Mead 2012.01

Overview

• Style: Dry Mead with Raspbeery and Hops
• Codename: I didn't mead it that way
• Brewmaster: Eric Stein
• Type: Boiled honey, with light hopping
• Initial Gravity: 1.???
• Racked Gravity: 1.???
• Final Gravity: 1.???
• ABV: ?%
• Brewed:
• Racked:
• Kegged:
• First served:
• Last served:
• How much the brewmaster made this recipe up the night before the brew: 100%

Brewing

Based on a recipe from Jason Betts. Heavily modified.

• boil 4.5 gal water with 6 oz of raspberries in a cheesecloth bag.
• campden tablets to sterilize
• Slowly add 6.5 lbs of honey (TBD type). This assumes 1.36 grav honey. While doing this stir constantly and maintain a low boil. Expected: a little caramelization.

Once honey is totally added, boil on very low heat for a 10 minutes. Add 1/2 oz cascade aroma hops, swap out for berries. Boil another 5 minutes. Turn off heat, and chill with a wort chiller.

Top up to 5gal with distilled water.

Pitch with Montrechet yeast. It should be able to go fully dry.

Expected starting gravity: 1.043 Expected final ABV: 5.8%

Fermenting

• Primary ferment: Plastic tub

Racking

Add potassium sorbate at the racking to stop fermentation. We are racking to get rid of hop and fruit residue and to give the yeast time to settle out of the mead.

Kegging

We do not want to prime a mead, so we will carb the mead with backpressure of CO2.