18 replies to this topic

[Genesee Ted]

I am getting married next year on 9-1-12. I really want to do a sparkling mead toast instead of champagne as my lady and I both enjoy mead and me and a few friends are making the beer, so we wanted to keep it along those lines. I kind of screwed myself as far as timing, since I have less than a year to have a suitable mead, but I know it can be done. I've done it many times. It is all about happy yeast and not too high of an ABV. In any case, do you guys have any tried and true recipes that you think might be appropriate? I am going to see my apiarist tomorrow to get a whole lot of honey for various projects and general eating....

[Genesee Ted]

I have made the FBC a few times and it is a great recipe. I will check out that thread. What is the raspberry recipe?

[Genesee Ted]

Did the fruit flavor come through with the raspberry mead? I was thinking it was a mel.

[Genesee Ted]

Interesting.... I had planned on a dry mead for the toast, but weddings are kind of a sweet occasion (at least mine will be). On the topic of carbonation, I was thinking of force carbing in cornies and using a beer gun. It would be easier than methode champagnoise and I don't want any sediment in the bottles. Is this a good way to go? I have done this for hydromels in the past and it worked well.

[Genesee Ted]

OK, so I am going with a FBC variant and would like to mix it up this evening. I have looked around for a calculator, but have not found any to be very user friendly. Perhaps one of you could help me. I have about 13.5 gal of 1.055 cider and want to add 2 gal of honey to it. What will my OG be? BTW, I will add raisins and dates a bit later in the fermentation, as the last time I added at the beginning, it blew up from clogging the airlock. Not sure if the brown sugar is necessary, but I think not.

[Genesee Ted]

The attachment link is not there in the FAQ... Is it posted somewhere else?

[Genesee Ted]

Actually, I found it in a different part of the FAQ, but I already have it... Still I cannot figure out how to use it. Worse comes to worse I am just going to mix it up and see where it comes out at.....

[Genesee Ted]

I just found the stuff to do those calcs and was doing them when a friend popped by... thanks.... So this seems a bit high for an 11 month aging, no? Plus the late additions of raisins and dates... Do you think a few months of cold conditioning prior to bottling could help or should I tone it down a bit?

[Genesee Ted]

Do you think a cold conditioning would help?

[Genesee Ted]

Is there any problem substituting craisins for part of the raisin addition in the FBC?

[Genesee Ted]

My thoughts exactly. Also, I should find ones that are sulfite free, no?

[Genesee Ted]

I got unsulfited. Should I do a vodka soak or do you think I am good just adding them?

[Genesee Ted]

Chop em?

[Genesee Ted]

That was the one thing that I noticed in the past was the loss from fruit. I ended up going with 3# golden raisins, 1.5# dates, 1.5# cranberries for 17-18 gal base cyser. I am thinking that I will rack off of what has settled out from the primary onto the fruit. I have also been strongly considering getting a demi-john, rather that use up 3 carboys for the next 7-8 months.

[EWW]

No! I think EWW had done that before with great results. FBC is supposed to be a mead that uses anything related to the fall harvest. Cranberries are a great fit with cider/apples.

I used currants and figs...cranberry would work well

[weave]

Oh, and congrats on the engagement dude !!!

[Genesee Ted]

I ended up getting the demijohn. 54 L. I chopped up the fruit pretty good and then racked on top of them last week. I still had about 1.5-2 gal of cyser left so I put that in a different carboy. When I rack off of the fruit, I will add that back in. The fruit is slowly bubbling away. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for the guidance

[Genesee Ted]

It was $60. It came with a plastic "basket" and cover. It is pretty difficult to clean because of its size and shape. It does fit in my stationary tub though so if I get a hose to hook up to the faucet, that should help.

[Genesee Ted]

So just a little update here...I pulled a sample on Saturday from the demi john. The stuff is crystal clear and tastes really good. I didn't take a gravity reading but it tastes just barely off-dry. Nice round fruit flavor from the dried fruit and the malic acid makes the apple pop. Definitely got some booze to it, but I think it should settle out nicely over the next 4 months. I am going to keg this up this week sometime. It looks like I should get 13ish gallons when all is said and done.I was thinking about corking and caging this, but I think I will just keep it kegged and have someone pour it out and distribute to the tables, that way the portion control is better and none will go to waste. There is probably be some left over. Even a with 6 oz pour (which is pretty hefty for a toast I think) I should get around 260 pours, and we are *only* inviting 200 people, but the final count will hopefully be 150-175.