Waldo's Spiced Mead

[Waldo]

I just couldn't stand it. Last sunday evening, having finished bottling my wines and getting everything cleaned up and put away I went into withdrawal. I had nothing currently fermenting and just couldn't stand it. I remembered that my Sis had given me a nice jar of honey for Christmas that was sitting in the cabinet so..................................

4 lbs of Clover Honey boiled and skimmed with the following spices tied up in one of my famous "pantyhose strainer bags and added to the boiling honey.

Letting it cool down to a nice warm 82 degrees I stirred in 2 tsp of yeast nutrient and sprinkled a pack of Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast and put the lid on my fermenter loosely and this morning I had a one gallon batch of spiced mead in the making

Edited by: Waldo

 

[Wade E]

Yummy!

 

[smurfe]

Waldo, did you put all of those cloves in that gallon batch? I put maybe 10-15 in a 3 gallon batch and they were pretty evident in the taste. Of course you are using a bag and can remove them when you want. You might want to keep an eye on them. As you know, they are pretty potent critters.


Smurfe

 

[masta]

Lookin good...some of my meads are finally starting to taste pretty good and they do take quite a long time.

 

[Dean]

Looks really good. I agree with Masta. I had a glass of my spiced cyser, which was nothing more than fresh apple cider, honey, a cinnamon stick and yeast. I made it the middle of 2005, and it is just now starting to come around. It finally has a nice nose to it. It smells of Calvados, or very nice apple. The cinnamon has finally muted and integrated into it, and it is starting to get smooth.

 

[sangwitch]

Interesting mix there Waldo. My first thought was the same as Smurfe's. "That's a whole lot of cloves." I was thinking that because of Joe M's ancient orange where he writes to use only one clove because of their power. But hey... there's nothing that beats personal experience!


I'm assuming those other things are candied ginger pieces. I love those things and I like that idea. I may have to do some experimenting with them myself.


EDIT: looking around gotmead.com for ideas this afternoon and I came across recipes that call for a few tablespoons of cloves. Maybe they're just too strong forJoe M. I also saw some recipes that call for candied ginger. That one I'm gonna tryEdited by: sangwitch

 

[Waldo]

Thanks all......I will leave the cloves in until in the morning, and depending on how the mead tastes I will probably remove them. I think Joe M had to have been out of cloves when he made his first batch

 

[Waldo]

I racked the spiced mead into glass yesterday evening and I do believe this is going to be another one of those, "Damn, I wish I had made a 5 gallon batch"I'll have to sneak over to sangs tonight and filch me a gallon of that honey he just got.

Edited by: Waldo

 

[smurfe]

Thanks all......I will leave the cloves in until in the morning, and depending on how the mead tastes I will probably remove them. I think Joe M had to have been out of cloves when he made his first batch

Maybe so. I made a 3 gallon batch of a modified Joe's Mead and used about a dozen cloves in it cause I thought the same thing. It don't look like enough. All I can say is the mead came out great and I have received tons of compliments on it but you can definitely taste the clove in it. It and the cinnamon is very pronounced as I added a couple extra cinnamon sticks as well. In the end, it all blended nicely together. I just thought looking at your pic WOW, that is a gallon batch. Good move on putting it in the bag you can remove when you reach your preferred taste point. I am sure it is gonna by scrumpdillyishous.


Smurfe

 

[rgecaprock]

Waldo,


Your mead looks great. I haven't tried the panty hose yet. Almost forgot what they are, it's been so long since I wore any. Do women still where those things?


Ramona

 

[Waldo]

Hmmmmmmmm. Maybe I could recycle mine I use for fermentingand open me up a line of scented pantyhose

Bwahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[sangwitch]

Waldo, you didn't tell me you needed some honey!


I'm gonna have to try that panty hose trick. Are there no dyes, etc. in panty hose? I hear paint straining bags are cheap as well.

 

[Waldo]

None that I am aware of sang and yes the paint strainer bags work great too

 

[sangwitch]

Dang Sang, you were just at the grocery store too!


Waldo, we should try to get together this coming weekend and share a bottle. I got official word today that I won't be around much longer. You may have to stop by and take care of my wine after I'm gone!

 

[masta]

Dang Sang, you were just at the grocery store too!


Waldo, we should try to get together this coming weekend and share a bottle. I got official word today that I won't be around much longer. You may have to stop by and take care of my wine after I'm gone!

Where you going?

 

[sangwitch]

Where you going?

I'll be travelling most of the year. That means some aged wine! I've been teaching the wife the past few weeks, but she won't know the difference if I tell her it's not ready to be touched.

 

[Waldo]

Sounds like a plan to me sang.......I do believe you are the possessor of a rain check for breakfast at the Frontier Diner

 

[masta]

...and don't forget dinner at Pinelli's if you get up North !

 

[sangwitch]

But Waldo... do you have to get up so early??

masta, i was working in Rhode Island a couple months back. In fact, that's where I started working on your hot sauce labels. I didn't realize you were from there at the time.


And if you guysvisit Peru this yearI'll take good care of you.Their wine isn't really up to par yet, but there should be plenty of wine from Argentina and Chileaboot. The Peruvian's use most of their grapes to make something called pisco, which is then mixed with egg whites, lemon juice, sugar and a few drops of bitters. Explosive stuff.


So Waldo, what's the latest on this spiced mead? I'm real anxious to hear how the level of ginger is after using the candied ginger.

 

[Waldo]

It is still bubbling away sang and the spices are right on. Not too dominating to me.