Making a mead in the style of a beer

[Mu]

Ok I have been wondering if anyone has tried making a mead in the style of a beer. Im not talking Braggot, im simply referring to the style. Here’s my thoughts for something to try.

Now I know honey lacks a lot of nutrients that yeast need, so ill need some yeast nutrients to get this bubbling along well. Secondly I want it to have some body, so ill add some non-fermentable sugars like Malto Dextrin. So here is an ingredients list…

Water: Rain water from my local area
Yeast: -not sure yet but im thinking a larger yeast due to lower fermentation temperatures.
Honey: Well store bought, darker honey.
Sugar: Malto Dextrin
Yeast nutrient: <Not sure what nutrient to use here, would raisins work?>

In terms of quantity about 10L, and id like an OG of about 1.045 and a final of about 1.010.

I would use brown sugar to prime, and have a carbonated end product. This is very much an idea in the early stages of formation, but I was wondering if anyone had tried something similar, and what the end product was like. oh and 10l is about 2.6Gallons.

Any thought much appreciated.

Mu.

 

[JoeM]

What exactly do you mean by "mead in the style of beer"? Do you mean simply a carbonated mead made with beer yeast? I've made plenty of sparkling meads, but never with beer yeast (except in my braggots).

Also, i dont know where you live but I'd be careful about using rain water, it tends to contain a lot particulates and sulfur containing pollutants.

 

[Mu]

I live rurally, and I drink the rain water, a little bit up the way the ground water is about 2 point of been pure enough to bottle and sell, im in a rain catch meant area, so im assuming it’s pretty fresh water we get here.

And yep using a beer yeast, and making it in much the same way you make a beer, but using honey as the sugars, no hops <I like sweet> giving it two weeks in the primary, and a week or two in the secondary, the adding priming sugar and bottling to carbonate the mixture.

Mu

 

[mouko_yamamoto]

I've never made beer so have no validity behind this, but I would think that the sugar in honey would take longer to ferment than the sugar in barley.

 

[Mu]

I was thinking with the same OG…and some nutrients I could probably get it to ferment at a similar rate…So in 3 weeks or so get the full fermentation done. But you may well be right... :-\

 

[JAG]

Honey definately ferments slower. But you do have me wondering how belgian candi sugar would be added to mead. Hmmmmm.....

It would help if you made a starter for it too; rather than just pitching the yeast.

 

[Dmntd]

Are you talking about making a low alcohol mead? With an O.G. of 1.045 and F.G. of 1.010, your looking at a finished mead with an A.B.V. of around 5%. In my experiance, that should finish fermenting in 1 - 2 weeks.

A mead with an A.B.V. of 10% or lower is called a Hydromel or Short Mead. Starting at a lower gravity it should ferment out faster.

Anthony

 

[JoeM]

I think the fact that honey ferments slower than barley malt is an issue of nutrients rather than the available sugars.

 

[Mu]

The nutrients thing is why I considered adding raisins. And I always make a starter for my yeast <now> it just makes for a better ferment. And indeed a mead of about 5%, but I want to try to give it some body <hence the Malto Dextrin> and I will carbonate it in the bottle. Just want to see if I can get a mead with a good body, a head, still honey flavored – but not overly sweet.

Anyone know how much honey you would need for 10 liters?

Mu.

 

[Dmntd]

Mu,

Use the mead calculator - http://www.gotmead.com/making-mead/mead-calculator.shtml - to finger it out.

Anthony

 

[Mu]

I was thinking about 2kg for 10L that’s 4.4 pounds honey to about 2.5 gallons. Does that sound about right for OG 1.045? I tried the mead calculator but that thing baffles me, and the help is a 404 error. I used it to help me get those numbers but im not sure?

 

[byathread]

I made a couple of small meads like this. I used about 1.25 lbs honey/gallon. I also used bittering hops, but the whole recipe was just honey, water, hops and 2 different beer yeasts. It fermented to completion and cleared pretty quickly (but I don't have my notes handy). They turned out pretty decent. I'm interested in trying something like this again. Just keep in mind that the sugars in honey are totally fermentable so even a beer yeast will ferment them dry <1.005 and probably <1.000. The addition of malto-dextrin wil increase the body by providing a little more residiual sweetness, but I'd be careful of overdoing it since there's so little honey to begin with. However, I don't think you'll have much luck getting much head with this one. I definitely recommend using a darker honey on this or the aroma/flavor may be lost.

 

[Mu]

Thanks for that, I wasn’t aware that honey would finish at 1.000, but I am now… In terms of sugars I was thinking about the same amount they add to a beer perhaps 500g in the 10L. Ill make sure the OG is were I want it to be after the addition of the other sugars. Im not going to bitter it in any way <hops> so im hoping that will keep the honey flavors and aromas fresh! This works out a little bit less expensive to make, perhaps $20-30 for 10L but im still hoping for a decent taste and smell…Ill get going with this when I have some free bottles and a spare fermentation vessel <I have beer on the go at the moment> Giving myself lots of time to think this one through.

Mu.

 

[byathread]

How's it coming along Mu?