Go Tell Aunt Rhodamel Rose Mead

1 If you have fresh rose hips, freeze them with the fruit in a fine nylon mesh bag
(finer mesh than the rose seeds, which are *tiny*)… This will start to break
down the cell walls and increase juice and color extraction.

2 Sanitize a wide-mouth primary fermenter- either a large fermentation jar that is
more than one gallon, or a 2-3 gallon bucket.

3 Heat 12 cups of filtered water to a boil, and add the frozen rosehips and
berries. Bring back to a simmer and then remove from the heat and let cool.

4 Add 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme to the pot & mix well. Let sit one hour so the enzyme
can do it’s work.

5 Meanwhile, measure the honey, yeast nutrient, and tannin into the fermenter. If
you can put your honey container on a scale, you can measure directly into your
fermenter (subtract the 2.5 # from the total weight and stop when you have
removed enough- less mess!).

6 Hydrate the yeast in 4 oz of water (boiled and then cooled). If you are using
Go-ferm, add that to the water before the yeast- I use 1/4 tsp. of nutrient per
batch.

7 Pour the rosehip tea in the fermenter, and add the nylon bag. With clean hands,
squeeze the bag a bit to release the flavor and color. Mix well with a sanitized
spoon to dissolve the honey. Top up with water to make 1 gallon.

8 If you are using bentonite, add now, dissolved in a few oz of warm water (boiled
and cooled).

9 Pitch the hydrated yeast, check and record the specific gravity (SG) with a
hydrometer and seal the fermenter with an airlock. Write down your starting
gravity in your brewing notebook and/or on a piece of painters tape or other
label on your fermenter.

10 After 7-14 days, remove the bag with the rose hips. Let settle a day or two and
rack into another sanitized wide mouth fermenter.

11 Boil a cup of water in pour over 1 oz dried rose petals. Let cool, and using the
nylon bag as a strainer, pour the tea into mead. Tie off and add the strainer
bag with petals and one lb. additional honey. Stir with a sanitized spoon.
Check and record SG and replace the lid and airlock

12 After another 7-14 days, remove bag, let settle, and rack into a sanitized
carboy. Check and record the SG again and compare to your starting gravity… this
will tell you how much of the sugar has fermented out into alcohol, and how
close your mead is to finishing. You can also taste it now and see how it's
progressing.

13 When mead is clear and fermentation is complete, it's ready to bottle (be
patient- this can take time!). Rack again before bottling if you like, or be
very careful to not disturb any remaining sediments.

14 If you want a sweeter mead, you can add a preservative stabilizer like potassium
sorbate (to prevent further fermentation- ½ tsp per gallon if you are adding
more fermentable sugar, or if you like, you can use ¼ tsp if you want a still
mead and aren't adding priming sugar) and a bit more honey. The stabilizer stops
further fermentation by the yeast, which could cause exploding bottle bombs if
you added too much sugar before bottling to get a sweet mead without using
stabilizer.

15 If sparkling mead is desired, add priming sugar and use heavy bottles and crown
or swing caps (rack off sediment before bottling if you are doing this). Don't
overdo the priming sugar- use a priming calculator and be precise.

16 Leave the bottles at fermentation temperature for 7-14 days before cellaring or
chilling, especially if you added priming sugar to make a sparkling mead. Like
any mead, you want to age this before enjoying… six months to a year is ideal,
if you can wait that long! It won't hurt you to drink it sooner, but it will be
better after it has mellowed in the bottle and had time to develop its true
character.

Go Tell Aunt Rhodamel Rose Mead

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🧂 Ingredients

Instructions

Go Tell Aunt Rhodamel Rose Mead

Course:

Cuisine:

Keywords:

🧂 Ingredients

Instructions

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