5 Years of Developing the Same Mead Recipe

Today I'm walking you through my apple & cinnamon mead history! I've been developing this mead recipe for the past 5 years and I feel like I've finally nailed it. You can check out the final recipe below - but watch the video to see how I got here. Thanks for watching. Hit that subscribe button y'all!!
The Best Apple Cinnamon Recipe: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
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0:00 Introduction
0:19 What's going on here?
1:03 2017 Version
5:45 2018 Version
8:36 2019 Version
11:48 2020 Version
17:20 2022 Version
20:00 Wrap Up?

[@Dynamo55b]

Thank you for this! Been watching for a while. Appreciate your efforts.

[@DISC0LEG]

Willing to try...

[@stephenhegarty6032]

Outstanding video and seeing how things change the flavor and smells ☘️

[@riukrobu]

Beautiful journey!

[@TigerPat_9180]

Really Enjoyed your Video . I started an Apple 🍎🍏 Brew on May 23 of this Year . Started at 1.110 , went to 1.000 , Sweeten to 1.026 went to 1.012 . 16.74 a.b.v. it's pleasant because it's not as high a.b.v. as I've been making . Thanks for Sharing . 🐯🤠

[@lassejensen1210]

Really enjoyed this. Cool to hear you elaborate on your thought progress and reflexions. Helpful for guiding my own journey.

[@ManMadeMead]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@reneaclark7689]

K1-V1116 is my favorite yeast so far, it actually keeps floral/fruit character well, and is efficient and clean. I brew a lot of session meads so it works well for bottle carbing. I need to start an apple mead for Christmas! Thanks for sharing your process :)

[@ManMadeMead]

I really enjoy it too!

[@julietardos5044]

Great video, interesting journey. Cheers!

[@ManMadeMead]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@KnobbyWobby]

I kinda love funk. Will need you try this wipomel.

[@ArrowtotheMead]

Love this video concept and format! Hopefully someday I'll have been doing a recipe or two long enough to give them the same treatment 😁

[@ManMadeMead]

It's honestly so fun!

[@jmwfit3112]

This is very helpful for my own “pet” recipe, which is also a spiced cyser. Hearing that you kept the half juice ratio in your final recipe is very affirming because I have been doing that. I actually have done half apple juice and half chai tea. I need to experiment with other yeasts, but I’ve used D47. Part of the reason for that is that I topped off my secondary vessel with more juice, added a cinnamon stick, and then aged it on the lees that accumulated from the extra juice fermenting. Excited to see where my development goes over 5 years!

[@jacobwilkerson868]

Honeycrisp apples are the best :D

[@Hill139]

Making this this weekend for the fall!!!!!

[@bretonleo8740]

great video, it's really interesting to see the changes in recipe !! I'm in the process of perfecting my cyser, I'm using a 1100 gravity fermented dry and backsweeten to 1010 to 1015 depending on acidity, for thius recipe I'm happy with the ABV and sweetness. but for the first time I used some real apples instead of apple juice in conjunction with the honey. I sometimes uses D47 sometimes QA23, and I'm happy with both. On your 2022 recipe you recommend 2 weeks on the apples, since I'm going for a bigger mead, do you recommend the same contact time? I tossed them at the end of primary. Léo

[@needformead9540]

I did a brew similar to your 2020 version, except I used all apple juice no water. I used Fuji apples and 5 cinnamon sticks in secondary it was a 5 gallon batch. Mine is a crowd pleaser for sure. I like the idea of half apple juice and water as my ABV was 14.7

[@pieterpopster5549]

With the water added in the recipe the ratios come close to mixing a finisheded mead with a finished cider. Which is very interesting to me, it opens up many more possibilities of testing combinations.

[@mohammedabbasov1658]

If I make a 3 gallon instead of 1 gallon batch of mead would I just triple every ingredient? Would any be excluded from the tripling?

[@Funpants94]

I have a recipe thats quite similar to yours, except I bochet'd the honey and added clove and all spice, tastes great but the aroma.. it reminds me of a candle store almost. Hoping that ages out!

[@FaewoodMead]

How do you have meads that last this long?!? Haha, I don't have meads for more than a year usually 😅I love seeing the progression & variances in your recipes!

[@ManMadeMead]

You just have to put them back and forget them 😂

[@FaewoodMead]

@@ManMadeMead 😂

[@kilroy07]

Yea, I tend to hide them away from myself... Back of closets, under stairs, etc.

[@VincentSebastianBB]

In your final recipe you add the apples during secondary. Doesn't that mean that it's a traditional mead during primary and only becomes a melomel later? But the yeast you used is one you advertised as being good for melomels. Can you explain the yeast choice?

[@ManMadeMead]

I use apple juice in the primary and then add the apples in secondary! The K1-V1116 works well for light fruit, it's a vigorous fermenter which is helpful because apples post fermentation can sometimes put off some odd smells!

[@andysteele5707]

Peel chop and boil the apples into an apple sauce. Then drain all the juice, add apple juice to brew and the apple sauce in a sterilised Muslim bag and add to fermentation bucket. This way you will get more sugar content and apple flavours. Put the cinnamon stick in the muslin cloth to as it will sink more and absorb more fluid. Cinnamon sticks float. I have used ground cinnamon which works okay. Nothing wrong with a good strong mead 💪

[@gsxr600rafii]

Will you do a step by step video of your favorite one?

[@ManMadeMead]

Absolutely!

[@iamno1864]

There is just something about Fuji apples that really make my apple brews pop…my recipe that is similar to this is three lbs of apples, 50/50 honey crisp and Fuji…cored and cut into 8ths, then baked till soft

[@texaslonghousemead1327]

Ceylon cinnamon or bust 🤣. I would also recommend D47 for anything apple.

[@ManMadeMead]

I need to try D47 with it! I still have yet to really investigate the cinnamon struggle... I think I will call it Cinnamon Gate!

[@orange-micro-fiber9740]

@@ManMadeMead Ceylon may not be the best for this. You may want the punch of classic cinnamon. Some are smoother, some stronger. Depends on taste.

[@1014p]

My go to is M05

[@wf4516]

So have you played with the idea of a bochet with this recipe to get an apple pie mead? Thinking about trying my hand but still doing some reading on it as it'll be my first bochet.

[@javanmonroe6064]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmfakn-Id6yJbc0

[@ManMadeMead]

I have an apple pie bochet recipe video that's awesome!

[@trbldwtr3038]

Do you have a preferred honey for back-sweetening this recipe? I may have missed it in the video. I have a 5 gal batch of this in secondary now and I am prepping for the next steps.

[@ManMadeMead]

Something light! Clover is my favorite honestly.

[@pinkdoor85]

Question: Could you please make a video discussing how the heck you canned this delicious, carbonated libation? It truly is divine!

[@ManMadeMead]

I've got a whole video on my canning set up! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmqvZ4R_f5ejl6c

[@pinkdoor85]

Wow! Thank you, this is amazing!

[@phlosen7854]

22:00 makes sense to wash the apples anyway. You put so much effort into sanitizing the equipment then you throw some random fruit in it with god knows what on the skin.

[@syynnyys2707]

First off, what a great video! I'm very new to all this, however it really inspires me. I am wondering if the recipe you have listed for the 2020 is for 5 gallons or 1 gallon? In the video, it says the recipe is for 5 gal, however there seems to be only 1 gallon of liquid. Is the recipe values (lbs of apples, honey, amounts of yeast, cinnamon, liquid, nutrient, etc, etc) for each gallon of liquid that might be used? Sorry for the dumb question, however I'm still very much learning.

[@ManMadeMead]

Each of these recipe cards should be for a 1 gallon recipe!

[@syynnyys2707]

Thanks! I'm assuming if I wanted to make a 5gal version, I would simply multiple all by 5 with maybe the exception of the yeast? @@ManMadeMead

[@alexlarsen6413]

Sorry, this is off topic but have you ever tried using erythritol for back-sweetening? My spiced apple mead is ready for bottling and I've had a kilo of erythritol for a year now, unopened.

[@ManMadeMead]

I have! it works decently well! It doesn't taste quite like honey but it can be okay!

[@unclebillybonz]

seems to me you would do well to add a steam juicer to your inventory. Juice the apples, ditch the water and add more apples in 2ndary.

[@ManMadeMead]

All juice would make this brew too high abv - which I don't want. My final recipe is pretty dang good!

[@unclebillybonz]

@@ManMadeMead so would you classify your brew as a Hydromel....Cyser....??

[@ManMadeMead]

@@unclebillybonz Yup! Pretty normal stuff!

[@alexlarsen6413]

Before I've even seen the video, I notice that one of those meads is not like the others. What happened with the 2019. version...too much cinnamon? Having it sit too long on the spices? :) Jk. Actually, I'm very interested to see it as my own cyser has been sitting on cinnamon, clove and allspice for 2 weeks now and it's getting whiskey color. Edit: Oh wow! That color is due to avocado honey?! It's dark but beautifully dark red. And with just 2 and a half pounds? Need to order that honey!! I normally use locally sourced honey but don't think I'll find it that easy in Scandinavia. Not locally produced and affordable at any rate...maybe someone grows them in greenhouses and then lets the bees have at it...but it certainly wouldn't be cheap to say the least.

[@blueinfiniti22]

this recipe is with a 2 gallon bucket ?

[@ManMadeMead]

The recipe is for 1 gallon but I would definitely brew in a bucket so you have room for the apples.

[@EMPERORDEATX]

Why not go for Apple juice and honey with cinnamon?

[@ManMadeMead]

Huh?

[@EMPERORDEATX]

@@ManMadeMead A Cyser intead of throwing Apples in the primary