three pounds of strawberry. When I transfered to secondary on each, I added some cream soda extract. When bottling, I added enough corn sugar for 3.2 volumes of carbonation and bottled three bottles. Then I added 2-2.2 oz xylitol to sweeten and bottled the rest. This was just to get a comparison between a dry and a sweetened version of each. My guess is that the sweetened cherry one is going to be the best in the end based on some samples I drank. Hopefully one of the fruit ones turns out well enough to expand into 5+ gallon batches for a nice "scarlet and cream" Husker gameday drink.

Extract?!?!

 

[soySmelliot]

Extract?!?!

LOL yep, my homebrew store has a variety of different soda extracts. You can even make straight up soda with it. I think Amazon would have some too.

 

[quirk6]

Bottled three one gallon experimental batches of 'cream soda' mead. I basically did three Hydromels, one traditional, one with three pounds of cherries, and one with three pounds of strawberry. When I transfered to secondary on each, I added some cream soda extract. When bottling, I added enough corn sugar for 3.2 volumes of carbonation and bottled three bottles. Then I added 2-2.2 oz xylitol to sweeten and bottled the rest. This was just to get a comparison between a dry and a sweetened version of each. My guess is that the sweetened cherry one is going to be the best in the end based on some samples I drank. Hopefully one of the fruit ones turns out well enough to expand into 5+ gallon batches for a nice "scarlet and cream" Husker gameday drink.

Xylitol? Is this diet mead?

 

[soySmelliot]

Xylitol? Is this diet mead?

Gotta watch my figure!

 

[Bill2]

Does anyone have references to micronutrient requirements for yeast within the context of different fruit and honey varieties, specifically with regard to helping me calculate what's available in the must/what needs to be added for ideal growth/fermentation?

 

[Jas45678]

I haven’t seen any specific to fruit or honey varietals, just the basics like temp range, alcohol tolerance and Nitrogen needs.

 

[axeman91821]

Just got some cacao nibs to rack part of my batch of meadowfoam traditional onto, anybody have any tips for amount and/or duration for nibs?

 

[soySmelliot]

Just got some cacao nibs to rack part of my batch of meadowfoam traditional onto, anybody have any tips for amount and/or duration for nibs?

I've never used them myelf, but I've read to use at most 4 oz per 5 gallons and to rack off the nibs to tertiary when it tastes good to you, but typically no longer than 6 weeks.

 

[pdurrrr]

Just got some cacao nibs to rack part of my batch of meadowfoam traditional onto, anybody have any tips for amount and/or duration for nibs?

Ive only used nibs for 2 batches, but I was really happy with both. I used 1 lbs of nibs for 5 gallons and left them for 2-3 weeks. Both recipes had tons of fruit in them as well so I wanted to make sure the chocolate could stand out, hence using 16oz. For a traditional I’m sure you could get away with using less. Strongly recommend tasting as you go as mentioned above

 

[mjohnson171]

Does anyone have references to micronutrient requirements for yeast within the context of different fruit and honey varieties, specifically with regard to helping me calculate what's available in the must/what needs to be added for ideal growth/fermentation?

Ive not come across any. In general there isn’t much published about the details and science behind making meads. Mostly the intro/basic stuff.

Labs like Wyeast may publish some of that info on their strains. Check their website or email them.

Although I’m pretty sure you know a guy who’s pretty good at fermenting honey + fruit.

 

[mjohnson171]

Spoiler: ****

(Link to media)

 

[axeman91821]

Thinking I want to do a moscow mule inspired carbonated short mead for my next batch. Anybody have any experience using either ginger or lime (zest and/or juice)?

 

[pdurrrr]

Thinking I want to do a moscow mule inspired carbonated short mead for my next batch. Anybody have any experience using either ginger or lime (zest and/or juice)?

I use ginger somewhat regularly. My favorite method is to peel, then cut into roughly 1"x2" chunks, press it with the side of the knife you used to cut it, freeze overnight in a ziploc bag (sanitation + cell wall breakage), then thaw and throw right in. I know others prefer grating their ginger, to each their own

I haven't used lime too much, but just be careful not to use too much pith or you'll get an unpleasant (to me, anyway) bitter flavor.

 

[axeman91821]

I use ginger somewhat regularly. My favorite method is to peel, then cut into roughly 1"x2" chunks, press it with the side of the knife you used to cut it, freeze overnight in a ziploc bag (sanitation + cell wall breakage), then thaw and throw right in. I know others prefer grating their ginger, to each their own

I haven't used lime too much, but just be careful not to use too much pith or you'll get an unpleasant (to me, anyway) bitter flavor.

So you prefer using fresh ginger? Was originally going to get some dried ginger root with everything else from the homebrew store.

 

[pdurrrr]

So you prefer using fresh ginger? Was originally going to get some dried ginger root with everything else from the homebrew store.

I've only ever used fresh ginger, so I can't speak to the differences. My fiance makes ginger tea often, so we always have it on hand

I'm guessing you can't go wrong with the dried ginger root and it sounds like it will be much more convenient for ya

 

[elkhunter36]

Bottled a bunch in the last 2 weeks.

Some experiments:

Bochet A and B

20 minute heat on the left and 30 minute on the right. It's made with the rare and desirable Wal-Mart honey so you know it's good. The 30 minute tastes pretty great I am sure we will eventually use it with some cherries for a chocolate covered cherry mead.

Meadowfoam A and B

Made exactly the same using 2 different yeasts. I wish this honey wasn't so damn expensive.

And experiments led us to making full 5 gallon batches of these:

Muscat Love. My first pyment I have ever made without using my own grapes.

Is anyone here old enough to get the horrible song reference?

And this guy. Holy cow this one turned out nice.

(Link to media)

 

[quirk6]

Bottled a bunch in the last 2 weeks.

Some experiments:

Bochet A and B

20 minute heat on the left and 30 minute on the right. It's made with the rare and desirable Wal-Mart honey so you know it's good. The 30 minute tastes pretty great I am sure we will eventually use it with some cherries for a chocolate covered cherry mead.

Meadowfoam A and B

Made exactly the same using 2 different yeasts. I wish this honey wasn't so damn expensive.

And experiments led us to making full 5 gallon batches of these:

Muscat Love. My first pyment I have ever made without using my own grapes.

Is anyone here old enough to get the horrible song reference?

And this guy. Holy cow this one turned out nice.

(Link to media)

They used to play Muskrat Love on work radio. It was awful.

 

[elkhunter36]

They used to play Muskrat Love on work radio. It was awful.

That's it. If you haven't heard it please don't listen to it.

 

[quirk6]

That's it. If you haven't heard it please don't listen to it.

My favorite part is the muskrat solo.