# Red Mead



## Airgead (13/7/09)

Folks

My Missus can't drink red wine. She is allergic to grape histamines. She loves mead though so I am trying to create a mead with similar characteristics to a light red wine. The most common characteristics in red wine (as identified through a thoroughly unscientific review of all the red wine labels in my cellar) are rasberries, blackberries and dark cherries. Since I have a bunch of all three in the freezer here is my plan - 

1.5kg Ironbark honey
Make up to 4.5l
Add nutrient
Ferment with Premier Cuvee yeast (as I have some in the fridge)
Add fruit in secondary - 200g each of raspberries, cherries and blackberries (pureed)

I made it up last night. The 1.5kg honey gives me an OG of 1.114 (around 18% potential alcohol) plus whatever comes from the fruit. Why so strong I hear you ask? No, I'm not trying to get the missus drunk. As its a small batch and I'll need to rack a few times I am making it strong so I can top up the head space with boiled water to reduce the risk of it oxidising without making to too weak.

Its fermenting now so I'll add the fruit in a few weeks once the main fermentation is done.

Cheers
Dave


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## Thirsty Boy (13/7/09)

you could try just a plain old fruit wine - the only difference really is that the fruit wines etc use bog standard sugar as the main fermentable. I would consider some plum/prune flavour as well - I find that in a lot of red wines


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## Airgead (13/7/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> you could try just a plain old fruit wine - the only difference really is that the fruit wines etc use bog standard sugar as the main fermentable. I would consider some plum/prune flavour as well - I find that in a lot of red wines



I'll give the fruit wine a go as well. She likes meads though so I decided to start from there. I'm out of honey now (used the last of my 15kg drum) so I'll have to do the fruit wine thing until our bee keeper friends can stock me up again.

Good call on the plum flavours as well. I might puree up a tin of plums and chuck that in as well. Next year my plum tree should be fruiting so that will be nice.

Cheers
Dave


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## Stuster (13/7/09)

Sounds interesting, Dave. Let us know how it turns out. How long do you mature your meads for usually?


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## Airgead (13/7/09)

Stuster said:


> Sounds interesting, Dave. Let us know how it turns out. How long do you mature your meads for usually?



Anywhere between 3 months and several years depending on the style and how well they are keeping. Generally the higher the lower the amount of fruit, the quicker they age. 

Cheers
Dave


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## Muggus (13/7/09)

I did a strong cider (~12%) with mixed berries in it a few years back turned out quite wine-like, but still a cider at its core. It was only 1kg (in a 20L batch) of those frozen mixed berries you can find in the supermarket. Gave it a slight red tinge and flavour, but I'd be inclined to use more fruit next time.
However I reckon a mead would be a better base for such a thing; mead tends to have a more neutral flavour than cider.

By the sounds of it, dark berries would definately be the go. Possibly even plums and cherries, like you get notes of in a red wine. 
You might even want to consider a bit of oak maturation to top it off, if you wanna get serious. 

Either way, I like the idea. Something i'd be very willing to try.


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## Airgead (13/7/09)

Muggus said:


> You might even want to consider a bit of oak maturation to top it off, if you wanna get serious.
> 
> Either way, I like the idea. Something i'd be very willing to try.



I've been wanting to play around with oak for a while. My plan is to find a basic recipe that works then do a split batch - half oaked half not oaked. Maybe even a 25l batch split in 5 with different levels of oak in each....

Cheers
Dave


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## Muggus (13/7/09)

Airgead said:


> I've been wanting to play around with oak for a while. My plan is to find a basic recipe that works then do a split batch - half oaked half not oaked. Maybe even a 25l batch split in 5 with different levels of oak in each....


Oooo me likey!

Make sure you're happy with the way the mead is tasting before you put it into oak barrel/on oak chips. Last thing you want is a mediocre tasting brew left aside on oak for a few months. Waste of time and, more importantly, oak!

But yeah, you won't regret some oak experiments. When it's done right, it's a thing of true beauty!


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## Airgead (3/8/09)

Quick update on this one...

Its still in primary fermentation. I checked the Sg last night and it had dropped from 1.114 to 1.018 so its nearly there.

I'll probably add the fruit next weekend. 

Cheers
Dave


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## Airgead (14/8/09)

Update - racked off the fruit. Looks lovely. Its down to 1.008 so nearly finished. I have topped up the headspace with water so when its all finished it should be about 12%ABV.

in the end I forgot to but cherries (duh) so I ended up using 300g of blackberries and 150g of raspberries. Without the cherries it won't be as dark as I intended. Looks pretty nice though.

Look at the colour - 






It should drop perfectly clear once the yeast is done.


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## barls (14/8/09)

looks good mate might have to swap a bottle of the dark braggot for one once its finished.


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## Airgead (5/2/10)

Airgead said:


> Update - racked off the fruit. Looks lovely. Its down to 1.008 so nearly finished. I have topped up the headspace with water so when its all finished it should be about 12%ABV.
> 
> It should drop perfectly clear once the yeast is done.



Quick update on this one. They have been maturing in the bottles since fermentation finished. I just popped the cork on one to see what its like.

Its nice.

Beautiful rose colour and perfectly clear.

The raspberry has come through strongly. Massive raspberry nose and mixed berries on the palette (I sound like a wine critic now). Its a perfect rose substitute on a hot summers day. I was aiming for something a bit darker but will obvuously need a lot more fruit for that.

As a summer quaffer though this will be fantastic.

Cheers
Dave


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## manticle (5/2/10)

Airgead said:


> . Massive raspberry nose and mixed berries on the palette (I sound like a wine critic now).



Actually you sound like a painter. A wine critic has a palate.

NB: I sound like a wanker now

Looks nice. Looking forward to getting the next batch of honey of my slightly apiarist dad and putting some mead down.


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## Airgead (5/2/10)

manticle said:


> Actually you sound like a painter. A wine critic has a palate.
> 
> NB: I sound like a wanker now



Quite right good sir. I plead 2 large heffeweizens, a bottle of semillon and several samples of cyser and mead...


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## manticle (5/2/10)

Solution: next time you think you need them, send them to me instead.

A whole pallet load.


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