Hello fine folks at Gotmead! Been a lurker for a while and I've also been a mazer for a few years. I have been sticking to either show meads or basic metheglins using just cinnamon and clove with some citrus zest. The only thing I would ever mess with was the type of honey. Well, now that I am branching off a bit I find I need some help so I decided to stop lurking!
My problem is that I don't know if I'm going to have a problem or not. lol Normally I let the must sit for 24 hours prior to pitching. I go back the next day and it looks much the same as it did when I put it into the fermenter. On this particular batch I came back in 12 hours just to take a look at my other recent batches and I saw something scary. The bottom half of the bottle looks like it's filled with a sludge that would rival an oil spill, while the top half is VERY clear and golden. This recipe was at the request of a friend who wanted something very specific, so it may seem odd the way it was done.
4 lbs honey
3 cinnamon sticks
15 cloves
6 whole allspice
2 teabags
1 star anise pod
1 vanilla bean
1C orange juice
Add all components except honey to 1/2-3/4 gallon water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. When temp is below 140F add honey. When cooled below 80F, place in fermenter, top off with water, shake to thoroughly mix new water with must, cover and let sit 24hrs before pitching.
I used a local unprocessed wildflower honey. The apiary only lightly filters it for bee parts and whatnot. There is more to the recipe than that, but it all comes during the secondary stage so I didn't post it. I haven't used any Irish Moss, pectinase, etc etc. Nothing but what you see above. Everything was washed and sanitized using Star-San. The original gravity is 1.163 adjusting for temperature.
Here's a picture. Hopefully the link works.
My problem is that I don't know if I'm going to have a problem or not. lol Normally I let the must sit for 24 hours prior to pitching. I go back the next day and it looks much the same as it did when I put it into the fermenter. On this particular batch I came back in 12 hours just to take a look at my other recent batches and I saw something scary. The bottom half of the bottle looks like it's filled with a sludge that would rival an oil spill, while the top half is VERY clear and golden. This recipe was at the request of a friend who wanted something very specific, so it may seem odd the way it was done.
4 lbs honey
3 cinnamon sticks
15 cloves
6 whole allspice
2 teabags
1 star anise pod
1 vanilla bean
1C orange juice
Add all components except honey to 1/2-3/4 gallon water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. When temp is below 140F add honey. When cooled below 80F, place in fermenter, top off with water, shake to thoroughly mix new water with must, cover and let sit 24hrs before pitching.
I used a local unprocessed wildflower honey. The apiary only lightly filters it for bee parts and whatnot. There is more to the recipe than that, but it all comes during the secondary stage so I didn't post it. I haven't used any Irish Moss, pectinase, etc etc. Nothing but what you see above. Everything was washed and sanitized using Star-San. The original gravity is 1.163 adjusting for temperature.
Here's a picture. Hopefully the link works.
even mead must. 
