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Orange, clove & cinnamon in secondary

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M

Mead-E-Ogre

NewBee
Registered Member
May 17, 2011
8
0
0
South Africa
Hey Guys :)

I'm the kind of person that enjoys intense flavours in food, booze etc & I was just wondering about the following mead idea - would love your feedback

I plan to start off with the following (aiming for sweet since I don't enjoy dry too much)

1kg Honey
1/2 teaspoon bread yeast
25 raisins
Water to balance out to a 2L carboy (we don't get 1 gallon carboys here in South Africa ;D)

Then, after primary fermentation has finished I will rack into secondary & add 1/2 an orange, half a clove & cinnamon stick.

I'll leave them in there, not sure for how long, maybe until the mead clears & then I'll bottle for ageing.

What do you guys think??
 
I'd add a good handful of orange zest in the secondary. Loads more orangy-ness than the flesh without the acidity. Be sure not to add any of the white pith, it is bitter tasting. Folks use tangerines, blood oranges, and other strong-flavored citrus as well. I've even used kumquats (just cut in half and dump them in), though they are quite acidic and 5-10 of them in a gallon is probably enough.

For cinnamon if you want it to be strong, you can add a couple sticks. Keep an eye on the flavor (taste it weekly or so) and rack off when it is intense enough for you. I would not add more clove than you're planning though, too much clove and your tongue will go numb when you drink it. (that is kind of fun though...)
 
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akueck said:
I would not add more clove than you're planning though, too much clove and you're tongue will go numb when you drink it. (that is kind of fun though...)
Click to expand...

You're really making me want to make a 'super clove' JAO.
sorry for the OT, but how many cloves will it take in a gallon batch, and how many will make it taste undrinkable?
I'm thinking a 'kava mead' type drink ;-)


Ps if it's too far OT Please resins in a new thread.
 
kudapucat said:
You're really making me want to make a 'super clove' JAO.
sorry for the OT, but how many cloves will it take in a gallon batch, and how many will make it taste undrinkable?
I'm thinking a 'kava mead' type drink ;-)


Ps if it's too far OT Please resins in a new thread.
Click to expand...

I think it will take more than a couple, so the 1/2 clove in 1/2 gallon is fine. You could use the whole thing too and probably be ok, though it would be a pretty strong clove flavor.

I'm not sure how much clove we used this one time that happened to us cooking. It was ground up and in a mixture (an Ethiopian spice blend). By the time we got it hot enough, the clove was so strong it's most of what you could taste. And the face-numbing. Oops.

Easiest way to try it out would be to make an alcohol extract of clove. Drop a handful into a jar, add vodka (or other distilled alcohol), seal, swirl it up occasionally. Probably a few weeks to a month later, strain out the solids and bottle. (I use the T-corks for these things, good enough seal and easy to open/reclose.) Try adding a few drops to a glass of traditional mead and see what it does. :)
 
akueck said:
Try adding a few drops to a glass of traditional mead and see what it does. :)
Click to expand...

Now to find a traditional mead ;-)

I have Clove oil already, I use it for sedating fish.
But this wont let me know what effect adding 2,4,6,8 cloves will be will it? So I'll be able to tell if it will taste disgusting if strong enough to numb the tongue, but not how many cloves this equates to.
I guess a "quick half answer" experiment is better than the long laborious testing of brewing batches with increasing quantities of cloves.

Thanks for the idea.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
THawk said:
Sedating fish?!?!?! :o
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They tend to be less "OH MY GOD I CAN'T BREATHE!!! I'D BETTER JUMP AROUND HEAPS IN DESPERATION, TO TRY AND FLIP MYSELF BACK INTO THE TANK" if they're sedated first...
Not really much point giving them medicine or performing surgery if they're going to die of stress during the process, or jump out of your hand and die from a head impact or internal bleeding...

But this is now WAY OT... >:D
 
kudapucat said:
They tend to be less "OH MY GOD I CAN'T BREATHE!!! I'D BETTER JUMP AROUND HEAPS IN DESPERATION, TO TRY AND FLIP MYSELF BACK INTO THE TANK" if they're sedated first...
Not really much point giving them medicine or performing surgery if they're going to die of stress during the process, or jump out of your hand and die from a head impact or internal bleeding...

But this is now WAY OT... >:D
Click to expand...

Surgery? On fish?
What are the indications for that?
 
White spot, ich, despondance, fin rot, hole in the head, flashing, intestinal worms (though you normally treat the water for this), or if you're more serious than me, egg extraction and milt extraction.

Lots of stuff wrong with fish is visible straight up.
 
kudapucat said:
White spot, ich, despondance, fin rot, hole in the head, flashing, intestinal worms (though you normally treat the water for this), or if you're more serious than me, egg extraction and milt extraction.
Click to expand...

You perform surgery if they're unhappy? "I'll teach you to be happy!!" ;D
 
You work as a vet or something along those lines?

When you said "sedating fish" the first thing that came to mind was goldfish -- as in, aquarium fish... never occurred to me that you could be referring to the larger non-pet variety... :)
 
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