Wine Kit to make Pyment

[mors]

Anyone have any tips or advise for taking a wine kit to make a pyment out of? Split the wine kit in half and add honey and water to bring up to the OG I want? Not sure about the best way to go about this... Thanks.

 

[Arne]

I am not quite sure what you are asking. Split the wine kit in half, then add enough honey and water to make it a full kit? Or are you trying to make a half batch? If you try to make a full kit out of half the ingredients, it will be a weak flavored mead. If you make a half batch out of it, I would think it will turn out fine. Arne

 

[mors]

Well my thought was if I made a full batch out of the kit the OG of the kit is already pretty high... Not much room to add honey. If I split the kit up I can supplement the grape base with honey to get to an OG that would be desirable.

It seems to me that if I used the kit at it's full volume and just added honey the OG would either be way too high leaving a cloyingly sweet mead or if I managed the OG and only added a small amount of honey the honey character would be lost.

 

[fatbloke]

Well my thought was if I made a full batch out of the kit the OG of the kit is already pretty high... Not much room to add honey. If I split the kit up I can supplement the grape base with honey to get to an OG that would be desirable.

It seems to me that if I used the kit at it's full volume and just added honey the OG would either be way too high leaving a cloyingly sweet mead or if I managed the OG and only added a small amount of honey the honey character would be lost.

Well I suggest that you just reserve some of the kit juice/concentrate, then mix up the rest with water (presuming it's a mix it up type kit and not a 100% pure juice kit) to the ratio suggested, then top it up with honey to the required SG. The point being that you can then manage the ferment correctly according to the strength you're looking for, and the reserved juice/concentrate can be used to back sweeten or mixed with a little honey to give the taste profile you're aiming for without losing either the grape flavour or the honey element too much.

 

[mors]

hmm thanks for the suggestion I think I might give that a go.

 

[VineSwinger]

In the book "The Complete Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm, there are a couple of recipes for pyment, in them he uses Alexander's Riesling concentrate. It may be a much cheaper way to go as each can is only $15.99 at Midwest.

 

[mors]

In the book "The Complete Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm, there are a couple of recipes for pyment, in them he uses Alexander's Riesling concentrate. It may be a much cheaper way to go as each can is only $15.99 at Midwest.

heh I have a kit and a can... So I'll be doing that as well for a separate mead