Tips for a BIG mead for a very special event

[Tiroux]

Hi everyone!

I'm a experimented beer homebrewer, and I'm in fact a pro brewer. I'm also a homebrewing teacher. Well, all that to say that I'm not a neewbie that is just really excited to brew the biggest thing of all.

I have a very special event (my nephew/godson's birth) that I want to mark with a very special Cuvée of something that will age for the next 18 years (at least). My speciality is beer, but beers doesn't age (in an interesting way) that long, and my sister is anyway not a big fan of beer. So I thought about a really high alcool content and very liquorous mead. Probably straight up honey, or maybe just a bit of maple syrup in addition.

I've played around with meads, acergylns and stuff in the past, but always around 10% dry stuff. Now that's another game, and I need some tips, especially for the fermentation and yeast.


I'm looking for 16 to 19%abv and a really sweet body. So I guess I have to look for a 1.150-1.160?

should I add all the honey at the beginning or go by multiple addition on the course of the fermentation? Backsweet or go straight big at first?

I really like the wlp715 champagne yeast for my dry stuff. Would it be great for a traditionnal mead like this? If not, what would be great in replacement?

What would be a good starting pH? Should I adjust it or leave it the ''natural'' way?


Any tips or advices are welcome. I know it's a lot of questions but I want to make it perfect and I still have a few months to prepare every possible aspects of this brew.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[loveofrose]

Here is an article to make sure you have a good foundation on mead techniques:

Current Mead Making Techniques

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

In addition to the above points, very high ABV meads require some additional TLC to make sure they have the best start in life. Certainly willing to help, but I have a lot of questions to customize your recipe. Any idea what yeast you would want to use? How sweet do you want it to finish? Fruit based or straight mead (or other)? Sparkling or still? Any particular varietal honey? Does your family like mead?


Better brewing through science!

 

[Tiroux]

Here is an article to make sure you have a good foundation on mead techniques:

Current Mead Making Techniques

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

In addition to the above points, very high ABV meads require some additional TLC to make sure they have the best start in life. Certainly willing to help, but I have a lot of questions to customize your recipe. Any idea what yeast you would want to use? How sweet do you want it to finish? Fruit based or straight mead (or other)? Sparkling or still? Any particular varietal honey? Does your family like mead?


Better brewing through science!

Hey! Thanks!

Yes, I have the basic technics, as I said, I played around mead making a few time. I already answered some of your questions in my original post, but here they are. (By the way, english isn't my first language, I might be not clear sometimes.)

-I would like to use WLP715 Champagne because I like it, it's pretty clean en efficient. But I only used it in bone dry ferments, so I'm open to suggestions.

-I'm looking for a still mead. I'll bottle it in corked and waxed 200ml cider bottles. I'm looking for a fairly sweet finish. Something really warming that you sip slowly.

-It's going to be straight honey. No fruit, no spices. Maybe some maple syrup.

-I have a local honey producer that produces Clover, Wild flowers and Buckwheat honeys. He also have other types but not in a regular basis and not so interesting (or really fancy stuff way to expensive). I personnaly really like his buckwheat one but it's really intense on the barnyard/farmhouse flavor and it might be A LITTLE to intense for a that big mead. I think i'm going to go with 90% Wild flower (which is king of an amber honey) and 10% buckwheat. (No, I don't have access to orange blossom mead)

 

[bernardsmith]

um... buckwheat, in my opinion is an acquired taste in a mead and not something with which many people will be particularly happy... but if you have tasted buckwheat mead and you really like it and you are confident that your family and friends will like it then ignore this post...

 

[Tiroux]

um... buckwheat, in my opinion is an acquired taste in a mead and not something with which many people will be particularly happy... but if you have tasted buckwheat mead and you really like it and you are confident that your family and friends will like it then ignore this post...

Well i'm saying 10% buckwheat.

 

[loveofrose]

My suggestion would be DV10 or UvaFerm 43 for the yeast. These are very good mead yeast that can hit the high ABV you are looking for. I would suggest making a very large starter stepped up twice. Starting SG <1.14.

Be sure to buffer the pH with potassium bicarbonate and do SNAs. Add additional nutrients if you get any sulphur smells.

Once it gets to 1.005, add honey back to whatever you want the FG to be. Let it ferment out again and repeat until the yeast give up. Aerate the must every single day until FG is stable.

Adding 10% Buckwheat will add some body to the mead without the barnyard flavor. I don't see a problem there.

I think some American oak cubes could really finish this off into something that ages for years to come.




Better brewing through science!

 

[bernardsmith]

Sorry. Missed your point about the 10 percent use of buckwheat . I thought the three varieties were single varietals that you were considering.

 

[WVMJ]

You might want to research Polish meads, one type uses 1 part honey and 2 parts water. You can download a free winemaking guide from Scotts Lab that explains using a yeast like EC1118 in a high alcohol fermentation. Age with some oak, start your yeast off with Goferm to give them a boost to keep going strong. Good luck, WVMJ

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

You might want to look up honey jack. Its a bit more work and a bit stronger than you mentioned. It would however make for an interesting mead and I would imagine would age well. ( Ive never made it myself but have heard good things about it.)

 

[Paul_F]

I'm a relative newbie, so don't have a lot to offer.... But if it was me, I'd be inclined to make TWO batches, somewhat different from each other. Then, about the "halfway" age mark, taste them both, and pick the "winner".

Just my opinion.

 

[newbrew86]

Hi everyone!

I'm a experimented beer homebrewer, and I'm in fact a pro brewer. I'm also a homebrewing teacher. Well, all that to say that I'm not a neewbie that is just really excited to brew the biggest thing of all.

I have a very special event (my nephew/godson's birth) that I want to mark with a very special Cuvée of something that will age for the next 18 years (at least). My speciality is beer, but beers doesn't age (in an interesting way) that long, and my sister is anyway not a big fan of beer. So I thought about a really high alcool content and very liquorous mead. Probably straight up honey, or maybe just a bit of maple syrup in addition.

I've played around with meads, acergylns and stuff in the past, but always around 10% dry stuff. Now that's another game, and I need some tips, especially for the fermentation and yeast.


I'm looking for 16 to 19%abv and a really sweet body. So I guess I have to look for a 1.150-1.160?

should I add all the honey at the beginning or go by multiple addition on the course of the fermentation? Backsweet or go straight big at first?

I really like the wlp715 champagne yeast for my dry stuff. Would it be great for a traditionnal mead like this? If not, what would be great in replacement?

What would be a good starting pH? Should I adjust it or leave it the ''natural'' way?


Any tips or advices are welcome. I know it's a lot of questions but I want to make it perfect and I still have a few months to prepare every possible aspects of this brew.

Thanks a lot!!!

as someone new to the hobby how in the world is someone a "pro brewer" sorry for laughing >< i'm not intentionally being a jerk