First mead - thoughts?

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jas3019

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 2, 2014
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So I've made a few wines the past year but I thought doing a winter solstice mead would be a fun thing next weekend. I've done a little research here and came up with a simple recipe that I'd like some feedback on. Here it is:

3 gallon batch
9 lbs orange blossom honey
Water (enough to get up to 3.5 gal so after post-fermentation racking I'll have ~3 gallons left)
D47 yeast rehydrated with goferm protect
DAP in the must (3/4 tsp at onset)
Fermaid k in the must (3/4 tsp at 1/3 sugar break)
I have some FT Blanc Soft that I could use during fermentation but I don't see many posts using it so not sure if it'd be beneficial.

Post-fermentation I plan to add 2 oz hungarian med+ oak cubes, 2 vanilla beans, and 2 cinnamon sticks.

Any thoughts/tweaks on this? Any help would be appreciated! It's my first mead (not crazy about oranges so didn't want to try JAOM) so I'd like to get this right.
 
Looks interesting, going for a dry mead? Not sure what FT blanc soft is? Google says tannins, you might want to add those to taste to the secondary.

You can also make Joes with limes, or other citrus fruit, if that sounds interesting...
 
Yeah, my goal was for a dry mead. Maybe backsweeten with honey later if it needs a little sweetening. But I didn't want to aim for something super sweet.

And yep, FT Blanc Soft is a tannin that some add to white wines. It's supposed to help with mouthfeel and give a perception of sweetness, among other things. Seemed like something to try here.

Joe's with other citrus might be pretty interesting! I hadn't seen any posts on that but now I'll go back through for what others have done. Thanks!