Key Lime Agave Mead/How-to edition

In an ideal scenario, my mead when mature will be between 20-30 proof and drink like a beer. My most successful batches have been an orange-spice tea-flavor and a well-aged cinnamon brew. These are not 'true' meads, as mead by itself is a harsh, yet potent drink. I typically use a 4lb:gallon honey/water ratio, which tends to be about 33% more






Hopefully, the key lime/agave batch will be a crisp, yet smooth beverage akin to a 4x potency Corona w/ Lime. To help ensure success, I am altering each batch slightly, and only making batches with 1 lb of honey and 1qt water











Batch "AN-1" consists of 1lb of organic honey and 2T agave nectar from Whole Foods, 1/4 stick of cinnamon from Thompson Produce by way of the Dallas Farmers' Market, 1/2 of a key lime, 1 whole clove and 1qt Montgomery County tap water.







The variations for Batch AN-2 are as follows: We boosted the agave content to 2oz, as opposed to 2T. The honey from this batch was gathered at R. Weaver Apiaries in Navasota, TX (About 30-miles W of here). Because this is wildflower honey, it will make a much darker finished product than the more commercial clover honey.







With AN-3, we kept the Weaver's wildflower honey and used 3T of agave nectar. We also dropped the honey content from 1lb to 12oz, and incorporated 1/4 lemon, rather than the key lime half. This is the safe batch, in case the lime proves to be overpowering.







AN-4 is another safe batch, with 12oz honey and 3T agave nectar. We used 1/4 of a standard lime, in case there was something about the key lime that proved to bring about a negative result.

















As the mead boils, a layer of scum rises to the top. It is not imperative that the scum is removed, but it is highly recommended as it will help the brew to be clearer from the beginning, so that when it is finished in a couple of months it is virtually transparent.

Left: AN-1, Right: AN-2

AN-3

AN-4

After boiling each batch for 30-minutes, the mix is transferred through a filter and into separate mason jars. For some reason, regardless of how much a given container was designed for fermentation/aging, nothing, and I mean NOTHING makes for a better brew than a mason jar. From there, they will cool to almost room temperature before I stir in the yeast and cover for fermentation. This is done by storing the jars in a cool (55-degreees, +/-), dry place. Traditionally, this was done by burying the containers for a few days, allowing for the right temperature for the yeast to consume the sugar. From there, we will rack weekly to remove yeast carcasses, after which the mead will be consistently more transparent. Full maturity for this recipe is in about 2 months; stay tuned!

Introduction:

My name is Chris. I work in sales management, and I attend business school full-time as well. I came from what was left of a lesser-known German community about half-way between Houston and College Station, TX, and I am a 5th generation Texan.
I am not just a fan of home brew. When I am home and the school work is done, I tend to do almost anything with my hands as a means of meditation. I cook, I of course brew, and I collect and practice with a wide variety of weapons (I am especially fond of Glock pistols and throwing knives). In that, you could call me a typical, if not stereotypical Texan.
My love for brewing stems more from my love of learning than that of alcohol. As of this writing, I think I had a beer two months ago, but I am not sure. I have however, always been intrigued by how things come to be, whether it's how they get the graphite into pencils or how yeast consumes sugar, converting it to alcohol. Several years ago, after an injury at work left me at home with little to do, I became curious. Within two hours, I had already found a recipe for mead by Euell Gibbons (And there went my elusive "inner-hippie"), and was back from the grocery store and working on my first batch.
Mead is still my passion. I have made wines, a bock and even absinth but there is something about recreating the oldest alcoholic beverage known to man that never ceases to captivate me. I will be posting my future recipes/experiments here with pictures and final results. I should be updating roughly once a month, as I develop new blends and rack the old. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.