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What to do with my Mesquite honey...

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sandman

sandman

Premium Patron
Premium Patron
Feb 5, 2007
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Hartford, Huntingdon, United Kingdom
Hi Everyone,

Well, I'm finally back home from the Big Sandbox and am getting my new meadworks set up. :toothy10: In celebration of my homecoming I picked up 16# of Mesquite honey from a local honey seller and I'm looking for some fairly simple ideas on what to do with it. They had OB honey as well, but I wanted to play with this one first.

I'll be starting with a 5 gallon primary, but I'm thinking of splitting it into 5 one gallon batches when I rack to secondary and doing some experimentation. 1 gallon will of course stay a straight mead, but for the others I'm open to suggestions at this point.

I've got some EC-1118 on hand, but my LHBS has a pretty decent variety of yeasts so I can always pick something else up if my final recipe warrants the trip to the store.

I've already got a Cyser (1 gal) and a JAO (1 gal) started with some basic clover honey, but I can sure use the input on what to do with this new honey.

I'll post my progress with it in the Brewlog once I get it underway too, but keep in mind this is my first 5 gallon batch so PLEASE keep it KISS simple. :icon_scratch:
 
I like D47 with mesquite honey. I make traditionals with mesquite and they're pretty impressive.

I'd do a split this way:

1. Stays as is with no adjustments
2. Add 1 cinnamon, 1 nutmeg, 1 vanilla bean, 3 allspice
3. Add orange, lemon, grapefruit zest (go easy so start with about a quartered section of the fruit would be, 1/8 for the grapefruit) cardamon, coriander
4. Pomegranate juice, cherry juice (about 8-16 oz of each to taste)
5. Black currant, blueberry and aronia juice 2:1 ratio in favor of the blueberry. Start with the blueberry and support with the others. The currant can take over quickly if you're not careful

Hope that helps,

cheers,

Oskaar
 
Hey Oskaar,

I was hoping you'd chime in early on this one. hehehe...

Those sound like some intersting options to consider on the split at the secondary phase. My wife is already getting excited about this little experiment of mine. ;D

What about nutrients on this one? Does stepping the nutrients make that much of a difference or would it be cool to just add them at the initial setup and go from there?

I've got my hydrometer and a good lees stirrer for the occasion and I know how to read it (fairly well). I just need to come up with a good container to use for sampling and S.G. testing.

Now that the search is working again I can dig up some info on nutrient additions and stuff on my own, but if you're willing... :angel10:::whistling innocently::

I was thinking about D-47 for this one already based on all I've read the last few months, but it's good to hear the advice to use it from someone who knows what they're doing.

I'm still hoping to hear from some more people on this one too so it'll be a few days until I get this one started. :drunken_smilie:

Keep the ideas coming guys, I'm taking notes...
:cheers:
Sandman
 
For my most recent batch, I mixed Mesquite and Clover honey for 6.5 gal primary. 71b-1122 yeast
split to secondary as follows.
1. blueberries and blueberry concentrate
2. tart cherries and blk cherry concentrate
3. Pomegranite concentrate
4. Sweet cherries and tart cherry concentrate
5. Apple concentrate and juice
6. Mix of all the concentrates, mostly pomegranite
7. 7 slicked apricots and 3 oz sliced ginger
with an extra 1/2 gallon left plain. probably for topping off

The primary smelled very different, as I typically work with Wildflower honey. I liked it, and I hope it goes well with the fruit!
 
Well, for my primary I went with 15# of Mesquite honey, D-47, and DAP. I just pitched my yeast about an hour ago so there's not much happening yet.

I happened across a bag of (Medium Toast) American Oak Chips this afternoon so I snagged one. I may consider oaking one of the split gallons when I go to secondary. Of course I also may leave it on the shelf and try the oak out on a later batch too.

For now I plan on splitting it 5 ways with the following additions once it gets broken down...

1. Straight Mead (No adjustments)
2. Melomel- Pomegranate (My wife likes that option)
3. Metheglin- Add 1 cinnamon stick, 1 nutmeg, 1 vanilla bean, & 3 allspice (Maybe just two allspice)
4. Melomel- Blueberry or possibly Blackberry
5. Add zest from 1/4 orange, 1/4 lemon (maybe lime as well), & 1/8 grapefruit. I don't know what cardamon and coriander taste like so I may skip those additions on this one. Oskaar??? any thoughts???

I'm curious as to how a Capsumel would turn out so I'm still pondering doing that as a possible option for one of these variants. Not quite sure what kind of peppers I'd try at this point though so I may just shelve that idea for a later mead as well.

I haven't been able to relocate anything very specific on nutrient feedings again (Although I've read a lot about it in a variety of posts). I'll likely go with 1/2 tsp of DAP per gallon when I aerate my must in a few days. I plan on aerating every day for the first four or five days before I let it settle down to really get to work. I'll try step feeding it on a later batch once I understand the whole 1/3 & 2/3 sugar break thing a little better. I picked up a lees stirrer and I have a good battery drill that'll make that task a lot easier.

My carboy is sitting in a rubbermaid tub half-filled with water and covered with a t-shirt. It also has a frozen bottle of ice floating in it and will soon have a small fan blowing on it as well to help keep the temp in the low 70's. It's a bit warm here in AZ at the moment and we only keep our house in the 79-82 degree range. The closer to 70 degrees I keep my must the better I'll like it.

I'll be moving this to Brewlog shortly so I can post everything properly and we'll see how things turn out. I'll have my OG readings listed at that point as well.

As this moves along I welcome any and all input if you guys either notice something I'm overlooking or just feel like chiming in. It's pretty exciting finally looking at my first 5 gallon carboy sitting here. :toothy10:

The flat truth though is that I'm still pretty new at this and I want my first "real" batch to turn out well. I'm sure you all remember what it was like anticipating that first large batch and understand. ;D

More to come...
:cheers:
Sandman

:: Editor's Note:: This project has now been started and is now listed in "The Brewlog" under the topic "Mesquite Madness"...
 
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