Guarana Mead

[knowlesbrew]

I have a batch that is in the primary. Here is the recepie I used

5.5 Gallon batch
20 lbs of Minn Clover Honey
Yeast Nutrient (Bought from Midwest Supplies.com)
720 White Labs Sweet Mead Yeast
Gelitan Finnings (To be added when I move to secondary)
OG: 1.125
Gravity last time I checked: 1.11

My Question:

Has anyone tasted Guarana or tried to use it to make a mead? It is a fruit from the Amazon that they drink loads of it in Brazil especially in a soda. I got my hands on a twenty oz bottle of Guarana syrup. It works so three table spoons makes a glass. It contains no preservatives. I am thinking of adding the entire bottle to the batch that I have fermenting (above) when I move it to my secondary.

Also I am worried that my mead will be too sweet due to the fact that the amount of honey I added will surpase the alcohol tolerance for the yeast. I have some Red Star Dry Champagn yeast that I could add, but then I would worry that it would get too sweet. If I add the dry yeast I will probably save the Guarana for another time. I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Vino]

Has anyone tasted Guarana

I had it several ways when visiting San Paulo, the locals drink it in soda's like Kuat (Coca Cola product) and I believe I had it in a tea...the syrup if I remember correctly was made from the berry extract and cane sugar...In my opinion not that great tasting...but it did pack a punch...kinda like a super charged Mountain Dew!

For a while you could try it at the World of Coke in Atlanta...but I'm not sure if it's part of their world flavors anymore.

What's your take on the taste?

BTW, I think I recall that the syrup was quite pricey.

 

[knowlesbrew]

The Syrup when used makes a Juice that was pretty dry unless you add sugar to it. Yeah Kuat is popular there is also a Brazilian Brand called Guarana, made by Antartica (imbev I think). I liked the flavor but I dont think it would taste very good in a dry mead. I had a friend bring the syrup to me so I dont know how expensive it is. I told my friend and she didnt think it would be good because some Brazilian would have made it already if it was good haha.

 

[Vino]

The Syrup when used makes a Juice that was pretty dry unless you add sugar to it.

So is it a syrup or an extract?

I would think the syrup would already be sweet...the dry you are describing sounds more like the extract (un-sweetened).

 

[Kee]

Are you looking to drink this soon? You could make a dry mead with the Guarana syrup, bulk age for a year or so, and then backsweeten to taste at that time.

 

[Vino]

Maybe it's time for me to re-visit Brazil...

 

[gavinonymous]

Thanks - I didn't know it was available in a syrup. What does the fruit taste like?

I make energy drinks using Honey, green tea, guarana and some other ingredients.

The guarana I use is from the seeds roasted and granulated - a reddish brown powder. On it's own it's not sweet. I don't know if the fruit itself has any such effects. All active ingredients listed on wikipedia say they are from the seed.

I brew guarana seed like tea or coffee - steep in water and filter out the granules if desired.

The main active ingredient in guarana seed is caffeine (plus theophylline and theobromine analogues.. kind of like green tea)