I have been considering on how to make a mead have a nice honey flavor without using a really large amount of honey. I’m fairly inexperienced when it comes to brewing. I’ve made a couple of extract batches and I’ve got a few gallons of cider fermenting but nothing exceptional. So I may be suggesting something crazy, if so please set me straight.
I’ve read that when making beer, one needs to be careful with how much honey malt is in a recipe because the flavor is strong and can be overwhelming. Since I’m going for a nice strong honey flavor, I’m thinking of making a braggot with Honey Malt. I’m playing around with a 1 gallon recipe using 1 pound honey malt and 2 pounds of honey.
The question I have is about what temperature to mash/steep the grains. I know that different temperatures affect the amount of fermentable sugar but I’m clueless what I should be doing. I’m looking for a residual flavor of honey post fermentation. I’ve got a pound of honey malt being shipped to me so I still have a few days to figure this out.
My thoughts / plan so far:
Add 1# honey malt to 1 gallon of water.
Turn on the heat and let the water temperature rise to somewhere around 150 degrees F.
Let the grains rest for about 30 minutes then pull them and increase temperature to boiling to sterilize.
Cool to about 100 degrees F and use that warmth to help dissolve the 2# of honey.
Continue chilling until pitching temperature. Add yeast nutrient. Oxygenate. Pitch yeast.
I have a few options for yeast. I’m thinking US-05 but I do have a cake of Nottingham that I’m about to rack a cider off of.
My other options are:
Lalvin 71B
Lalvin D47
Safale BE-134
Safcider (5G)
I just recently purchased these all to experiment around with some wine / mead / cider ideas and recipes.
I’ve read that when making beer, one needs to be careful with how much honey malt is in a recipe because the flavor is strong and can be overwhelming. Since I’m going for a nice strong honey flavor, I’m thinking of making a braggot with Honey Malt. I’m playing around with a 1 gallon recipe using 1 pound honey malt and 2 pounds of honey.
The question I have is about what temperature to mash/steep the grains. I know that different temperatures affect the amount of fermentable sugar but I’m clueless what I should be doing. I’m looking for a residual flavor of honey post fermentation. I’ve got a pound of honey malt being shipped to me so I still have a few days to figure this out.
My thoughts / plan so far:
Add 1# honey malt to 1 gallon of water.
Turn on the heat and let the water temperature rise to somewhere around 150 degrees F.
Let the grains rest for about 30 minutes then pull them and increase temperature to boiling to sterilize.
Cool to about 100 degrees F and use that warmth to help dissolve the 2# of honey.
Continue chilling until pitching temperature. Add yeast nutrient. Oxygenate. Pitch yeast.
I have a few options for yeast. I’m thinking US-05 but I do have a cake of Nottingham that I’m about to rack a cider off of.
My other options are:
Lalvin 71B
Lalvin D47
Safale BE-134
Safcider (5G)
I just recently purchased these all to experiment around with some wine / mead / cider ideas and recipes.
