Mead Lovers Digest #0167

Published in

· 8 months ago

 

Mead Lover's Digest #167                            Mon 05 July 1993 

 
        Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming 
               John Dilley, Digest Coordinator 

 
Contents: 
  My latest mead is lacking something. (Mark Taratoot) 

 
Send articles for submission to the digest to mead-lovers@nsa.hp.com 
Send digest subscribe, unsubscribe, or any other administrative requests to 
        mead-lovers-request@nsa.hp.com 
NOTE: There is now an MLD FTP archive on sierra.stanford.edu in pub/mead 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Date: Sun, 04 Jul 1993 15:35:27 -0600 (MDT) 
From: Mark Taratoot <SLNDW@CC.USU.EDU> 
Subject: My latest mead is lacking something. 

Greetings. 

        I have a small mead that is nearing the end of 
fermentation and I need some suggestions. 

        The mead is 5 gallons of basic ingredients:  
        6 pounds honey 
        4 t acid blend 
        6 t yeast nutrient 
        11 cloves 
        Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast. 

        When I racked this from a bucket to a carboy, there was a bit 
of extra that would not fit into the carboy.  So I racked it to 
a jug, let it clear, and bottled it.  It was near completion of 
fermentation, but after a couple of weeks it has a slight 
carbonation.   
        The problem is: when I tasted one of the "extra" bottles, 
it had very little flavor.  Of course it had the rough flavor I  
have come to associate with young mead, but other than that there 
was not much flavor from the honey or cloves.  This mead was  
intended to be a light, refreshing sparkling mead fit for  
hot summer afternoons (probably next summer) so I kept the honey 
down to a minimum to keep the alcohol content low.  Now I would 
like to add _something_ when I rack or bottle to give it a bit more 
flavor.  My thoughts are: 

        1.  Add some fruit.  I have two pie cherry trees in the 
front yard.  However, my next ferment will be a cherry mead, so I 
don't want to cherry this one.  Also, I don't want this stuff to  
ferment for too much longer. 

        2.  Add some kind of "tea."  I have read of people using 
tea to flavor meads (both tea and herb "tea").  I have considered 
making a "hop tea" and adding that or dry hopping it, but I  
don't really want hops in my mead.  
  
        3.  Add some more spice(s).  I am considering vanila bean, 
licorice, spruce, cinimon, allspice, etc.  However, I don't want this 
stuff to take on a medicine flavor, so I don't want too much. 

        4.  Add some fruit essence. 

 
        So, anyone out there used one or more of these?  Please 
mail me your comments!   

 
Thanks 
 -toot 

------------------------------ 

 
End of Mead Lover's Digest 
************************