Jasmine Tea Mead Recipe
A couple of people have asked for the mead recipe, so please find Jasmine Tea Mead recipe attached.
This mead took out 1st place at the NSW Home-brew Championships in 2018 it’s really simple, so give it a go with OBH!
Method
use good honey (Orange Blossom Honey recommended)
1. Make tea the day before (teabags, or try whole-leaf) – leave to cool overnight
2. Mix tea with 40% of the honey & yeast – vigorously in order to add as much oxygen as possible
3. Ferment at between 15 – 20°C – use a temperature controller if possible, if not ferment in Winter
4. Twice daily aerate until 1/3 sugar break (1.018) – stir, shake, with pond-pump or otherwise aerate
5. Daily SNA (Staggered Nutrient Additions) – @ 24hrs, 48hrs & 72hrs – daily check SG & record
6. After about 3 days, the 1/3 sugar break should’ve been reached (1.018) – cease aeration
7. Ferment until fermentation has finished i.e. 1.000 – 1.002 for 3 days – daily check SG & record
8. Back-sweeten with remaining 60% of honey, bottle and pasteurise (with heat, or, chemically)
A. BEGINNERS – Wine bottles for a ‘still’ mead
B. ADVANCED – Delay pasteurisation, use crown-seals for a ‘carbonated’ mead – monitor one plastic
bottle daily for tautness, but be careful! (as bottles will explode if you miss-time it!)
When it says ‘make the tea the day before’, how much water was used to make the tea for a 5l batch size? Tea can be made with different strengths. Since the carboys can hold only a specific amount of liquid along with the honey, isn’t the added liquid (tea) quantity important, or am I missing something here? Trying out the mead with the sliced orange recipe this weekend.
RECIPE
Make tea strength to taste, volume to fill to just below shoulder of vessel (i.e. leaving room for headspace)
Although you’ve fermented the tea from the beginner I am interested to try adding some tea bags to a plain mead already finished.
Hi John,
You’re right quantity/strength is important! Make to your taste! (See Em’s reply)
I make 20L batches and used an entire box of tea-bags (next time I’ll use loose leaf)
The reason for making beforehand is to allow the tea to cool before mixing with honey
Feel free to join our bi-monthly meetings and/or to DM me anytime!
Matt