We made a 30% ABV MEAD a Year Ago - How is it?
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- čas přidán 8. 05. 2024
- Of course you can't really ferment to 30% on a mead, as this is fortified. Is it still mead? Well, mostly? But, the real question is, "Is it any good? How is the taste?". Let's answer that as this mead has been aged for a whole year now.
How We Made 30% ABV MEAD!: • How We Made 30% ABV MEAD!
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Because of the original video creating this, my GF and I dove into our first mead. Made a step-fed mead with EC-1118 and got it to 18%! We didn't want to have to drink that in 1 sitting (mead doesn't keep well in my experience), so we backsweetened with honey and fortified to about 22% using only about 5% by volume of 151 proof rum (like you did) and it is AMAZING! It's as clear as can be and just a fantastic after meal dessert sipper and it'll keep like a port or sherry. Thanks for the videos and inspiration (even if it was just a meme) 😀
Sounds great! Mead keeps just fine btw...
Does anyone else listen to City Steading videos on their way into work? I absolutely love starting my day with your guys’ videos! I am about to start brewing soon and plan to try out your blueberry mead as my first brew! Thank you for everything that you do and as always! Stay shiny you gorram Brown Coats you!
Thanks for the link for those bottles definitely gonna use those. My blackberry/orange blossom came out incredible so proud of the recipe had a few coworkers try it and they gave it a 9&9.5 and it’s less than 1 month old so… I had to get a 2 gallon fermenter cause these 1 gallon batches don’t last long enough 😂
I still think people saying there brewing mead to 30%, are mixing up ABV and proof.
That or using refractometers without correcting for alcohol or any number of other mistakes. Yes, I agree many do confuse proof and abv though!
I’ve had a mead come out to 22% 👀
@dillonweigel3101 yeah that's about as high as you can really expect.
I've hit 19-21% on braggots and a few whole fruit wines. But yeah 30% is a stretch.
I've hit 25% so with the right yeast 30 would be doable
I made this with you guys a year ago mine did finish off at more than 29%, cheers.
Another great brew. I think ya'll have mastered the art of balance.
It's a lifelong pursuit! No matter how much we think we learned, we keep finding more.
I just want to say thank you, to you two. I just racked my first Mead. It started off with a 1.102 og. I just racked it today at 0.995. There's little bubbles everywhere, I'm gonna let it sit for another month. See if it goes any further. So right now according to the calculator I'm at 14% ABV. For my first Mead, I am very excited! Thank you for all of your content!!
You are welcome! It's probably offgassing, thus the bubbles.
That'd probably be good in tea also, or I make a honey buttercream cake and brush barenjager on the cake layers to keep them moist. That would be a great substitute!
I made this recipe last year after seeing your videos, I love a little digestif or nightcap once in a while. I fortified with a half bottle of Gosling's Black Seal 151 proof and a whole bottle of Paramount Gold 151 proof, I calculated my ABV to be about 26-27%. It has been delicious, sweet and warming; just an ounce in a brandy snifter once in a while when you need a little something is the bomb.
Next time I'll probably use a whole bottle of Black Seal, the gold rum flavors are masked but the black rum's smokey caramel, raisin and chocolate flavors are delightful up against the honey. I'll also pay more attention to clarifying, I ended up with a skiff of lees in about 1/2 of my bottles because I was in a rush and those bottles have a slight yeast smell and taste; not totally ruined but not what I wanted.
Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thats awesome! So is it a year from end of fermentation or from bottling?
Mostly from when we considered it "finished", essentially the last tasting.
I like the testing videos where you can tell you've filmed a few tasting vids in a row....if you catch my drift. Lol
Not sure we did with this one.
My Pirates Blood is 7 months old now. Tart cherry Melomel fermented to around 18%, then fortified with OFTD (69% rum) and some home made spice extract (70%). Did 24:1 with the rum which took it to about 20%, then added the spice extract. I just listed it on the bottle as "20%+", but it is actually around 21.5%. Initially it had a slightly "chemical" smell, but when I opened a bottle last month that had completely disappeared. Me and my friends polished off that bottle post haste. The cherry note is in the background, rounding things out without being dominant.
It seems that a mead spiked with rum (and spices) is very good and gets just better with aging. I have two bottles left and am going to try to let them make it to a year.
Sounds awesome! Yes, rum fortified brews take age really well.
An 11! That’s awesome. I need to do this I even have rum at home haha
Surprising!
I've been really enjoying my copy of this! Mine ended up very orange peel forward so I make a drink with it and vanilla vodka and it's dangerous! Lol
How has it been a year already???
Time is flying!
Never got around to making this 😕.
Definitely going to, and saving for Christmas presents ❤
Yeah, this year went fast!
My Father used to love a drink called Krupnik, which is a Polish honey liquor. It was quite tasty and I'm picturing that for this.
Probably somewhat similar!
I love the look on your faces when something turns out REaLLY GOOD!
😀
Awesome video, I wish I could try all your meads. 😂
Also my blueberries have small white spots on them in my khajiit blood mead. Is it mold or is it normal? Also it smells like fermentation.
Erm... keep an eye on that. Could be mold. If it grows, or they get hairy.... sorry but the batch is ruined.
Thanks. It's due to be racked on Saturday but I'm considering doing it today but if it is mold, I'd prefer the sink to drink it. I have a picture if I could send it to you?
Sure, use the contact form on our website: city-steading.com
There are ways to get a mead to 30% without fortification but it is not a story a Jedi would tell you. Have you heard the story of Darth Distillus the moonshiner? (edit: not advocating anything just a joke).
If it were legal for us, we would!
Have you ever tried Irish Mist? It's a liqueur made with Irish whiskey, honey and spices. Something I have always enjoyed as a sipping beverage.
I have not.... yet!
Looking forward to trying this with some gin. I usually end up mixing the last bits of my mead with some gin to make it last longer soo why not just get it over with from the start?
Lol
Ha! I made a 30% ABV mead using honey from my beehives because of your original video. To fortify I made a coconut rum wash including raw honeycomb. Distilled that and fortified the mead with that (hypothetically). Oooooohhhhhh man. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to make that mead. It is delightful. Ok. Enough blathering. I’ll watch the episode.
Home distilling is illegal or we would be doing it 👍
Sounds like you need another PA trip. I'd love some great dandelion and nettle brew recipes as we have a TON of both (can't kill either of them quick enough).
I literally just got back two weeks ago, lol.
@@CitySteadingBrews Yep, but this time it need to be for enjoyment with more free time! Or maybe you just need to send me some recipes and I'll brew them up..🤔
@AndrewNuttall y'know... there's a few hundred recipes on our channel 🤪
But a vacation would be nice...
oh hell ya! I get a brand new video just before my shift starts!!
Lol
I had a Bärenjäger Rezept on my Chanel. Maybe you also give it a try.
Your „mead“ sounds delicious.
Soon i finish my green st Patrick’s Day mead and will blend it with whiskey also over 25%. Of course your mead is an inspiration
This certainly came out far better than originally expected!
I love honey mead
This one sounds amazing!
Do you think you could replicate it again?
Of course. There's not much left to chance. Might use more rum instead of everclear though, lol.
Have you guys done a video on stressing mead? I just racked and spiced a 17% I made with d47 and ALOT of fermO. It tasted like someone kicked a honeycomb with a funky foot, farted on said foot, and stuck it in my glass. I assume it's because the d47 wasn't happy going that high, but I'm not sure. Thanks!
Higher abv is harder to balance. Ethanol has flavor. May just need a lot of aging.
My parent's used to have a huge honeysuckle bush but it was gotten rid of years ago, I wish it wasn't. After watching all your videos I'd like trying to make a honeysuckle mead.
We have yet to try that.
@@CitySteadingBrews I feel like it would be really good I just feel like it would take a lot of honeysuckle to not have it be overpowered
Definitely need a lot!
You guys need to make 2 basic Mead's,distil one and fortified the other one with the distilled mead
Totally illegal for us, or we would.
Cool idea though. We have friends who own a distillery. 🤔
Kinda hard to freeze-distill down in FL too.
I'm aware there are plenty of other ways to distill.
@@CitySteadingBrewsAs long as you distill it to make “fuel” it’s legal lol 😂
Any type of distillation is Federally illegal, technically.
I bet it would make a good meat marinade as well like a pork shoulder or something
Have you guys ever made a current made out of the juice
We used the juice in this: czcams.com/video/N0x11CQ2YmY/video.htmlsi=zNpan3Nt24lFqE8r
lol I remember a mead with lime leaves that would rival the nettle.
Yup.
Aren't there yeasts that can do nasty high alcohol contents? I recall hearing about some special super highproof beer that's fermented with some weird specialty yeast, no source for this though
Nothing can go this high.
This kinda lead me to want to want to make a honey cordial.
Hi, I have a question. I saw your Video to raise the ph Level so I bought some Potassium Bicarbonate. I have used 4 Liter of Applejuice 300g of Vanilla sugar and I have a Gravity of 1,062. The ph was at around 3 so I added 15g of the Bicarbonate and it just wont start fermenting. Normal with that recipe it would start within 6 hours. But with the Bicarbonate nothing after 10.
What was your pH after adding it?
@@CitySteadingBrews between 4 and 5
@KeysundKreisPlaylists_Colt may just ned time, up to 72 hours, or.. yeast is dead, in which case pitch fresher yeast. That pH is not the issue.
@@CitySteadingBrews yeast is alive I hedrated it and it bubbled, I wait longer and prepare new yeast. Thank you
I would just give it time then.
Does it taste like Drambuie?
Not at all. No licorice in it.
🎉
ever thought of making a large batch then Freeze Distilling it, some water content into ice -- take the the ice out -- leaves the Alcohol in.
Distilling is illegal or we would.
@@CitySteadingBrews aaaaah, I understand, I thought just applied to the use of heat based stills as you can make gallons and gallons of spirit from mash.. and Im loving your content , just discovered -- so catching up..
Port wine is around 20% ABV, but the wine fermentation is only to around 7-8% ABV, and the fortification brandy is around 77% ABV. In other words it’s more spirit than wine?
If you ferment a mead or fruit wine to around 15% ABV, and fortify to around 30% ABV, the ratio between fermented wine and fortification spirit is not that much different?
There's calculations for that: czcams.com/video/ERX7scF37Uo/video.htmlsi=ObEso49k8TQxpNws
after a hard day of work i had 2 Bärenjägers and juice on an empty stomach while making dinner. bad idea, had to lay down in the middle of dinner because my stomach was doing summersaults
Sorry to year that.
Are you allowed to distill mead in Florida? 🤔
Nope, well, not at home, no. If it were legal we would certainly have done that on this one!
Distilling is federally illegal without specific licenses. No matter the state.
Philles win the 2024 world series. Im a past-future person. I would know.
Lol, I forgot we said that...
Mine was rough at 20%
This is more of a spirit like brew than a mead really. Try blending maybe?
"Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!"
Make a rusty nail?
Well it's not scotch and there's no licorice in it...
Tweaking and acid in the same sentence 😂 lol jk im strange and had to point it out lol 😆 😅
Lol, we appreciate strange around here.
Since I live in Texas, I won’t be copying this one. But in over 3 years of brewing mead I have only had one get to 17%ABV. Mostly 11% to 15%. Still love your videos.
Not sure why your location has anything to do with it, but do what you enjoy.
Oh do you mean the Texas law about mixing?
@@CitySteadingBrews What Texas law about mixing? Is it something like the weird liquor laws in Utah?
@julietardos5044 apparently you can't mix liquor and fermented beverages or something.
@@CitySteadingBrews Um, is liquor not fermented before it's distilled? WTF TX?!
Dandelions don't grow there? What's up with that? Heck, they grow in the cracks of concrete.
It's true, they just don't.
I know YOU can't but what if the collective "you" distilled the mead and then fortified a mead with the distilled mead. Would it be a 30% mead then?
Maybe?
Well another thing to add on my list of madness to attempt.
Lol, our list keeps growing too!
30% ABV Mead
WHOA - mustve blown the barn doors off!
p.s What's the recipe???
Me likes
Me wants!
:)
Actually it was pretty good!
@@CitySteadingBrews Just seen the link to making it! Woooooo hoooooooo!
Bookmarked, and scheduled for downloading too!!
Hope you enjoy it!
I wish I lived next door 😊❤
Me too, our supply overfloweth!
@@CitySteadingBrews I don't know who would lead who into trouble if I did but it would be tremendous fun finding out looking forward to the next brew
LOL
If Brian could give it a 42, he would give it a 42.
Maybe? 😜
self fortify it with distilled mead of the same batch.
If it wasn't illegal where we are we would have.
@@CitySteadingBrews true
Distill your mead. Slavic countries have been doing it for some time.
If it were legal, we would have.