StillSmart

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-21T23:00:09+00:00

Looks like loud and shouty Wagner wins?

Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:00 pm

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-20T09:03:56+00:00

Whereas, I'd suggest that trying to soak the wood in honey would be a waste of time.

Honey is hygrophobic so there's little to no liquid to absorb from the wood. Honey wouldn't be much more than a sweetener if added to the spirit for flavouring.

While adding a spirit or sweetened spirit/liqueur to the wood is very different as its the alcohol that extracts the flavour elements from the wood........

Statistics: Posted by Phantom — Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:03 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-20T04:45:04+00:00

Your approach here is very Debussy, my Wagnerian approach here would be to just dump the honey in there

Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:45 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-19T01:44:56+00:00

Honey Whiskeys are very popular. The modern original (and imo best) is Irish Mist. For both cost and effectiveness I'd think the honey should be part of the aging and not the brewing process. Alternatively, I'd blend.

Edit : I've been pondering on this since posting. I love the idea of leaving the oak to "marinade" in honey before using.

Statistics: Posted by Curmudgeon — Fri Aug 19, 2016 1:44 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-17T07:36:27+00:00

@Myles: No idea what distilled mead would be called. Sorry.

China is a huge producer of honey and although it is still expensive, I can get my hands on huge quantities. But the price does not justify distilling it - at least not yet.

In the interim I will stick with playing with a little mead and see what shakes. My first batch dropped to 0.000 SG today. Anticipate 12 - 12.5 % ABV.

Statistics: Posted by RumJohn — Wed Aug 17, 2016 7:36 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-15T04:56:29+00:00

@RumJohn I don't object to the idea - I just never have enough honey available. I like mead.

Any idea what you would call the distilled product?

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Mon Aug 15, 2016 4:56 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-12T13:56:21+00:00

Gentlemen. Thanks again for the further input. At this stage I am undecided about continuing on or knocking the whole idea over. Mead certainly doesnt seem to get people on here really excited. But then, they are distillers at heart.

In the USA, within the alcohol arena,, meade is the smallest segment, but the fastest frowing. That is what made me look a little more closeley at it.

Statistics: Posted by RumJohn — Fri Aug 12, 2016 1:56 pm

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-11T12:36:17+00:00

Not sure I could justify distilling a honey based fermentation unless I happened to have a huge supply of honey available. I am not usually that lucky.

I usually follow the rule of substituting 1.25 kg of honey for 1 kg sugar in any recipe and usually make melomel as opposed to mead. Elderberry Melomel is a firm winner.

Statistics: Posted by Myles — Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:36 pm

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-11T04:49:16+00:00

There's a few parts of the world that do have a tradition of stilling honey spirits. Dunno what they're like.

JAOM would likely NOT be good for stilling. Though that's more to do with knowing something of meads. JAOM is designed for the new mead maker in mind, so they can get most/all the ingredients in a supermarket/grocery shop.

It's a quite unconventional method which works well, as long as you stick to the method religiously. Deviate and it's not good.

The reason it wouldn't likely distill well is the same as why it's not a good dry mead recipe. It relies on residual sweetness to balance it and stilling would remove that.

Of course, sweetening the resulting distillate may work but you'd likely end up with something more like a liqueur than a spirit.

Not having tried commercially made honey spirit, I don't know what it's character or style would be like, but I'd guess making a traditional one for stilling would/could be a start.

But equally, would you make the batch like it was ready for drinking before running it? Or like with whiskies where the "beer" made for distilling is nothing like what you'd drink in a pub etc.......

Statistics: Posted by Phantom — Thu Aug 11, 2016 4:49 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-10T03:41:55+00:00

Ha ha gaza, you didn't get that wrong in either aspect....may take a while but worth the end result.

Statistics: Posted by packapoo — Wed Aug 10, 2016 3:41 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-09T12:22:50+00:00

Very nice to, when brewed with care
and most important with mead patience.

Statistics: Posted by gaza the instructor — Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:22 pm

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-09T11:51:39+00:00

Thanks GTF!!

Statistics: Posted by Seagull — Tue Aug 09, 2016 11:51 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-09T11:43:05+00:00

JAOM = Joe's Ancient Orange Mead.

I have absolutely no idea who Joe is in this instance.

Here's a link,

Statistics: Posted by GrunthosTheFlatulent — Tue Aug 09, 2016 11:43 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-09T07:13:05+00:00

May I ask what JAOM is please?

A quick Google gave me this:

http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/JAOM

I don't think that's it!!

Statistics: Posted by Seagull — Tue Aug 09, 2016 7:13 am

Re: Distilled mead

2016-08-09T05:43:50+00:00

Be interested in your insights when mission accomplished RJ.
AS to the JAOM have seen it mentioned as an ingredient in cloning a particular liquid refreshment....Just can't remember which one

Statistics: Posted by packapoo — Tue Aug 09, 2016 5:43 am