In which Ricky the Meadmaker answers questions about using hibiscus in mead, making a sweet mead-based liquor, dealing with astringency in mead, questions he won’t answer, using carbonation tablets vs. priming sugar, and more!
You know, my restaurant serves fresh Vermont vegetables year-round. A lot of people have wondered, how's that possible? There's snow on the ground through a lot of the year in Vermont. As my old father used to say, aching back in the fall, full belly in the winter.
Welcome to Ask the Meadmaker, where I, Ricky the Meadmaker answer your questions about mead making, mead drinking, mead brewing, and really any question you're willing to send to me.
I'm at home this week because it is after Thanksgiving. Now that may not mean anything to a lot of you but see, the thing is, I like to make merry, myself, around the holidays. Very Merry, some might say, and being very merry at an alcohol vending establishment in the state of Vermont is something that the Liquor Control frowns upon. So, I will be here unless forced out of my home by large men with halberds.
Anyway, let's get to our questions. Our first question is the last question from Lee. We've been answering questions from Lee for weeks and weeks and weeks now. And Lee's very last question is, I'm going to make a mead but I don't have cranberries. I'm thinking of using hibiscus. It'll add a tart, pink color. Lee, I agree. I feel like mentioning that you're not going to use cranberries is sort of misdirection. There are a number of things you could use that would add a tart, pink thing, but hibiscus in mead is extraordinary. Go ahead, do it.
Our next question comes from a home distiller. Now, I assume this home distiller is not based in the United States where home distilling is illegal, but just in case case he didn't think it through, I'm not going to use his name when answering the question. He wants to make, basically, a mead that's super high octane something between 20 and 30% alcohol, and he wants to know how to have a thick, rich, sweet, mead-like liquor, but not lose those flavors and still have the extremely high alcohol content. The problem is if you distill it, you're going to strip all of your viscosity, better known as sugar and mouthfeel out of it. But if you just try to ferment it can't really get much above 22% alcohol in a fermented beverage. It can be done. You can do it with freeze distilling, but the easiest thing, make a mead, distill it to 30%, then add mead back to it. A nice, viscous mead.
Our next question comes from Jean, or possibly Jean, I just realized anyway, Jean or Jean, is making meads in Brazil and has, wait for it, a good question this time, which has implications about John's other questions that I think they've been fine. Anyway, this is a good one. Jean is using cashews, not the nut, the fruit in meat, but it's getting really astringent. Jean wants to know, is there something that can be done? Is there a way to remove the stringency without reducing the fruit additions? The answer is, yes there is. There are two things you can do. You can use gelatin or a polymerized aging tannin. If I'm correct about that, and it really is stored in my brain, I should make more room for like people's names and things.
Our next question comes from Sean. "I'm going to make my first fruit mead soon. I'm going to add pomegranate. How much do you suggest me putting in there? A whole pomegranate? Seeds only as the skinned to half peem great. Also, how many oranges and peaches should I put in my other ones?” This is a recipe question in the vaguest sense. I've said many times in the past that you really need to give me volumes or tell me what you're going for. Experiment at home. But the reason I read this verbatim, is just in general, I'm not going to answer questions like this.
Our last question this week comes from Kyle and it's an easy one. Kyle is getting to priming time, time to bottle his meads, and he wants to know whether it's better to use carbonation tabs or priming sugar. The answer is both are fine. But for God's sake, add the right amount. That's our last question this week.
I just need to send it over to Ricky with our Word of the Week. Ricky?
Thank you, Ricky. This week's word is Harold. Earlier in the episode, I heard Ricky talking about a distilled mead product and a little while back, we realized there's no name for that. So, we decided that it should be called Harold. Not vodka, not whiskey, Harold.
Harold. It's our word of the week and the end of our show. Keep sending your questions and I'll get to them as soon as possible. Cheers!
