HotHead quick and easy Sweet Mead/Cyser (2 weeks)

[NeverDie]

Even though it's technically a cyser, this tastes like Viking Mead that I have purchased at retail.

I'm in experimental mode, so I make 5 cup batches. However, you can scale it to whatever size you want:

Ingredients:
261 grams of Walmart's "Simply Honey"
Fill to a bit above the 5 cup mark (to allow for steam evaporation) with Maker's Mark apple juice
1/2 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient

Instructions:
Boil for 20 minutes in Erlenmeyer Flask on gas stove to sterilize.
Transfer to sterilized 1/2 gallon mason jar (provides adequate head space for foaming).
Cool to 85F. Pitch Omega Hothead yeast.
Secure S air-lock.
In this particular recipe I didn't use a starter, nor did I aerate.
Ferment at 85F.
Halt when SG reaches 1.030, which in my case was 14 days after pitching.

Technical:
OG: 1.106
FG: 1.030
Apparent alcohol: ~9.8%
Final pH: 3.67

I suspect this recipe could be accelerated, such as by fermenting at a higher temperature or using a stir plate to aerate the initial mead must. Using a starter would probably be a good idea too. However, this was my first pass, and for a sweet Mead/Cyser I'm pretty happy with it. As you can see, it's very easy to put together, and the ingredients are inexpensive.

Enjoy!

 

[bernardsmith]

Thanks for the recipe, NeverDie, but i am having a hard time understanding what was boiled to "sterilize"..

 

[NeverDie]

Thanks for the recipe, NeverDie, but i am having a hard time understanding what was boiled to "sterilize"..

This:
261 grams of Walmart's "Simply Honey"
Fill to a bit above the 5 cup mark (to allow for steam evaporation) with Maker's Mark apple juice
1/2 tsp Fermax Yeast Nutrient

 

[NeverDie]

For those who aren't aware, the Hothead Kveik yeast can ferment at relatively high temperatures without the usual problems that most yeasts have with that.

The specs say the temperature range is 72F-98F: https://omegayeast.com/yeast/norwegian-ales/hothead-ale

At least for me, the above quick recipe tasted no worse right after fermentation as the above mentioned commercially produced Viking Mead did after, allegedly, a multi-month aging.

In addition to fermenting faster than most yeasts, especially those typically used in meads, Hothead Kviek has a very nice aroma that also seems to amplify the scent of the honey used in the fermentation.

 

[bernardsmith]

So I guess I THOUGHT you were talking about "sterilizing" the honey but honey normally acts as a bactericide in two ways -a) it pulls moisture from the cells of bacteria and kills them which is why for millennia honey was used as a salve to prevent infections from wounds and burns and B) honey typically contains peroxides and peroxides are organic bleach. There is really no good reason to cook honey to "sterilize" it : the shelf life of honey is measured in decades. It simply cannot spoil. Cooking will boil off many /most of the most volatile flavor molecules so unless you are caramelizing the sugars (making a bochet) you might as well use table sugar rather than cooked honey. Moreover, while raw honey that has not been pasteurized at source may contain indigenous yeast, if you are adding lab cultured yeast you are simply going to swamp the wild yeast cells with your lab culture and the lab culture will create for itself its preferred environment in the must long before the indigenous yeast have a chance to know what's hit them... I don't know any seasoned mead maker that cooks their honey prior to pitching yeast...

 

[NeverDie]

So I guess I THOUGHT you were talking about "sterilizing" the honey but honey normally acts as a bactericide in two ways -a) it pulls moisture from the cells of bacteria and kills them which is why for millennia honey was used as a salve to prevent infections from wounds and burns and B) honey typically contains peroxides and peroxides are organic bleach. There is really no good reason to cook honey to "sterilize" it : the shelf life of honey is measured in decades. It simply cannot spoil. Cooking will boil off many /most of the most volatile flavor molecules so unless you are caramelizing the sugars (making a bochet) you might as well use table sugar rather than cooked honey. Moreover, while raw honey that has not been pasteurized at source may contain indigenous yeast, if you are adding lab cultured yeast you are simply going to swamp the wild yeast cells with your lab culture and the lab culture will create for itself its preferred environment in the must long before the indigenous yeast have a chance to know what's hit them... I don't know any seasoned mead maker that cooks their honey prior to pitching yeast...

Thanks! Good to know. In that case, I imagine it will taste even better!

 

[NeverDie]

With aeration and and a starter, I was just now able to complete it in 7 days using Wyeast Sweet Mead yeast. Here's the TILT log:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...XBk6zgRm-Yg3xhvm0J_OAXdQVw/edit#gid=189348009

It was an unusual log, because nothing happened with SG for a while after I first pitched it, and then the SG actually *increased* quite noticeably (see the chart in the link) before SG started a more typical looking decline. What might cause an increase like that? Would yeast reproduction do that?

The wyeast Sweet Mead yeast has practically no foaming or krausen to speak of. Well, at least this time it didn't, and this was my first experience with it. The apparent alcohol content came out higher and it's not as sweet as what I got with the hothead. I'm glad I halted the fermentation at 1.029 SG. Next time I'll halt it a little higher than that.

 

[NeverDie]

So I guess I THOUGHT you were talking about "sterilizing" the honey but honey normally acts as a bactericide in two ways -a) it pulls moisture from the cells of bacteria and kills them which is why for millennia honey was used as a salve to prevent infections from wounds and burns and B) honey typically contains peroxides and peroxides are organic bleach. There is really no good reason to cook honey to "sterilize" it : the shelf life of honey is measured in decades. It simply cannot spoil. Cooking will boil off many /most of the most volatile flavor molecules so unless you are caramelizing the sugars (making a bochet) you might as well use table sugar rather than cooked honey. Moreover, while raw honey that has not been pasteurized at source may contain indigenous yeast, if you are adding lab cultured yeast you are simply going to swamp the wild yeast cells with your lab culture and the lab culture will create for itself its preferred environment in the must long before the indigenous yeast have a chance to know what's hit them... I don't know any seasoned mead maker that cooks their honey prior to pitching yeast...

I've started a new Sweet Mead cysor ferment, starting with 2 hours of aeration and an ample pitch rate from a starter, but this time without any boiling at all: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ytcEH-69mBk_yGpJX1ym8t6i2HXL5ZjS53S2w-bcUH4/edit?usp=sharing

Smells great! We'll see how it goes....

 

[NeverDie]

Wow. This really seems to prove that oxygenation and/or pitch rate is/are the dominant terms in time to ferment. At this rate, it looks like it's on track to be done today!

 

[NeverDie]

In just 31 hours it's done already. Incredible! I have it chilling down now, and when that's finished chilling I'll start another one on the same yeastcake, but at higher OG.

 

[NeverDie]

Wow! Even in the refrigerator and with the mead must confirmed by the TILT to be cooled all the way to 38F, the airlock is still bubbling. OK, then, I'll try making it even colder.

 

[NeverDie]

Final post: It tastes great! This time I didn't heat either the honey or the apple juice. Both were as they came out of the bottle, and it fermented just fine.

End of thread.