I've had a professionally made Elderberry and Currant mead that was in the wine category, and I have had my homebrewed Elderberry Mead (that used wine yeast). But I had not had the pleasure of drinking a plain mead, just water, honey, and yeast.
So I took 3 (three) cups of the rawest honey I could find, M&L Titmore in St. Albans, Vt, and 12 cups of water. I warmed some water and mixed it with the honey to get it to liquify enough to pour into the carboy. Then I added about 1/5th of a Red Star Wine Yeast Packet.
I put a air lock on top and set it off to the side with one of the handmade carboy covers on it on Thanksgiving day at 12:30 in the morning.
On December 12th I bottled it straight out of the primary fermentor. I had taken a sample a few days earlier and decided to bottle it early to keep the sweetness.
Fridged some on the 23rd of December so that they would be cold to drink on Christmas. It is wonderful. There is a slight bitter alcohol scent that is smelled over the flower bouquet, but when it is tasted there is only the flowers. The lovely sweet taste of the honey is prominent with a after taste of flowers.
I was not expecting this level of carbonation to be there. That cap is actually popped out not dented in. I will at least do a month or so in a secondary fermentor the next time around if I use the same yeast. I may try just a ale yeast, or and ale yeast then a wine yeast, oh the possibilities. Anyway this is a very simple recipe and very good (of course that depends on how good your honey is too). Enjoy.
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