Spicing ideas?

[Leeham991]

Hey

I had to get 5 one gallon carboys for my mead instead of 2 larger carboys like I'd hoped, but thinking about it this gives me the chance to put some spices into my mead for secondary. I think I'll leave 2/3 carboys plain and maybe spice the others. Only trouble is I've looked around and I can't really figure out what would be nice.
I don't want to add fruit to it, though I think you have to do that in primary anyway, and I've never had a spiced mead before.
I have in my house clove and cinnamon, which I know are popular, and I have a bunch of other stuff and of course can go out and buy more spices.

Anyway, ideas? Recommendations?

Cheers

[Altricious]

I split a 5 gallon into 5 one gallon batches. Fruit is not limited to primary, you'll just continue to ferment a little.

1 - 1 container of grape juice concentrate
2 - ~ 2 lbs of mixed black caps and mulberries (it's a wonderful dark color)
3 - 2 split vanilla beans
4 & 5 are chocolate comparisons. One with nibs and one with cocoa powder.

You should pretty much pick whatever flavors appeal to you. Mead goes with everything.

[akueck]

I had a curry & lime mead at Mazer Cup 2011, that was actually pretty good. Ginger & lemon is a good combo. And I've always wanted to play around with black pepper.

Basically, if you like it in food, you can try it in mead. Be aware that sometimes a little goes a long way, and you can always add more later but you can't take it out.

[Chevette Girl]

I tried one with fresh sage. It's very potently sage-y and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I want to do a rosemary one, and coriander, and cardamon.

and of course I'm intrugued by the curry lime. damn to-brew list...

[Honeybadgers]

I did two cloves per 1 gallon in my first batch - first taste after 1.5 months fermenting is VERY clove-y. I'd suggest dialing it down to 1 whole clove per gallon

[Guinlilly]

Rosemary is awesome in mead! Yum! (Well Rosemary-Tangerine anyways.)