jthomas
Active Member
I just finished prep for one gallon DJ of his fantastic mead, so i decided to share recipe, coz its realy good stuff. Recipe come from my friend who loves wheat beer called Witbier - belgian blonde wheat beer with coriander and curacao.
So here we go: recipe for 4,5 litres of triple honey mead - which should result semi-sweet hopped mead
Now You have here several option to make different in flavor mead, by changing type of hops used, or use 2-3 different ones, and if You like less sweet mead, cook one hop for bitternes for 60 mins, by making hop-tea, more details below.
Basic-original recipe:
1,5 litre of honey wildflower is best for this one (1.5L=2,1kg honey)
3 litres of water
10g coriander seeds - whole ones, do not use powder version or mead may never clarify
20g bitter curacao orange peel
juice and zest from 1 fresh orange
15g Citra Hops - whole or pellets
1.5 tsp yeast nutrient
18g citric acid or combination of citric and malic
5-8g packet of yeast - bayanus strain like G-995 or similar, i have used SN9 by Mangrove Jacks
first, pour boiling water over orage to wash off all wax and herbicydes,
sterylise all equipment which will be used.
To small pan pour 0.5 litre of water, add cucacao orange peel, lightly crushed coriander seed, 3 table spoons of honey and 10g hops, bring to boil, and simmer for 20 minutes, no longer, chiil it down,
Warm up to 30-37 deg C reminning water, add all acids, and dissolve all remaining honey, when it happends chill it down to about 20-24 C, mix with hopped spiced bit from small pot and remaining, hops, fresh orange juice and peel and nutrient, aerate mixture for 2-3 minutes by poring back-and forward between 2 buckets/pots and then transfer all to DJ, add yeast and put airlock on.
Fermentation should start within 2-3 hours. Leave it for 2-3 weeks, until vigorous fermentation finishies. After that time, remove liquid/mead from DJ to another container/DJ removing all hops, spices, and sediment from bottom. Clean DJ and put back mead. Leave it for quiet fermentation for another 6-12 months, mead will be nice and clear, and flavour should be awesome.
CHANGES
other options is use mix of hops, good options could be Cascade or Chinook,
if You prefer less sweet mead, You can make hopp tea, by cooking in 2 litres some high alpha acid hops (citra, equinox, mosaic) for 60 minutes, cool down to 30-37 deg C and then dissolve honey in it.
You can also add lime/lemon peel instead or extra, and last but not least use much darker stronger honey like buckwheat, which will result brown mead like whisky/bourbon color.
If mead is too expensive for You, another option, last one is make Quattro insted of Triple, then proportion water to honey will be 1L honey (1.4kg) to 4 litres of water, You can then add bit less yeast if You like, and honey should be medium dry.
My mead is done today, as triple one, on wildflower honey and citra hops, smelled nice, and I added 3g of bergamott flower to it (you can add 100ml strong earl grey tea 2-3bag one) for extra citrus boost.
The only thing i regret is that i do not have bigger DJ/carboy, like 5 gallon one to make it more at one time, coz I have feeling it will go quick.
Enjoy guys.
edit: another good if not great way to add tanins and egeing effect to mead is add some big/rough cut oak chips, they come in natural, light roast, dark roast variation, the more roasted the more color will give but less tanins, 10g for gallon for 1 month should be sufficient.
So here we go: recipe for 4,5 litres of triple honey mead - which should result semi-sweet hopped mead
Now You have here several option to make different in flavor mead, by changing type of hops used, or use 2-3 different ones, and if You like less sweet mead, cook one hop for bitternes for 60 mins, by making hop-tea, more details below.
Basic-original recipe:
1,5 litre of honey wildflower is best for this one (1.5L=2,1kg honey)
3 litres of water
10g coriander seeds - whole ones, do not use powder version or mead may never clarify
20g bitter curacao orange peel
juice and zest from 1 fresh orange
15g Citra Hops - whole or pellets
1.5 tsp yeast nutrient
18g citric acid or combination of citric and malic
5-8g packet of yeast - bayanus strain like G-995 or similar, i have used SN9 by Mangrove Jacks
first, pour boiling water over orage to wash off all wax and herbicydes,
sterylise all equipment which will be used.
To small pan pour 0.5 litre of water, add cucacao orange peel, lightly crushed coriander seed, 3 table spoons of honey and 10g hops, bring to boil, and simmer for 20 minutes, no longer, chiil it down,
Warm up to 30-37 deg C reminning water, add all acids, and dissolve all remaining honey, when it happends chill it down to about 20-24 C, mix with hopped spiced bit from small pot and remaining, hops, fresh orange juice and peel and nutrient, aerate mixture for 2-3 minutes by poring back-and forward between 2 buckets/pots and then transfer all to DJ, add yeast and put airlock on.
Fermentation should start within 2-3 hours. Leave it for 2-3 weeks, until vigorous fermentation finishies. After that time, remove liquid/mead from DJ to another container/DJ removing all hops, spices, and sediment from bottom. Clean DJ and put back mead. Leave it for quiet fermentation for another 6-12 months, mead will be nice and clear, and flavour should be awesome.
CHANGES
other options is use mix of hops, good options could be Cascade or Chinook,
if You prefer less sweet mead, You can make hopp tea, by cooking in 2 litres some high alpha acid hops (citra, equinox, mosaic) for 60 minutes, cool down to 30-37 deg C and then dissolve honey in it.
You can also add lime/lemon peel instead or extra, and last but not least use much darker stronger honey like buckwheat, which will result brown mead like whisky/bourbon color.
If mead is too expensive for You, another option, last one is make Quattro insted of Triple, then proportion water to honey will be 1L honey (1.4kg) to 4 litres of water, You can then add bit less yeast if You like, and honey should be medium dry.
My mead is done today, as triple one, on wildflower honey and citra hops, smelled nice, and I added 3g of bergamott flower to it (you can add 100ml strong earl grey tea 2-3bag one) for extra citrus boost.
The only thing i regret is that i do not have bigger DJ/carboy, like 5 gallon one to make it more at one time, coz I have feeling it will go quick.
Enjoy guys.
edit: another good if not great way to add tanins and egeing effect to mead is add some big/rough cut oak chips, they come in natural, light roast, dark roast variation, the more roasted the more color will give but less tanins, 10g for gallon for 1 month should be sufficient.
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