Rainforest Reserve
Disclaimer: This recipe is for personal use only.
Mead Master’s Note
Rainforest Reserve is a delicious mead spiced with rare Amazonian herbs. This mead is herbal, refreshing, and nearly impossible to fully describe.
The Chuchuhuasi, Guayusa, and Boldo provide a wonderfully broad flowery background with subtle spice notes. These notes are perfectly balanced by ageing on Palo Guaco wood. Rainforest Reserve is primal, yet elegant. A true Amazonian experience!
Mead Specifications
Batch Size - 1 gallon
ABV - 15.7%
Starting Gravity (SG) - 1.140
Final Gravity (FG) - 1.020
Style - Metheglin
Ingredients
Wildflower/Clover honey - 3.5 lbs
Wyeast 1388 Smack Pack
Fermaid O - 9.4g, 4.7g per dose.
Potassium carbonate - 2g
Fermaid K - 1.9g
Potassium sorbate - 0.7g
Potassium metabisulfite - 0.4g
Spice Blend
Palo Guaco - 20 grams
Boldo - 10 grams
Chuchuhuasi - 6.6 grams
Guayusa - 5 grams
Must Preparation
To a sanitized two-gallon bucket, add the honey, first dose of Fermaid O, Fermaid K, and potassium carbonate.
Add 2 liters of water. We highly suggest using bottled water to avoid chloramines found in tap water.
Do not use distilled water.Mix until all the honey is dissolved.
Add water until slightly shy of the gallon mark.
Add the spices from the spice blend to the bucket.
Yeast Preparation
Remove Wyeast 1388 packet from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
Burst the internal nutrient packet in the Wyeast 1388 pouch. It helps to trap it in a corner before smacking it.
Allow the packet to expand for at least 15 minutes. It should swell to demonstrate yeast activation.
Sanitize the pouch corner you will be cutting.
Once the yeast and must are at similar temperatures, cut the corner off the pouch and pitch the yeast into the fermentor. Make sure not to cut the corner so much that the internal packet can come out into your fermentor!
Note: Do not allow the yeast to sit for longer than 15 minutes.
Fermentation
Store the bucket in a temperature range of 68-78°F. Around 74°F is best.
48 hours after pitching the yeast, add the second dose of Fermaid O.
Take a gravity reading every 3 days with a hydrometer until the gravity reaches 1.020 (7-10 days).
Stabilizing
Cold crash in a refrigerator until clear. Cold temperatures speed clearing, but clearing will occur without it.
Rack the clear mead into a sanitized carboy.
Add the potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite to the carboy and mix well. Allow to sit for a minimum of 2 weeks, ideally until clear.
Note: After stabilizing, there will be a harsh note resembling fusels in the mead for a few weeks. This is caused by the stabilizer and will age out as the stabilizer completes its protective purpose.A few days after mixing, cold crash in the refrigerator to speed clearing. (Optional)
Bottle into sanitized bottles.
Tips and Tricks
Place your bucket into a larger container to contain any potential spill over from fermentation.
If your home is cold, the top back of the fridge is great for keeping the fermentation warm.
A spray bottle of diluted sanitizer is great for sanitizing surfaces, especially hands.
The first time you use a non-graduated bucket, add a gallon of water at a time and draw a line for each.
