Mead 2014.04
For this session of beer church, we made mead. Instead of doing one large 5 gallon batch, which would have been really expensive (because honey ain't cheap, Honey!), we each made 1 gallon batches of mead. Each batch was flavored uniquely depending on who was making it.
Overview
- Style: Mead
- Codename: Myriad of Meads
- Brewmaster: Eric Stein
- Type: Honey Wine
- Brewed: 2014-11-16
Brew Participants
Those who stuck through thick and thin:
- Eric
- Donna
- Michael
- Justin
- Arturo
- Joseph
- Ryan
Brewing
Each participant had slightly different techniques for their brew. See below for individual recipes. These are listed roughly in the order that people actually made their mead.
Eric & Donna
Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry Mead
- 7oz blueberries
- 7oz blackberries
- 7oz raspberries
- 1 cup water
smash up all the berries and simmer all of above ingredients for a few minutes until largely liquefied. strain through cheesecloth, keep only liquid.
- 46 oz unpasteurized honey
add all of the above to a pot with the berry juice and top up to 1 gallon with water. Heat while continaully stirring to 150F. You want to pasteurize and also dissolve all the honey without burning it at all.
- Add 1 tsp LD carlson yeast nutrient and stir until dissolved.
Cool to 100F or below with an ice bath or other method and pour into a sterilized glass 1 gallon jug. (sterilize using Star San)
- Add 1/2 tsp raspberry extract.
Cool to 75F and add yeast - 4184 sweet mead wyyeast, use 1/6th of a smackpack.
Michael
Justin
Blueberry and Raspberry Mead.
- 48oz Sunny Hill Honey
- Enough tap water to bring it up to a gallon
- Heat mixture to 161°F while stirring to pasteurize
- Remove from Heat
- Add 1tbsp Blueberry Extract
- Add 2tbsp Raspberry Extract
- Cool mixture to 80°F
- Transfer to 1 gallon jug
- Add 1tsp Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium phosphate)
- Add 20mL Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast (4184)
The plan is to let it ferment for 1 or 2 weeks (until it's done), then transfer it to another container and let it age for roughly 11 months.
- Initial Gravity: 1.114
- Racking Gravity: ???
- Final Gravity: ???
Arturo
Joseph
Ryan
Ginger and Nutmeg Mead
- 3 lbs Honey
- 3/4 oz grated fresh ginger
- Some ground nutmeg (mistake, didn't realize we had whole nutmeg)
- Some whole nutmeg
- Added cold water to jug to top up to near 1 gal
- 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium Phosphate)
- 1/2 tsp Yeast Nutrient (B Vitamin Complex & Thiamine)
Fermenting notes:
- Initial Gravity: 1.074
- Racking Gravity: ???
- Final Gravity: ???
Fermenting
- Primary ferment: 1 gallon Carboy
- 1tsp Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium Phosphate)
- 20mL Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast