Maple Treacle Mead Experiment

I'm a bit of an odd duck in that I really love the taste of dark molasses. It's dark and smoky and rolls around on your tongue like it owns it. The darker the better. So, when my maple mead came out far ridiculously too sweet, I immediately thought that I needed to put some flavor in it that would keep the sweetness, but also give it some heft. In other words, my recipe needed molasses.

When I'm experimenting, I use one-gallon carboys, especially when making mead. The reason for this is the cost of honey, of course. If I can perfect a recipe with just four pounds of honey at $12, why spring for 18-20 pounds of honey at $60 for something that may or may not turn out? This means that I have a collection of one-gallon glass carboys cluttering up my storage room... and admittedly spilling out of it. But when I feel the urge to try something, I don't have to wait to do it.

Right. Back to the Maple Treacle Mead. I decided to go at this somewhat scientifically, which is more than a bit odd for me. (I tend to be the "throw stuff in the pot and see what happens" kind of brewer, which is a major annoyance for my other brewing friends.) I created an Excel spreadsheet that listed the ingredients that I added, the amounts in weight, starting gravity, and the amount of water that I would need in order to bring the must up to one gallon after the sugars were fully dissolved and in the carboy. I also included the type of yeast that I used, and the dates for when I brewed it, racked it, and bottled it.

I had enough honey, molasses, and maple syrup to make two gallons. so I thought that I'd try two different recipes at two different starting gravities to see which I liked better. Carboy #1 was just honey, blackstrap molasses, and maple syrup for sugars. Carboy #2 included less honey and a bit more molasses and some brown sugar. I also included black tea for tannins and some lemon juice to balance the sugars in both of them, with a bit more lemon juice in Carboy #2 since there was more sugar by volume in that carboy than the other.

My typical method with brewing is to pour all of the sugars into a large stainless steel pot, swish some boiling hot water into the sugar containers to get all of the goodness, and pour that into the pot, too. I may add a bit more water if it's all still too thick, but when brewing a one-gallon batch, I rarely have more than half a gallon of must in the pot. I made each recipe separately, first Carboy #1, then Carboy #2, being sure to sanitize everything in between. I added the black tea and lemon juice after the must had heated up to around 100F.

SIDENOTE: I want to take a second to say that I'm one of those mead brewers who isn't too keen on overheating or boiling her honey. I've heard all of the arguments for doing so, but the truth of the matter is that whenever I've boiled my honey, I've noticed a distinct... flatness... to my mead. I don't know exactly what's missing, but the mead has very little depth to me. I've also noticed this in commercially prepared meads. So if you are a hard-and-fast boiler, you're going to have to bite your tongue on my mead posts because it's just not going to happen.

Back to the must on the stove. Because I only needed to soften the sugars in order to help them mix better with the water, tea, and lemon juice, I let the must get to around 130F or so, stirring frequently, then took it off the fire. Using a large funnel, I poured the must into the carboy and then added ice cold water to the carboy to cool things down a bit.

While the must had been heating up, I had poured a packet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast into a small, sterilized bowl of warm water to soften. Once the must had cooled down to around 80-85F, I added about a quarter cup of the must to the yeast and let it sit for about 10 minutes for it to get nice and frothy. Then I poured the yeast mix into the carboy, swirling vigorously to incorporate the yeast and some air. Then I corked it with an airlock and set it aside for several weeks.

Twenty-eight days later, when the bubbling had mostly stopped, I racked the meads into a second carboy, topped them with corks and airlocks again, and set them aside for another five or six weeks. Then it was bottling time.

SIDENOTE #2: I hate bottling time, so I often put it off far longer than I should. I keep checking the airlocks to make sure they're not dry or too low, but I will still put it off forever, if I can. Why do I hate it so much? I really, really, REALLY hate having to wash and sanitize 18 million bottles, plus having to wash and sanitize the bottling equipment a hundred times in between batches. This means that I often end up with several batches to bottle at once, which is where I was with this one. I probably should have bottled these several weeks earlier than I did, but it doesn't hurt the mead to stay in the carboys so long as you don't mind the slight off flavor some meads get from sitting on their lees. Because of how heavy the flavors in these meads were, I wasn't too worried about that.

These particular meads were made specifically for me. In other words, I knew when I started them that I wasn't going to be giving them away, bringing them to any parties, or putting them in any type of competition. The flavors used are some of my favorite ones, and I decided to be a bit selfish with it. A friend had given me a dozen flip-top bottles for my birthday a couple weeks before I bottled it, so I chose those for this mead. (It's a given that if you give someone one of your brews in a flip-top bottle, you only have a 50/50 chance of getting it back. So I was selfish with my bottles as well as this mead.) I managed to get six 16-ounce bottles of mead from each carboy, with about a half a bottle left over from each to taste-test and check the final gravity.

Carboy #1 - now called Winter Bite - was considerably less sweet than its counterpart. It was also, as my daughter put it, pretty "thin". I'm used to this description of meads at the time that they're bottled, so I'm not too worried about it. Carboy #2 - now called Winter Born - already has a nice flavor to it. I was worried that it would be too sweet, but it doesn't seem to be right now. That will change with time, I know, and it will have a much sweeter taste the longer it sits. Winter Bite, though thin now, will mellow with time and develop some subtle sweetness and other flavors as it waits.

Personally, I'm pretty excited about these recipes. I'm planning to label them by bottle numbers with year dates on when they can be drunk, to see how they each mature. The first will be had for my birthday a year from now; then one bottle a year for the following four years. The last two bottles won't be opened until Yule 2024. It's not often that I'm this patient with my meads, but I'm excited to see how they do over the years. If they taste as good next year as I think they will, then I'll consider making a five-gallon batch of my favorite of the two to share.

Anyway, the recipes can be found here for Winter Bite and here for Winter Born. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll post a few pictures once I get them off my phone.

Winter Born Mead - a maple treacle mead recipe

Winter Born Mead

By Roana Aldinoch

37 ounces Honey

8 ounces Real Maple Syrup

5.5 ounces Blackstrap Molasses

4 ounces Black Tea

1.5 ounce Lemon Juice

One packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

SG: 1.116
FG: 1.034
% ABV: 11%

Combine all of the ingredients except the yeast into a large stainless steel pot. Add enough water to soften the sugars, but no more than a total of 1.5 gallons. Heat the must until the sugars incorporate with the other ingredients, but don't let it boil. 

While the must is heating, sterilize a small bowl and pour the yeast into it. Add a half-cup of warm water (not hot) to the bowl and let the yeast soften. 

Once the must is thoroughly mixed, take the pot off the heat, and pour into a sterilized one-gallon carboy. Add enough cold water to fill the carboy to about four fingers from the top. (This will give you room for the yeast mix.) Swish vigorously to make sure that the cold water cools the whole must down. When the must is down to around 80-85F, pour about half a cup into the yeast mixture. Stir it well, and let it sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to get frothy. Pour the yeast into the carboy, cork and airlock it, and put it in a cool, dark place to ferment. (My pantry is a perfect 65F, so that's where mine goes.)

When the carboy stops bubbling - usually about 2-3 weeks, but it can be up to 4 or 5 - siphon the must into a second carboy, leaving the lees in the bottom of the first carboy. Recork and airlock the new carboy, and put it back in the cupboard. 

After another 2-3 weeks - or longer if you don't manage to get around to it - your mead will be ready to bottle. Make sure to thoroughly sterilize your bottles, caps, and all bottling equipment prior to bottling. Once bottled, the mead will be ready in about three or four months, though the longer it waits, the better the flavor will be. 

Enjoy!

Winter Bite Mead - a maple, treacle mead recipe

Winter Bite Mead

By Roana Aldinoch

40 ounces Honey

8 ounces Real Maple Syrup

4 ounces Blackstrap Molasses

4 ounces Black Tea

1 ounce Lemon Juice

One packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

SG: 1.114
FG: 1.016
% ABV: 13%

Combine all of the ingredients except the yeast into a large stainless steel pot. Add enough water to soften the sugars, but no more than a total of 1.5 gallons. Heat the must until the sugars incorporate with the other ingredients, but don't let it boil. 

While the must is heating, sterilize a small bowl and pour the yeast into it. Add a half-cup of warm water (not hot) to the bowl and let the yeast soften. 

Once the must is thoroughly mixed, take the pot off the heat, and pour into a sterilized one-gallon carboy. Add enough cold water to fill the carboy to about four fingers from the top. (This will give you room for the yeast mix.) Swish vigorously to make sure that the cold water cools the whole must down. When the must is down to around 80-85F, pour about half a cup into the yeast mixture. Stir it well, and let it sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to get frothy. Pour the yeast into the carboy, cork and airlock it, and put it in a cool, dark place to ferment. (My pantry is a perfect 65F, so that's where mine goes.)

When the carboy stops bubbling - usually about 2-3 weeks, but it can be up to 4 or 5 - siphon the must into a second carboy, leaving the lees in the bottom of the first carboy. Recork and airlock the new carboy, and put it back in the cupboard. 

After another 2-3 weeks - or longer if you don't manage to get around to it - your mead will be ready to bottle. Make sure to thoroughly sterilize your bottles, caps, and all bottling equipment prior to bottling. Once bottled, the mead will be ready in about three or four months, though the longer it waits, the better the flavor will be. 

Enjoy!

It's a beginning

Because there aren't enough blogs out there with people who have no clue what they're doing but feel a need to share that process with the world...I've created a new one!

In truth, I've started this blog as a way to keep track of all of the stuff that I'm doing, but especially my brewing. I'm notorious for not keeping very good notes, which is a bit frustrating when I want to remake an especially good drink. On top of that, at the moment I have multiple other things that I'm working on, and if you think keeping good notes on recipes is hard.... Oy! So, in reality, this blog is sort of my way to keep track of my crafting.

Let me start this whole thing out by saying that I am not nor have I ever been any type of artist. I like to make things. And sometimes, those things turn out pretty good. And other times, well, they don't. And I'm not going to shield you all from my horrific mistakes because if I have to learn something, so do you. (This includes each and every time I make a pair of pants and screw up the legs/crotch match up. Be prepared, because that happens a LOT.)

I do not, in general, maintain blogs well. This one, however, isn't a blog. It's a record of what I'm doing. So, I'm hoping that because it's all really for me, I won't have such a hard time wanting to sit down and write down my notes on things. That's the theory anyway.

Well, there's my welcome, hey, how's it going, start of the new year blog post. I've got a stack of things that I want to add in to keep track of where I am, so expect a barrage of posts in the next few days. Since I also have deadlines on many of these, I expect that I'll be keeping at least in touch on here as I add in information. I haven't decided if I'll just add in to old blog posts as I get moving on things, or do a Part I, Part II, Part III type thing.

Anyway. Thanks for stopping by, and may my messes be to your advantage.