A quick metheglin from varietal honey that I'm putting together for the holidays, based in part on Mary Izzet's short mead recipes in Speed Brewing. If Izzet's timeline is reasonable instead of unrealistic, this might be ready in time for the holidays! (Well, anyway, that would be great.)

2017-04-14_00_04_17_HDR
Batch 032 at bottling.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 16 oz. Flying Bee Ranch pumpkin honey.
  • 8 oz. blueberry varietal honey from Santa Barbara Blueberries.
  • ½ tsp. of Valley Brewers yeast energizer.
  • 1 tsp. of Fermax yeast nutrient.
  • ½ tsp. Penzeys Spices apple pie spice.
  • ¼ tsp. Penzeys ground allspice.
  • ¼ tsp. Penzeys ground cloves.
  • Filtered tap water to slightly over 1 gallon.
  • ½ packet Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast.
  • 8.5 oz. Flying Bee Ranch pumpkin honey, added 26 Jan 2017.
  • ½ tsp. Penzeys apple pie spice, added on 26 March 2017.
  • ¼ tsp. Penzeys ground allspice, added on 26 March 2017.
  • ¼ tsp. Penzeys ground cloves, added on 26 March 2017.
  • 1 oz. (by weight) corn sugar, for priming, dissolved in 1 c. distilled water, added on 13 April.

Sanitized everything, then poured the honey in, then poured in the yeast energizer and yeast nutrient, then the spices. Poured in water to slightly over a gallon in the carboy. Agitated for five minutes to oxygenate, pulled out a small amount into a hydrometer tube, leaving about a gallon in the carboy. Agitated again. Pitched in the rehydrated yeast at 73℉. Popped in a fermentation lock and filled it to the line with vodka.

Added some more honey on 26 January, and some more spices on 26 March.

On 13 April, added 1 oz. corn sugar to 1 cup warm distilled water (i.e., the total volume was greater than one cup), then added that to a clean, sanitized carboy, then racked the mead onto the sugar-water mixture, then bottled from that second carboy.

Brew date: 26 October 2016.
Original gravity: 1.061 (but we're calculating the ABV as if the O.G. were 1.083 because of late honey addition).
Bottling day: 14 April 2017
Final gravity: 1.003
Estimated ABV: about 10⅔%

Yield:

  • 7 x 12 oz. bottles
  • 2 x 22 oz. bottles

Total: one gallon exactly.

Observations

  • 2016-10-27T03:01: There's already carbon dioxide discharge in the carboy.
  • 2016-10-27T03:01: Fusel alcohols are noticeable. Needs more spices and time to age.
  • 2017-01-26: Fusel alcohols are less noticeable, and the spices are much more noticeable. Tastes a bit thin, though. Added just over another half-pound of pumpkin honey.
  • 2017-02-12: Still cloudy. Letting it sit. Did not sample. Decided against bottling.
  • 2017-03-26: Added another dose of the same spices, in the same amounts, as were added at the beginning of fermentation.

Lessons learned

  • Like EC-1118, Red Star Pasteur Champagne chews through a lot of flavor. Which is another thing Mary Izzet doesn't mention when advising you to use champagne yeast to get quick results.