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Gruit Mead Question

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loveofrose

loveofrose

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pokerfacepablo said:
I have my gruit mellowing in a 3 gallon corney. I made it last summer and curious to see how this aged out. I remember it being a floral bomb. Your recipe sounds like a winner.

If you're interested.
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24814


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Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm trying to compile all gruit attempts here so I appreciate the link. Give us some tasting notes next time you pour a glass!


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Day 3
Gravity 1.045. Degassed and added nutrients. I may not add the last batch of nutrients since this is going so fast. It seems the herbs are providing something beneficial.

Much to my surprise, the taste is wonderful right now! The Gruit herbs are very fragrant and the taste is difficult to describe. Think flowers with a very restrained menthol/herbal note. I think the old ways were quite good!


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Day 5

Gravity 1.015. No need for extra nutrients. This will go dry on its own. Flavor is good, but I'm trying to access whether I need to dry hop with herbs or not. The problem is that I don't know what flavor each is contributing. Let's remedy that problem.

Gruit Herb Flavor Analysis

Since I will be dry hopping herbs, I need a simple taste analysis to determine what flavor is coming from where and what needs reinforcement. For this purpose, I'm simply taking a bit of the herbs and chewing them up to get the flavor (and hoping the stimulant effects aren't too much). I also tried a few extra herbs that I have in my toolbox. My notes below:

1. Sweet gale - A very mild wintergreen flavor with an astringency that implies a dry beverage. Good to balance a sweet beverage and give a nice cooling effect on the palette.

2. Yarrow - Extremely flowery with a honey-like component. A slight bitterness at the end, but it's almost like a bee pollen bitterness rather than hops.

3. Marsh Rosemary - Rosemary is the perfect description, only very mild in comparison to true Rosemary. It also has a small peat-like element in the aftertaste that you would not want to overdo.

4. Meadowsweet - A marshmallow like flowery flavor with a mellow, slightly tart finish. I would use this to reinforce a flowery aroma.

5. Mugwort - Definitely bitter, but not as bad as you would think. It also has a spicy note that could be nice to work with. After some time passes, the spiciness fills your entire mouth. This would be a cool effect with hot peppers!

6. Horehound - Exactly like meadowsweet, but you would need triple the amount of horehound to get the same amount of flavor.

Based on the above, the current Gruit BOMM has lots of yarrow, appropriate amounts of Marsh Rosemary, but not enough Sweet Gale; therefore...

Dry hopped with 2.5 grams Sweet Gale in a sanitized muslin bag.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Day 7
Gravity 1.005. A substantial tartness has become apparent due to the dryness. The sweet gale is also providing a nice wintergreen type note.

Added 6 oz of honey to balance the tartness (1.020). Vodka added to airlock.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
RiverNomad

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This is a fascinating thread, thank you for sharing your research and information. I'm getting ready to do a mead with fresh herbs from my garden so I'm sure I'll be referencing back to this frequently.

One quick question though...
I've never used carbonation tabs. I make wine and mead only and haven't even heard of such a thing.
Have you ever used them before? Can you use them with anything or do you have to know for certain that your yeast has been maxed out before using?
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Carbonation tabs only are used if the gravity is 1.000 or below. If there are viable yeast at the end of the ferment, they will work. The amount of time it takes to bottle carbonate is variable. It depends on temp, viable yeast, and ABV.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
pokerfacepablo

pokerfacepablo

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loveofrose said:
Carbonation tabs only are used if the gravity is 1.000 or below. If there are viable yeast at the end of the ferment, they will work. The amount of time it takes to bottle carbonate is variable. It depends on temp, viable yeast, and ABV.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
Click to expand...
Hope you don't mind if I add my 2 cents. Medsen helped me out with my carbonated hibiscus tea recipe a couple years ago. Carbonation tabs are a little unpredictable with when they will carbonate. So I fill one small pop bottle and add a tab. I wait for pop bottle to expand and hiss with carbonation before I decide to open the rest. Also, be aware that if the ABV gets too high, the yeast won't take hold again even after adding the carbonation tabs. Some of my hibiscus carbonated and some didn't.

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RiverNomad

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Thanks for the info guys.
The tabs may not be of use to me with my sweeter meads then. Their ABV is usually pretty up there and I like residual sweetness somewhere around 1.02 to 1.03. I was thinking one of them would be rather good as a carbonated drink but I'll continue on in my quest to figure out a way to do that without breaking the bank on a machine.

As far as the carbonation tabs go, I've been kicking around the idea of a dry and bitter mead so they may work just perfectly with that.
And I assume that they can be left in the bottle indefinitely without losing the carbonation?
 
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pokerfacepablo

pokerfacepablo

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RiverNomad said:
Thanks for the info guys.

They may not be of use to me with my sweeter meads then. Their ABV is usually pretty up there and I like residual sweetness somewhere around 1.02 to 1.03. I was thinking one of them would be rather good as a carbonated drink but I'll continue on in my quest to figure out a way to do that without breaking the bank on a machine.

As far as the carbonation tabs go, I've been kicking around the idea of a dry and bitter mead so they may work just perfectly with that.
And I assume that they can be left in the bottle indefinitely without loosing the carbonation?
Click to expand...
I have kegging equipment so that solves that issue. Keep an eye on morebeer.com for deals.

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zpeckler

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loveofrose said:
Update on Ginger Bug:
The first batch of Ginger bug smelled wonderful, but developed white puffy mold on top. I abandoned this batch. I've also decided that in order to make this more mead-centric, a "honey bug" is actually a better way to go. See below.

Honey Bug

I must admit, this is my own (unproven) method for generating a wild starter. Yeast naturally exist in honey as well as most fruits. Here, I am attempting to cultivate yeast from pure honey. It is critical that you use raw, unpasteurized honey for this to work!

1. To a 1 pint mason jar, add the following and mix until full dissolved:
-1/4 cup honey
-3/4 cup spring water
2. Cover with cheesecloth or loose lid, swirl everyday, and wait until you see signs of fermentation.
3. If pleasant tasting, pitch into a batch of gruit mead (2 TBSP for 1 gallon; whole cup for 5 gallons).
Click to expand...
Hey Bray, did you ever end up making and using the Honey Bug?
 
loveofrose

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My previous attempt to make a honey bug resulted in mold only. How do I know? I streaked the culture on plates selective for yeast and grew no yeast. Success is only met after much failure. I repeat: Success is only met after much failure.

So what went wrong? Maybe too much honey. Honey is a hostile environment, so let's cut it back a bit. Also, maybe there was no viable yeast in the honey I chose. I can increase my chances by using multiple honey sources. Hopefully, at least one will have yeast. Let's try this again:

1. To a jar add the following:
-1/5 cup of honey from a mixture of summer Berry, OB, Meadowfoam, Acacia, and Tupelo varietals.
-4/5 cup ozarka spring water

I also made another ginger bug using only summer Berry honey as above plus a 2" price of ginger sliced thinly with the skin on.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Day 19

It's a bit hazy, but much clearer than before. I decided to try a bit. It is very smooth with a strong wintergreen cooling effect. All the gruit herbs come through nicely in nose and flavor. I'm a bit surprised it's this good on the first try. I guess you can't have bad luck all the time!

This recipe is great start for getting to know the herbs. Experimentation can certainly run wild on this.

Improvements? It's really quite good as is, but carbonation would also be nice (which is the plan if the yeast are still viable). Small amounts of ginger or licorice could certainly be nice additions. I like it dry, but sweeter would be tasty as well for winter months.

Let's talk about the thing no one answers on any of the posts I found on gruit. Is the buzz different or not? This gruit mead is just shy of 15% ABV. It is strong in alcohol alone, but it does have a relaxing effect that goes beyond that. I don't really get any "Viking berserker rage" going on with this. It's more of a happy, extremely relaxed buzz. I would say it is a different buzz, but my n=1 at this point. Let's return to this point after more testing. More tasty testing. Yes, [sip] more testing is definitely required.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
zpeckler

zpeckler

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At n=1 your study is insanely under-powered. So much possibility for Type 2 errors!

You really need to get those numbers up. Lots more data-collecting is clearly required. :D
 
loveofrose

loveofrose

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Day 25
Bottled with 4 Cooper's carbonation drops per liter. Man, it smells great. I'm thinking this and Game of Thrones in a few weeks. I don't even care how carbonated it gets. It would be good as is, sweetened, or carbonated. You can't lose with this mead!


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
 
pokerfacepablo

pokerfacepablo

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loveofrose said:
Day 25
Bottled with 4 Cooper's carbonation drops per liter. Man, it smells great. I'm thinking this and Game of Thrones in a few weeks. I don't even care how carbonated it gets. It would be good as is, sweetened, or carbonated. You can't lose with this mead!


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html
Click to expand...
"That's what I do. I drink and I know things" Tyrion.

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