Breakfast Mead is an absolutely delightful accompaniment to any meal of the day, but we believe that it really does pair best with breakfast.
Unlike other meads in our Ancient Collection, like Vanir, Breakfast Mead is a fairly forgiving mead for the beginning homebrewer since the spices in the secondary will help cover up some (not all) issues from the high alcohol primary fermentation.
Breakfast Mead Clone Recipe
5 Gallon/19L
OG = 1.100
FG = .996
ABV = 12.5% abv.
Ingredients:
- 12 lbs Raw Wildflower Honey
- 1 Cup Maple Syrup
- 4.5 Gallons Water
- 1 oz. Wyeast Wine Yeast Nutrient
- 5 packets Lalvin D-47 yeast
- 5 packets Lalvin DV-10 yeast
- 1-2 oz whole coffee beans
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 6-10 Cloves
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
Before getting into the directions, the first thing you might notice is that there's no sulfites listed. With a mead of this alcohol content and complexity, we highly recommend that you allow the wild yeast to participate in the fermentation. The cultivated yeast you add will perform the bulk of the fermentation, but the wild yeast will bring a lot of complexity.
Some level of temperature control is very helpful for higher gravity batches. A consistent fermentation temperature above 80°F and below 90°F will provide a nice, clean fermentation without stalling.
The fermentation usually completes with only D-47 and DV-10 if you get your timing right. Some folks like to have a backup of distiller's yeast around, just in case.
Recipe:
- Combine the honey, maple syrup, water, and yeast nutrient around 96-102°F (39°C)
- Wait until the temperature has dropped to 86°F (30°C)
- Add the D-47 Yeast following the hydration instructions on the package
- Twice daily shake your bucket to knock CO2 out of solution and rouse the yeast back up until the gravity is around 1.032. Depending on your fermentation conditions, this can take anywhere from 5 to 20 days.
- Add the DV-10 as per the instructions on the packet as well as all of the spices and coffee.
- Allow to finish and rest on the yeast for at least one week.
- Rack and degas. (This is the process of removing all the bubbles that stay in solution after fermentation.)
- Bottle or keg whenever you feel it's ready.
Some folks like their strong meads a little sweeter. If this is the case, you can allow the D-47 to run to completion and leave out the other yeast. We highly recommend that you sulfite and sorbate your mead if it's going to have substantial residual sweetness.
There are also options to batch/bottle pasteurize, but if that's your thing, you probably already know how to do it!
