A
Andy H
Guest
Guest
Well,
after confering with the gods(or brew masters) that be in my neck of the woods, i was given an idea for a recipie for the mead maker on a strict budget.
this is more of a spiced honey-beer(no malt or hops though) than true mead.
what it does is effectively cuts the ammount of honey that you use, but i'm posing here for the sake of other newbies strapped for cash
the ammount of honey required for a 'traditional' mead in my area, at discount from a bee keeper i've been buying honey from for years(believe me, i get it for 2.25 canadian per lb, and it's as low as it gets)
but i digress.
The idea is to cut a very rich honey(which is what i get all the time) with common dextrose and/or sweet fruits.
i know i'll be getting cries of 'Blasphemey' or 'how dare you degrade this art' at about this point, but please, follow along.
Items required.
5-7lbs of honey
1tsp Irish Moss Powder
enough pureed fruit, or Dextrose (corn sugar) to bring alchohol potential up to 7-9%
1 5gal+ glass carboy
1 5gal food grade pail (with lid if possible)
1 racking cane w. tube
cheesecloth (only if fruit is used)
1 hydrometer (can't stress this one enough, eggs won't work for this recipie)
1 small galss gar with lid
1 packet of lager yeast (you want a nice, slow fermentation but not too slow)
1 funnel (always helpful)
1 packet of pectin-reducing enzyme(if using fruit)
here i go, forgive me if i miss somthing.
5-7 lbs of honey are boiled briefly with 1 gallon of water (to eliminate excess protien) with 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of Irish Moss powder (archaic, but effective). Note, add fruit, if to be used, when the mixture is no more than 80 degrees C in a cheesecloth bag to the hot mixture, try to keep it around 72 degrees C for at least 5 minuites. put hot bag of fruit mush into the sterile pail and cover.
next skim scum from the surface, liquid should be finnished boiling by now. and started cooling.
like with a wort, add the hot honey-water to a sterile carboy with 4-6" of water in the bottom retain about 1 pint of liquid mixture.
fill carboy until the 4.5 gallon mark is reached
add yeast nutrient to the remianing pint,(i prefer a mixed mineral and amino acid nutrient)(add enzyme for fruit at this point, if it is to be used.
pour 2 ounces from the pint into a small galss jar, fill until 2/3 full and wait (this acts as your yeast primer, so add the little critters when it gets to be a little below body temperature)
add the primed yeast and remianing liquid in the pot to your carboy, mix well.
now comes the fun part;
after 2 or so hours, rack the liquid off from the carboy to the sterile pail. make sure you get some air mixed into your must.
if fruit is being used, it should be in the pail already.
now check the reading of your hydrometer, if the alchohol potential is less than 7% rack about 1/4 gallon of the must into a pot, heat (i know you're killing some yeast but you have to
)
add about 1/6 lb of dextrose per 1.4% increase needed
when cool, mix back into the must, take another reading, repeat above step no more than once more.
if using fruit, leave in pail, if not, transfer back to carboy.
once the yeast seems to be done it's thing, check the specific gravity/ alchohol potential to make absolutely sure it's done.
rack to carboy or secondary container
add finings or wait for it to settle, wichever you prefer, it took mine almost 2 weeks to settle to a clairity i wanted using isengalss finings (i didn't use enough though, i found out later )
rack to now clean first container
make a very strong tea or tincture of the spices you want (or none if using fruit whatever you prefer.) also at this stage, make a priming solution using 2 cups of sterile water and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dextrose. note:Only make priming solution if you intend to carbonate your finnished product
add to bottles and wait 4-6 weeks, although it tastes better with age, do not let sit for more than 1 1/2 years though, although i doubt it will last that long.
my first recipie turned out well, i used acid blend, which made it nice and smooth (and got you faced right quick if you don't watch out)
it's not traditional, it's not the 'full flavor' that you are used to, cinnimon, ginger and cloves with a touch of rosemary worked well with my first batch, half carbonated (yum, summertime) and half not (just as good, better for fall though IMHO)
the smaller quantity of alchohol made for somthing you could drink like a nice wine or heavy beer, and you could have a few glasses before calling it quits.
the honey is a very nice background, next time it's strawberries or melon though.
this could be called cheap man's mead, but i just call it good.
although mine turend out great, i would like some others to try it to see if it works for everyone (and it's cheap enough for most tor try too )
after confering with the gods(or brew masters) that be in my neck of the woods, i was given an idea for a recipie for the mead maker on a strict budget.
this is more of a spiced honey-beer(no malt or hops though) than true mead.
what it does is effectively cuts the ammount of honey that you use, but i'm posing here for the sake of other newbies strapped for cash
the ammount of honey required for a 'traditional' mead in my area, at discount from a bee keeper i've been buying honey from for years(believe me, i get it for 2.25 canadian per lb, and it's as low as it gets)
but i digress.
The idea is to cut a very rich honey(which is what i get all the time) with common dextrose and/or sweet fruits.
i know i'll be getting cries of 'Blasphemey' or 'how dare you degrade this art' at about this point, but please, follow along.
Items required.
5-7lbs of honey
1tsp Irish Moss Powder
enough pureed fruit, or Dextrose (corn sugar) to bring alchohol potential up to 7-9%
1 5gal+ glass carboy
1 5gal food grade pail (with lid if possible)
1 racking cane w. tube
cheesecloth (only if fruit is used)
1 hydrometer (can't stress this one enough, eggs won't work for this recipie)
1 small galss gar with lid
1 packet of lager yeast (you want a nice, slow fermentation but not too slow)
1 funnel (always helpful)
1 packet of pectin-reducing enzyme(if using fruit)
here i go, forgive me if i miss somthing.
5-7 lbs of honey are boiled briefly with 1 gallon of water (to eliminate excess protien) with 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of Irish Moss powder (archaic, but effective). Note, add fruit, if to be used, when the mixture is no more than 80 degrees C in a cheesecloth bag to the hot mixture, try to keep it around 72 degrees C for at least 5 minuites. put hot bag of fruit mush into the sterile pail and cover.
next skim scum from the surface, liquid should be finnished boiling by now. and started cooling.
like with a wort, add the hot honey-water to a sterile carboy with 4-6" of water in the bottom retain about 1 pint of liquid mixture.
fill carboy until the 4.5 gallon mark is reached
add yeast nutrient to the remianing pint,(i prefer a mixed mineral and amino acid nutrient)(add enzyme for fruit at this point, if it is to be used.
pour 2 ounces from the pint into a small galss jar, fill until 2/3 full and wait (this acts as your yeast primer, so add the little critters when it gets to be a little below body temperature)
add the primed yeast and remianing liquid in the pot to your carboy, mix well.
now comes the fun part;
after 2 or so hours, rack the liquid off from the carboy to the sterile pail. make sure you get some air mixed into your must.
if fruit is being used, it should be in the pail already.
now check the reading of your hydrometer, if the alchohol potential is less than 7% rack about 1/4 gallon of the must into a pot, heat (i know you're killing some yeast but you have to
)add about 1/6 lb of dextrose per 1.4% increase needed
when cool, mix back into the must, take another reading, repeat above step no more than once more.
if using fruit, leave in pail, if not, transfer back to carboy.
once the yeast seems to be done it's thing, check the specific gravity/ alchohol potential to make absolutely sure it's done.
rack to carboy or secondary container
add finings or wait for it to settle, wichever you prefer, it took mine almost 2 weeks to settle to a clairity i wanted using isengalss finings (i didn't use enough though, i found out later
) rack to now clean first container
make a very strong tea or tincture of the spices you want (or none if using fruit whatever you prefer.) also at this stage, make a priming solution using 2 cups of sterile water and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dextrose. note:Only make priming solution if you intend to carbonate your finnished product
add to bottles and wait 4-6 weeks, although it tastes better with age, do not let sit for more than 1 1/2 years though, although i doubt it will last that long.
my first recipie turned out well, i used acid blend, which made it nice and smooth (and got you faced right quick if you don't watch out)
it's not traditional, it's not the 'full flavor' that you are used to, cinnimon, ginger and cloves with a touch of rosemary worked well with my first batch, half carbonated (yum, summertime) and half not (just as good, better for fall though IMHO)
the smaller quantity of alchohol made for somthing you could drink like a nice wine or heavy beer, and you could have a few glasses before calling it quits.
the honey is a very nice background, next time it's strawberries or melon though.
this could be called cheap man's mead, but i just call it good.
although mine turend out great, i would like some others to try it to see if it works for everyone (and it's cheap enough for most tor try too
)
