Mead Recipie – Vanilla and Raspberry harmony

Raspberry mead is one of the recipies that has the potency of becoming a stable in any mead-makers repertoire.
Theres something special about the smell, the taste, the color and the clarity, it just goes straight to your heart and soul.
A fantastic summer drink then cooled, and a great winterdrink when sitting in front of the fireplace, enjoying the season. Heck – just drink the mead, its great 365 days of the year – provided you have the stamina to let it age properly.

Todays mead recipie is set for the standard 10 liter batch. I follow the metric system, so for those who want it imperial – grab yer calculators.
You will notice i change yeast types for mead recipies frequently. This has a clear reason, as i believe the distinctiveness of any mead come from any of the ingredients, as well as the methods used. For this recipie i like to use Lalvin Ec-1118, which is a champagne type yeast.

Ingredients:

2 liter honey of great quality – flower honey ( summer) is a great choice.
4 kilo raspberry ( frozen is preferred )
1 package  Lalvin EC1118 yeast
1 vanilla pod of great quality – dont skimp on this one.
Yeast nutrients

Procedure

I’m not going to write much about cleanliness and tools – by now you should already have read the starter articles here and know the basics.
What is ever important is the yeast starter. Always, always always make a yeast starter – it will save you so much trouble down the road.
The reason for this, as mentioned in prior blogposts, is that by rehydrating your yeast, and familiarize it with the sugary environment it will live in in the mead, you will avoid problems with stalled or slow fermentation, and as such, the risk of infection in the must.

This mead recipie will introduce you to another fine practice – using fresh resouces and making it into what you need rather than just buying it. Whenever i make berry type meads, i buy berries, and make my own juice concentrate. This is THE best way to have control over your process.

Making concentrate

jiuce concentrate

Making concentrate is simple . You get a berrysteamer such as in the picture ( link to norwegian place ) – im not actually sure what these are called in english, but im sure you can figure it out, or somethign similar to this product.
The concept is simple. Berries in at top – Water coooks from below. Jiuce concentrate comes out in the middle.

This is what i flavor my berry style meads with. It allows me to avoid all sludge, mold and a lot of other risks, while still retaining that fantastic flavor of fresh berries. I let this concoction simmer and steam till i have collected 2-3 liter of berry juice. We want flavor of raspberries – not mead concentrate. So now we have approxiamtely 2 liter of honey, 2,5 liter  juice and 5.5 liter water to introduce to our friends- the yeast. Lets not forget to cook the yeast nutrients in a cup of water ( or as the package describe) and mix this in the must.

 

Mixing it all up

Remember the Yeast starter ? .. ohhhh…. its going to LOVE this mix. Berry meads are some of the fastest fermenters i know of. the berries already give nutritions, and the acidity in berries help drive down PH in the brew, thus helping the mead get going. Whenever i make a yeast starter where i have yeast, water, some nutrient and berry juice, the yeast start foaming very very quickly. Wihtin a few hours i have a starter that would usually take me twice the time – its really fascinating.

Now pitch the starter in the must, cover it up, connect the airlock, and youre all ready to go. Measure your SG, and aim for it to hit a sweetspot of your choosing, inregards to alcohol levels and residual sugars.

Fear the foam

mead foamingOne issue about this mead recipie. It has the potential to really foam. The yeast, the lalvin EC1118 is quite agressive, and if you dont leave enough headspace in the fermentation container – you could end up with foam climbing up the walls, and through the airlock. and it has a tendency to hapen whey you least expect it, and absolutely dont want it. Trust me – cleaning your white ceiling of fermenting must is not somethign that will win you points with the missus.
leave enough headspace ; if youre fermenting in a bucket – 5-10 cm should do. If youre in a carboy – a 10 liter carboy would have space – dont go past exactly 10 liters total….

 

Raspberry, vanilla … oh the succulent indulcencies.

You though i would forget about the vanilla, eh ? Oh,no. The vanilla is the «piece d’resistance». The frosting on the cake. This i usually put in whole, when i rack for clarification. Note that i nearly always rack 3 times. Fermentation, secondary to caryfying ( and crashing), then ageing. I drop the vanilla pod into the mix when i set the mead for crash ( a week in the fridge ) and clarifying. This i spend a good week at, so i know that i get this permeating vanilla flavor in the mead. The time the pod spends in the mead will vary between  days, depending on the strength of flavor i’m aiming for.
when all then is said and done, we rack again for bilk ageing, and later to bottles. I reccomend giving this mead no less than 12 month total ageing.

Thanks for reading, do try this recipie – its well worth it.

 

The post Mead Recipie – Vanilla and Raspberry harmony appeared first on Vikingmjød.



from Vikingmjød http://ift.tt/2ixlQyr
via IFTTT

Kommentarer

Legg inn en kommentar

Populære innlegg fra denne bloggen

Tej – the mead from the origins of mankind

Bilde
Tej – mead in the Rift Valley Basin. Ethiopia – few countries have such a documented history as this African country on the east coast of the continent. It is said humankind has its origin in the rift valley , an area that is littered with archeological finds from as far back as the origin of man. It does feel somewhat natural then, to pose the idea that perhaps this was also where our forefathers – and mothers, first came across a bubbling substance of honey and water. Sweet as it was, and nutritious – it was drunk… and the rest is history. Tej and Ethiopia – a history joined When it comes to Ethiopia, we are really talking biblical history. The country finds its roots back to the age of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheeba, and the bible legends. Back then, we see a much different climate, one that very much aided in beekeeping. This gives us the idea that better climate = better nature = more bees. A good and stable environment means a better environment for bees. Now...
Les mer

Blackberry Lavender mead

Bilde
This recipe was first published on meadist . All credit goes to the author website. Bill Savage, a former employee of the Wild Blossom Meadery in Chicago originally created this favorable and highly scented mead. Bill is now working at Goose Island Beer Co , and while it might not be all mead, he is absolutely a fantastic brewer. This recipe surely shows his qualifications Now – if you, dear reader, have a great recipe to share, click yourself to the  “contribute your recipe” page, and we will publish it shortly… If you try out this recipe, feel free to comment and share images of it. Ingredients 12 lbs. of raspberry honey 2 tbs  Yeast Energizer 14 g Lavender Flower Tips Lalvin 71B-1122 Yeast 4- 4,5 kg of blackberries Directions Aside from the rest of this recipe – make a  Yeast Starter Use a 5-gallon/ 20-liter pot; bring 4 gallons/ 15 liters of water to boil for 5 minutes. If you have a beer-chiller, let the water cool to around 70 Deg...
Les mer

Mead recipie – The apple pie Cyser. A mouthful of goodness

Bilde
Its time for my first published  mead Recipie. Apple Pie mead – the name alone brings water to your mouth. Unless you’re Isaac Newton- and have a weird fear for falling apples. My first encounter with this absolutely amazing liquor was a few years ago when i befriended a polish brewer who i met at a viking market. ( did i mention im a viking reenactor? No horned helmets though ) The aroma rising from the bottle as he popped the cork was simply beyond heaven. Fresh apple, cinnamon and vanilla, mixed with top quality honey. you just can’t beat it – impossible !! So today i thought id share a little mead recipie on a mead simply called «Apple Cake Mead». Batch size: 10 Liter 2 Liter Automn honey – preferably from a beefarm near apple orchards ( I’m a snob, i know … ) 8 liter of fresh processed apple juice, with no preservatives. 1 cinnamon stick 1 Vanilla pod of good quality 1 package Yeast – I prefer Lalvin D47 1 portion of Yeast Nutrients. Procedure: Sanitize, saniti...
Les mer