Originally posted by StockeyDAW
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Strawberry Melomel
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I don't make mead or melomel or any type of honey wine. I made 1 batch of mead several years ago and it was nasty enough to keep me from trying again in all these years.
DAW, you can be the mead guy on this forum!REBEL MODERATOR
...lay down the boogie and play that funky music 'til ya die...'til ya die !"
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Originally posted by lockwood1956 View Post
Good one! Nice Redstone Meadery adds - this has not started yet in Canada... Has it become popular in England again? Cheers DAW:
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Originally posted by Hippie View PostI don't make mead or melomel or any type of honey wine. I made 1 batch of mead several years ago and it was nasty enough to keep me from trying again in all these years.
DAW, you can be the mead guy on this forum!
Glad to add my two cents - help always welcome. DAW
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Hi,
New to this forum, interested to read about your strawberry melomel - I've just started meads and melomels myself, and have a rather good (I hope it will turn out to be) blackberry melomel in storage, a couple of mixed fruit melomels and a peach and ginger melomel (from the Compleat Meadmaker) on the go. Plus a couple of straight meads.
I was just wondering if you can describe the taste of your strawberry melomel? I'm having trouble balancing the relative flavours of the fruit and the honey ... does yours taste predominantly of one or the other? Or is it mostly strawberry? With a hint of honey, strong honey, or no discernible honey flavour?
Would be interested to hear,
Cheers,
Keith :-)
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Originally posted by curlyk View PostHi,
New to this forum, interested to read about your strawberry melomel - I've just started meads and melomels myself, and have a rather good (I hope it will turn out to be) blackberry melomel in storage, a couple of mixed fruit melomels and a peach and ginger melomel (from the Compleat Meadmaker) on the go. Plus a couple of straight meads.
I was just wondering if you can describe the taste of your strawberry melomel? I'm having trouble balancing the relative flavours of the fruit and the honey ... does yours taste predominantly of one or the other? Or is it mostly strawberry? With a hint of honey, strong honey, or no discernible honey flavour?
Would be interested to hear,
Cheers,
Keith :-)
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Hi Lockwood,
Cheers, I'm the same CurlyK that appears on homewinemaking.co.uk ...
Thanks for the details StockeyDAW. I guess what I was getting at, is there a big difference between strawberry mead (for example) and strawberry wine? I have a load of strawberry wine busy maturing, and would like to try strawberry mead - but not if it comes out the same. So I'll be trying for a bit of the honey character to come out, which yours seems to have.
I was reading elsewhere (it may have been this forum, or a link from this forum) saying that melomels should/could show characteristics of both the fruit and the honey, but not necessarily in equal measures. What it all comes down to, of course, is personal preference - do you want a strawberry wine with a hint of honey, or a mead with a hint of strawberry etc etc. Yes I did see your recipe, that is why I was picking your brains, to find out what the balance is in your mead given the quantity of fruit you used ...
Experimentation is the key of course, but it takes so long to wait for the results! Plus I'm of limited capacity at the moment - so many wines to make, so few DJs and so little space!
Still, must soldier on I suppose
Cheers,
Keith :-)
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Keith there are ways that we can use to bring forward the flavours that we want. Type of yeast used, how the fruit is used during the fermentation (primary and or secondary), addition of things such as glycerin or mils of natural flavor extracts (very little) and some trial and error. That is the advantage of the forum we are able to talk back and forth to develop solutions. This mead making is not like a kit takes some ageing but around here with mead being a favourite that is difficult to do. Cheers DAW
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Strawberry Fields in Liverpool
Strawberry Syrup for Strawberry Melomel. I will double post this one to make sure everyone making strawberry mead or wine get to see it...I am particular proud of this innovation, because it can be used to bolster the "body" of those weaker fruits and vegetables. Strawberry needs more acid, unless you have those Fragaria L. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=FRAGA
but do not worry about it until after fermentation.
Mash, steep, then freeze those little beggers with some lemon juice to top in plastic containers. Save the syrup and the must, as both can be used in sac mead for flavoring. Light, medium and strong favoring, or ferment the must with honey for a good melomel.
Thaw them upside-down into a extra large funnel...you may have to build a support...which fills a 5 gallon carboy. This cryogenic step does not add oxidation enough to make a noticeable difference...unless Governor, you plan on watching your mead all day and all night...or displaying it for the Queen MOM. There I must admit it is not near good enough. It is something to do these Winter months, while making a sac mead. When this is done, and sac mead has finished 3 months cold storage (32 F to 40 F on oak) add sorbate in proper proportions, along with strawberry/lemon syrup at 4 to 1 with honey. You may add additions of Tartaric Acid to taste. Test a small batch first, then apply Pearson Square formula - http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01618.html - for rations.
My forte is sifting around the backwoods looking for juice to ferment or back sweeten a mead. This is an area know for it's many historic river crossings. As the wagon trains came west from the eastern seaboard, this is where many a weary immigrant lighten their load; some of those potted plants were planted...lost to high water mishaps and/or dumped willingly...many threw them out at the sight of their first Indian or "Savage". My Native American Roots got a rollicking good laugh from scaring the pee-waddle (Slang for discarded Stuff and human excrement) out of the white man's wagons...as the white man sped off into the SunSet...literally!
They took those plants back to their T-Pee's where they were planted; later immigrants taught them to graph and propagate. Some seeds were planted wild only to dwarf. Native American quickly learned the value of these new species; and traded for them, planting them on allotted lands. What is fermented is not necessarily what you taste after fermentation.
This is the source of my quest in mead making...hope you will join me or at least enjoy reading about my quest. We could write a book or something, or a TV Series, call it "Last of the Summer Meade", oops...that one is taken? Or is it?
Keith & Loretta
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Originally posted by Aristaeus View PostStrawberry Syrup for Strawberry Melomel. I will double post this one to make sure everyone making strawberry mead or wine get to see it...I am particular proud of this innovation, because it can be used to bolster the "body" of those weaker fruits and vegetables. Strawberry needs more acid, unless you have those Fragaria L. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=FRAGA
but do not worry about it until after fermentation.
Mash, steep, then freeze those little beggers with some lemon juice to top in plastic containers. Save the syrup and the must, as both can be used in sac mead for flavoring. Light, medium and strong favoring, or ferment the must with honey for a good melomel.
Thaw them upside-down into a extra large funnel...you may have to build a support...which fills a 5 gallon carboy. This cryogenic step does not add oxidation enough to make a noticeable difference...unless Governor, you plan on watching your mead all day and all night...or displaying it for the Queen MOM. There I must admit it is not near good enough. It is something to do these Winter months, while making a sac mead. When this is done, and sac mead has finished 3 months cold storage (32 F to 40 F on oak) add sorbate in proper proportions, along with strawberry/lemon syrup at 4 to 1 with honey. You may add additions of Tartaric Acid to taste. Test a small batch first, then apply Pearson Square formula - http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01618.html - for rations.
My forte is sifting around the backwoods looking for juice to ferment or back sweeten a mead. This is an area know for it's many historic river crossings. As the wagon trains came west from the eastern seaboard, this is where many a weary immigrant lighten their load; some of those potted plants were planted...lost to high water mishaps and/or dumped willingly...many threw them out at the sight of their first Indian or "Savage". My Native American Roots got a rollicking good laugh from scaring the pee-waddle (Slang for discarded Stuff and human excrement) out of the white man's wagons...as the white man sped off into the SunSet...literally!
They took those plants back to their T-Pee's where they were planted; later immigrants taught them to graph and propagate. Some seeds were planted wild only to dwarf. Native American quickly learned the value of these new species; and traded for them, planting them on allotted lands. What is fermented is not necessarily what you taste after fermentation.
This is the source of my quest in mead making...hope you will join me or at least enjoy reading about my quest. We could write a book or something, or a TV Series, call it "Last of the Summer Meade", oops...that one is taken? Or is it?
Keith & Loretta
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Strawberry melomel is ready for it's debut...it is not sweet but leaves that inpression eg 1.01 corrected to 60 F. It is the clearest we have every made, without sacraficing flavor. The strawberrys were Stillwell, OKieHoma grown. I would love to carbonate (dispatch method) some strawberry for sparkling strawberry melomel.Attached Files
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Originally posted by Aristaeus View PostStrawberry melomel is ready for it's debut...it is not sweet but leaves that inpression eg 1.01 corrected to 60 F. It is the clearest we have every made, without sacraficing flavor. The strawberrys were Stillwell, OKieHoma grown. I would love to carbonate (dispatch method) some strawberry for sparkling strawberry melomel.
Great -- come on with the method for carbonation I am just completing the fortification one in the Other Mead section of the tutorial. This would really fit in there under the sparkling section? I could copy and post in there if you go along with that. Cheers DAW
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Sure Stockey...just use a cornelius keg and some nitrogen or CO2 to carbonate. This is the dispatch method, or Modified Charmat process. The investment for keg, regulator ($90 US) and nitrogen (rented bottle additional). This beats messing with disgorging, not to mention the additional waiting time. Nitrogen does taste fresher, but CO2 is cheaper.
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