So, What is Mead?

Looking back over the last year, I never properly explained what mead is (aside from a poor description in The Beginning).  From a very simple perspective, mead is the result of honey, water, and yeast left to ferment until alcohol has been created.  On a more technical note, I like to think mead is any alcohol beverage where more than 50% of the fermented sugars originate from the honey.  Beer, likewise would be a beverage fermented from greater than 50% cereal grains (typically malted barley or wheat), wine is from greater than 50% grape juice, and cider is from greater than 50% apple juice.  Well what happens if we decide to mix them up, and we want to make a mead + beer combination, or a mead + cider combination.

In the mead world this is simple.  Many variants of mead exist, just as many beer types exist.  Here is a short example of that list.  Note, for the purposes of my definition, at least half of the fermented sugar for all of these types should come from honey.

Meads are generally categorized as having three different alcohol strengths as follows.  Note, these distinctions can be combined with all of the later definitions, e.g. cyser of hydromel strength, or metheglin of standard strength.

• Hydromel (or session): This is a low alcohol mead, often served carbonated similar to beer.  It will have a final alcohol by volume (ABV) level of 3.5 - 7.5%.  
• Standard Mead: This is a mead of table wine strength, that is, 7.5 - 14% ABV.
• Sack Mead: This is a mead of high alcohol content, greater than 14% ABV.

There are two categories of mead where honey is the only fermentable.

• Traditional Mead: These are meads fermented with honey, water, yeast, and yeast nutrients.
• Show Mead: This category defines those meads fermented only from honey, water, and yeast.  These meads do NOT have additional nutrients added to the must to improve fermentation.  They often will take a long time to completely ferment as nothing is there to help the yeast, and may take even longer aging to smooth out the flavors produced during a relatively stressful ferment.

The following are the types of fruit meads available.  A general mead from fruit and honey is classified as a melomel, but specific names have been given to many of these combinations.

• Melomel: This is a mead fermented with fruit.
• Pyment: This mead is fermented from honey and grape juice.
• Cyser: Pronounced sizer, this is produced from honey and apple juice.
• Morat: Mead from honey and mulberries.
• Capsicumel: Mead fermented from honey and chili peppers.

Then there are the metheglins, grouped as such for convenience, even though some are stretching it.

• Metheglin: Mead made from honey and a combination of spices, added either during or post fermentation.
• Rhodomel: Mead fermented from honey and rose petals.
• Braggot, bracket, or brackett: Originally, this was a mead fermented from honey with hops added, but this category has evolved to include meads fermented with malted grains in addition to the honey.

The following two meads really do not seem to fit any of the above categories as I have outlined them, but are worth mentioning as mead types.

• Bochet: This is a mead fermented from caramelized honey.  
• Acerglyn: This mead is from a combination of honey and maple syrup.

I also want to mention three traditional Polish meads you may find perusing the shelves of a liquor store.  Poland is one of the few remaining locations where mead has maintained its popularity since the Middle Ages, and three distinct polish styles are provided here. 

• Dwojniak: A Polish mead made using equal parts honey and water.  This will typically result in a high ABV, sweet mead.
• Poltorak: A Polish mead made with two parts water to one part honey.
• Czworniak: A Polish mead made with three parts water and one part honey.

Lastly, I don't want to leave off Tej, an Ethiopian variety of mead fermented with honey and gesho.

If I left off any meads, and I most certainly have, let me know in the comments section.  Considering the number of fruits and spices available, the mead combinations are truly endless.  

Meadery Expansion!

The last few weeks I have been working on upgrading my "Meadery," that is, the closet where I ferment and age all of my meads.  After buying our house, I quickly claimed a closet in an extra bedroom for fermenting before we ever moved anything in.  This small, 36"x31" space is where all of my equipment should reside, but just having the floor and single top shelf was proving to be a problem.  I don't trust the top shelf to hold any weight, and my carboys, buckets and bottles were overflowing into all rooms of the house.  Add in the additional brewing equipment I received for the Holidays, and an upgrade was in order.

    

A full brewing closet, with carboys, bottles, and odds and ends all over the place.

Design

Given the constraints on space, I wanted to add a single mid-level shelf that could support the weight of six 5-gallon carboys.  The shelf also needed enough space both above and below such that you could fit a carboy with an S-type airlock attached, and still have a few inches to add water to the airlock as necessary. I wanted the shelf to span the full 31" width of the closet.  This meant it had to be built into the closet, as the doorway was only 23" wide.

Taking the inspiration from Ted's Fishroom, I decided to use a modified dado joint to create the shelf.  (Note: I also have a freshwater fish tank, that before I started brewing was fully stocked with white cloud mountain minnows and cherry shrimp, and aquascaped with assorted crypts, anubias, rotala and java fern.)  I added two interior 2"x4" spacers so that my plywood shelf would not bow under the additional weight.  While fish tanks can be fully supported on their two long sides, my carboys carry the same weights, but the round bottom needs to be supported on all sides.  I also drilled two outside spacers into the studs as additional support.  This mitigates any issues from knocking the legs on accident and causing the shelf to topple.  

A 5-gallon Better Bottle plastic carboy is roughly 26" in height when the airlock is attached, so I planned for a minimum of 30" space on the middle and bottom shelves.  Measuring floor to the bottom of the hanger bar already installed in the closet, I had 68" of space.  This was just enough to fit in my design as I needed to take into account the additional height of the 2"x4" cross members with the 3/4" plywood shelf.

Left: The empty closet. Center: The initial frame with the back legs and two interior spacers drilled to the back cross member.

Right: The finished shelf. 

Over the course of 3 days, and what felt like way too long considering the simplicity of the design (but at least it is level!), I finally put the last screw into the shelf.  Of course, after building it, I still have leftover equipment in the house.  But a haphazard carboy or two is far better than where I began!

The completed closet, missing two 5-gallon carboys, a 1 gallon carboy, and a 1/2 gallon carboy, all currently in the center of our living room floor under MEA-watch.  Looking closely, you can see the blackberry stain created by the first mead made on the new shelf.

Do MEAs a Mazer Make?

It took me four and a half years, but I have officially created my first mead eruption accident (MEA).  A MEA happens when a batch overflows from its carboy or fermenting vessel, often resulting in the unintentional remodeling of the kitchen, basement, or closet you conduct your fermenting in.  I missed the chance to take photos this morning as the accident was found minutes before leaving for work and resulted in a half hour delay of my arrival, but if the batch blows again I will be sure to update!  Luckily, this was on top of my newly constructed shelf (next blog post, hint hint), keeping the mess contained.  Only about a cup of mead was lost to the eruption, and it now sits bubbling along, ever threatening a repeat disaster.

So what happened?

Last night, I started a Blackberry Bliss batch, this time increasing the blackberry from 60 ounces to 84 ounces (seven large grocery store containers).  The batch also has a pint of blueberries, approximately 17 pounds of orange blossom honey, 5 "mushy" raspberries, with water to 5 gallons.  This was all mixed together in a 5 gallon carboy and Fleishman's Active Dry Yeast was added (admittedly, most of the honey is still not dissolved, but the yeast will eventually make its way through the sugars).  I thought I left enough headspace to avoid the dreaded MEA, but fate would have it other ways.

Can you avoid it?

MEAs are easily avoided if you have the right fermentation equipment.  Your best bet is to always ferment in buckets, leaving the carboys for aging.  Also, you should ferment in containers significantly larger than your must, think at least 1 gallon more space than you have in the batch.  Unfortunately, I do not have a 5 gallon brewing bucket or anything larger (yet! My honey pail will become one as soon as I have used the remaining gallon of honey in another batch).  During fermentation, be sure to stir the batch regularly early in fermentation to degas the mead (this releases the CO2 in solution so you don't have it release unbeknownst to you in your fermenting closet).  In heavy fruit batches, it is also a good idea to add anti-foam drops, but alas, I was unprepared.

If it does happen, you should split the batch into multiple fermenters.  This will allow you to increase the headspace per fermenter, making it less likely to erupt again.  Next, ensure to manage the cap (the layer of foam and must ingredients that forms at the top of the carboy/bucket during fermentation) by punching it down frequently into the must.  This requires stirring the mead such that the cap is completely submerged, and the bubbles are minimal on the surface.  This may be every hour, or just twice a day; it will depend on your individual ferment.  In this batch, if I leave it more than 15 minutes it is likely to erupt again, even after extracting 1/2 gallon from the carboy.

Do you have a MEA to confess to, or any additional ideas on how to manage it?  Let me know in the comments below.  The Mead Eruption Accident Decrement Society (M.E.A.D.S.) is excited to hear about your experiences!

Christmas Gifts

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who added to my mead supply collection!  This year, I received four new 1 gallon carboys (edit: and one bottle capper!) courtesy of my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces.  My parents got me new carboy bungs (stoppers) and airlocks, as I realized I did not have enough to brew with my complete collection of equipment.  I also received two fun books, Making Wild Wines and Meads and The Drunken Botanist from my mom.  Looking through the first, I have some fun ideas for the fruits we have growing in our backyard, especially the mulberry tree.  Hopefully the crows don't eat all the fruit this year!

I also purchased some chemistry equipment for myself to improve my yeast capture experiments. (I swear at some point I will post about the process and what results I am getting!) The cache includes test tubes for storing yeast, plastic pipettes to extract the yeast cakes from completed fermentations, 60x15mm petri dishes for isolating yeast, and the requisite agar-agar powder to use the dishes.  Lastly, I bought Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition to learn about the procedures the professionals use for yeast capture.  I haven't made it through the book yet, but at first glance it is a good reference for my experiments. 

Again, thank you everyone for the new equipment!  It will come in great use for making this next year's batches.

Holiday Special, Part II

When I wrote the Part I of the Holiday Special series, I fully expected I would have good news to report for part two.  I had made a 2 gallon batch of Spiced Cherry Cyser 2 years ago, and remembered it being rather tasty the last time I tried it (over a year ago now).  It was left aging in a 1 gallon and a 1/2 gallon carboy.  Unfortunately, only a single bottle was opened for our Winter Solstice gathering, despite having 16 available.  Nevertheless, I provide this to you as background so that you can avoid the same mistake.

The recipe was as follows:
2 gallon batch

• 1 gallon Trader Joe's Spiced Apple Cider
• 1/2 gallon Trader Joe's Cherry Cider
• 3 lbs Mesquite Honey (also Trader Joe's... anyone sensing a pattern here?)
• Water to 1.092 SG (12% potential ABV)
• 1 packet D47 yeast (would take the batch dry, which is likely the problem I encountered)

I followed a semi-staggered nutrient addition, adding half the nutrients at pitching and the other half 15 hours later.  I also aerated regularly during the first half of fermentation.  I left the mead on the yeast for a little sur lees aging, and after 5 months racked it from the bucket fermenter.  At the time, it had nice notes of spiced apple cider minimal cherry flavor.  There was no off flavoring from the yeast, just wasn't my favorite since the batch went dry.  I added a little bit of honey to a glass to test backsweetening, and my wife (who prefers sweeter drinks) absolutely loved it.  With that said, I hoped this would be a great option to serve for our Winter Solstice Gathering

This batch was finally bottled 5 days before they gathering, and that was when I noticed something tasted off.  I worry the main issue with the batch was that I let the airlocks dry out and oxidized the mead.  I do not have experience with oxidation, so I don't know what to taste for other than wet cardboard, and that isn't exactly the problem.  The mead tastes very tart from the cherries, with a kick of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove from the spices.  The apple is also present, although the tartness dominates.  The tartness and spices do not go well together, especially without any sweetness to balance it.

Determined to get tasting notes, I served small samples to a handful of guests to gauge their reactions.  Noting that many do not like mead as they've only ever tasted it sweet, I was wondering if someone who liked dry wines could comment and provide any additional feedback.  Alas, none of my family fits in that dry wine category, and only one guest had anything positive to say.  A few were nice enough to finish the bottle, although they grimaced through those last few sips.  For now, it is back to the drawing board with this batch.  I will likely age for another year and open at Christmas just to see the difference.  If the perceived sweetness comes back over time, it might just turn into something drinkable, if never special.

I still believe a cherry and apple combination should go well together (see Zombie Killer), it just can't finish dry or with spices.

2013 Holiday Special Part I

This holiday season, I have bottled two batches and labeled these as gifts for friends and family.  This is a discussion of the first, TBM's Merry Mead.  I'll cover the second as I finalize the label and bottle the batch.

Merry Mead

Merry mead was a recipe created from the dregs of one of our Wedding Meads.  During the bottling process for the Blackberry Bliss, I realized there was approximately one gallon left of blackberry and blueberry mush (the fruit had dropped out of suspension during the fermentation, and was not pressed to harvest the remaining liquid).  Seeing the opportunity, I quickly added 12 pounds of orange blossom honey, topped the carboy up to 5 gallons, pitched some more yeast, and let it ferment.  

The Merry Mead Label

I have never had any problems with bread yeasts creating off flavors during prolonged aging, so the five gallon carboy remained buried in a closet for months.  After nearly a year of primary fermentation (20 Nov 2012 to 18 Nov 2013) this mead was racked to a 3 gallon and a 1 gallon carboy.   The 3 gallon carboy came out perfectly clear, but the 1 gallon still has some remaining lees to settle.  Merry Mead is exclusively from the 3 gallon carboy, bottled on 16 Dec 2013.

I am very satisfied with the final product.  The berry flavor compared to Blackberry Bliss is barely perceptible, leaving the orange blossom honey and cinnamon as dominant flavors.  The cinnamon leaves a slight numbness to the tongue during tasting (similar to the effects of cloves, but I've double-checked the recipe and couldn't find any in my notes).  The mead finished very sweet, but not cloyingly.  There is enough residual acid and cinnamon to create a balanced mead, highly drinkable and great as an after dinner apertif.

Given the recipe process, I don't have an accurate measure of alcohol content for this batch, but have approximated it around 10%.  The previous Wedding Meads settled in right around 10%, and it is doubtful this batch made it much further.  After a single glass you could feel the punch.

For those family members and friends lucky enough to get a bottle this year, I'd love to hear your feedback.  Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Pumpkin Apple Bochet

Here is a little batch I put together last week, using some leftover ingredients frozen last year.  Let me know what you think!  No word yet on whether it'll be any good, but initial tastes give me hope it'll turn out alright.

Recipe:
1 frozen baking pumpkin (cubed last year while uncooked, frozen)
1 pint granny smith apples (frozen, cut into small slices)
6 lbs orange blossom honey
1 packet D47 yeast
Depending on flavor, may add pumpkin pie spice (cardamum, cinnamon, clove) after primary fermentation
2 tsp yeast nutrient (3/4 tsp at pitch, 3/4 at 24 hours, 1/2 tsp at 48 hours)
1 tsp yeast energizer (1/2 tsp at pitch, 1/4 at 24 hours, 1/4 tsp at 48 hours)
SG = 1.123 (15.88% potential ABV)

Process:
Bake frozen pumpkin at 400 deg F until roasted (15 to thaw, break up pieces into pan; 20 minutes, flip pumpkin pieces; cook additional 40 minutes, mush pumpkin in pan).  Remove pumpkin from heat.

 The pumpkin baking process. Top left, frozen pumpkin and apples. Top right, partially thawed. 

Bottom left, partially baked. Bottom right, baked and mushed together.

Boil honey and 2 cups water (used to dissolve honey remaining in container) until honey is dark golden with a good portion burnt (approximately 1 hour), stirring continuously.  Add one half gallon cold water at the end of the boil to cool the honey, and redesolve the now very thick, somewhat burnt honey.  Chill to 70 degrees.

Boiling the honey. Be careful, honey volume will increase greatly during boil.  I used a 5 gallon brewpot to boil 1/2 gallon of honey, and nearly had the honey boiling over.

While must is cooling, rehydrate D47 per packet instructions.  Add pumpkin and frozen apple pieces to cheesecloth bag over brewing bucket. Tie cheesecloth bag.  Add rehydrated D47 to bucket, and let sit while bochet must cools.

 Adding pumpkin and apple pieces to the cheesecloth. Tie the cheesecloth bag well. This will ensure a minimal amount of pumpkin and apple pieces drop into the fermenting bucket, to minimize racking losses.

Pour boiled honey into fermenting bucket with apple and pumpkin cheesecloth bag.  Add water to 2 gallons.  My original SG was measured as 1.114 (14.84 % potential).  Add 3/4 tsp yeast nutrient and 1/2 tsp yeast energizer.

Ready to ferment. Bubbles on the top are undissolved pieces of burnt honey.

Follow yeast nutrient additions as outlined above.  Aerate twice daily during initial fermentation, and punch down cheesecloth to discourage spoiling organisms from growing.

Since this is D47, make sure to ferment under 70 degrees.  We keep our house at 67 during winter, so hopefully I'll be okay on the temperature requirements.


Notes from the batch so far:

• Mead is very slow to start.  Evidence of krausen formation from must on the bottom of the bucket lid, but no foam was noticeable on the surface after 24 hours.  During stirring, a good 1/2 layer of foam formed, but dissipated rapidly, leaving me to believe this recipe will not foam much.  
• Original SG was 1.114, but after 24 hours had jumped up to 1.123 as stated in the recipe above.  I believe this is caused by the burnt sugars dissolving after pitch and additional sugars from the pumpkin and apples leeching into the must.
• Tastes very much of toffee, no noticeable pumpkin flavor, and hints of apples.  Am intrigued to find out where this goes.  Tastes good now, but bochets may turn out to be too 'dark' for my tastes (I'm thinking stouts/porters, but without the body).