My wife is from Honduras and her mom wanted me to make her a wine with this fruit. I was worried at first since i had no idea what this was but It turned out good. So awesome to see yall make this wine also.
Binge watched a lot of your content over the past month or so including a lot of your older content, and I just finished fermenting 3 gallons of pure mead goodness. thanks for the amazing content and information.
I’m another lucky guy as I’ve used buckets to make wine for 30 years and have never had one not seal. That being said I’m strictly using glass for my meads. Another great video and the charisma between you two adds a lot to your videos. Thanks a bunch.
Great video! I used fresh lychees for my wine/mead and peeled 8kg of them by hand. The spikes are no joke if you peel that many, it took about 2 weeks for my hands to heal. Going the canned way is a smart choice. The taste is great though so was still worth it in the end!
Life happened and I had to wait until the evening to finish watching this video, or should I say “ listening” because I had to have the room dark, and the audio is noticeably better! When my eyes are watching then I never noticed, but strictly based off of listening, it’s amazing! Like top quality 👍 nicely done
I find it helpful when proofing yeast to add a little sugar and a little wheat flour. They seem to love it. Warm (not hot) water also helps to have happy yeast to pitch. For amounts if you want them I'd say 50-100 ml of warm water, 1 tsp white sugar or honey, 1 tsp plain wheat flour (other flours may work too). Living in a very hot and humid climate (like Florida but hotter) yeasts are fairly often DoA so I have always found proofing the yeast before use very important.
With a few hours spare on a Sunday and a tin of lycees that's been in my pantry for far too long I know exactly what I'm about to do.. Thanks for the inspiration. It was going to be Aronia berry Bloodmead. Hadn't even thought of Lycees. ❤
Ive never had lychee before, but at the end Derica said it was grape-like. I think id like to try this. Great video as always. On as asit, i saw the Meadowfoam bottle in the video and i got excited. I hope you are enjoying it! I genuinely love the taste and fell in love with it. Its my new favorite honey, the cost makes it a little prohibitive tho.
I would love to see PawPaw fruit mead. Love these experiments! Learned a lot from your videos. My First batch is 2 months in and already tastes amazing. Can't wait to bottle it. I made Black n Blue Razz. Blackberry blueberry razzberry. It's at 17.6% right now. Tastes like a semi dry red blend. Absolutely amazing.
My cousin made a PB & J Mead and at different temps you could taste the different aspects of the PB & J. Chilled you're able to taste the PB & J, at room temp you could taste the bread; it was a very interesting Mead.
Man ... Here I thought I had a flavor you two haven't done yet! My wife and I have this on our list to ferment, but we were waiting for fresh. Good to know we could do can. Thank you for another great video and experience!
Hey wow! WHIBEL got a new job! 😂 Thanks for doing this. Now I’m totally going to have to make this for Larry. Lychees are native to China and were one of his favorite childhood treats. Btw, if you ever get a chance, try lychee rice wine. It’s very yummy.
Really grateful you mentioned using citric acid to bring back your brews meadazzle guys! I recently added Kraken to my festive brew and while i love the flavour it felt kinda flat, like an old rum and coke. Gonna try the acid and see if i can bring some figgy back. Also I'm pretty proud of meadazzle 😂
I just got done making the IBC Root Beer mead you did a while ago. That is so delicious. I'm glad i did it along side my first mead, which was a traditional, it didnt turn out well. The root beer one turned out amazing. I'm now gonna start working on an alcoholic dr pepper. After watching this i May have to try a lychee as well.
@@CitySteadingBrews It wasn't bad per se. I just didn't like how it came out. My brother liked it just fine, so i just gave it all to him. After doing some more research it seems that bread yeast causes more of an astringent flavor to the brews compared to other yeasts such as ale or champagne. Both of the meads i made so far were with bread yeast. I have ordered some champagne yeast, in order to limit the astringency, to keep trying out more brews.
I have used buckets forgot 35 years and have only once closed the lid tight one time(the 1st time). I found it too difficult to open. Thanks for the video. Cheers 😀 👍
I have avoided making fruit meads as a rule, not wanting to deal with the extra 'stuff' THIS ONE is something I want to do!! I did make a stainless steel filter for the auto siphon when I made a mead with rose petals. THANKS again for another great educational video... I have recommended your channel to anyone remotely interested in making mead. I always credit what I learned here to my successful brews. I just bottled a horehound cinnamon, it is interesting, could be sweeter.. my post brewing game isn't up to your standards... I would be interested to see what you'd do with it. Cheers folks!!
Also lychee and goji berry would probably be amazing together, especially because both are really lovely with citric acid. I’ve started adding lemon or lime zest and juice to my daily smoothies, and now I can’t go back! Adjusting acid makes all the difference
I was making passionfruit mead based on your recipe but I used frozen seedless cubes of passionfruit(ended up just being frozen juice no pulp) Couldn’t get fermentation to start. So this morning i poured half the liquid into another fermenter and added more honey and water to each a little more yeast to each and yeast nutrient to each. Glad to report fermentation started in both. I have a feeling the ph levels were too high for fermentation to take place. If it ends up not having much passionfruit flavor I’ll rest them both on more passionfruit after fermentation.
Regarding sweetening during balancing phase- I've been making a simple syrup concentrate and adding small amounts to a sample. Then i compare the difference in grav between that and the original on a refractometer (because even if it doesn’t give the right gravity because of the alcohol, itll still tell you the difference in density between the two) then use that as the benchmark for sweetening. Its fewer sample sips yeah, but i like the ease of it.
thank you so much for making this mead, I had prepared the fresh litches in the freezer, pitted, and got two boxes of litches like you... after the first fermentation I wanted to halve it and add rose petals and in the other basil,... some your precious advice? even if you should put the canned or fresh litchis first...
I made lychee honey mead a while ago. I was browsing the grocery aisle for canned apple pulp. It was great although I really have come to like just the honey mead on the dry side with champagne yeast.
It seems like you guys have a lot of projects going on all at once. How do you juggle many projects simultaneously and will you ever make a video showcasing your fermentation station? 10/10 great content!!!
Can’t wait to try this recipe out! I guess you kind of did a step feed with the 2nd round of lychee, right? Do you imagine you’d get a much different product using all of the lychee up front at the beginning? …ohhh also, what do you think the difference would be if you had used acid blend? Thank you for the awesome content!
Maybe a little of a step feed. I don't expect it would be much different if added up front, no. We didn't because we weren't sure how flavorful it would be.
Hey guys, you wouldn’t read about it but I was looking at some frozen lychees in the supermarket on the weekend and thought ah I’m not sure, now you’re doing it! This is so cool. I’m really curious how this goes. I love lychees 🇦🇺
I did something similar to this with canned Jackfruit. I looked over and saw I still had four tins of it from months ago. I ran it through the food processor to just get it chunky, added sugar and water, then yeast. It's in conditioning now, I forgot to get dried jackfruit at the asian market and racked it before realizing that lol. It has a light jackfruit taste to it so I'm hoping the dried fruit will give it more flavor.
Brian and Derek love the videos They are super helpful Started out doing your honey Mead, now I've done 8 of your brews from blueberry to raspberry etc. I was hoping for a future video. Yall could do a kiwi Mead.
I never thought of doing a Lychee mead. Awesome. Just curious, what do you guys do with your Lees, the spent fruit and stuff? Trash? I thought about giving it to my chickens but then realized the alcohol probably isn’t the best for them. Idk. I guess it could go in the compost too. Thanks for another great video!
Lychees are traditionally consumed on your birthday for good luck. I may actually make this one to drink on my birthday next year. It sounds really good.
Hi and thanks for another great video! I have a question on acids please - when would you use citric rather than a blend? Is it as straightforward as use citric with melomels? Thanks 👍
So much for the lychee sweet & sour chicken dish I was gonna make... A neighbor of mine has a couple of loquat trees loaded with fruit he said I could have, I may get them and make wine.
Had a thought. You’ve mentioned before that you will sometimes cook with your meads, that you try to avoid any mold or fungus growing in your mead. So I had a thought of a mushroom mead. Not sure it would be amazing drinking experience, but infusing a mead with that shroominess could be pretty good in a pasta dish.
@@CitySteadingBrews I know they are very different, just explaining how my brain got there. He ever say how it is to drink? I bet it is great for cooking, but there is the adage of “cook with the wine you would drink”.
I like this recipe very much, in fact I will use it as a base, and then by dividing it one will remain as you did and the other 2 jars with the addition of basil and a bunch of rose petals in one, I was just asking you if it was appropriate to do this or directly during the first fermentation, add the other ingredients, already making three different jars....
I was talking with a professional brewer who makes meads and spirits here is in Finland. I was talking to him about my ginger wine. I make it with brown sugar and sweeten with honey. He told me to add some carrots to the must. So basically just make your recipe of ginger beer with more sugar, but while simmering add couple carrots in it. I made one also with about a 250g of fresh jalapenos added after it cooled down. Starting gravity was 1.120 and with EC-1118 it got to 1.000. I took a taste and with tasted very sweet. I checked the gravity again, and then had to check a known gravity(apple juice) and it was not broken. Turns out I did not sweeten at all. Both the one with spice and without was excellent, bit strong, but excellent.
@alaskandonut the very same conversation he told me, what ever i do and try, DO not try beetroots. I dont know if it just a preference or what, but he seemed very serious about it
Thanks for the reply. I've done 2 versions of lychee, ginger and sugar cane mead and am not happy with them yet. All fresh fruit. I think the sugar cane gives a grassy note I don't love. Will keep trying
Does the color of the liquid effect the ph strips color? I was wondering if the grape color, of a grape wine distorts the reading? Very good video!!! Thanks
I was 3 when i first tasted these (fresh off the tree) and all my life i could vividly remember the taste. A few months ago A local chinese grocery store had some and i knew exactly what they tasted like before i ate any of them, the memory is burned into my brain, i can taste them now they are that good! p.s. Oxi-fication :)
Forgive me if you’ve answered this before (you probably have) but could you substitute some of the honey in a basic mead for maple syrup to add a different flavour? I’ve never made my own before but you’ve inspired me to buy some gear and give it a go, and I absolutely adore maple!
Tannin question: can one add tannins after the brew is done because i had a testbatch of wildberry wine nice and fruity but i think i did not add tannins at the time (4 years ago maybe more) started my favorite cherry vanilla, old faithfull mead again this time without my ceiling being coverd in cherrymead i made some extra headspace 9 liters in a 10 liter carboy , sg 1.100 , 3 kg of flower and pine honey mixed vanillapods and 2 liters of strong cherryjuice and a cherry apple mix box about 6 liters , and used strong yeast oeno something making fruities come up and added a nice black tea cherry flavour. my 34 liters of applemead is at the phase that there is about 7 liters left .. it's so good. next project herbs .. commamille or rosemary , maybe dandelion but not sure ..
So im just about to get into mead making and brewing in general so ive been watching these videos nonstop for about 3 days now. I know myself (and my friends) well enough to know that i am going to eventually be doing some experiments with highly acidic beverages, how would i cut down the acid level to give yeast the best chance of survival?
@CitySteadingBrews the reason I know I'll be competing with acid levels is because we all drink various energy drinks and tend to lean to the more citric flavors thus I'm assuming an acidic drink that will eventually be used as an experiment to see if it will work. When I told my D&D group I was about to start trying to make mead, one of the first things they asked was "if monster nitro would work". Thank you for all the great information!
Curious question: What happens if you use different kinds of yeast in the same batch? Will they form different colonies? Will they form one colony? Will it stress them out? Will they attack each other and barely ferment
I love that new fermenter but i think it might work best to use it for primary. I have no idea what those taste like i haven't heard of those until recently but never tried any yet
Your right I was meaning with the cheese cloth it seems like it would be better for primary for the season they use more open fermenters at big meaderys it might be better for complexity. I know nothing compared to you guys I was more or less thinking out loud lol it was just the idea that came to me when I saw it.
Hi comma I'm trying to make litche mead like you, after the first day of a very light fermentation that didn't even start the bubbler it stopped, what do I do, try adding a little water and yeast?😢
I'll definitely be trying this one! I love lychee. Also, if you guys are open to expending your audience, you might consider creating an ifunny account. There is a HUGE interest in mead on that app. Like unbelievably huge. I will forewarn you though, there is a bit of off-color things that you'll occasionally see. But for accounts like yours, it'll generally be pretty wholesome. Just a thought. Cheers.
if you don´t like mashing i would try scissor ether cut them in 2 or just cut slice an opening halfway through them to expose more surface area i think rha would work straight in bowl but if the fork works better do the fork
Hey! I am trying to remember your rule in how much yeast per gallon you use. You mentioned it in one of your videos but I don’t remember which one it was 😅
The TV show Vikings, that was actually one of my gripes about it was that they never showed them making Mead. Like they were in the mead Hall drinking mead but you never saw them actually making it.
Hi! Question for you guys or anyone in the comments! I'm making a cyser. Just apples, honey, apple juice, yeast. My starting gravity is a little high at around 1.16. Is this normal?? Will that kill the yeast?
You mention an acid blend that you've used before, but I can't remember seeing you use acid in finishing (i haven't watched enough of your videos yet, clearly! I have to fix this!) Where can I find more information about that?
OMG you so should have use one of the Kveik yeasts. One of them leaves lychee esters behind I think it is Espe or Ebbegarden yeast that does it. I forgot which but I bought it just for that lol.
@@CitySteadingBrews I was thinking more for enhancement of the fruit, though I do love mixing flavors lol it is kinda like getting free fruit flavor and smell haha. OFC Kveik is a whole learning curve and 5x more expensive than wine yeast so some trade-offs for sure.
i have a questrion as a beginner... can you add to much honey to a batch? so the standard is 3-3.5 pounds would something insane happen if i added say 5 pounds or 6 pounds of honey to the initial fermentation? i am now the brewmaster for my friends and and getting a 7 gallon fermenter and what would happen if i were to add like 25-30 pounds of honey to the 7 gallon fermenter?
37:34 Totally agree. But there is commercial mead, and there is commercial mead. Just like with wine and beet they can vary widely. A local craft brewery recently branched out and added a mead to their line. An 8.4% carbonated hydromel. I've tried it, and I've dumped it. But I really like my own carbonated hydromel. Commercial mead is not the be-all and end-all.
Love your "patented folding method" bit but did you know a lot of yeast data sheets say this? Available in 5g nitrogen- flushed sachets to maintain optimal yeast viability. It is recommended to store yeast in dry conditions, between 4 and 15°C, for optimal viability and product performance. It is however not detrimental for the product to remain at room temperature for shorts periods of time, such as during transport. The yeast will rapidly lose activity after exposure to air.
We tried some Lychee nectar from Costco and were not all that impressed. Seemed a little on the bland side to be honest. Might see if I can find some canned fruit locally to see if it is better. Thanks for the video and entertainment!
I'm glad to see y'all drinking from a Mason jar. Now I know you're regular people. LOL. I used to deliver groceries to Save a Lot grocery stores as a truck driver. They sell Leechees.
Only 1:27 in and I am baffled! You sanitized it, but what did you sanitize it in? A white bucket? A blue bucket? I feel so lost now! (Still can't find an individual bucket on sale, only that 6-pack you found a while back. Thank you gain for finding that, but I couldn't justify buying so many when I only wanted 1.)
Last year I had some success turning the pears in our garden into pear cider by following your video, and last month I tried my hand at mead, following one of your videos. However, I think I made a mistake by leaving the raisins and lemon rind in for too long (about four weeks). Despite it not having finished fermenting yet, I racked it in to a fresh jug in order to separate it from the fruit, and it has a really pretty strong taste of lemon rind to it. Anyway, I plan to stay the course, let it finish fermenting, and then I'll probably bottle it in a month or two. Hopefully the taste smooths out a little between now and then! I also have the other half of the 6lb jug of honey I bought still left over, so I might try another batch with a little less lemon, and only leave it a week or two before removing it from the fruit this time.
Hey Brian and Derica! About three months ago, I brewed some mead. It cleared up perfectly after fermentation, but it ended up with a wet cardboard smell. This is my first time encountering this issue. I've read that it's likely related to oxidation. However, the smell was already noticeable when I took the first gravity reading after about two months (which is quite a long time for fermentation, with an initial gravity of 1.104). At the time, I didn't pay much attention to this because it was still fermenting, and fermenting often produces strong odors, haha. So, I'm quite certain it wasn't due to oxidation. At the time, I didn't use SNA and wasn't aware of how much nutrients the yeast required. I'm thinking I may not have added enough FermaidO, causing stress on the yeast and slow fermentation, which could have led to this smell. What are your thoughts on this situation, and is there any way to remove this smell? Perhaps just giving it more time? Anyways, thanks for your help and for creating these videos! (BTW I made a loose leaf ceylon tea wine (just tea and sugar) a few weeks ago and did a reading today. I tasted like fresh APPLES. How in the world! Very exciting stuff!)
That smell is from oxidation. No amount of nutrients would have changed it. We don't stagger additions and often leave it out entirely. Somehow, your mead was exposed to oxygen. It might age out, but it's not really a guarantee. Usually once it's oxidized, it stays.
Guys in this last backsweatning it’s worth it to put it in the fridge for cold crash for 2weeks with a completely seald lid (no air lock) it’s gonna clear super fast at that stage you are with this mead. Your videos are amazing please keep making these unique recipes!
My wife is from Honduras and her mom wanted me to make her a wine with this fruit. I was worried at first since i had no idea what this was but It turned out good. So awesome to see yall make this wine also.
Binge watched a lot of your content over the past month or so including a lot of your older content, and I just finished fermenting 3 gallons of pure mead goodness. thanks for the amazing content and information.
You are very welcome! Happy to help.
I’m another lucky guy as I’ve used buckets to make wine for 30 years and have never had one not seal. That being said I’m strictly using glass for my meads. Another great video and the charisma between you two adds a lot to your videos. Thanks a bunch.
Ok ,I think you need to be introduced to the potato masher. Lol love the videos, keep up the great content.
Yeah.... the fork worked better in this case though!
Great video! I used fresh lychees for my wine/mead and peeled 8kg of them by hand. The spikes are no joke if you peel that many, it took about 2 weeks for my hands to heal. Going the canned way is a smart choice. The taste is great though so was still worth it in the end!
Thank you for this! I've been pondering making a strawberry lychee mead, but couldn't find any lychee mead recipes online.
Life happened and I had to wait until the evening to finish watching this video, or should I say “ listening” because I had to have the room dark, and the audio is noticeably better! When my eyes are watching then I never noticed, but strictly based off of listening, it’s amazing! Like top quality 👍 nicely done
Thanks, still fine tuning it actually!
I find it helpful when proofing yeast to add a little sugar and a little wheat flour. They seem to love it. Warm (not hot) water also helps to have happy yeast to pitch. For amounts if you want them I'd say 50-100 ml of warm water, 1 tsp white sugar or honey, 1 tsp plain wheat flour (other flours may work too).
Living in a very hot and humid climate (like Florida but hotter) yeasts are fairly often DoA so I have always found proofing the yeast before use very important.
With a few hours spare on a Sunday and a tin of lycees that's been in my pantry for far too long I know exactly what I'm about to do.. Thanks for the inspiration. It was going to be Aronia berry Bloodmead. Hadn't even thought of Lycees. ❤
YAY "The Beast" is back, loved the Edit on that
Ive never had lychee before, but at the end Derica said it was grape-like. I think id like to try this. Great video as always.
On as asit, i saw the Meadowfoam bottle in the video and i got excited. I hope you are enjoying it! I genuinely love the taste and fell in love with it. Its my new favorite honey, the cost makes it a little prohibitive tho.
We're gonna make something with it. Haven't even opened it.
I would love to see PawPaw fruit mead. Love these experiments! Learned a lot from your videos.
My First batch is 2 months in and already tastes amazing. Can't wait to bottle it. I made Black n Blue Razz. Blackberry blueberry razzberry. It's at 17.6% right now. Tastes like a semi dry red blend. Absolutely amazing.
My cousin made a PB & J Mead and at different temps you could taste the different aspects of the PB & J. Chilled you're able to taste the PB & J, at room temp you could taste the bread; it was a very interesting Mead.
Could you ask him how he did I’d be curious to try this myself
Sound blanket change was very apparent, but in a good way. Voices seem much clearer. Thank you for what you all do... Keep going folks!
It's microphones, audio recorder, new camera and sound dampening... fairly substantial investment!
@@CitySteadingBrews 25:29 specifically... took me back for a second. I actually checked my sound settings first, lol
Yeah, a few different changes through this video.
Wow, that cleared beautifully!
Man ... Here I thought I had a flavor you two haven't done yet! My wife and I have this on our list to ferment, but we were waiting for fresh. Good to know we could do can. Thank you for another great video and experience!
Our pleasure!
This is perfect I wanted to make this meed for a while
Hey wow! WHIBEL got a new job! 😂
Thanks for doing this. Now I’m totally going to have to make this for Larry. Lychees are native to China and were one of his favorite childhood treats.
Btw, if you ever get a chance, try lychee rice wine. It’s very yummy.
Really grateful you mentioned using citric acid to bring back your brews meadazzle guys! I recently added Kraken to my festive brew and while i love the flavour it felt kinda flat, like an old rum and coke. Gonna try the acid and see if i can bring some figgy back. Also I'm pretty proud of meadazzle 😂
I like it!
OMG, The Audio Change is Awesome, LOL definitely can tell the new setup
Thanks! Still fine tuning it.
You guys are incredible. Thank you for everything!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
I just got done making the IBC Root Beer mead you did a while ago. That is so delicious. I'm glad i did it along side my first mead, which was a traditional, it didnt turn out well. The root beer one turned out amazing. I'm now gonna start working on an alcoholic dr pepper. After watching this i May have to try a lychee as well.
What happened with the traditional?
@@CitySteadingBrews It wasn't bad per se. I just didn't like how it came out. My brother liked it just fine, so i just gave it all to him. After doing some more research it seems that bread yeast causes more of an astringent flavor to the brews compared to other yeasts such as ale or champagne. Both of the meads i made so far were with bread yeast. I have ordered some champagne yeast, in order to limit the astringency, to keep trying out more brews.
I have used buckets forgot 35 years and have only once closed the lid tight one time(the 1st time). I found it too difficult to open. Thanks for the video. Cheers 😀 👍
Yeah, a lot of times, we can't get it sealed.
I have avoided making fruit meads as a rule, not wanting to deal with the extra 'stuff' THIS ONE is something I want to do!! I did make a stainless steel filter for the auto siphon when I made a mead with rose petals.
THANKS again for another great educational video... I have recommended your channel to anyone remotely interested in making mead.
I always credit what I learned here to my successful brews.
I just bottled a horehound cinnamon, it is interesting, could be sweeter.. my post brewing game isn't up to your standards... I would be interested to see what you'd do with it.
Cheers folks!!
A little mess is more than worth it to experiment with fruit in mead. Makes it incredibly versatile!
Also lychee and goji berry would probably be amazing together, especially because both are really lovely with citric acid.
I’ve started adding lemon or lime zest and juice to my daily smoothies, and now I can’t go back! Adjusting acid makes all the difference
I was making passionfruit mead based on your recipe but I used frozen seedless cubes of passionfruit(ended up just being frozen juice no pulp) Couldn’t get fermentation to start. So this morning i poured half the liquid into another fermenter and added more honey and water to each a little more yeast to each and yeast nutrient to each. Glad to report fermentation started in both. I have a feeling the ph levels were too high for fermentation to take place. If it ends up not having much passionfruit flavor I’ll rest them both on more passionfruit after fermentation.
More honey to a lack of fermentation usually makes it harder, just fyi.
@@CitySteadingBrews good to know for the future
Happy National Beer Day!... thanks for another great vid... SKAL
Same to you!
Regarding sweetening during balancing phase- I've been making a simple syrup concentrate and adding small amounts to a sample. Then i compare the difference in grav between that and the original on a refractometer (because even if it doesn’t give the right gravity because of the alcohol, itll still tell you the difference in density between the two) then use that as the benchmark for sweetening. Its fewer sample sips yeah, but i like the ease of it.
Sure, that works.
thank you so much for making this mead, I had prepared the fresh litches in the freezer, pitted, and got two boxes of litches like you... after the first fermentation I wanted to halve it and add rose petals and in the other basil,... some your precious advice? even if you should put the canned or fresh litchis first...
Not really sure what you are asking here... sounds like a whole other recipe.
Earl Grey and Lychee sounds great. The flavor combo could be delicious
I made lychee honey mead a while ago. I was browsing the grocery aisle for canned apple pulp. It was great although I really have come to like just the honey mead on the dry side with champagne yeast.
It seems like you guys have a lot of projects going on all at once. How do you juggle many projects simultaneously and will you ever make a video showcasing your fermentation station? 10/10 great content!!!
We just did... yesterday, lol: ua-cam.com/video/fQE99rCnZXw/v-deo.html
Oh dang🤣🤣🤣, of course the one day I miss an episode it’s the one prior😅
I love lychees so this mead sounds wonderful! If I ever get space I might try this.
I have been wanting to do a recipe like this for some time now.
Came out really nice. The acid really made a difference!
I loved the video guys!
Glad you liked it!
🎼Purple Haze Purple Haze !🎶❤️! You two are THE BEST Brew Channel on YT HANDS DOWN!
Aww, thanks!
I love seeing the Desert Creek honey! They're local to the county I live in. Most the meads I make use that.
It's a good honey!
Can’t wait to try this recipe out! I guess you kind of did a step feed with the 2nd round of lychee, right? Do you imagine you’d get a much different product using all of the lychee up front at the beginning?
…ohhh also, what do you think the difference would be if you had used acid blend? Thank you for the awesome content!
Maybe a little of a step feed. I don't expect it would be much different if added up front, no. We didn't because we weren't sure how flavorful it would be.
@@CitySteadingBrews add it to the list of “we did it this way, so you don’t have to” items. Thank you so much!
Theres a lychee drink from "SOHO" thats excellent.
you guys are in for a treat, 100%
Hey guys, you wouldn’t read about it but I was looking at some frozen lychees in the supermarket on the weekend and thought ah I’m not sure, now you’re doing it! This is so cool. I’m really curious how this goes. I love lychees 🇦🇺
I did something similar to this with canned Jackfruit. I looked over and saw I still had four tins of it from months ago. I ran it through the food processor to just get it chunky, added sugar and water, then yeast. It's in conditioning now, I forgot to get dried jackfruit at the asian market and racked it before realizing that lol.
It has a light jackfruit taste to it so I'm hoping the dried fruit will give it more flavor.
Brian and Derek love the videos They are super helpful Started out doing your honey Mead, now I've done 8 of your brews from blueberry to raspberry etc. I was hoping for a future video. Yall could do a kiwi Mead.
At some point we might do something with kiwi!
I never thought of doing a Lychee mead. Awesome. Just curious, what do you guys do with your Lees, the spent fruit and stuff? Trash? I thought about giving it to my chickens but then realized the alcohol probably isn’t the best for them. Idk. I guess it could go in the compost too. Thanks for another great video!
We compost it usually.
Lychees are traditionally consumed on your birthday for good luck. I may actually make this one to drink on my birthday next year. It sounds really good.
Great content. I made a leche mead last year and it really turned out great. Unfortunately only made a gallon of it and am down to my last bottle.
Yeah, we do smaller batches, and I feel your pain, lol.
Hi and thanks for another great video! I have a question on acids please - when would you use citric rather than a blend? Is it as straightforward as use citric with melomels? Thanks 👍
It's just a slightly different flavor.
The sound change caught me off guard. But the sound is much clearer and sounds better. Good job with the blankets
Blankets, new microphones, new audio recorder, new camera, lighting, etc.
thanks for the tipp, on the chillies guys
So much for the lychee sweet & sour chicken dish I was gonna make...
A neighbor of mine has a couple of loquat trees loaded with fruit he said I could have, I may get them and make wine.
I am considering Lychee mead because I have some RC212 packages left. Seems my grocery store have canned Lychee as well. :)
Had a thought. You’ve mentioned before that you will sometimes cook with your meads, that you try to avoid any mold or fungus growing in your mead.
So I had a thought of a mushroom mead. Not sure it would be amazing drinking experience, but infusing a mead with that shroominess could be pretty good in a pasta dish.
Different kind of fungus... lol. Paul, one of our admins makes mushroom mead and wine. Cooks with it mostly.
@@CitySteadingBrews I know they are very different, just explaining how my brain got there.
He ever say how it is to drink? I bet it is great for cooking, but there is the adage of “cook with the wine you would drink”.
He has different and more... eclectic tastes than me for meads and he said it's good to cook with 😉
I like this recipe very much, in fact I will use it as a base, and then by dividing it one will remain as you did and the other 2 jars with the addition of basil and a bunch of rose petals in one, I was just asking you if it was appropriate to do this or directly during the first fermentation, add the other ingredients, already making three different jars....
Oh sure, you can do that 👍
I was thinking about giving the GOYA frozen passionfruit pulps a try.
I was talking with a professional brewer who makes meads and spirits here is in Finland. I was talking to him about my ginger wine. I make it with brown sugar and sweeten with honey. He told me to add some carrots to the must. So basically just make your recipe of ginger beer with more sugar, but while simmering add couple carrots in it. I made one also with about a 250g of fresh jalapenos added after it cooled down. Starting gravity was 1.120 and with EC-1118 it got to 1.000. I took a taste and with tasted very sweet. I checked the gravity again, and then had to check a known gravity(apple juice) and it was not broken. Turns out I did not sweeten at all. Both the one with spice and without was excellent, bit strong, but excellent.
I have never heard of adding carrots... interesting.
@alaskandonut the very same conversation he told me, what ever i do and try, DO not try beetroots. I dont know if it just a preference or what, but he seemed very serious about it
I looked at growing zones for lychee trees. It is too cold to grow them where I am at, but they should grow in Florida.
Yup, they do.
I've never heard of lychee. Might have to try some
Purple Haze. Now THAT would be an interesting mead. Though it won't be exactly legal in most of the world.
Purple Haze is a beer made by the Abita brewery in Abita Springs, LA
@@timothynaquin8899 Could be. But I highly doubt there's any actual purple haze in it.
Very interesting! Are you concerned about oxidation from the 2 weeks spent in the second vessel with the cheese cloth?
Not at all. Oxygen doesn't just incorporate itself, it has to be added by mixing or stirring to cause an issue.
Thanks for the reply. I've done 2 versions of lychee, ginger and sugar cane mead and am not happy with them yet. All fresh fruit. I think the sugar cane gives a grassy note I don't love. Will keep trying
Does the color of the liquid effect the ph strips color? I was wondering if the grape color, of a grape wine distorts the reading?
Very good video!!! Thanks
Probably not enough to be a problem.
Derika, I'm from Louisiana, I got your Purple Haze joke. I love Abita beer. You should try their root beer if you can find it
I was 3 when i first tasted these (fresh off the tree) and all my life i could vividly remember the taste. A few months ago A local chinese grocery store had some and i knew exactly what they tasted like before i ate any of them, the memory is burned into my brain, i can taste them now they are that good!
p.s. Oxi-fication :)
Forgive me if you’ve answered this before (you probably have) but could you substitute some of the honey in a basic mead for maple syrup to add a different flavour? I’ve never made my own before but you’ve inspired me to buy some gear and give it a go, and I absolutely adore maple!
Sure. It does take on a different flavor. ua-cam.com/video/6Z3Qdabmx7I/v-deo.htmlsi=u6YEMwPOPmXx3z1r
@@CitySteadingBrewsthanks so much for the reply, heading over to the video you linked as soon as I get a chance!
Do the two of you ever use brew bags and if so, do you have a recommendation for a natural bag supplier?
We have but tend not to. I don't have advice for a supplier though.
Tannin question:
can one add tannins after the brew is done because i had a testbatch of wildberry wine nice and fruity but i think i did not add tannins at the time (4 years ago maybe more)
started my favorite cherry vanilla, old faithfull mead again this time without my ceiling being coverd in cherrymead
i made some extra headspace 9 liters in a 10 liter carboy , sg 1.100 , 3 kg of flower and pine honey mixed vanillapods and 2 liters of strong cherryjuice and a cherry apple mix box about 6 liters , and used strong yeast oeno something making fruities come up and added a nice black tea cherry flavour.
my 34 liters of applemead is at the phase that there is about 7 liters left .. it's so good. next project herbs .. commamille or rosemary , maybe dandelion but not sure ..
Yes, tannins can be added anytime really.
So im just about to get into mead making and brewing in general so ive been watching these videos nonstop for about 3 days now. I know myself (and my friends) well enough to know that i am going to eventually be doing some experiments with highly acidic beverages, how would i cut down the acid level to give yeast the best chance of survival?
Why do you think they will he acidic? But anyway, potassium bicarbonate works well enough.
@CitySteadingBrews the reason I know I'll be competing with acid levels is because we all drink various energy drinks and tend to lean to the more citric flavors thus I'm assuming an acidic drink that will eventually be used as an experiment to see if it will work. When I told my D&D group I was about to start trying to make mead, one of the first things they asked was "if monster nitro would work". Thank you for all the great information!
Curious question: What happens if you use different kinds of yeast in the same batch? Will they form different colonies? Will they form one colony? Will it stress them out? Will they attack each other and barely ferment
All of the above are possible! Most likely one colony will starve out the other.
I love making lychee kombucha!
love your videos! I always wonder what astrological signs you are.
Will you guys make a blue rasberry mead for science? I would really love to see that.
Never even seen them, so....
I love that new fermenter but i think it might work best to use it for primary. I have no idea what those taste like i haven't heard of those until recently but never tried any yet
Works fine for either.
Your right I was meaning with the cheese cloth it seems like it would be better for primary for the season they use more open fermenters at big meaderys it might be better for complexity. I know nothing compared to you guys I was more or less thinking out loud lol it was just the idea that came to me when I saw it.
When using sterilizer, can you make a 5 gallon pail of it and use it for an extended period of time???
Supposedly, but I prefer to just make it up as needed.
We compared 71B with D47 for a strawberry and cheery meads and the 71B stripped out a lot of the malic acid.
Mhm. At different temps though they will both act differently. D47 likes cold far better.
Hi comma I'm trying to make litche mead like you, after the first day of a very light fermentation that didn't even start the bubbler it stopped, what do I do, try adding a little water and yeast?😢
Did you take readings?
I'll definitely be trying this one! I love lychee. Also, if you guys are open to expending your audience, you might consider creating an ifunny account. There is a HUGE interest in mead on that app. Like unbelievably huge. I will forewarn you though, there is a bit of off-color things that you'll occasionally see. But for accounts like yours, it'll generally be pretty wholesome. Just a thought. Cheers.
if you don´t like mashing i would try scissor ether cut them in 2 or just cut slice an opening halfway through them to expose more surface area i think rha would work
straight in bowl but if the fork works better do the fork
Hey! I am trying to remember your rule in how much yeast per gallon you use. You mentioned it in one of your videos but I don’t remember which one it was 😅
Usually a half packet but we have used whole packets in a gallon.
One thing I forgot to ask you...can I use powdered agar agar as a clarifying agent or should I use powdered isinglass?❤
I have never heard of using agar agar... I think it would thicken rather than clear. Maybe use bentonite or sparkolloid.
The TV show Vikings, that was actually one of my gripes about it was that they never showed them making Mead. Like they were in the mead Hall drinking mead but you never saw them actually making it.
On a daily basis nordic people's didn't actually drink a lot of mead as honey was still an expensive commodity back then as well.
Yup, mostly wine and ale.
Hi! Question for you guys or anyone in the comments! I'm making a cyser. Just apples, honey, apple juice, yeast. My starting gravity is a little high at around 1.16. Is this normal?? Will that kill the yeast?
Dilute it to 1.100 or below. Yes, that will likely not work well.
You mention an acid blend that you've used before, but I can't remember seeing you use acid in finishing (i haven't watched enough of your videos yet, clearly! I have to fix this!) Where can I find more information about that?
We have used acids in finishing... the blend is this: amzn.to/3PSm8fl
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you so much!!
If you lose enough product to leave a decent amount of head room between racks how would you go about preventing oxidization?
Rack to a smaller container.
OMG you so should have use one of the Kveik yeasts. One of them leaves lychee esters behind I think it is Espe or Ebbegarden yeast that does it. I forgot which but I bought it just for that lol.
You can, but... the lychee gives a lot of lychee flavor 👍
@@CitySteadingBrews I was thinking more for enhancement of the fruit, though I do love mixing flavors lol it is kinda like getting free fruit flavor and smell haha. OFC Kveik is a whole learning curve and 5x more expensive than wine yeast so some trade-offs for sure.
i have a questrion as a beginner... can you add to much honey to a batch? so the standard is 3-3.5 pounds would something insane happen if i added say 5 pounds or 6 pounds of honey to the initial fermentation? i am now the brewmaster for my friends and and getting a 7 gallon fermenter and what would happen if i were to add like 25-30 pounds of honey to the 7 gallon fermenter?
Too much honey and it may not ferment, it might stall, or it will cause off flavors due to stressed yeast. Generally a bad idea.
I love your hats where do you get them
Mine, I have no idea... Derica's is in our store: city-steading.com/product/citysteading-brews-corduroy-hat/
Speaking of summer drinks, have yall done anything lemonade-esque?
Lemon mead.... ua-cam.com/video/j3Am3w6Xv4Q/v-deo.htmlsi=ntk-5N9Ed45_vV3P
Skeeter pee.... ua-cam.com/video/O2T0VpS6ypw/v-deo.htmlsi=zTQTv5_t1XDlCWuC
37:34 Totally agree. But there is commercial mead, and there is commercial mead. Just like with wine and beet they can vary widely.
A local craft brewery recently branched out and added a mead to their line. An 8.4% carbonated hydromel. I've tried it, and I've dumped it. But I really like my own carbonated hydromel.
Commercial mead is not the be-all and end-all.
Yup!
NEW TEE " This is far from not good."
Ha!
Love your "patented folding method" bit but did you know a lot of yeast data sheets say this?
Available in 5g nitrogen- flushed sachets to maintain optimal yeast viability.
It is recommended to store yeast in dry conditions, between 4 and 15°C, for optimal viability and product performance. It is however not detrimental for the product to remain at room temperature for shorts periods of time, such as during transport.
The yeast will rapidly lose activity after exposure to air.
Yup, that's why we recommend refrigerating.
How did you decide how much lychee to use for primary and secondary?
Guesstimation and experience.
Lychee Explosion is my next band name.
Lol
Ok I use 5 liters of water for 1 black tea bag is that ok ? 😋
Sure?
What would happen if i used canned peach for my mead? Is that a bad idea?
I honestly cannot say! Never tried it that way.
We tried some Lychee nectar from Costco and were not all that impressed. Seemed a little on the bland side to be honest. Might see if I can find some canned fruit locally to see if it is better. Thanks for the video and entertainment!
Haven't had that one but I can say this had some powerful flavors.
I'm glad to see y'all drinking from a Mason jar. Now I know you're regular people. LOL. I used to deliver groceries to Save a Lot grocery stores as a truck driver. They sell Leechees.
Only 1:27 in and I am baffled! You sanitized it, but what did you sanitize it in? A white bucket? A blue bucket? I feel so lost now! (Still can't find an individual bucket on sale, only that 6-pack you found a while back. Thank you gain for finding that, but I couldn't justify buying so many when I only wanted 1.)
YAY! Made it to 8:35 and TRBOS was revealed! The suspense!
🤣🤣🤣
Last year I had some success turning the pears in our garden into pear cider by following your video, and last month I tried my hand at mead, following one of your videos. However, I think I made a mistake by leaving the raisins and lemon rind in for too long (about four weeks). Despite it not having finished fermenting yet, I racked it in to a fresh jug in order to separate it from the fruit, and it has a really pretty strong taste of lemon rind to it. Anyway, I plan to stay the course, let it finish fermenting, and then I'll probably bottle it in a month or two. Hopefully the taste smooths out a little between now and then!
I also have the other half of the 6lb jug of honey I bought still left over, so I might try another batch with a little less lemon, and only leave it a week or two before removing it from the fruit this time.
We normally leave it in til racking but everyone's tastes are different 👍
the reflection of your umbrella light looks like a jellyfish in your brew... just an observation : )
Yup.
would a pulse in a food processor work ?
Not necessary but if you wanted to.
Have you ever made "Rose Hip Wine" fruits from the wild rose
We tried dried ones once. Was not happy with it. Fresh may be better.
Hey Brian and Derica! About three months ago, I brewed some mead. It cleared up perfectly after fermentation, but it ended up with a wet cardboard smell. This is my first time encountering this issue. I've read that it's likely related to oxidation. However, the smell was already noticeable when I took the first gravity reading after about two months (which is quite a long time for fermentation, with an initial gravity of 1.104). At the time, I didn't pay much attention to this because it was still fermenting, and fermenting often produces strong odors, haha. So, I'm quite certain it wasn't due to oxidation. At the time, I didn't use SNA and wasn't aware of how much nutrients the yeast required. I'm thinking I may not have added enough FermaidO, causing stress on the yeast and slow fermentation, which could have led to this smell. What are your thoughts on this situation, and is there any way to remove this smell? Perhaps just giving it more time? Anyways, thanks for your help and for creating these videos! (BTW I made a loose leaf ceylon tea wine (just tea and sugar) a few weeks ago and did a reading today. I tasted like fresh APPLES. How in the world! Very exciting stuff!)
That smell is from oxidation. No amount of nutrients would have changed it. We don't stagger additions and often leave it out entirely. Somehow, your mead was exposed to oxygen. It might age out, but it's not really a guarantee. Usually once it's oxidized, it stays.
Guys in this last backsweatning it’s worth it to put it in the fridge for cold crash for 2weeks with a completely seald lid (no air lock) it’s gonna clear super fast at that stage you are with this mead. Your videos are amazing please keep making these unique recipes!
Cold crashing might help clear a little but t'a not critical.