Rootbeer mead

[Anthony]

Ever tried making Rootbeer Mead using an extract like Gnome's?

How did/would it turn out?

What yeast did/would you use?

How much honey per gallon?

Anthony

[Aspera]

I would guess you should use about 1-1.5lbs (of most honeys) per a gallon. Nottingham yeast is great for this type of thing. Bottle in screw top bottles after 2-3 days of active fermentation and store in a cool place. I don't recommend champagne yeast, which is what many books tell you to do. A little bit of citric acid at bottling can be nice.

[Ben Brewcat]

Haven't tried. Might try putting one drop of extract in a glass of mead or similar dilution to see what might work to your taste.

[Ben Brewcat]

On a safety note, bottling mid-ferment can be dangerous unless you pasteurize or completely refrigerate the batch to stop fermentation. I've grenaded a few bottles over the years; fortunately all contained in stout cardboard, but be careful!

[Anthony]

Thanks all.

I'll use PET bottles and refrigerate them as soon as they are hard.

Nottingham yeast is exactly what I pick up for this test.

Making soda you use about a cup of sugar per quart of water, I'm thinking 3 lb. honey per gallon of must and ferment down to 5 or 6 Brix.

I may see how many brix a rootbeer I like is and make that # a starting point.

My parents made soda when I was young. I had a piece of glass shot through my lower lip and stuck in the gum from an exploding bottle when I was 6. Funny I had forgot about this until just now.

Anthony

[Anthony]

I tested three rootbeers this afternoon, 15 Brix is average. To get this level of sweetness and 5% ABV, it'll need a starting gravity of about 1.100, 3 lb./gal. should make the SG of the must 1.110

Anthony