Making Mead Others --- Cyser, Hippocras (pyment), Rodamel,Braggot, Sack, Dry Mead, Hydromel (light), Capsicumel, Acerglyn, sparkling, fortified.
ACERGLYN
This is mead that contains maple syrup. We want something that is something like 50/50 (honey-maple syrup). The flavor of maple has always been a favorite of mine especially on pancakes. What I have read it also goes well in making this interesting Acerglyn drink. I prefer to have some malic fruit along with this fermentation process at approximately 1 pound for 5 gallons of mead. My preference would be apple juice, apricot, yellow plum or a clear juiced sour or sweet cherry. After all we have something real sweet going on here and I believe it is good to tone the sweetness down somewhat. You may also consider some minor spice addition – vanilla or ginger. However, to much spice addition may result in this becoming a Metheglin. Below is a draft recipe for consideration:
14 – Pounds of Honey
3-4 – pounds of a dark maple syrup
5 teaspoons for each of Pectic Enzyme, Tataric Acid and yeast nutrient, yeast energizer as per directions on the package. I feel that red star premiere cuvee yeast would go great here. Follow the process outlined in the Melomel section of the tutorial. PH testing, you must know the Starting Gravity, evaluation and adjustment are important points prior to pitching the yeast - lots of sugars here.
CYSER
One of the most important things about cyser is that you want to maintain that apple and tartness-sharpness flavor along with a strong aroma and a hefty alcohol content. There are various spices that can be used here, high quality apple juice with no preservatives and a blend of your favorite apples or a cultivar of crabapple that you could use in the preparation of this Mead. We all know the spices that go well with apple – cinnamon, vanilla and cloves.
To maintain the apple presence in the Mead we have to use in the 1 gallon of good preservative free juice or for fresh apples 6 to 10 pounds per gallon. The apples will have to be crushed with an apple crusher or with a heavy duty food processor. The apples must be free of blemishes or busied spots, they must be ripe, they must be stemmed and they must be cored. For the amount of honey to use for Cyser I would consider in the area of 3-3.5 pounds per gallon. Check the SG before pitching the yeast and look for something in the area of 14-15% alcohol. It will also be necessary to check the pH before pitching the yeast as you may have to add more acid to achieve the pH criteria suggestions outlined in the tutorial for Melomel and Morat.
Here is a possible Cyser recipe that may work out fine. At least I like it.
DAW’S REWORKED APPLEJACK CYSER (MEAD)
For 5 Imperial Gallons:
15 pounds of light honey –Clover or Alphalpa
40-50 pounds of fresh ripe apples – delicious, Fuji, Macintosh, Granny Smith or some of your favorite crabapples.
If using apple juice – 5 gallons of good preservative free apple juice.
2.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (coffee filter bag tied off)
.75 teaspoons of ground cloves (coffee filter bag tied off)
1 fresh vanilla bean slit
1.5 pounds of sliced fresh pineapple
5 teaspoons of tartaric acid
5 teaspoons of Pectic enzyme
5 crushed Campden tablets
5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
2.25 slurry bentonite
Use the process outlined in the Melomel, Morat Meads in this tutorial. You will need to add more nutrient and energizer after about the 4 day of fermentation. I would use good yeast for Cyser; I find that for light colored meads that Red Star Premier Cuvee does a very good job. You will also have to measure the pH and SG before pitching the yeast adjust acid or pH if you are not happy with the SG level or the pH does not fall within the correct levels. This is hard to say for sure as the apples will very much vary from year to year and what apples you use in your batch. Really important therefore to get the pH where it should be.
Hope you enjoy. Just some ideas for everyone to start you off in the right direction. CHEERS
SACK MEAD, DRY MEAD, LIGHT MEAD
These three Meads generally contain honey only. The main difference is the amount of honey each contains. Sack Mead is very sweet and higher alcohol content containing 3.5 – 4 pounds of honey per gallon. Dry mead is also with honey only generally using 2-2.5 pounds of honey per gallon. Light Mead has honey only. It will be the fastest to mature with only 1 to 1.5 pounds of honey per gallon. As a result it will be much more like ale or a beer than the Sack or Dry Mead. It is suggested to use ale or beer yeast for the light mead as it will be low in alcohol.
Use the same process as outlined in the Melomel and Morat recipes of this tutorial. Some extra additives that some mead makers like to use in these Meads are: a strong tea like hibiscus or jasmine1.25-1.0 cup or in the Sack Mead 1.25 pounds of golden raisins crushed and sliced per gallon.
Cheers: Enjoy your Honey Mead...
This is a link for Braggot - interesting --- http://www.wrongresult.com/index.php...2ac5385e13ea68
Here are some very special Braggot techniques and skills. This braggot making not only includes the mead making skill but also the all grain brewing skill - with these skills what you can put together in the area of fruit Braggots is great. On the market at the present time are beer making kits that are partial all grain packages, all kind of flavors and additions - the grains are all crushed for us and other helpful additions. I have made my own all grain brewing equipment - I really wanted to get into the fruit beer making process this braggot is an extension of that. The specifications indicate that the honey - grains ratio shoud be approximately 50/50 and in the end you should be able to taste both flavors. Braggots have higher alcohol content than beer from the honey addition approximately 10-12% in many cases. In my opinion the following recipie has what it takes to become a enjoyable Braggot. Use the process in the Melomel procedures of this tutorial along with this recipie outline and you will certainly have something to talk about. If you want to go the all grain method all the better.
Braggot
Wonderfully complex, usually strong and not for the faint of heart. A braggot is a wonderful thing to behold (and to drink).
Concerning Water Hardness and Braggots
Very hard water (200 parts per million of dissolved minerals or more) will tend to result in less bitterness from the hops. The use of soft-hard water is recommended (0-100 parts per million of dissolved minerals) for braggots.
Pieter's Imperial Braggot
by Lord Pieter Lambic
10 pounds liquid amber malt extract
10 pounds honey
1-2 oz. Hallertauer hops (full boil)
2 gallons sour cherry juice
Wyeast Dry Mead Yeast
Boil the malt and hops in 2.5 gallons of water for 60 minutes. Add the hops after the malt/water begins to boil. It will boil down to about 2 gallons. Meanwhile, dissolve the honey in 2 gallons water. Simmer and skim (just like the other recipes) till no more scum forms. It will boil down a little.
Yes, you simmer the honey and boil the malt separately. You don't want to boil the honey, and you need to boil the malt with the hops to get the bittering out of the hops, so they have to be treated separately.
Put the sour cherry juice into a sterile 7.5 gallon carboy. Add the malt (wort) and honey (must) to the carboy. No yeast nutrient or energizer is needed, as the malt has all that is needed for good yeast growth. Add cold water to the carboy to bring the total volume up to 6 gallons (you probably won't need to add much if any water to the carboy with this recipe). Put an airlock on the carboy. Do not agitate the must at this stage. When the temperature is down to 70-80 deg. F pitch the yeast. The shaker method is not needed for a braggot.
When fermentation stops, transfer the braggot to a sterile secondary fermenter, leaving the sediment behind. Ferment to completion, feed and rack as needed then bottle. Braggots ferment quickly.
This braggot is thick, strong and very alcoholic. Age for 2-5 years before drinking. Really.
Note: If you can't locate sour cherry juice, substitute 3 Krick beer kits (3.3 lbs. of malt in each) for the 10 lbs. of malt and the two gallons of sour cherry juice. If you do this you will need to add 1 to 1-1/2 gallons of cold water to the carboy to keep it from cracking when you pour the hot wort and must in.
Color: Dark brown to black
Alcohol Content: 16%
Batch Size: 6 gallons
By the way, this recipe originally used 15 pounds of malt and 15 pounds of honey. If you like it strong, use these amounts.
Capsicumel - Mead with chilie peppers. The link below tells us how hot they are, by using this you will be able to estimate how much pepper to use? Ha! Ha! that is what you think - we all have different tastes, the seasons and growing conditions are different; the amount of heat is up to you.
How to Use Chili Peppers for Capsicumel
This is my suggestion of how to prepare the pepper(s) for your Capsicumel. Wear protective gloves and wash hands toughly when finished. I suggest that the jalapenos are the ones to use however there are many and it is your choice. See the link below as part of this section of the tutorial on the various kinds of peppers and the “heat” that they can produce.
Use 4 t0 10 medium sized peppers (I do not like lots of heat so I would use 4 some may however may like 10 or 15). Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds and pulp from the inside of the peppers; this is where a lot of the heat is located. I however, like to remove these incase any unwanted flavors are imparted into the must by the seeds and pulp. The seeds can also be a pain when racking and clearing.
Boil 2 cups of water then simmer—infuse all the sliced peppers in the simmering water for 30 to 45 minutes. Then let cool to room temperature. You can now use the boiled and simmered juice strained through a stainless steel sieve and into the primary fermenter or discard the water that the peppers were infused in. Put the infused peppers in a nylon straining bag or a coffee paper filter and tie off. Put the straining bag and peppers in to the primary fermenter. Let ferment with the rest of the must until it is time to rack to the glass carboy (approximately 7 days). Squeeze the pepper bag and discard at that time. Taste the infused juice and peppers before putting into the must if it is to hot discard some of the juice and peppers. Cheers and enjoy.
[url]http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/salts/scoville.asp
Hippocras: is a pyment with spices added. I am not happy with the current information on this area and feel that it needa further assessment. If anyone out there has some good information for Hippocras please let us know. I will be trying to put something together for this are in the fall of 2008.
Rhodamel: Here is an excellent link for the use of flowers in wines. we have to make sure that we use petals that are not harmful for humans.
http://home2.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/flowerwines.htm
RHODAMEL (Mead made with Rose Petals)
Rhodamel is mead made with fragrant Rose Petals. Red Rose Petals will add some color to the mead. Make sure the plants of the rose petals that you use have not been treated with pesticides or a systemic poison. Roses are favorite foods of many insects and generally are treated with a number of insecticides to stop them from killing the plant or limiting blooming. Flower petals contain no acid they do provide bouquet and flavor. Therefore you will have to supplement these in your recipe with acid addition and a small amount of tannin approximately 1/8 teaspoon per gallon.
The Rose Petals can be frozen and as such can be collected during the summer/fall growing season a frozen for the later fall brewing season. For preparation of the rose petals boil two pints of water and put in the rose petals, infuse the rose petals on simmer for approximately one half an hours. Put lid on pot and store in a cool area for 48 hours.
For a 1 gallon batch of Rhodamel you will need:
3-3.25 pounds of light honey (clover, alphalpha)
1-1.25 liters of frozen or fresh rose petals lightly packed
Or 50-100 grams of dried Rose Petals – dried rose petals flavor is very concentrated – you will have to check the flavor and color of the infused petals as they are simmering. The petals will vary in intensity depending on the many variables.
For some extra body use approximately 1.25 pounds of golden raisins or ½ liter of white grape concentrate. Add also two lemons- peeled, pitted and pithed along with the zest of one lemon.
You will need the regular additives or tartaric acid, Pectic Enzyme, Yeast nutrient and yeast energizer at 1 teaspoonful each for all except the energizer at the recommendation on the package and also one campden tablet.
Use the infused Rose Petals and the liquid – strain the infused liquid and petals through a nylon straining bag tie off the rose petals and into the primary fermenter. Follow the process for the rest of the Rhodamel as outline in the Melomel or Morat recipes. Cheers - hope you enjoy Mead. There are many other flower petals that could be used – check out the link for further flower/Mead possibilities.
Fortification of Mead: To start here is a link for a great British Mead. Has anyone had the opportunity to sample a bottle?
http://www.lindisfarne-mead.co.uk/
FORTIFICATION OF MEAD
This is adding distilled products such as brandy, vodka or gin to a batch of mead. This will increase the overall alcohol content; kill any remaining yeast activity at the desired residual sugar level. If we plant to undertake the fortification process we should try to maintain the original flavor and quality of the mead. i.e.: use a like brandy for fortification – cherry bandy for cherry Melomel. The amount of distilled liquor suggested for a 5 gallon batch is roughly 4 liters to get a 16 % Melomel to the recommended 20 % fortified level. To calculate what the % Alc. /vol of fortification will be the Formula is:
“A” = % Alc/vol of first mead
“B” = % Alc/vol of Distilled Sprite (cherry brandy)
“D” = Volume of first mead
“E” = Volume of Fortified Sprite
Our Mead batch is 23 liters (D), the % alc. /vol of it is 16 % alc. /vol (A), the distilled cherry brandy is 40% alc. /vol (B) and the volume of the cherry brandy added is 4 liters (E)
(AXD) + (BXE)
D+ E
16x 23 + 40 x 4
23+ 4
368 + 160
27
528
27
= 19.6 % alc. /vol after fortification
This would suggest that you could add a slight amount more of the distilled sprite to get to the 20% recommended fortification level. When fortifying mead it will require some additional ageing of approximately 2 to five months. You should sulphite the mead to get it at approximately 50 mg/L. The fortification process adds some body to the mead and likely further clarification. This means that additional settlement may occur after the fortification and it is better to let it stay in the carboy for another 2 to 5 months rather than have the settlement contained in the bottles. After that time we will be able to rack clear fortified mead into clean sanitized bottles. Cheers enjoy the fortified mead.
Sparkling:
The following is a calculator for carbonation level bottle primeing with dextrose (priming sugar- corn sugar) Scroll down the style and find mead -- skip all the beer and ale unless you want that also. I tried it out and for 1 gallon of mead we would need .7 oz of the corn sugar (solution) to give us the carbonation that we need?
SPARKLING
This is an area of mead making that some use often and other are not interested in. Why risk exploding bottles and contents just to get a fizz – sparkle in our mead? I mostly agree with this however, tasted some sparkling black currant that was outstanding, very much delicious and we all know how much the ladies enjoy a sparkling drink. Therefore here we go; this is a complicated area involving engineering, bottle design, atmospheric pressure, CO2 concentrations, “priming” or Cornelius Kegs. This tutorial will only contain a link for the Keg method of carbonation. This method is fine for some who are going to make a lot of beer, ale and sparkling wine or mead however, the cost of setting this Keg thing up properly with regulators, extra freezer, refrigeration controls, CO2 tank and lines, taps and valves etc is not economical for making a few wines or meads sparkle or a few dozen beer or ale yearly.
This is hoping that you will find some pointers on using the “priming” method to try and get carbonation into your mead. I must say that the most important thing is safety – we do not want glass flying around or mead residue all over our storage room area. Make sure the bottles that you use a suitable for the pressure created by the CO2. Wine bottles are not strong enough, use beer bottles, champagne bottles with proper closures and the Grolsch or E Z top type bottles are suitable as the glass is strong and you will be able to release the pressures if necessary easily or the rubber rings on these enclosures may release the pressure on their own. I will also go through another safety precaution as I will only make 6 – 12 bottles of sparkling at once I will store them in the bottom of a primary fermenter or in a large stainless steel pot with the lids on.
Here are a few interesting points: To contain the CO2 pressure beer bottles are good up to 1 – 2 atmospheres, Champagne bottles with correct closures are OK from 2 – 5 atmospheres.
1 cup of corn sugar weighs approximately 4.5 oz. (128 grams).
1 atmosphere of pressure will be generated by 4 grams of sugar per liter; for 6 atmospheres 24 grams of sugar per liter.
Dry ice will give carbonation in a drink.
If you use honey for “priming” it will give smaller bubbles.
There are different suggestions on how to add the corn sugar: one way add directly to the bottle before filling with the mead, the second way is to boil and simmer ¼ cup of water and 3/4 cup of corn sugar for 5 US gallons for 5 to 10 minutes then let cool to room temperature and use according to the carbonation calculator – the link located in this tutorial and for using Honey it is ½ cup with a small amount of water– pasteurize 170 degrees F and skim foam approx 15 – 20 minutes, cool to room temperature.
Other writings have suggested ¼ to ½ teaspoon of corn sugar per bottle. I think that I would prefer using the carbonation calculator that also takes in the temperature, the amount of mead to be carbonated and the pressure that we need for different types of meads. Cheers, hope it works for all, I will be trying it out this spring very cautiously.
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.1/fleming.html
ACERGLYN
This is mead that contains maple syrup. We want something that is something like 50/50 (honey-maple syrup). The flavor of maple has always been a favorite of mine especially on pancakes. What I have read it also goes well in making this interesting Acerglyn drink. I prefer to have some malic fruit along with this fermentation process at approximately 1 pound for 5 gallons of mead. My preference would be apple juice, apricot, yellow plum or a clear juiced sour or sweet cherry. After all we have something real sweet going on here and I believe it is good to tone the sweetness down somewhat. You may also consider some minor spice addition – vanilla or ginger. However, to much spice addition may result in this becoming a Metheglin. Below is a draft recipe for consideration:
14 – Pounds of Honey
3-4 – pounds of a dark maple syrup
5 teaspoons for each of Pectic Enzyme, Tataric Acid and yeast nutrient, yeast energizer as per directions on the package. I feel that red star premiere cuvee yeast would go great here. Follow the process outlined in the Melomel section of the tutorial. PH testing, you must know the Starting Gravity, evaluation and adjustment are important points prior to pitching the yeast - lots of sugars here.
CYSER
One of the most important things about cyser is that you want to maintain that apple and tartness-sharpness flavor along with a strong aroma and a hefty alcohol content. There are various spices that can be used here, high quality apple juice with no preservatives and a blend of your favorite apples or a cultivar of crabapple that you could use in the preparation of this Mead. We all know the spices that go well with apple – cinnamon, vanilla and cloves.
To maintain the apple presence in the Mead we have to use in the 1 gallon of good preservative free juice or for fresh apples 6 to 10 pounds per gallon. The apples will have to be crushed with an apple crusher or with a heavy duty food processor. The apples must be free of blemishes or busied spots, they must be ripe, they must be stemmed and they must be cored. For the amount of honey to use for Cyser I would consider in the area of 3-3.5 pounds per gallon. Check the SG before pitching the yeast and look for something in the area of 14-15% alcohol. It will also be necessary to check the pH before pitching the yeast as you may have to add more acid to achieve the pH criteria suggestions outlined in the tutorial for Melomel and Morat.
Here is a possible Cyser recipe that may work out fine. At least I like it.
DAW’S REWORKED APPLEJACK CYSER (MEAD)
For 5 Imperial Gallons:
15 pounds of light honey –Clover or Alphalpa
40-50 pounds of fresh ripe apples – delicious, Fuji, Macintosh, Granny Smith or some of your favorite crabapples.
If using apple juice – 5 gallons of good preservative free apple juice.
2.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (coffee filter bag tied off)
.75 teaspoons of ground cloves (coffee filter bag tied off)
1 fresh vanilla bean slit
1.5 pounds of sliced fresh pineapple
5 teaspoons of tartaric acid
5 teaspoons of Pectic enzyme
5 crushed Campden tablets
5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
2.25 slurry bentonite
Use the process outlined in the Melomel, Morat Meads in this tutorial. You will need to add more nutrient and energizer after about the 4 day of fermentation. I would use good yeast for Cyser; I find that for light colored meads that Red Star Premier Cuvee does a very good job. You will also have to measure the pH and SG before pitching the yeast adjust acid or pH if you are not happy with the SG level or the pH does not fall within the correct levels. This is hard to say for sure as the apples will very much vary from year to year and what apples you use in your batch. Really important therefore to get the pH where it should be.
Hope you enjoy. Just some ideas for everyone to start you off in the right direction. CHEERS
SACK MEAD, DRY MEAD, LIGHT MEAD
These three Meads generally contain honey only. The main difference is the amount of honey each contains. Sack Mead is very sweet and higher alcohol content containing 3.5 – 4 pounds of honey per gallon. Dry mead is also with honey only generally using 2-2.5 pounds of honey per gallon. Light Mead has honey only. It will be the fastest to mature with only 1 to 1.5 pounds of honey per gallon. As a result it will be much more like ale or a beer than the Sack or Dry Mead. It is suggested to use ale or beer yeast for the light mead as it will be low in alcohol.
Use the same process as outlined in the Melomel and Morat recipes of this tutorial. Some extra additives that some mead makers like to use in these Meads are: a strong tea like hibiscus or jasmine1.25-1.0 cup or in the Sack Mead 1.25 pounds of golden raisins crushed and sliced per gallon.
Cheers: Enjoy your Honey Mead...
This is a link for Braggot - interesting --- http://www.wrongresult.com/index.php...2ac5385e13ea68
Here are some very special Braggot techniques and skills. This braggot making not only includes the mead making skill but also the all grain brewing skill - with these skills what you can put together in the area of fruit Braggots is great. On the market at the present time are beer making kits that are partial all grain packages, all kind of flavors and additions - the grains are all crushed for us and other helpful additions. I have made my own all grain brewing equipment - I really wanted to get into the fruit beer making process this braggot is an extension of that. The specifications indicate that the honey - grains ratio shoud be approximately 50/50 and in the end you should be able to taste both flavors. Braggots have higher alcohol content than beer from the honey addition approximately 10-12% in many cases. In my opinion the following recipie has what it takes to become a enjoyable Braggot. Use the process in the Melomel procedures of this tutorial along with this recipie outline and you will certainly have something to talk about. If you want to go the all grain method all the better.
Braggot
Wonderfully complex, usually strong and not for the faint of heart. A braggot is a wonderful thing to behold (and to drink).
Concerning Water Hardness and Braggots
Very hard water (200 parts per million of dissolved minerals or more) will tend to result in less bitterness from the hops. The use of soft-hard water is recommended (0-100 parts per million of dissolved minerals) for braggots.
Pieter's Imperial Braggot
by Lord Pieter Lambic
10 pounds liquid amber malt extract
10 pounds honey
1-2 oz. Hallertauer hops (full boil)
2 gallons sour cherry juice
Wyeast Dry Mead Yeast
Boil the malt and hops in 2.5 gallons of water for 60 minutes. Add the hops after the malt/water begins to boil. It will boil down to about 2 gallons. Meanwhile, dissolve the honey in 2 gallons water. Simmer and skim (just like the other recipes) till no more scum forms. It will boil down a little.
Yes, you simmer the honey and boil the malt separately. You don't want to boil the honey, and you need to boil the malt with the hops to get the bittering out of the hops, so they have to be treated separately.
Put the sour cherry juice into a sterile 7.5 gallon carboy. Add the malt (wort) and honey (must) to the carboy. No yeast nutrient or energizer is needed, as the malt has all that is needed for good yeast growth. Add cold water to the carboy to bring the total volume up to 6 gallons (you probably won't need to add much if any water to the carboy with this recipe). Put an airlock on the carboy. Do not agitate the must at this stage. When the temperature is down to 70-80 deg. F pitch the yeast. The shaker method is not needed for a braggot.
When fermentation stops, transfer the braggot to a sterile secondary fermenter, leaving the sediment behind. Ferment to completion, feed and rack as needed then bottle. Braggots ferment quickly.
This braggot is thick, strong and very alcoholic. Age for 2-5 years before drinking. Really.
Note: If you can't locate sour cherry juice, substitute 3 Krick beer kits (3.3 lbs. of malt in each) for the 10 lbs. of malt and the two gallons of sour cherry juice. If you do this you will need to add 1 to 1-1/2 gallons of cold water to the carboy to keep it from cracking when you pour the hot wort and must in.
Color: Dark brown to black
Alcohol Content: 16%
Batch Size: 6 gallons
By the way, this recipe originally used 15 pounds of malt and 15 pounds of honey. If you like it strong, use these amounts.
Capsicumel - Mead with chilie peppers. The link below tells us how hot they are, by using this you will be able to estimate how much pepper to use? Ha! Ha! that is what you think - we all have different tastes, the seasons and growing conditions are different; the amount of heat is up to you.
How to Use Chili Peppers for Capsicumel
This is my suggestion of how to prepare the pepper(s) for your Capsicumel. Wear protective gloves and wash hands toughly when finished. I suggest that the jalapenos are the ones to use however there are many and it is your choice. See the link below as part of this section of the tutorial on the various kinds of peppers and the “heat” that they can produce.
Use 4 t0 10 medium sized peppers (I do not like lots of heat so I would use 4 some may however may like 10 or 15). Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds and pulp from the inside of the peppers; this is where a lot of the heat is located. I however, like to remove these incase any unwanted flavors are imparted into the must by the seeds and pulp. The seeds can also be a pain when racking and clearing.
Boil 2 cups of water then simmer—infuse all the sliced peppers in the simmering water for 30 to 45 minutes. Then let cool to room temperature. You can now use the boiled and simmered juice strained through a stainless steel sieve and into the primary fermenter or discard the water that the peppers were infused in. Put the infused peppers in a nylon straining bag or a coffee paper filter and tie off. Put the straining bag and peppers in to the primary fermenter. Let ferment with the rest of the must until it is time to rack to the glass carboy (approximately 7 days). Squeeze the pepper bag and discard at that time. Taste the infused juice and peppers before putting into the must if it is to hot discard some of the juice and peppers. Cheers and enjoy.
[url]http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/salts/scoville.asp
Hippocras: is a pyment with spices added. I am not happy with the current information on this area and feel that it needa further assessment. If anyone out there has some good information for Hippocras please let us know. I will be trying to put something together for this are in the fall of 2008.
Rhodamel: Here is an excellent link for the use of flowers in wines. we have to make sure that we use petals that are not harmful for humans.
http://home2.btconnect.com/ntruman/wine/flowerwines.htm
RHODAMEL (Mead made with Rose Petals)
Rhodamel is mead made with fragrant Rose Petals. Red Rose Petals will add some color to the mead. Make sure the plants of the rose petals that you use have not been treated with pesticides or a systemic poison. Roses are favorite foods of many insects and generally are treated with a number of insecticides to stop them from killing the plant or limiting blooming. Flower petals contain no acid they do provide bouquet and flavor. Therefore you will have to supplement these in your recipe with acid addition and a small amount of tannin approximately 1/8 teaspoon per gallon.
The Rose Petals can be frozen and as such can be collected during the summer/fall growing season a frozen for the later fall brewing season. For preparation of the rose petals boil two pints of water and put in the rose petals, infuse the rose petals on simmer for approximately one half an hours. Put lid on pot and store in a cool area for 48 hours.
For a 1 gallon batch of Rhodamel you will need:
3-3.25 pounds of light honey (clover, alphalpha)
1-1.25 liters of frozen or fresh rose petals lightly packed
Or 50-100 grams of dried Rose Petals – dried rose petals flavor is very concentrated – you will have to check the flavor and color of the infused petals as they are simmering. The petals will vary in intensity depending on the many variables.
For some extra body use approximately 1.25 pounds of golden raisins or ½ liter of white grape concentrate. Add also two lemons- peeled, pitted and pithed along with the zest of one lemon.
You will need the regular additives or tartaric acid, Pectic Enzyme, Yeast nutrient and yeast energizer at 1 teaspoonful each for all except the energizer at the recommendation on the package and also one campden tablet.
Use the infused Rose Petals and the liquid – strain the infused liquid and petals through a nylon straining bag tie off the rose petals and into the primary fermenter. Follow the process for the rest of the Rhodamel as outline in the Melomel or Morat recipes. Cheers - hope you enjoy Mead. There are many other flower petals that could be used – check out the link for further flower/Mead possibilities.
Fortification of Mead: To start here is a link for a great British Mead. Has anyone had the opportunity to sample a bottle?
http://www.lindisfarne-mead.co.uk/
FORTIFICATION OF MEAD
This is adding distilled products such as brandy, vodka or gin to a batch of mead. This will increase the overall alcohol content; kill any remaining yeast activity at the desired residual sugar level. If we plant to undertake the fortification process we should try to maintain the original flavor and quality of the mead. i.e.: use a like brandy for fortification – cherry bandy for cherry Melomel. The amount of distilled liquor suggested for a 5 gallon batch is roughly 4 liters to get a 16 % Melomel to the recommended 20 % fortified level. To calculate what the % Alc. /vol of fortification will be the Formula is:
“A” = % Alc/vol of first mead
“B” = % Alc/vol of Distilled Sprite (cherry brandy)
“D” = Volume of first mead
“E” = Volume of Fortified Sprite
Our Mead batch is 23 liters (D), the % alc. /vol of it is 16 % alc. /vol (A), the distilled cherry brandy is 40% alc. /vol (B) and the volume of the cherry brandy added is 4 liters (E)
(AXD) + (BXE)
D+ E
16x 23 + 40 x 4
23+ 4
368 + 160
27
528
27
= 19.6 % alc. /vol after fortification
This would suggest that you could add a slight amount more of the distilled sprite to get to the 20% recommended fortification level. When fortifying mead it will require some additional ageing of approximately 2 to five months. You should sulphite the mead to get it at approximately 50 mg/L. The fortification process adds some body to the mead and likely further clarification. This means that additional settlement may occur after the fortification and it is better to let it stay in the carboy for another 2 to 5 months rather than have the settlement contained in the bottles. After that time we will be able to rack clear fortified mead into clean sanitized bottles. Cheers enjoy the fortified mead.
Sparkling:
The following is a calculator for carbonation level bottle primeing with dextrose (priming sugar- corn sugar) Scroll down the style and find mead -- skip all the beer and ale unless you want that also. I tried it out and for 1 gallon of mead we would need .7 oz of the corn sugar (solution) to give us the carbonation that we need?
SPARKLING
This is an area of mead making that some use often and other are not interested in. Why risk exploding bottles and contents just to get a fizz – sparkle in our mead? I mostly agree with this however, tasted some sparkling black currant that was outstanding, very much delicious and we all know how much the ladies enjoy a sparkling drink. Therefore here we go; this is a complicated area involving engineering, bottle design, atmospheric pressure, CO2 concentrations, “priming” or Cornelius Kegs. This tutorial will only contain a link for the Keg method of carbonation. This method is fine for some who are going to make a lot of beer, ale and sparkling wine or mead however, the cost of setting this Keg thing up properly with regulators, extra freezer, refrigeration controls, CO2 tank and lines, taps and valves etc is not economical for making a few wines or meads sparkle or a few dozen beer or ale yearly.
This is hoping that you will find some pointers on using the “priming” method to try and get carbonation into your mead. I must say that the most important thing is safety – we do not want glass flying around or mead residue all over our storage room area. Make sure the bottles that you use a suitable for the pressure created by the CO2. Wine bottles are not strong enough, use beer bottles, champagne bottles with proper closures and the Grolsch or E Z top type bottles are suitable as the glass is strong and you will be able to release the pressures if necessary easily or the rubber rings on these enclosures may release the pressure on their own. I will also go through another safety precaution as I will only make 6 – 12 bottles of sparkling at once I will store them in the bottom of a primary fermenter or in a large stainless steel pot with the lids on.
Here are a few interesting points: To contain the CO2 pressure beer bottles are good up to 1 – 2 atmospheres, Champagne bottles with correct closures are OK from 2 – 5 atmospheres.
1 cup of corn sugar weighs approximately 4.5 oz. (128 grams).
1 atmosphere of pressure will be generated by 4 grams of sugar per liter; for 6 atmospheres 24 grams of sugar per liter.
Dry ice will give carbonation in a drink.
If you use honey for “priming” it will give smaller bubbles.
There are different suggestions on how to add the corn sugar: one way add directly to the bottle before filling with the mead, the second way is to boil and simmer ¼ cup of water and 3/4 cup of corn sugar for 5 US gallons for 5 to 10 minutes then let cool to room temperature and use according to the carbonation calculator – the link located in this tutorial and for using Honey it is ½ cup with a small amount of water– pasteurize 170 degrees F and skim foam approx 15 – 20 minutes, cool to room temperature.
Other writings have suggested ¼ to ½ teaspoon of corn sugar per bottle. I think that I would prefer using the carbonation calculator that also takes in the temperature, the amount of mead to be carbonated and the pressure that we need for different types of meads. Cheers, hope it works for all, I will be trying it out this spring very cautiously.
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.1/fleming.html