7 Likes
I’ve been thinking about the next mead I’m going to make and decided I want to use some mulberries that I’ve had for a while.
I’ve never used mulberries before. Does anyone have an idea of what would go well with these? I was thinking of using a tea.
ETA:
Has anyone ever made anything with Eucalyptus Honey? I saw some at the store the other day and am tempted to try using it sometime.
4 Likes
I’ve never used dried mulberries, nor white mulberries, but I do grow black mulberries, and they make excellent mead, with a nice, sweet berry type flavor. Not sure if that helps any, but I love mulberry mead.
5 Likes
I haven’t made mead with Eucalyptus honey, but I’ve tasted the honey. It had a pretty strong Vick’s Vapor Rub flavor. Unless you’re intending it to be a remedy brew for colds and flus, I’d stay away from it. Then again, it could make an excellent remedy brew with soothing herbs like mint and lavender, and chamomile or elderberries.
5 Likes
I’ve wanted to get into mead brewing, if i do it won’t be soon but hoping i’ll be able to afford dabbling into it next year. I know i’ll likely start on something basic but the flavor/ingredient i’d like to try using at some point is tamarind in a mead. I love tamarind.
6 Likes
Have you ever tried chestnut honey? Or any other stronger flavors when brewing?
4 Likes
I’m lucky that I have great sources of honey local that are relatively inexpensive.
I’ve never found chestnut honey. That sounds amazing. I think it would make a wonderful base for a metheglin - an herb and spice mead. Whenever I make metheglin, it’s with herbs from my garden (lavender, basil, oregano, mint, rosemary) and spices like cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and ginger. It’s winter holidays in a glass! A chestnut honey seems like it would be a perfect match for that.
By far the strongest flavored honey I’ve brewed with was apple blossom honey from central Washington. I made the mistake of making a cyser with this honey. It was a good idea, but it turns out you can have too much apple flavor. It was like drinking a green apple Jolly Rancher. I would still use that honey, but probably on its own with some spices and tannins to balance the florals.
6 Likes
I’m closing in on figuring out what I’m going to use in my next mead. I found a mango & moringa green tea that I’m going to use. I also have some dried tangerine and sweet orange peel that I"m going to add to the tea. I might substitute some fresh orange peel; I’ll try that in a tea tomorrow. I’m considering using a puree of white mulberries and some freeze dried mango I have, but haven’t decided on that yet.
5 Likes
that sounds awesome!
do let us know how it turns out. i am intrigue!
5 Likes
5 Likes
You probably already know this, but avoid the pith due to its bitterness. With citrus, you want the zest rather than the whole peel.
5 Likes
Yeah for some reason I say peel when I mean zest.
5 Likes
I guessed as much. Sounds like a wonderful brew. Green tea makes a lovely base for fruity meads!
4 Likes
Went to a mead tasting event in Staunton @j9c clued me into. Really different than what i am used to. Very sweet, my wife described them as “syrupy,” brews. Way more honey-forward than i am used to, and moderate (10-12%) alcohol makes me think they must have been backsweetened and pasteurized. They were featuring a plain, an apricot and a lemon brew. Honestly, the apricot was lost in the honey. The lemon came through, but only a bit. I have never tried pasteurizing, but i have a constant temp bath from my old film processing days, which could be adapted, and my wife likes a sweeter (but not this sweet) brew…
The plot is afoot!
8 Likes
I’m going to be drinking this today:
It’s my last one and I’ll never be able to get it again (discontinued). It’s from a meadery in Vermont. My friend, who’s online friends with them, and I helped them set up their booth at the Vermont Ren Faire this summer. We were invited to come to the meadery and visit for a few hours before we went back to WI. They’re really nice people and gave us some mead out of their private reserve. I brought along bottles of my blueberry coffee mead that I got to share with them and they liked it.
8 Likes
Ooh, that sounds good!
I step fed a couple of meads in primary (champagne pyment and green tea/Asian pear).
The blueberry and apple were stable. I’ll probably rack the blueberry and add basil extract next week.
3 Likes
I finally got around to making a hydromel today. I used the mango tea, a puree of a small amount of white mulberries and mango, and basswood honey. I used Voss Kveik yeast. SG was 1.040. It’s hard to tell how it will turn out, but the sugar water I tasted after taking the hydrometer reading was pleasant.
6 Likes
That does sound yummy!
5 Likes
8 Likes
The mead tastes good. I sampled it the other day when a friend was over. I took a hydrometer reading the next day and it wasn’t finished yet, but should be done very soon. I’m going to take another hydrometer reading tomorrow. It’s not as clear as I’d like it, so I’ll probably transfer it and cold crash it before bottling (I was planning on transferring and bottling right away).
5 Likes