Hey all,
I'm planning on trying my hand at a sweetish metheglin and want it to be quite robust as I like spicy things but am not sure what amount of spices to use to give it a punch but not knock me out. I'm thinking of using the traditional Christmas spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe a few cloves, ginger, etc) and luckily have all of them in whole form. Does anyone have any suggestions of volumes for each? I'd definitely like some heat in it and was wondering if adding some whole peppercorns would help....or should I just go ahead and through some jalepeno pepper in as well, or not bother with either? I have NO experience with this and would rather not end up with 5 gallons of undrinkable mead. This is only me third foray into creating the golden nectar so I'm still looking for a lot of help. I've searched the site looking for various metheglin recipes and haven't really found what I'm looking for.
I also have a really silly question regarding must volume. I have a 6 gallon bucket for primary fermentation and a 6 gallon carboy for secondary.....obvously if I fill my 6 gallon bucket to the brim there's going to be some serious overflow during primary so do I just mix up 5 gallons and make it a little richer (higher SG) than what I want in the final product so that I can dilute it out a bit by topping up my carboy with water after racking to the secondary? I'm only asking as it has been mentioned to me in the past that you don't want a lot of head space in your carboys due to the possibility of oxidation....
I should add that both babies have been sick so I'm running on more than a couple of long nights without much sleep....I'm sure I'll check this thread again later, read my post, and shake my head.
All thoughts and ideas, related to mead making (
), are appreciated.
I'm planning on trying my hand at a sweetish metheglin and want it to be quite robust as I like spicy things but am not sure what amount of spices to use to give it a punch but not knock me out. I'm thinking of using the traditional Christmas spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe a few cloves, ginger, etc) and luckily have all of them in whole form. Does anyone have any suggestions of volumes for each? I'd definitely like some heat in it and was wondering if adding some whole peppercorns would help....or should I just go ahead and through some jalepeno pepper in as well, or not bother with either? I have NO experience with this and would rather not end up with 5 gallons of undrinkable mead. This is only me third foray into creating the golden nectar so I'm still looking for a lot of help. I've searched the site looking for various metheglin recipes and haven't really found what I'm looking for.
I also have a really silly question regarding must volume. I have a 6 gallon bucket for primary fermentation and a 6 gallon carboy for secondary.....obvously if I fill my 6 gallon bucket to the brim there's going to be some serious overflow during primary so do I just mix up 5 gallons and make it a little richer (higher SG) than what I want in the final product so that I can dilute it out a bit by topping up my carboy with water after racking to the secondary? I'm only asking as it has been mentioned to me in the past that you don't want a lot of head space in your carboys due to the possibility of oxidation....
I should add that both babies have been sick so I'm running on more than a couple of long nights without much sleep....I'm sure I'll check this thread again later, read my post, and shake my head.
All thoughts and ideas, related to mead making (
), are appreciated.
