Lemon mint mead

[rhartwel41]

Have an idea for a mead and I was just wondering if anyone has done anything like this before. I drink a tea that is flavored with spearmint lemon balm and another form of mint. I sweated it with honey and love this tea. Its my go to after a long day. I'm starting to wonder if this would make a good mead using basically the same idea. I have an overly productive herb/tea garden this year and have more mint lemon balm and lemon grass then I can use or dry. I though this might be a good use for some of it. Any though on a starting point?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Cant tell where you are at but if you can find some local beekeepers to get you some basswood honey it is supposed to have a minty taste that would go along well with your mint mead. We also have chocholate mint, we could make a peppermint pattie mead with that stuff with just a few stems of it in each gallon. CC

 

[mmadmikes1]

Be careful not to use to much. I did and had to add more honey and water to mellow it out.Also lemon grass can be a sedative by itself. This will help prevent meadovers. Never had a meadover? they ain't fun

 

[rhartwel41]

I'm actually in southern Indiana and have access to local clover and wild flower honey from a local beekeeper. I was thinking of using the clover honey for this.

As for getting this started I'm thinking of basically brewing it like I would a tea and then removing the leaves and adding in the honey. Sound reasonable? Im pretty new to this so any help would be great.

Also, what's a meadover?

 

[mmadmikes1]

A Mead Hangover. The residual sugars cause some dossies

 

[rhartwel41]

I was wondering if it was something like that. I've had one twice and I plan on trying to stay away from them in the future if I can at least.

 

[saramc]

This is a 1 gallon wine recipe based off of using chocolate mint, but I don't see any reason as to why you could not use the herbs you mention without any issue, and substituting honey for the sugar. The wine itself was ready to bottle in two months, as a wine. As we all know meads can take a bit longer. I was harvesting pear mint, orange mint, chocolate mint, Syrian mint, pineapple sage, lemon verbena and lemon balm just last evening...it is currently stashed in freezer.

4 cups of chocolate mint, chopped -- they were frozen. [1/2 oz dried=2 cups]
~ 3 lbs sugar (or substitute honey) [S.G. 1.085]
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/8 tsp tannin
pectic enzyme (needed only if you add a fruit component)
3 tsps. acid blend
1 campden tablet (many mead maker opt to leave Campden or k-meta out)
1 packet of Montrachet yeast
Water to one gallon

Let the water boil, add the herbs. Take the mixture off the stove, and let it sit overnight. You can adjust the amount of herbs and/or the amount of time you let it seep to adjust the flavor. Add everything else when the water is room temp (sugar, etc). S.G. was 1.085 and it fermented down to 0.990. Is an early drinker and ages well.

Please keep me posted!

 

[rhartwel41]

I used almost this exact recipe last night when I started it. I put a little more tannins in it but other than that it was the same. It tasted great even before pitching the yeast. I can't wait to see how the final mead tastes. I went pretty strong on the lemon grass with a hint of mint. I'm more of a lemon fan for the most part. At the very least I found a really good homemade tea mix. I plan on putting some in the drier this evening to stockpile for winter.