Spiced Mead recipe feedback

wowbagger · #1 06-21-2012, 06:51 AM

I'm planning on making a sweet spiced mead, initially envisioned as a 'clone' of Fox Hill sweet spiced mead (was planning on naming it "Fox Hunter"). For a 1-gal batch I was thinking:

Primary:
4lb clover honey
yeast nutrient/energizer
1 stick cinnamon
1 clove
orange zest
Lavlin D-47 yeast
water to volume

Secondary:
1 stick cinnamon
1 clove
allspice

Any suggestions or potential problems on the recipe (mostly amount of spices)? The one I'm most unsure of is the allspice since I've never even cooked with it. Second, too much honey?

Thanks!

Chevette Girl · #2 06-21-2012, 08:40 AM

I usually chuck about ten allspice berries into an JAO. It's kind of cinnamon-y in flavour. Goes nice in mulled wine or cider, or apple pie.

And yeah, you might want to start with 3 or 3.5 lb at the beginning and save the rest to backsweeten, it'll give your yeast an easier start. Some folks will start that high but I wouldn't. Do you use a hydrometer?

With D47 remember to keep it on the cool side.

Had you thought about how much nurient and energizer you plan to feed it, and will you front-load, add it all after lag, or follow a staggered nutrient addition plan? For this one I'd probably use 1/2 tsp each, add half of it after lag and the rest in small bits as I aerate, trying to get it all in before the 1/3 sugar break (which if you use 3.5 lb of honey should be around 1.075 at a guess).

wowbagger · #3 06-21-2012, 04:55 PM

Thanks for the advice! Yes I have a hydrometer, and yes I was planning to add nutrients in stages. Never done that before so it will be another first. Maybe Ill backsweeten as you say; that's another thing I don't have much experience in.

Yo momma · #4 06-21-2012, 05:18 PM

Think of back sweetening like this, have you ever made dough and needed to add milk? Just like that just farther apart in time. LOL

THawk · #5 06-22-2012, 05:48 PM

1 clove in primary and another in secondary?! I had 2 cloves in a JAOM once and my mouth was still numb a good 10 minutes after I sampled it.

Honey -- 4 lbs in 1 gallon will make it quite sweet.

Are you making this for your dentist as a local anesthetic?

Duracell · #6 06-23-2012, 10:53 AM

IMO Allspice > clove, they both give a clovely flavor but the pure clove is stronger and the allspice give a little nutmeg/mace, cinnamon, clove mash up.

I'd say one or two in primary and when you go to secondary just give it a sniff and a taste and see how it's developing before you add more. Some folks can't handle a lot of clove.

wowbagger · #7 06-25-2012, 07:40 AM

Seems the concensus is to tone it down. I'll start with 3.5 lbs and go from there. My first batch, which was essentialy a JAO, came out drier than I liked but backsweetening can cure many ills yes?

The allspice I have is powdered, so I presume I'll have to be very very careful with it right? One berry would translate to... a pinch maybe? Less?

On an unrelated note, has anyone used dried dates instead of rasins for yeast nutrient? Just curious if they would work as well.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Chevette Girl · #8 06-27-2012, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wowbagger

Seems the concensus is to tone it down. I'll start with 3.5 lbs and go from there. My first batch, which was essentialy a JAO, came out drier than I liked but backsweetening can cure many ills yes?

The allspice I have is powdered, so I presume I'll have to be very very careful with it right? One berry would translate to... a pinch maybe? Less?

On an unrelated note, has anyone used dried dates instead of rasins for yeast nutrient? Just curious if they would work as well.

3.5 lbs (just like JAO!) is a good guideline, and yes, you can always stabilize and backsweeten later if it goes drier than you like, just remember, time cures many ills too. If you can find a spice shop or bulk food store that sells spices, you might want to try to get allspice berries instead of dried... "pinch" isn't really too accurate for measuring, how big are your thumbs?? But if you're sticking with the ground allspice, try it with tea and see what you get out of it at a dilution, I'd say 1/4 tsp per gallon to start, so a quarter of that to 4 cups of water should give you an idea how much will come through in a mead.

And I did substitute a handful of chopped dates in place of raisins for a lemon JAO variant, and it turned out very pleasant, although you don't taste the dates any more than you can taste the raisins in the standard JAO... and when I tried a handful of dried cranberries in JAO, couldn't taste it at all.