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This is a recipe from homebrewtalk.com . My favorite mead, or at least right up there.
Jack's Apricot Vanilla Mead
This is a really simple, but delicious Mead I came up with a couple of months ago. It's pretty drinkable right after it clears, and makes a great dessert style wine. Here's the recipe as I made it:
3 lbs. Wild Mountain Honey (Wild Mountain is a brand. Not sure what varietal. Wildflower, I would assume?)
1 cup Quartered Dried Apricots
½ Vanilla Bean (Split in half)
1 tbsp. Fleishmann’s Bread Yeast (activated in shot glass with sugar and water)
Water to fill to 1 gal.
-Just combine everything, and shake it up really well.
O.G. 1.100
When it started out (first 10 days or so), I popped off the cap to smell it, and man, it smelled like crap. I was thinking I'd have to throw it out, but I let it keep going. Eventually, it began to clear, and smell better, so I transferred it to secondary. It cleared further, and I took a sample. I was blown away at how good it was. I let it go for about another week in secondary, and bottled it (didn't degas it, but would likely be a good idea to avoid bottle bombs in case fermentation decides to kick back up). Get's better every time I taste it (the smell is significantly improved as well).
My Girlfriend is a pretty picky wine drinker, and she absolutely loves this stuff, so do I. I've got a new batch going, the only difference being that I used a full vanilla bean per gallon, added yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and I used Lalvin D47 (Which I imagine is going to make it much drier, so I'll likely need to backsweeten). We'll see how that turns out.
I have made this several times, it has turned out great in any number of variations . I just bottled up 3 quarts this afternoon. Great thick mouth feel taste really good for 4 month old mead. Quite drinkable. It will be better in 2 more months. I have aner 3 quart carboy to bottle. I "dry hopped" it with a cup of apricots. I'll try to get it bottled in the next couple of days.
2 cups instead of 1 for the fruit.
I use 2 tablespoons of real vanilla instead of a bean.
Some variations... Craisins, mangoes (dried), blue berry , logan berry (fresh) was really good.
I know some people shudder at the thought of bread yeast... For those of you who do, I apologize. Before you throw me into the briar patch, oh please don't throw me into the briar patch, all I ask is you try it once. If you don't like it, no problem. Send me the rest of the batch and I will evaluate it for you...
The only gallon I didn't really care for was dried cherries. I'm not sure why, it was probably the bread yeast ;-)
I use Kirkland honey.
Let me know if you try it. I have a coworker who now follows this and loves it.
Cheers
Jack's Apricot Vanilla Mead
This is a really simple, but delicious Mead I came up with a couple of months ago. It's pretty drinkable right after it clears, and makes a great dessert style wine. Here's the recipe as I made it:
3 lbs. Wild Mountain Honey (Wild Mountain is a brand. Not sure what varietal. Wildflower, I would assume?)
1 cup Quartered Dried Apricots
½ Vanilla Bean (Split in half)
1 tbsp. Fleishmann’s Bread Yeast (activated in shot glass with sugar and water)
Water to fill to 1 gal.
-Just combine everything, and shake it up really well.
O.G. 1.100
When it started out (first 10 days or so), I popped off the cap to smell it, and man, it smelled like crap. I was thinking I'd have to throw it out, but I let it keep going. Eventually, it began to clear, and smell better, so I transferred it to secondary. It cleared further, and I took a sample. I was blown away at how good it was. I let it go for about another week in secondary, and bottled it (didn't degas it, but would likely be a good idea to avoid bottle bombs in case fermentation decides to kick back up). Get's better every time I taste it (the smell is significantly improved as well).
My Girlfriend is a pretty picky wine drinker, and she absolutely loves this stuff, so do I. I've got a new batch going, the only difference being that I used a full vanilla bean per gallon, added yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, and I used Lalvin D47 (Which I imagine is going to make it much drier, so I'll likely need to backsweeten). We'll see how that turns out.
I have made this several times, it has turned out great in any number of variations . I just bottled up 3 quarts this afternoon. Great thick mouth feel taste really good for 4 month old mead. Quite drinkable. It will be better in 2 more months. I have aner 3 quart carboy to bottle. I "dry hopped" it with a cup of apricots. I'll try to get it bottled in the next couple of days.
2 cups instead of 1 for the fruit.
I use 2 tablespoons of real vanilla instead of a bean.
Some variations... Craisins, mangoes (dried), blue berry , logan berry (fresh) was really good.
I know some people shudder at the thought of bread yeast... For those of you who do, I apologize. Before you throw me into the briar patch, oh please don't throw me into the briar patch, all I ask is you try it once. If you don't like it, no problem. Send me the rest of the batch and I will evaluate it for you...
The only gallon I didn't really care for was dried cherries. I'm not sure why, it was probably the bread yeast ;-)
I use Kirkland honey.
Let me know if you try it. I have a coworker who now follows this and loves it.
Cheers
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