6 replies to this topic

[paulatbeach]

anyone have a recipe for a mead with a bit of hops included?

I wandered around at gotmead earlier this evening and could not find my way into the recipes.

thxs, paul

[Juniper Hill]

Paul,

I don't have a recipe for hopped Mead, but suggest you try a search for Braggot. It's an ancient drink somewhere between Mead and Ale. I've wanted to try making one for years. The search might give you some ideas.

Cheers.

Neil

[paulatbeach]

Thanks Neil, I went and looked some more at gotmead and apparently you need to be a paying member to get access to the discussion boards...? Kinda flies in the face of discussion boards, or at least how I understand them but whatever. At least as near as I can tell.

So I went and looked online and found a braggot recipe that might be a good starting point. If anyone else has a hopped mead recipe to share that would be great.

Thanks, paul

[saramc]

Found this on "The Bee's Lees" http://brewery.org/l...y/beeslees.html
I have not made either of them, though the second recipe, CrazyGoodMeade, catches my eye every time I go thru all the recipes.
Cran of Creation

Source: Jay Hersh (hersh@x.org)
Mead Lover's Digest #244, 12 December 1993

Ingredients (3 gallons):

6 lbs Raw Clover Honey (from Haber Apiary in Troy, NY)
1 tsp water crystals
1 tsp yeast nutrient
3/4 oz Cascade leaf hops
Irish Moss
24 oz crushed cranberries (crushed in blender)
1 pkg red Star Champagne Yeast

Procedure:

This was one of my earlier mead concoctions. I used to boil down the
water crystals, yeast nutrient, hops and irish moss first, to make a sort of
perservative like base liquid, then add the honey to this and steep at
180F for 45 minutes (along with the fruit). This would get added to enough cold
water to bring the mixture to 95F or so and I'd add the yeast and let it ferment.

Comments:

This concoction was OK, but strongly on the dry side, and the
cranberries make it pretty tart.

Specifics: OG 1.068 FG 0.997

...............................................................................................................................................
Crazy-Good Mead

Source: Dave Polaschek (DaveP@county.lmt.mn.org)
Mead Lover's Digest #230, 26 October 1993

Ingredients:

10 lbs light clover honey
2 lbs blueberries (I used frozen)
1 gallon apple cider (pasteurized)
1/2 oz Saaz hops
yeast nutrient to instructions on package
1 packs champagne yeast (I used WYeast on this one)

Procedure:

Bring 2.5-3 gallons of water to a boil. Add honey, bring to a boil
again. Toss in the yeast nutrient and hops and boil for about a half-
hour, skimming off any scum that forms on the surface during the boil.
Put berries into a hop-boiling bag. Lower heat to a very low simmer,
and toss in the berries, mashing the bag around to break them up some.
Continue to steep the fruit for about 10-15 minutes while you get the
fermenter ready. Put the gallon of apple cider into the fermenter when
the boil is about done, and then add the hot wort. Add water to bring
the total up to 5 gallons. Let cool, and pitch yeast.

When the gravity has dropped below 0.980, bottle and wait. 3 months
wait makes for eminently drinkable stuff, but the longer you can wait,
the better. Final color is a light delicate pink, not unlike some white
zins, so you may want to store bottles on their head and then freeze the
neck to get the sediment out of the bottles, but I've just been very
careful decanting into glasses with pretty good results.

Specifics: SG: 1.075 FG: 0.965! Alcohol content: 23 proof

Comments:

This is something I whipped up last winter, and I sure wish more of it
had survived until now (I'm down to my last 3 bottles, and it just keeps
getting better).

[Steve mead]

Paul, you can take any beer recipe and substitute honey for a portion of the malt extract (or part of your grainbill). Just remember that honey is 100% fermentable and will provide a dry crispness in the mouthfeel. The best one I ever had was an American Pale Ale made with about 40% (of the fermentables) orange blossom honey. Check with your local homebrew shop, they always have recipes and kits. I could imagine a Russian Imperial stout with buckwheat honey or a wheat beer with sourwood, etc.....

[Juniper Hill]

Paul, you can take any beer recipe and substitute honey for a portion of the malt extract (or part of your grainbill). Just remember that honey is 100% fermentable and will provide a dry crispness in the mouthfeel. The best one I ever had was an American Pale Ale made with about 40% (of the fermentables) orange blossom honey. Check with your local homebrew shop, they always have recipes and kits. I could imagine a Russian Imperial stout with buckwheat honey or a wheat beer with sourwood, etc.....

Buckwheat honey and stout! That's sounds awesome Steve.

[homme de cimetiere]

Paul you need to know that to activate alpha acids that are in hops, you need to have a boiling malt. Then more time the hops are boiled, the more bitterness will be imparted. So a braggot (honey beer wort) mead seems what you are trying to create. Or you need another type of spice or herb to get a bitterness you are looking for. I generally do not like to boil my honey. I hope this helps.