Third time's the charm - Root Beer mead

[papabearRN]

Two more clarifications, if you don't mind. First, light or dark brown sugar? And second, how long were the cinnamon sticks to start? I have 4" and 8" sticks.
thanks
Dennis

 

[Ty520]

Two more clarifications, if you don't mind. First, light or dark brown sugar? And second, how long were the cinnamon sticks to start? I have 4" and 8" sticks.
thanks
Dennis

I used dark brown; i would go with at least medium.

i cut my cinnamon stick to 1 ounce

 

[papabearRN]

Thanks! I'll let you know how it turned out!

 

[David Violante]

I just about have all the ingredients to try this myself~ very much looking forward to trying it out!

 

[David Violante]

So I have everything but wanted to clarify the wintergreen~ I picked up wintergreen oil, and then was thinking, hmmm… was that supposed to be wintergreen dried leaves? Thank you @Ty520 for the recipe! @papabearRN how did yours turn out?

 

[Ty520]

So I have everything but wanted to clarify the wintergreen~ I picked up wintergreen oil, and then was thinking, hmmm… was that supposed to be wintergreen dried leaves? Thank you @Ty520 for the recipe! @papabearRN how did yours turn out?

Yes it should be dried leaves

 

[David Violante]

Great thank you much!

 

[papabearRN]

So I have everything but wanted to clarify the wintergreen~ I picked up wintergreen oil, and then was thinking, hmmm… was that supposed to be wintergreen dried leaves? Thank you @Ty520 for the recipe! @papabearRN how did yours turn out?

I haven't started it yet. I have the ingredients, waiting on a stockpot. I didn't want to steep in batches. I'm making what will be 6+ gallons. I'll let you know!!

 

[David Violante]

Ahh fantastic! I just found a (much closer to home) place that has all the herbal ingredients. No idea what I was thinking with the wintergreen oil

 

[papabearRN]

Ahh fantastic! I just found a (much closer to home) place that has all the herbal ingredients. No idea what I was thinking with the wintergreen oil

I don't know why you couldn't use oils if you could control the strength. Citrus zest is mainly oil, but not as concentrated. I have used lemon and orange oils when back sweetening, with success. I don't think the root beer would be a good one to start with though.

 

[David Violante]

Yeah… I would rather follow TY’s recipe exactly at least this time around. I also think that the oil would have a different reaction in the fermentation than steeped leaves. The herbal store I found is in PA and has everything. Wish I had found them sooner, I had to order from a few different places to get the supplies. I’m looking forward to hearing how yours turns out!

 

[Ty520]

Yeah… I would rather follow TY’s recipe exactly at least this time around. I also think that the oil would have a different reaction in the fermentation than steeped leaves. The herbal store I found is in PA and has everything. Wish I had found them sooner, I had to order from a few different places to get the supplies. I’m looking forward to hearing how yours turns out!

Oils would need to be added in secondary. IMHO, once you start dabbling in oils,I feel it's close to cheating. May as well just get root beer extract and call it a day. Also, getting all of the essential oils would probably be quite expensive.

The first root beer mead I ever had was made with extract and it tasted very artificial.

 

[David Violante]

I honestly just don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it. It hadn’t occurred to me until on the way home that it had to come from somewhere and that somewhere was actual wintergreen leaves... Vapor lock… LOL

I do think the taste will be different when and how you add something, and in what form. Part of the art. I’m really looking forward to making this one, thank you again for the recipe.

 

[Ty520]

Honestly, you could probably just forgo the wintergreen. Many of the other ingredients have similar qualities

 

[David Violante]

It’s coming early this week, I should be starting by the weekend. The fermenter should be open by then~ I’ll post some pics as it goes on~

 

[Ty520]

It’s coming early this week, I should be starting by the weekend. The fermenter should be open by then~ I’ll post some pics as it goes on~

Howd it turn out?

 

[David Violante]

My son and I had a great time making it~ the house smelled so amazing when we were simmering the ingredients making the tea portion. At one point they got a little too hot I think, but we tried to keep it to a low simmer. The fermentation went quite well, and that part smelled great too. The OG was quite high at 1.130 and it fermented down to 1.002. I did use GoFerm and step fed with Fermaid O and K. The color is marvelous and it smells wonderful. I didn't have access to Avocado Honey so it is all raw wildflower. I used a darker honey not the traditional light amber color. It has really settled and I'm tempted to rack it and add the vanilla but your recipe says to wait for 2 months. I'll get my head into something else. My first early impression is to add a little more sarsaparilla, but it has to do it's thing and I need to wait until the end... boy is that tough to do!

 

[Ty520]

Good to hear. It looks like it has flocculated well. You could Probably go ahead and rack now

There is ample room to play with the tea mixture to suit your taste. It wasn't until the third iteration that I found the one I liked best.

 

[David Violante]

I was actually wondering about using some in the secondary, much like we do with oak.

 

[Ty520]

I was actually wondering about using some in the secondary, much like we do with oak.

I have aged on birch before, but not sarsaparilla root, but I assume it should work. Would be a good experiment to see how quickly it works. Let us know if you try it and how it comes out.

One thing I noted about this mead though is that the profile begins to noticeably lose flavor and aroma shortly after a year - probably best to drink 8-12 months...even at 6, i found it tasty