Rhodomel Style Mead "Rose"

[CaribouBrewmasters]

Heres a recipe for a mighty fine mead for everyday enjoyment. Not too dry, not too strong, the tannins and acidity from the elderberries mixed with the floral notes of rose hips and bitter citric notes from the orange peel blend delectably into this fine brew.

13lbs Local Wildflower Honey
2.5 oz Dried Rose Hips
1.75 oz Dried Elderberries
0.5 oz Bitter Orange Peel
Acid Blend (ph adjuster)
2.5 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
WYeast Sweet Mead
1/4 tsp sulphite

Makes 5 US gallons/20 Liters
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.010
ABV: 9.3%

Add honey to sanitized primary, fill to 20 L or 5 gallons with 175 degree water and dissolve honey. Put elderberries, rosehips, and bitter orange peel into mesh bag. Add to primary. Stir well. Check PH. Adjust with acid blend if needed to bring it to 4.0. Add sulphite. Let cool to room temp. Stir vigorously for 5 minutes. Pitch yeast. Rack when finished fermenting. Let sit until clear. Bottle now if you want sparkling mead. Stabilize and clear if you want it still. This mead needed very little aging and mellowing time. Enjoy. Post critique!

 

[coletteh55]

I am not familiar withWyeast sweet mead. Is this something I can find online?
Is the taste similar to sherry?
Mahalo

Heres a recipe for a mighty fine mead for everyday enjoyment. Not too dry, not too strong, the tannins and acidity from the elderberries mixed with the floral notes of rose hips and bitter citric notes from the orange peel blend delectably into this fine brew.

13lbs Local Wildflower Honey
2.5 oz Dried Rose Hips
1.75 oz Dried Elderberries
0.5 oz Bitter Orange Peel
Acid Blend (ph adjuster)
2.5 Tsp Yeast Nutrient
WYeast Sweet Mead
1/4 tsp sulphite

Makes 5 US gallons/20 Liters
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.010
ABV: 9.3%

Add honey to sanitized primary, fill to 20 L or 5 gallons with 175 degree water and dissolve honey. Put elderberries, rosehips, and bitter orange peel into mesh bag. Add to primary. Stir well. Check PH. Adjust with acid blend if needed to bring it to 4.0. Add sulphite. Let cool to room temp. Stir vigorously for 5 minutes. Pitch yeast. Rack when finished fermenting. Let sit until clear. Bottle now if you want sparkling mead. Stabilize and clear if you want it still. This mead needed very little aging and mellowing time. Enjoy. Post critique!

 

[bernardsmith]

i doubt it. Sweet mead yeast is a marketing gimmick. Different yeasts will have different tolerances for alcohol but it is hard to imagine that any yeast that is lab cultured will have a tolerance so low that it will always only make a mead with residual sugar (hence sweet). You pick a yeast whose flavor characteristics you like, or whose ability to ferment at the abv you want or the temperature you will be working with and you allow that yeast to finish what it started. Then if you want a sweet wine or mead you stabilize and back sweeten. Bottom line there really is no such thing (except in marketing depts) as a "sweet mead yeast".

As for a sherry flavoring yeast... Sherry, is basically, a wine that has been exposed to oxidation in a controlled manner (tho' some classic sherries do use a particular strain of yeast (flor, I believe it is called).

 

[loveofrose]

1. Omit orange peel and acid blend. At the end, you can add if needed. My thought is that it will fight what you are going for.
2. A dark honey such as Acacia really works well with Rose hips.
3. W15 accentuates rose flavors much better than any other yeast.
4. Bump rose hips up to 1 lb per gallon. 2 if you really want it strong.