Vanilla and fruit mead

[Imakewort]

I am looking to make a vanilla and fruit mead any ideas on what type of fruit to use

[aleguy]

Banana. Custard apple. Pawpaw. Mayapple. Kiwi.

[Imakewort]

umm Kiwi sound good but finding enough to use could be a problem, but banana is a possibility

[yeastmeister]

Cherries.

[aleguy]

Cherry and Vanilla? I think you've been drinking too much of that project beer. I still think custard apple would be best, but hey, it's Igor's mead.

[yeastmeister]

Yep, Cherries, alternatively, apricots, or blueberries.

[Mob_Barley]

I think a mild berry like strawberries might allow a little vanilla flavor to shine through. Maybe apricot like Gene says. They say vanilla goes well with maple as in an Acerglyn.

[Imakewort]

well after a lot of great input and a lot of research I decided to make a apricot vanilla mead with orange blossom honey

[redtail28]

What is the source of the honey and what is the price?
I was thinking about makeing a braggat with
Orange blossom honey and using a Kolsch yeast.

If you havent ordered yet maybe i can add to it
share the shipping cost.

[aleguy]

Actually Apricot sounds like it might turn out well. I hope you're using real fruit and not some leftover extract. Personally, I'd choose a milder honey to showcase the fruit and herb flavors, but everything will eventually blend into something fantastic no matter which honey you use.

[Imakewort]

I plan on buying my honey from more beer, they have a no shipping fee for orders over a certain amount. and I plan on using apricot fruit wine base, it's a fruit puree and 100% fruit.I found a very good web sight on Mead's see link below and they have been helping me with the recipe, here is the recipe

6 Gallon Batch:
18 lbs Fresh or Frozen Apricots (crushed)
3.0 gal apricot juice, unsweetened (or unsweetened concentrate)
0.5 gal pineapple juice, unsweetened (or unsweetened concentrate)
0.5 gal fresh squeezed apple juice, unpasteurized
0.5 gal fresh squeezed orange juice
18-20 lbs Orange, Sage or Mint Blossom Honey
6 Madagascar Grade A organic Vanilla Beans, split and scraped

Must:
Make sure your liquids are all preservative free (no sorbate, sorbic acid, benzoate, etc.) this is extremely important. If it's not on the label then check with the vendor to be sure. Combine your liquid ingredients and your honey in a 10 gallon plastic fermentation bucket and bring the SG to 1.145/33 Brix. Add your vanilla beans and crushed fruit which should bring you up to about 8 gallons or so.

Yeast:
10 grams ICV-D47 yeast rehydrated in Go-FERM as per manufacturer's spec. Do not substitute other "Energizers or nutrients" as they are not specific for this yeast or for rehydration and will do more harm than good to your yeast. Using a lees stirrer (do a forum search) in your electric drill aerate the must and add your yeast slurry. Once inoculated aerate and cover the bucket with a lid but do not seal or airlock, just cover the bucket and secure the cover in place so it does not come in contact with the must.

Fermentation:
Using the lees stirrer to aerate twice daily for about 2-5 minutes at a time. At the end of the lag phase (you'll see some foaming and bubbling) add 6 grams of Fermaid-K dissolved in 50 ml distilled water (use this specific nutrient as it is made for Lalvin/Lallemand yeasts) and use the lees stirrer (or long handled plastic brew spoon) to mix it in. You'll need to mix the floating fruit back in about 3 times a day. Do a forum search on Cap Management with me as the Author.

Check your gravity/brix daily and when you have a 33% drop in total sugar content (22 brix in this case, which we refer to as the 1/3 sugar break) add 6 grams of Fermaid-K (again, do not substitute generic nutrient as they are not the same as Fermaid-K)

Continue to aerate until you have a 66% drop in total sugar and add 4 grams of Fermaid-K. At this point you may seal up your fermenter and airlock it. From this point you can swirl the fermenter gently once daily to keep the yeast in suspension and give it free access to the remaining fermentable sugars in the must.

After you are down to about 1.040 let the fermentation continue to about 1.030 and give the vessel one more swirl. Rack the next day and squeeze out the fruit juice from your crushed fruit back into your must.

Rack again when the mead has stood for about 4 days, and let it stand until clear.

__________________ http://www.gotmead.com/

[Imakewort]

I do not plan on making this till January as I need to buy all the ingredients first, So I want to make a cider as I should be able to buy the ingredients for it locally, and need to work up a recipe for it and learn how to make one. How about a cider thread?