Apple mead w/ Oriental 5 spice

[G259]

My brother said that he uses it in his (secret) apple pie recipe. I then wondered if it would be good in a mead. I have a gallon of apple handy, how much 5 spice to add? 1/2 tsp., or would 1/4 be better. I don't want the spice to be overpowering, just an enhancement. I'm leaning t'wards 1/4.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I make pies to test blends (and spices) in wine. ,,,, your answer is in what level does your brother use it? high percentage like a sugar or low percentage like cinnamon?

Have not formulated with 5 spice so I don’t know how aggressive it is. A guess is low threshold level, ,,,, as we read here periodically you can always add more but it is hard to take out.

 

[winemaker81]

I'd go with 1/4 tsp ... you can always add more later.

 

[G259]

Yes that's true (as always)! I just wondered if anyone else had some experience with the spice, it sounds interesting though. It is a pretty powerful smelling combination, and I thought that the honey would bring out even more complexities. Oh, and I thought it might taste pretty good too!

 

[franc1969]

I.use the spice blend in cooking- including pie. Hadn't thought of this in a mead, but sounds like it would taste great. I'd start with less- depending on your blend may have more of one flavor than another blend. I am not as fond of star anise as ginger.

 

[Raptor99]

My wife uses five spice powder in Chinese cooking and it is really good. You might consider trying something I have done when considering various spice combinations. You could brew some tea with a little bit of the spice powder, then add some honey and taste it. Of course it wouldn't taste exactly like the mead, but I would say that if you don't like the tea maybe you shouldn't add it to your mead. If you like it, you could bench test the tea with different amounts of spice to use in a given volume of water. That at least would give you a good starting point.

 

[Raptor99]

depending on your blend may have more of one flavor than another blend.

Good point. Five spice powder is a blend, like chili powder and curry powder. Different manufacturers might produce a different blend.

[EDIT] Of you could make your own: Make Your Own Five-Spice Powder for Authentic Chinese Recipes

 

[OrchardRoad]

I'd love to know the outcome! I started a cyser at the end of October and threw in ALL the spices: cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, bladed mace, vanilla bean, black & white peppercorns, whole allspice berries, star anise. I think some of these are in 5 spice. I used much more spice than originally intended and I'm glad I did. It's named Smells Like Fall Spirits because the nose is all apple, honey and spices and it's ridiculously good. Like I just raked a yard full of leaves and now I deserve this cyser good. So good that the fermentation never had a chance to finish; I pulled off 2 gallons at 1.029 (OSG 1.111) and we started drinking it fresh. I re-racked, refrigerated and just decanted the other 3 gallons to bottles in the fridge as I'm certain it will be all gone by the new year. The spices save it from being just apples and honey- not a bad flavor by itself but has so much more life with the spices! I wholly encourage you to spice it up!

 

[franc1969]

I'd love to know the outcome! I started a cyser at the end of October and threw in ALL the spices: cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, bladed mace, vanilla bean, black & white peppercorns, whole allspice berries, star anise. I think some of these are in 5 spice. I used much more spice than originally intended

I would love to hear recipe details if you have them. I don't know what level to start.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I would love to hear recipe details if you have them. I don't know what level to start.

I just picked some five spice up to look at, it seems to have a good slug of nutmeg nice aroma and a fairly long trailing off sharp note. As @winemaker81 said 1/4 tsp sounds like a good place to start. I should be safe going at a level where one might find cinnamon or nutmeg (mulled wine recipe ). The grocery store version is a ground mix therefore to dose it I would empty out a tea bag > spoon spice back in > staple shut > float with a string in the wine.

edit , , , for lunch I am having ribs with chinese five spice on them, yup it is a normal Chinese food flavor, doesn’t have salt in the mix, and I can see using this in my next pie instead of cinnamon.

 

[G259]

I didn't bother with a tea bag, I just sprinkled it in as best I could, hoping for no clumps. I'm confident that heavier stuff will settle out. The label is Spice Supreme, from one of the cheap stores!
Day 2, big cap of foam, stirred it in and added oxygen to the wine.

 

[G259]

Late Entry: Last tested on 12/31 SG=1.008, little activity. I used Red Star Premier Blanc yeast, 1.100 start. I figured that it would go lower, let it sit, it might not be a bad sweeter wine, now that I think about it.