What would Jesus Drink? (a mead that can float on water)

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a great idea: Dandelion Mead.  You see, I had been planning to make a standard mead for a while, then I procrastinated long enough that the Dandelions sprouted and overtook our lawn.  Now I was conflicted, because I wanted to also make a Dandelion wine similar to one that a friend had made in high school.  The problem with these dual plans was that I only had one fermenter available for my whimsy.

“Why not make a Dandelion Mead?” I thought to myself.  A fantastic idea!  So, knowing that children make the best slaves…uh… free labor… erm…. willing helpers, I grabbed 4 gallon sized ziplock bags and handed 3 of them to our oldest daughter.  “Want to go pick flowers with Daddy?”  And enthusiastic nod meant that I had met an easy mark for my plan.

What I wasn’t planning for was how long it would take to fill 5 gallon sized bags with dandelions and the short attention span of a 5 year old.  I actually ended up picking a majority of the flowers, which probably worked out for the best. When making dandelion wine, you only use the blossoms.  The stems and roots are very too astringently bitter to be palatable, and the leaves are better suited for a spring mix salad.  My next step was to steep the blossoms in a like volume of 175*F water for 2 days.  I don’t know the exact science behind this steeping process, though I imagine it is done to extract the flavor and aroma of the flowers.

After the steeping period was over, the flower blossoms are strained, and the must is brought back up to 170*F in order to sterilize.  This is when the honey was added in.  After the mead is allowed to cool (I cheated and used my wort chiller), you add an appropriate wine yeast along with some acid blend and yeast nutrients, set the carboy in the corner and let it sit for a month.  After that first month, transfer the mead to a secondary fermenter and allow to condition until it is as crystal clear and smooth as you want it to be.

That first batch of mead turned out pretty damned awesome.  I decided to make a second batch this spring.  I even tried my clever ruse with the kids about how much fun picking flowers would be.  They were a little more receptive, but I still ended up doing most of the picking.  The following is what 2010’s recipe looks like (off the top of my head, since the recipe is on my dead computer):

• 3 Wegmans grocery bags of Dandelion blossoms
• 12lbs Honey.  I used a combination of Clover and Orange Blossom
• 3tsp Yeast nutrient
• 1tsp Acid blend
• 1 sachet rehydrated Cote de Blancs wine yeast

• OG was 1.095

• Color is a very light yellow

I have some interesting notes:

• I noticed after the 2 day steep that the Dandelion must smelled remarkable like honey.  I credit a good steep that extracted lots of pollen for this.  It might also be due to using way more dandelion blossoms than was actually needed.
• Wine yeast does not develop a krausen like beer yeast will.  I imagine this has to do with a lack of proteins in must, whereas beer wort usually has all sorts of proteins from the hot and cold breaks.  I could be completely wrong, but that’s my hypothesis.

This years mead was brewed May 1-3.  When I transferred to secondary last weekend (May 23rd), the gravity was at a whopping 0.996.  For reference, water has a specific gravity of 1.000.  My mead can float on water!  It truly is a heavenly beverage!  That works out to a current alcohol level of 13.1% ABV… and it is well hidden.  This mead is already pretty smooth tasting and not “hot” with alcohol.  It does need to condition a while to remove some of the yeasty flavors, but in 6 months time, this will be a great drink for our annual holiday party.

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