Summer refresher (low ABV mead) need advice

[cfonnes]

I am thinking about making a low ABV summer refresher (think lawnmower) type of mead.

Around 3 - 4 % ABV. very low final gravity and maybe a little ginger to add to the refreshing qualities. Slightly back sweetened.

Any advice in making something like this is very appreciated.

 

[amaycock071]

Ginger and citrus or mint and citrus flavours would all make great summer refreshers. You don't even need to specifically make it low ABV as you could use as a long drink mixing it down with a little lemonade or soda water over ice. Let me know if you do come up with any recipes though as I would also love to do this for this year!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I've got a few recipes for great hydromels that fall in the 6-7% Range. It's about 1.5 lbs per Gallon. If you wanted to go lower you could go 1 lb per gallon on them. You may however find that going below 1.5lb/gal really really lacks in the mouth-feel department. Recipes are on my blog, If you don't want to dig you can follow this link which goes through the 3 hydromels I have posted.

http://hivemindmead.blogspot.com/search/label/Hydromel

 

[Arpolis]

I have a lemon mead I have fallen in love with that may work.

1 gallon lemon mead

honey (to a gravity of 1.060) about 1.5 - 1.8 lb per gallon.
20 fl oz real lemon lemon juice
3/4 tsp earl grey black tea (loose leaf in the primary)
3 tsp yeast nutrient
Water to one gallon
Yeast (71b)

Half the lemon and nutrients go in up front with the honey and tea and the rest go in 3 days later. Stabilize and back sweeten to 1.020 once fermentation ends.

That gets you in the 8-9 ABV range but I have mixed this with juices and about 32fl oz will get you down to about 6%. You could take some ginger root, freeze/thaw, crush it and steep in water over a few days and blend that into this if you want the ginger in there.

 

[cfonnes]

Thanks for the help. This gives me a great place to start. As far as the mouthfeel I am looking for something akin to flavored water with a few carbs for energy and a little bit of alcohol for pain. I want to be able to "dig in the garden" all day long.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

You're going to want to finish a close to or below 1.000 as possible for that.

 

[Beernik]

I'm considering something similar to this: a 7% ABV mead, leaving it dry, and bottle carbing it.

For a 5 gallon batch, I was thinking:
5lb honey
5lb peaches
1lb raisins
Lalvin 71B-1122

That should get me to an OG around 1.050.

Do you think it would end up too tasting too thin?

 

[Arpolis]

Peaches are pretty thin as a wine, the raisins may help a bit but being so low an ABV you may still be a little thin. An easy way to add body to peach wines is to add banana. 2 1/2 bananas mashed up in a little bit of water and thrown in primary can help.

 

[Beernik]

That's a good idea. But I may want to share this one with some friends and relatives that are allergic to bananas.

So I'm thinking maybe adding a pound if dates. I've also added a pound of candied ginger.

 

[cfonnes]

This looks great. When I am out working in the yard in 90 degree weather the thinner the better as it seems more refreshing.

My only concern is that I do not like really dry mead, so I may need to back sweeten.

 

[Beernik]

I finally got to making this tonight:
5lbs clover honey
10.4lb white peaches (weight before pitting and skinning)
1lb raisins
1lb prunes
12.4oz candied ginger.
Juice of 2 lemons
Water to 5.75 gallons
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient

I puréed everything, brought the temp up to 120F, and added 6 campden tablets before pouring it all I to the carboy.

I'll take a gravity reading and pitch the Lavin 71B tomorrow.

As is, I'm projecting 7% ABV. But I'll drop that with some top off water after racking.

Hit my anticipated OG right on: 1.059

 

[Arpolis]

Since you puréed and heated the batch I highly suggest getting some pectic enzyme tomorrow and adding at least 1 tsp per gallon about 12 hours before pitching yeast.

 

[Beernik]

Yeast is already pitched.

I'm not worried about it. My goal is something like a lawnmower mead. If it has some pectic haze, it won't be the end of the world.