25l Cinnamon & Vanilla Mead

[Anbhás]

Just done mixing this up and I cannot wait for it to be finished already. this is the first time I have started a 25L batch of anything so I hope it all goes well. This time I also kept the ingredients simple and sweet.

Seán's Mead Recipe:

14lb Honey
20 Litres of Mineral Water
2 Teaspoons of Yeast Nutruient
1 stick of Cinnamon
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Lemon Juice

By anbhas55 at 2011-04-21

By anbhas55 at 2011-04-21

By anbhas55 at 2011-04-21

 

[Lucretia]

Why not buy a pod and drop the seeds in? and mebbe the pod as well? You'd get a better vanilla flavour.

Luke.

 

[Anbhás]

Why not buy a pod and drop the seeds in? and mebbe the pod as well? You'd get a better vanilla flavour.

Luke.

I don't know what meeble means and the pods were very expensive.

 

[Anbhás]

I've just noticed small white lumps suspended near the top of the mead all about the size of small stone.. is this normal?

 

[nickmcmechan]

one vanilla pod will set you back about 2 or 3 quid and i believe that the flavouring from essence dissapears quickly in a brew 0 not my own experience but i have read on forums

also, i have had strange bits floating at the top of my mead - i'm just kinda guessing this is ok and i'll get rid of when racking

all sounds good though!

 

[Anbhás]

one vanilla pod will set you back about 2 or 3 quid and i believe that the flavouring from essence dissapears quickly in a brew 0 not my own experience but i have read on forums

also, i have had strange bits floating at the top of my mead - i'm just kinda guessing this is ok and i'll get rid of when racking

all sounds good though!

There is now a foam present and it is fermenting very slowly but that's better han nothing. In the future I will get the vanilla pods instead if what you say is true.

 

[SamWise72]

You can get vanilla pods a LOT cheaper from this place:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/madagascan**v ... 4340.l2559

A friend bought some and did home made vanilla essence as Christmas presents. I think the risk with vanilla is that the fermentation process eats the aromas; that was my experience with vanilla and cinnamon turbo cider (it ate the cinnamon too). Might be better to infuse the spices after fermentation, which is what I'll be doing next. I successfully added vanilla essence (the nice home made stuff) after fermentation, and will try the same with cinnamon, initially by sticking a cinnamon stick or two in, or failing that, I'll make a cinnamon essence by steeping it in vodka, which is what worked so well for my friend with the vanilla. Indian supermarkets (or chinese for that matter) are great for buying things like ginger, cinnamon and coriander in bulk MUCH cheaper than Tesco.