Mind trip mead

[phoenixmead]

Last night I started a purple mead. I came across purple sweet potatoes, and thought it would look cool. Yes I started this batch because I thought it would look cool

I boiled the potatoes (a bit under two pounds) for about an hour, cooled the water, threw everything into my primary with three pounds of local wildflower honey, to make a gallon. Stirred and pitched my yeast. It had a wicked red/purple colour. I got so caught up with everything I forget to take my og reading. :-(

Now my question for you guys, when I rack into my secondary, I want to flavor it, but with what? Lavender and the sort will be cliche. I want to mess with my friends heads and have it taste good.

Thoughts, suggestions and comments more than welcome.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hops? Hopped mead can taste really delicious. I generally make a tea from the hops and use that to dilute the honey but I also dry hop for flavor and aroma. You might try Nelson Sauvin hops...

 

[fuelish]

Extract of morning glory seeds??? Would be a real mind trip, but.....I do not suggest nor condone this, just sayin' ....

 

[skadalajara]

You must post pics. It's a moral imperative.

 

[phoenixmead]

You must post pics. It's a moral imperative.

I shall when I rack into secondary.

 

[henryakirk]

Extract of morning glory seeds??? Would be a real mind trip, but.....I do not suggest nor condone this, just sayin' ....

I agree and throw in some kind of berry to give a sweet kind of tart flavor.

 

[phoenixmead]

Time to let it sit and clarify.

View attachment 1433462688596.jpg

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I got to admit, that sure is a pretty purple color! Did you add any amylase enzyme or mash/steep with base malt? If not, your mead may have a starch haze from those potatoes. Or maybe you were wanting to keep that opacity to augment the color? As for a flavoring, a purple that vibrant just screams "berries!" to me.

Welch's makes a few juices that have sweet potatoes in it; I tried the Farmer's Pick Blackberry & thought it had a rather funky flavor; not sure if it was the sweet potatoes, but that's what I attributed that funky flavor to, cuz blackberries don't have that flavor by themselves.

You might consider adding bilberry juice/nectar, and perhaps aronia berry juice:
http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just-juice/just-aronia-berry
The bilberry will add an almost "musky" sort of berry flavor, the aronia berry will add a rather subtle "general berry" flavor, but it will also add a good dose of natural tannins. I've done taste tests blending aronia berry juice with concord grape juice in various ratios & I can tell you a 50/50 blend of concord & aronia juices is VERY tasty! I think you might like a bit of either or both added to your purple mead, though they'll both darken the color a little, depending on how much you add. They'll obviously add volume too.
Regards, GF.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

This oughta mess with their heads http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylthiocarbamide

 

[sudbuddy]

cold steeped coffee? They'd never see that one coming and it shouldn't screw up your color too bad.

 

[fatbloke]

Bloody hell! That's very, very purple..........

 

[Curtis2010]

Bloody hell! That's very, very purple..........

Call it "Purple Haze"...and add a few tabs to it. ;-)

 

[phoenixmead]

So very purple. I have a piece of oak sitting in it for now. I will figure out as I go if I want to flavour it further.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Black raspberries might be an excellent addition.

 

[loveofrose]

Do the potatoes add any kind of flavor? Or just pure color? Basically, I'm asking what does it currently taste like?


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

 

[phoenixmead]

Loveofrose, it gives very little flavour. It tastes like a straight mead with a different mouth feel from the starches. Mostly it's just coloring.

 

[brisboy]

That looks awesome! Was there enough nutrient from the potatoes to keep your yeast happy? How's it progressing?

 

[phoenixmead]

It's progressing nicely. I did use some yeast nutrient to keep the yeast happy. Primary fermentation is done. Now I just wait and make sure my air lock is happy.

 

[On-target]

That color is awesome. I added a couple of purple sweet potatoes to a batch of spiced pumpkin mead in the fall and the color is orangish. It's just about ready to bottle.��