Prickly Pear Mead Pics

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Brandon O

Knapsnatchio
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I racked a 4-5 month old prickly pear mead into secondary yesterday. Here are the pics.

PPMead1.JPG

PPMead5.JPG

PPMead7.JPG
 
Looks great! Can you post your recipe?

There are a lot of those prickly pear bastards around here those things are the devils work, with the amount of pain they have inflicted on me it is time to turn the tide.
 
My recipe is for 5 gallons.

10lbs orange blossom honey.
Premiere Cuvee yeast
Stepped nutrient addition.

Once the initial fermentation stopped I added 12 lbs of prickly pear fruit.

This ends up being sweet because there are residual sugars left. it's not incredibly sweet though. Smells amazing and taste good. Another year or so and it will taste great.
 
That looks really good! My friend just made a mead, or mjod (scandinavian style mead), with peaches. There was also a little 2 row and some hops thrown in. I can't wait to taste it.
 
Where do you pick up prickly pears? Are they a local thing, I have never seen any.

Central Texas is overrun with them. If you want to do some kind of trade, I can send you 10 pounds or so once the fruit starts showing. I have seen them at Whole Foods, but I don't know if that's available where you live.
 
wow that looks like liquid hotness. Papazian's description of his prickly pear mead was enough to make me want to brew it. Someday I hope to give it a go.

Do I understand that that mead was in primary for 5 months? Seems a bit long, does it taste a bit yeasty?
 
wow that looks like liquid hotness. Papazian's description of his prickly pear mead was enough to make me want to brew it. Someday I hope to give it a go.

Do I understand that that mead was in primary for 5 months? Seems a bit long, does it taste a bit yeasty?

Yes it was in the primary for 2 months with first fruit addition the second addition went straight into the primary and it sat another 5 months.. I split the total fruit used into 2 additions.

This is not long for mead at all. I will rack a 3rd time before bottling and it will be crystal clear when I bottle.

Does it taste yeasty? I don't anticipate it will considering it will be as clear as water when it's bottled.
 
Where do you pick up prickly pears? Are they a local thing, I have never seen any.

Well, around here, it's not so much "find" them, as it is "avoid" the stickery bastages!

But, their fruit does make good Mead flavourings!

steve
 
yeah me too. I think i'm going to try this for my first mead experiment. Just have to find the prickly guys first. I'm guessing somewhere in LA is a place to get them.
 
well i went to borrow the corker from the LHBS today and the lent it out. So it may be this weekend before I get them bottled. Next time I'll just use Zorks so I don't have to rely on my LHBS for their charity corker. No way I'm paying $80 for a corker I only use once in a great while. Zorks are pricey, but they are better thank regular corks and easier.
 
Brandon, who is your LHBS?

I hope it isn't Jeffy's place.

steve
 
It looks really good. The electric purple has left behind a crystal clear purple/reddish liquid. Hopefully I can get the corker in the next few days.

BTW....I also learned that corks are not the best way to keep out oxygen. I thought corks were superior and it turns out newer technology has pretty much made them more of a tradition than anything.
 
It looks really good. The electric purple has left behind a crystal clear purple/reddish liquid. Hopefully I can get the corker in the next few days.

BTW....I also learned that corks are not the best way to keep out oxygen. I thought corks were superior and it turns out newer technology has pretty much made them more of a tradition than anything.

What newer technology?
 
Okay, got this stuff bottled tonight. It's pink, straight up, with some honey color too. The electric pink/purple has died down.


here's the mess
Mead_Mess1.JPG


Mead_Mess_2.JPG
 
That is a beautiful drink man. B-E-A-Utiful! What do prickly pears taste like.
 
hard to say man, they are very unique. almost like a dragon fruit if you have ever had that. I used to live in taiwan and that is the most similar thing I can think of. If one existed I would say it tastes like a honey red melon.
 
Bite sized morsels, kittens love!:ban:

And Brandon I didn't know you looked like that. I thought your avatar was it, so now once again my perception of a HBT member has changed. :D
 
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