Spiced Mead aka Metheglin: Part 1

There is no limit in what ingredients you can use in your mead.

• Fruits? Sounds great.

• More Honey? Why not?

• Nothing? Classic!

For me, the mouthfeel of the beverage is important. I should be able to savour the taste of it!

So, when I read about Spiced Mead aka Metheglin, I was curious.

Spice?.......in a Mead?.......with Honey? Are you sure?

Well, I had to try it out!

This post is my experiment with brewing a Spiced Mead. Since I am writing this when the Mead is being fermented, I have divided the post into 2 parts.

1. Part 1: About the ingredients used for Primary Fermentation

2. Part 2: Secondary fermentation and tasting

You'll need the following accessories to start you brew.

1. 1 Gallon Glass carboy (for fermentation)

2. 1 Airlock

3. No-Rinse Sanitizer

4. Stockpot

5. Spoons and Ladle (for mixing the must)

6. Siphon

7. Hydrometer

Along with these, I got the following ingredients for my brew.

1. Water (4 L)

2. Natural Honey (1 - 1.5 KG)

3. Wine Yeast (5 grams)

4. Tea Powder (2 tablespoons)

5. Cinnamon (2-3 sticks)

6. Cloves (3-4 pieces)

Now, time to start!

1. Sanitize everything Get some water and mix the No-rinse sanitizer to create a solution. Sanitize everything that comes in contact with our mead. This is very important, as we do not want any unwanted organisms spoiling our brew.
   

2. Prepare Tea! As mentioned before, I like my mead to have a good mouthfeel. Sometimes, the mead can taste a bit syrupy due to the sweetness of honey. How to improve it? Tannins to the rescue! Tannins are compounds found in Tea, which gives it an astringent taste. When added to mead, they help in balancing the sweetness of the mead. So, take 2 teaspoons of tea power and prepare 2 teacups of black tea, to be added in the mead! Make sure the tea has cooled down to room temperature before adding it to the mixture.
   

3. Mix Honey + Water + Tea The star ingredients.

   1. Add 1L water, out of the 4L, in the fermenter and then add honey to it.

   2. Mix it well. Ensure no honey is stuck to the bottom.

   3. Add the remaining 3L water and mix it again. (we add some water before to ensure the honey does not stick to the bottom of the fermenter)

   4. Strain and add the tea to the mixture

   5. Mix well.

   
   

4. Take the Hydrometer Reading

   Once the mixture is ready, pour some of it out for taking the reading. The difference between the hydrometer reading before and after fermentation tells us the ABV % of our brew. When the sugar is completely converted into alcohol by the yeast, the hydrometer reading is 1. Based on this, more / less honey can be added to the must to get the desired ABV % For this experiment, the initial reading was 1.09. Based on this, I'm expecting the final brew to be 10-12% ABV
   

5. Pitch the yeast 1 tablespoon / 5 gm yeast is enough for a 4L brew. If required, you can activate the yeast by adding it to warm water before pitching it into the must.
   

6. Attach the Airlock Pour some of the sanitizer liquid into the airlock, and attach it to the fermenter. The airlock ensure that the CO2 generated during fermentation escapes, but outside air does not enter the fermenter.
   

7. Now....Wait! Store the fermenter in a cool and dark place. Within a couple of hours, you might see some activity in the airlock, which means the fermentation has started. It might take 2weeks for the fermentation to be complete. You can take the hydrometer reading in between to understand the progress of fermentation.

Some brewers add the Cinnamon and Cloves in the Primary as well. These ingredients have strong properties which may hamper the yeast for fermenting. So, I'll be adding these during the secondary, when the fermentation is complete.

And that's it! Stay tuned for Part 2, which will be published after the fermentation is complete (probably 2 weeks later)

Till then, Cheers!