# Caramel Apple Mead



## summersolstice (Feb 15, 2010)

This has proven to be a very popular mead on another forum I frequent.

*Caramel Apple Mead*


4 Gallons apple juice
2 lbs DME
3 lbs 60L Crystal malt
7 lbs Orange blossom honey
2 lbs clover honey
2 lbs buckwheat honey

Lalvin K1v1116 

Original Gravity: 1.120 
Final Gravity: 1.010 

2 vanilla beans

Steep grains in 1.5 gallons of apple juice at 155F for 45 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in the DME and honey. Rinse grain sack with 1/2 gallon apple juice. Add the remainder of the apple juice. Aerate by vigorous stirring for at least five minutes. Aerate some more. I now use oxygen with a diffuser stone to aerate (better). Pitch yeast starter (hydrated with Go Ferm per container instructions) directly into the primary (plastic pail fitted with an air lock).

At about 1.075 add 5g Fermaid K 
At about 1.035 add 5g Fermaid K
(Dissolve your nutrients in water before adding them to your must. This helps to minimize foam.)

Within about two weeks this should ferment out to 1.012 or so. Rack to secondary and add vanilla beans. Allow to remain in the secondary for about a month.

Rack again onto 1 lb of buckwheat honey and 1/4t potassium metabisuphite or 5 campden tabs and 2 1/2t potassium sorbate to stabilize. Add Super Kleer to clarify. Bulk age for six months to a year before bottling.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on gotmead.com and it tastes just like caramel apples. It's a medium sweet mead that's very drinkable. At about 13.75% alcohol and no alcohol bite one should exercise caution since it goes down so smoothly.


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## Wade E (Mar 4, 2010)

It sure sounds good!


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## TheTooth (Mar 5, 2010)

Interesting... I'm going to have to give that a go. Thanks for the post.


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## summersolstice (Mar 5, 2010)

This is a straight up mead and it really does taste like liquid caramel apples. It's not the easiest mead to make but the effort's worth it.


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## Wade E (Mar 5, 2010)

Love that post RDP! I just added this recipe to my computer just in case.


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## Mud (Mar 6, 2010)

RDavidP said:


> hhmmm....Is this a cyser wrapped in a braggot, or a braggot wrapped in a cyser. Truely a riddle wrapped in an enigma. Or is it more like a TurDuken? A mead stuffed in a beer, stuffed in a cider?



TurDuckEn. 

Apple juice makes it a cyser. Malt makes it a braggot...Whatever it is, it sounds interesting.


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## duffymp (Aug 18, 2010)

This may be a dumb question but what is DME?


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 18, 2010)

duffymp said:


> This may be a dumb question but what is DME?



Dry Malt Extract


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## duffymp (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks DM!


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## mmadmikes1 (Aug 18, 2010)

sometimes I can't help myself DMF+DuffyMP Extracted


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## duffymp (Aug 19, 2010)

Too Funny!


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## blairholand (Jan 3, 2012)

*Sonnds Good*

I have never made a mead is there anything harder about them than making wine? I am considering trying this recipe.


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## mphymel (Feb 23, 2012)

summersolstice,
Do I understand that you add all but 1 lb of buckwheat honey with the DME, reserving the 1 lb for addition prior to aging? 

Or, will we be adding all 11 lbs of honey with the DME, and sweetening later with an additional 1 lb, for a total of 12 lbs for the entire recipe?

This will be my first attempt at any kind of fermenting, so I may be asking questions obvious to others with experience, you patience is appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark


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## mphymel (Feb 24, 2012)

I found out on another forum that you do withhold the 1 lb of BW honey for sweetening. This means that the initial honey charge will be 10 lbs, 7, 2 and 1.

I made up a batch this evening. First time ever trying any fermenting ever.

Here are some observations I thought I would post for any other 1st timers:

OK, just a few notes for anyone as green as I am:

1. Get about an extra half gallon of apple juice. The grains will absorb about that much.

2. Don't think, "hmm, why don't I add the DME to the 150°F juice to make it dissolve quicker? It will turn into silly putty the instant it hits the hot liquid, then you will have to take a bottle of juice and heat it until it melts, then cool it so your must is not too warm. Don't ask how I know this.

3. If you are using raw honey, be prepared to melt down any crystallized honey that may be present. Because of this, I ended up sanitizing a gallon ziploc bag and filling it with ice to bring the temperature down prior to pitching.

4. Have a quantity of sterile water available to fix your original gravity. To get my gravity right, I added an extra half gallon of juice, which brought me from 1.14 to 1.13 and right at 5 gallons total volume, then added ~10 oz of water to get me to 1.12. I, being the noob that I am, am trying to stick as close to the recipe as possible.

Question:
Does anyone have any estimate as to when I should check the gravity again, in order to add the 5 grams of Fermaid K. Is this expected to happen in matter of hours, days, or weeks?

Thanks for any advice offered.
Mark


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## mphymel (Feb 28, 2012)

OK, checked my gravity, I am at 1.07, so I added my 1st nutrient shot, I am using WLN1000 from White labs. Also, my yeast was Wyeast 4021.

I forgot to dissolve this in liquid, so I did get foaming.


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## the_rayway (Aug 11, 2012)

Question from another noob: I'm a Celiac, so is there anything else I could use instead of the malts/grains to get that caramel flavour? The recipe sounds amazing - but can it be tweaked for people like me?


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## tonyandkory (Aug 14, 2012)

I would say try an cycer and use some real caramel in place of some sugars... or you could put some honey in a pan and try caramelizing it.

Try 
4 gallons apple juice 
11 pounds of honey (whatever kind) maybe follow above types 
2 pounds caramel

you can melt the caramel in a little of the apple juice in a double boiler once it starts to melt slowly add more apple juice stir a lot.

2 vanilla beans


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## the_rayway (Aug 14, 2012)

tonyandkory said:


> I would say try an cycer and use some real caramel in place of some sugars... or you could put some honey in a pan and try caramelizing it.
> 
> Try
> 4 gallons apple juice
> ...




Thanks for this! I've got an Apple Tatin Port aging, which tastes amazing already and would like to get some of those flavours into a regular wine. I think this will be a fantastic recipe to try with your edits  Win!


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## LizDickerson (Oct 2, 2012)

We always drink it on girls' parties  It tastes so good. Thanks for the recipe!


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## the_rayway (Oct 26, 2012)

So I have a crab apple caramel vanilla on the go and it's turning out amazing so far! Instead of melting caramels as tonyandkory suggested (to stay away from the milk ingredients), I caramelized white sugar, cooled it into hard candy, then tossed it into the carboy with the vanilla beans. It dissolved over the course of a couple of weeks, and the flavour is sooo good!

Thanks so much for this thread!


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## jojoscoot (Nov 7, 2012)

Im getting everything ready to start this mead thanksgiving day for next years holiday. Just one question if anyone could help. in the final racking before bulk aging should i just pour the remaining pound of honey in the carboy with the chemicals and rack the mead right into it and hope it dissolves on its own over the next 6 months or add the honey after the mead to spread it out some? Maybe a noob question but ive never made anything quite like this before. Thanks in advance.


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## mphymel (Nov 8, 2012)

I heated a bit of the wine in a saucepan to dissolve my buckwheat honey. I I had the same concern, I all went well, I am due to bottle soon


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## greyday (Nov 20, 2012)

I've never done a mead before, but I have around 40# of blackberry honey laying around. How important are the different types of honey in the recipe? Can they be substituted or are they part of what makes the flavor?


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## greyday (Nov 22, 2012)

Yeast is pitched! I varied the recipe a bit, and will have to adjust the sg values for when to pitch more nutrient as my starting was a bit, um, higher than planned (was at 1.150, was only comfortable watering down to 1.138). It won't turn into jet fuel as I used a different yeast strain that's only hardy up to 14%, so I will just ferment to dry and use half as much buckwheat on the rack. Smells and tastes amazing! Swapping out honeys worked fine, I used 5# of clover and 5# of blackberry. Excited for, you know, a year or two from now!


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## winewrangler (Nov 26, 2012)

LOVE IT, thank you for sharing it...


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## VitruvianMan (Jan 15, 2013)

I am a newbie as well, Ive been making some wines, but this really caught my eye and Im gonna give it a shot! I will only start with a 1 gallon batch so I dont get in too over my head lol, but anyone have any suggestions or lil info that might be helpful so I dont have to learn by trial and error lol, thanks for your time guys


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## Pumpkinman (Jan 16, 2013)

This is on my list, now to get the items on the list!


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## Brew and Wine Supply (Jan 16, 2013)

Caramel Malt is a sub for Crystal Malt. there are also about 5 different types of DME (dry malt extract) from light to dark, there is also liquid malts extract (LME) that you can use. I don't think you would want hopped malt though.


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## VitruvianMan (Jan 29, 2013)

summersolstice said:


> This has proven to be a very popular mead on another forum I frequent.
> 
> *Caramel Apple Mead*
> 
> ...



So I notice it says steep grains, meaning the DME? Ive never ventured into the world of grains and honeys or vanilla beans. I plan to start a batch real quick here so I also need to know if this is based off a 6 gallon batch as I will be starting with a smaller batch. I also will not be able to get the different honeys but am guessing that clover honey which is most common here should suffice. Also specify a type of apple uice to use, Im assuming its not just plain ole apple juice from the juice aisle, id probably get the concentrate unless told differently. Thanks for your time and help.


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## greyday (Jan 29, 2013)

No, the DME is stirred in during the adding honey phase (best to do it before it cools too much, it's kind if a pain to dissolve). I added DME and honey after removing the grain sack, then rinsed the sack. The grains are the crystal malt listed in the ingredients.

Edit to add: the recipe yields 5 gallons, so definitely do the math if you want a smaller batch. I think you can substitute (I did), but the buckwheat honey should be used for the second racking. The flavor of buckwheat adds to the caramel flavor, you want to have some of that darker profile (alternatively, you can caramelize some sugar or clover honey, that would probably work too).

My only other change is that I plan to use Bentonite when I'm ready to clear. I prefer to avoid super kleer whenever I can, as it can (however unlikely) impart flavor.

I used regular store bought apple juice and cider (most brands they are the same thing). I'd shy away from concentrate if possible, but it should suffice, just figure out the yield of each can plus water, don't do a 1:1 can to gallon ratio. Good luck!


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## phineascoates (Mar 11, 2013)

I don't like the taste by combining the apple and the caramel. I am wondering, how can caramel and apple can be healthy? and what are the benefits when you are going to combined it?


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## VitruvianMan (Mar 12, 2013)

Healthy? No one said anything about healthy lol, well I dont believe they did anyways. As for benefits, the people seem to rave about the flavor. Im going to start a one gallon batch to see how it turns out in the next week or two. If its good Ill upgrade it to my Lil Grenade ( 3 Gallon Carboy ) as Im in an apartment and dont have the space needed for a 6 gallon carboy operation.


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## VitruvianMan (Mar 17, 2013)

Ok I re read some of these and I wanna just start with a one gallon batch but im not sure on the conversions for it and we dont have access to the different honey here so Id have to use your basic honey, clover Im assuming? Anyone has some conversions or helpful hints to make this a success.


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## VitruvianMan (Mar 30, 2013)

I need to know what the initial recipe is. I'm guessing a 5 or 6 gallon batch but I don't believe it says antwhere....someone please let me know I'm gonna start this once I know for sure


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## VitruvianMan (Mar 30, 2013)

I figured it out thanks though


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## greyday (Jul 14, 2013)

Just curious--what are you all topping up with? I made some straight mead to use but it's not quite ready yet, so last night I just used apple juice (around 8oz, so not much, but still). I have a high abv on mine so I'm not worried, just curious...


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## thasista (Sep 16, 2015)

Anyone still drinking this? Anything you wish you did differently? I just mixed up a 5 gal batch today. Tastes awesome!


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