Kate | Apple Pie | Mead Recipe Kit BeerCo.au

Ever wanted to make a Vanilla Cinnamon Spiced Apple Honey Mead? Well, now you can and its as easy as Apple Pie! We have taken all the work out of this and put everything you need in a box so all you have to do is mix, ferment and bottle your Kate – Apple Pie Mead.  You will have to wait a while for it to mature but like all good things in life, patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait a while.  So, enough of this ramble in the bramble, let’s get your Mead Making On!

Kate | Apple Pie | Vanilla and Cinnamon Spiced Apple Honey Metheglin

Vital Stats:

• 4 Litres
• SG 1.10
• FG 1.000
• ABV 13%

Recipe Kit Contents:

• 1 Kg of Archibald’s Honey Orange Blossom
• 1 x Mangrove Jack’s M05 Mead Yeast 
• 1x  Mangrove Jack’s | Cider Yeast Nutrient
• 1 Vanilla Bean
• 1 Cinnamon Scroll 
• 1 Gallon / 5 Litre Demijohn
• 1 Bung Bored 36-45mm
• 1 S-Type Airlock Bubbler

Additional Ingredients and Equipment Required:

• 3 Litres of Apple Juice – freshly squeezed from your tree or from your favourite independent grocer or supermarket – pick one that matches the honey and your own personal taste.
• Dextrose or Sugar for bottle priming
• 1 Spoon for Stirring
• 500mL Glass Swing Top Bottles
• Plastic Fermenter or additional 1 Gallon / 5 Litre Demijohn

Method:

1. Clean, Rinse and Sterilise all your equipment before you begin.  Note: everything that touches the honey and mead must be clean, rinsed and sanitised to avoid infection.
2. NB: Do NOT boil the honey – you will drive off all the volatiles and health properties – they don’t call it a “honeymoon” for nothing. Mead was traditionally given to young wedding couples as a gift to assist with fertility health and happiness so do not boil the good stuff out of it!
3. Warm your Apple Juice on the stove and mix it with the honey to dissolve the honey into the juice.  You may need to immerse the honey in warm water to make it flow and rinse the pot with the warm or hot apple juice.
4. Let the mix cool naturally or use an ice bath to lower the mix down to fermentation temperature.
5. Pitch ½ a packet of Mangrove Jack’s M05 Mead Yeast. Ferment between 15^oC – 30^oC. Do your primary fermentation in the included glass demijohn or a plastic beer fermenter or similar (of your choosing).
6. 24 hours after pitching the yeast open your fermenter and degas (gently stir) the mead. Now open the Mangrove Jack’s Cider Yeast Nutrient and distribute approx. ⅓ of the contents into the mead. Aerate for 1 – 2 mins.
7. Repeat the previous step at 48 and 72 hours.
8. Racked after a 4 weeks into another Glass Demijohn.
9. Dropped in the Cinnamon Scroll & Vanilla Bean (slit and split the pod and insert both the pod and scrapings from inside)
10. Left to condition and ferment out for a further 2-4 weeks.  Feel free to taste at regular intervals and remove spice at desired infusion level.

Please note it is advised to add the yeast + nutrient in doses throughout the fermentation. For more detailed info on making Mead at Home we refer you to some knowledge resources and links below as well:

Knowledge Resource and Further, Reading Watching and Listening about Mead:

• Mead Making with Michael Fairbrother – BeerSmith Podcast #88
• How to Make Mead | American Homebrewers Assn
• Make Mead
• Beer Smith: Make Mead
• Katie Pie | Metheglin | BeerCo Recipe Blog

• Improve Your Mead with Staggered Nutrient Additions