[Wort-H.O.G.]

Mojito Mead

~4gal RO Water (enough to make 5 gal into the fermentor) - 50:50 gypsum and CaCl to get Ca up to 50ppm.

18# Orange Blossom honey
6oz fresh squeezed key lime juice
yeast nutrient
10oz bruised spearmint leaves.
wyeast sweet mead yeast.

potassium metabisulfate followed by potassium sorbate to halt fermentation.


bring water up to about 180-90, add all honey, lime juice and yeast nutrient, let sit at 160 for 30 min to pasteurize.

chill and rack to fermenter.  oxygenate for 90 seconds and pitch yeast.  ferment mid to high 60s.

I like to get the gravity down to about 1.026-1.030 and then use campden and sorbate to ensure it has halted.

rack to keg or other secondary.  age as long as you like - I did about 6months before I "dry minted" with a hop bag and the bruised mint leaves. 

package and enjoy - it gets better for years - the one pete had is over 3 years old.  the lime and mint balance will shift over time, but its still a good ager.

wow how much does 18#of honey run!

so how does one drink this stuff- pour a pint or is it a short glass sipper?  never had mead.

[blatz]

wow how much does 18#of honey run!

so how does one drink this stuff- pour a pint or is it a short glass sipper?  never had mead.

yeah - it is not cheap, but there are a few farms in the middle of the state that have awesome honey for relatively reasonable prices, can't recall what I paid last time. 

I use short scotch taster glasses or sometimes wine glasses.  And being that I don't carbonate them, its nice as you can open a bottle and if you are careful, have a little bit over a few weeks before it starts to oxidize.

I don't drink mead often, every now and then, but its also nice to have for people who want to "try something you made" but are more wine than beer oriented.

[pete b]

We drink it regularly, either with meals or on its own. Basically we drink it like wine because it is wine. You can make it similar to any wine style by using different ingredients, including yeasts, and different gravities. We generally use white wine yeasts for traditional (honey only), peach, apple (cyser). pear, etc. and red wine yeasts for melomels with berries: mixed berry, blueberry, raspberry, cranberry etc. You can make sessionable meads to port strength. We make mixed berry meads that drink like dry reds, peach melomel that we drink chilled in the summer, port strength spiced elderberry that we drink in snifters in the winter etc. We make dandelion mead, rhubarb mead, and all sorts of herbal meads (methlegin). Even rhodamel with rose petals and raspberries.
Its best to get honey from a local beekeeper or apiary in bulk. This year we harvested 100 pounds from our hives, but when we don't have a good honey year we get 60# buckets from a guy we know for $200.

[pete b]

I had Paul's Octoberfest and Raspberry Mead last weekend.
I wish I had taken a picture of the mead. It was very clear and a brilliant ruby red. The raspberry aroma was awesome and the raspberry flavor came through nicely with just a touch of honey sweetness. There was an acidity which probably helped the raspberry flavor pop out. No alcohol heat. A very nice mead.
I should have taken notes on the Octoberfest. I intended to post that night but didn't get to it. I do remember a nice orange color, very clear and a malty aroma. Also nice bitter/malty balance. It was very easy drinking.
I was fortunate to have Paul sending me his brews. They were all well made and fun to drink. He was also very generous with amounts.

[mchrispen]

Pete B's 2013 Cyser

Been saving this, but felt the need today for something apple-y. This is 2 years old - and shows well in the glass. Pours a pure still pale gold with incredibly long and slow legs. The aroma is apple and cinnamon, almost a mild mulling spice, but not overpowering. The taste is both boozy and dry, but not off putting. It is kind of hard to imagine a mulled hard apple cider without sweetness, and this is it - the alcohol is warming, in the mouth and stomach. The spice lingers while a bit of apple tannin and crispness dances around on the tongue. Maybe the slightest hint of oxidation, but that may help with a tiny bit of caramel in the background. Acid balance is pretty good at medium high.

Really nice - something I like. Assertive, big brash flavors and aromas, like a young bourbon. No off flavors. Another mead really well done. Something tells me it is a good thing I don't have this on a tap... I would be trashed pretty quickly, and continuously till the keg kicked.

I may hang onto that bottle from Pretty Things since I heard they are closing shop... still eyeing up the Spencer. Maybe if Denver pulls out a win tonight!

[pete b]

Yay! I'm glad you liked it! I really wasn't sure if this would be appreciated with all the attention to session meads lately. I'm glad there are folks out there who appreciate what alcohol heat and oxidation can do over time. There was no spice added to this mead, but I know what you mean. I think that's alcohol warmth,tannin, plus emotional expectation that smells and tastes of cinnamon.
I assumed correctly, and looked up to confirm, that the Denver game reference meant that they were playing the patriots. I may not watch TV but I'm nothing if not provincial so I hope that the Spencer waits for another day.
But on second thought its better fresh. Please feel free to use it to drown your sorrows.

[jeffy]

I also had one of my swap beers this evening, Black Bretty (saison) from Jerry aka ynotbrusum.  This one had about 3/4 inch of fruit sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so I was warned to be very careful on pouring.  I got a full glass of bright, clear, cranberry-red-colored beer with almost no head.  It looked a bit effervescent.  Very pretty.
Aroma was fruit (difficult to identify, but berry-like) and sour, and very pleasant; inviting. No vinegar, mostly lactic sourness and some Brett funk.  I checked the notes and found that the fruit used was indeed blackberry, which came through more in the taste.
Flavor had low malt character, fairly strong lactic/Brett sourness along with the berries and just a hint of enteric in the finish.
Tart finish, with a bit of bark-like astringency in the aftertaste and light body.  Sourness  was mouth coating especially in the aftertaste.
I liked this beer a lot.  I wish that I had opened it with the turkey feast on Thanksgiving.  It would have been perfect.
Thanks, Jerry!

[mchrispen]

I assumed correctly, and looked up to confirm, that the Denver game reference meant that they were playing the patriots. I may not watch TV but I'm nothing if not provincial so I hope that the Spencer waits for another day.
But on second thought its better fresh. Please feel free to use it to drown your sorrows.

I suspect you will be right. But someone has to shock the Pats. But a Broncos win here will ensure a beating in the off season.

No spice? Amazing. Even the wife thought cinnamon sticks. She finds cassis really hot and spicy.


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[pete b]

I assumed correctly, and looked up to confirm, that the Denver game reference meant that they were playing the patriots. I may not watch TV but I'm nothing if not provincial so I hope that the Spencer waits for another day.
But on second thought its better fresh. Please feel free to use it to drown your sorrows.

I suspect you will be right. But someone has to shock the Pats. But a Broncos win here will ensure a beating in the off season.

No spice? Amazing. Even the wife thought cinnamon sticks. She finds cassis really hot and spicy.


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We do a spiced cyser but that wasn't it.

[morticaixavier]

Finally broke into the final offering from HeavyDeadLifts last night and I guess I was saving the best for last. Belgian Dark Strong. 12% ABV according to the label. Didn't drink like that. It was obviously a sipper but no hot alcohol to speak of. no sign of chlorophenol here either. Fruity, a bit spicey, nice warming sensation. very well done.

[69franx]

Seeing these last couple posts reminds me of the fact that I am a bad swapper. I shared @AmandaK s wedding toast beer last week with the SO and a friend. It was poor timing as it was later in the evening, I did not take any notes and really only remember that we all enjoyed it. Thank you again Amanda, everything you sent was wonderful and I hope to get to that level eventually, with a lot more practice.

[AmandaK]

Dang Jim, dang.  Drinking the Brett Saison now.

Presents with an amazing dusty pineapple aroma. (While that sounds weird, it's exactly what I want in a Brett Saison.) Honeycrisp apples, juicy blood orange, a touch of lemons, and bit of white pepper follows in the aroma. Myles nailed the descriptor that I couldn't: lavender. That's why it reminds me of Boulevard's Saison-Brett. Lavender.

Flavor follows the aroma, with a light honey flavor behind all of the things I described above. Med-low bitterness. Some sort of floral in the mid-palate. Finish is dry and lavender/honey/pineapple lingers into the aftertaste.

Light body, but medium mouthfeel. Perfect. Med-light carb. No warming or astringency.

Wow, what a beer. Myles says thank you (as do I). I only wish I had another. I know exactly who I would share it with.



Curious, can you tell me more about the Brett in here and the time frame? I just finished a beer nearly exactly like this, so I'm curious as to how our processes compare.

[ynotbrusum]

I also had one of my swap beers this evening, Black Bretty (saison) from Jerry aka ynotbrusum.  This one had about 3/4 inch of fruit sediment at the bottom of the bottle, so I was warned to be very careful on pouring.  I got a full glass of bright, clear, cranberry-red-colored beer with almost no head.  It looked a bit effervescent.  Very pretty.
Aroma was fruit (difficult to identify, but berry-like) and sour, and very pleasant; inviting. No vinegar, mostly lactic sourness and some Brett funk.  I checked the notes and found that the fruit used was indeed blackberry, which came through more in the taste.
Flavor had low malt character, fairly strong lactic/Brett sourness along with the berries and just a hint of enteric in the finish.
Tart finish, with a bit of bark-like astringency in the aftertaste and light body.  Sourness  was mouth coating especially in the aftertaste.
I liked this beer a lot.  I wish that I had opened it with the turkey feast on Thanksgiving.  It would have been perfect.
Thanks, Jerry!

Glad you liked it Jeff.  It was a typical saison  that was fully fermented until the Blackberry was added in the secondary with Brett Vrie - I love this strain and will be using it again with fruit.  Anyway, the Brett has rounded out nicely on the tap of this keg - it never touched any lactic, but the fruit and the Vrie gets a great complex flavor for the Brett - more so than other Brett strains.  The sour guru in my club turned me onto this new strain and everyone seems to like it in this setting with blackberries.  It takes me about 5 minutes to pour a liter, due to the blackberry residue in the keg, but I didn't want to lose that tart bang that comes from the fruit, so I racked over some extra goo just to enjoy it....

[ynotbrusum]

Had to give JEFF a shout out - his beers are cool!  I tried his Raised Bungalow and without more information I thought I would give an assessment from what might be a palate that is yet evolving:

Pale straw, effervescent on the pour, but fading head; potently sour, seemingly an American style of a Berliner Weisse.  After effervescence fades, you are left with a sour, yet bready aftertaste.  Lingering sourness, but not overwhelming.  Definitely a pleasant tartness that includes a pear and apple profile.  Light body. Crisp finish - but not puckering (though close).

What was this ephemeral brew?  Quaffable, yet not crazy - light.  In the end, give me more!

[jeffy]

Had to give JEFF a shout out - his beers are cool!  I tried his Raised Bungalow and without more information I thought I would give an assessment from what might be a palate that is yet evolving:

Pale straw, effervescent on the pour, but fading head; potently sour, seemingly an American style of a Berliner Weisse.  After effervescence fades, you are left with a sour, yet bready aftertaste.  Lingering sourness, but not overwhelming.  Definitely a pleasant tartness that includes a pear and apple profile.  Light body. Crisp finish - but not puckering (though close).

What was this ephemeral brew?  Quaffable, yet not crazy - light.  In the end, give me more!

That was a beer from Southern Brewing, my local homebrew supply shop and the second closest brewery to my house.  It was a "Florida Weisse" a kettle soured Berliner with prickly pears.  It won best of show this year at Best Florida Beer Championships pro competition.