How to (Actually) Make Mango Mead

[@biggertrees]

I respect that sneeze! Those are the best! Currently fermenting dandelion wine. I love mango and thinking I might try this next..

[@littlebones88]

Wow! Not too bad guys. I have a couple ideas I'd like to share with you. First, I know that sometimes because of the amount of fruit required for a particular recipe, you may need a bucket. The thing is that buckets blind you as to what is happening inside. In addition, they are notorious for leaking. You may think that your fermentation stopped, but it's only because the gas is escaping from a leak in the top. You should seriously look at the 1.4-gallon Big Mouth Bubblers. When all is said and done you can transfer to a standard jug for conditioning. Then, instead of starting with mango fruit, start with mango nectar in primary. When primary is close to done, add your mango fruit. You will have a much easier process and get MORE flavor by using juice first, fruit second. I do this with my sack meads; juice/honey (primary), then fruit/honey secondary. I recently bottled a nice pineapple sack this way at 21.945% ABV. Now, I'm thinking it would be better to add and weigh your honey first while the receptacle is directly on the scale. You should have already determined the amount of honey needed based on the amount of ABV you want (by the way, nice honey choice). I try to go above the honey required for the alcohol tolerance of the yeast, this way you are usually left with residual sweetness (minimizing need for back sweetening), and you can be certain your yeast won't start fermenting again when you add more honey (yeast are notorious for going above their tolerance in a healthy ferment). Frozen fruit is the best, I add mine frozen in secondary (just slows down the yeast temporarily). Freezing actually explodes the cell walls allowing the flavor to freely flow (no need to crush that poor mango). You won't need a bag either using my methods. And don't forget to adjust gravity if you have any temperatures that are much beyond what your hydrometer is calibrated at. Also, don't forget to add gravity for the mangoes, which are 5.04 points of gravity per pound of mango, or .66 ABV per pound. I'd forgo the citric acid too, at least until after fermentation. You want to taste it first as you're likely to overshoot (mangos have reasonable acidity to start). Well, looks like you have the beginnings of a good channel. Keep the videos coming! Lastly, 71B might be a nice yeast choice, as it loves acid. Hope you find my advice helpful. Peace out.

[@dalestevenson4398]

Thanks for incorporating feedback Miles. I for one really enjoyed this video. It's a really unique style in the mead making community.

[@letswineaboutit]

Thank you!

[@kevin_ninja_jones2363]

Pectin enzymes do more then just help clear and break the fruit down it also reduces the amount of methanol alcohol you tent to get in the fermentation process a little more when using fruit methanol is what gives you a headache from drinking wine and hard alcohol

[@letswineaboutit]

Ah! I didn’t know that, thank you!

[@alexlarsen6413]

Third time's a charm!🤞 Wonder how your banana wine's going because I had issues with banana mead just like you had with mangos but once I finally got it right it was super delish! Happy brewing!

[@letswineaboutit]

Banana wine is coming along well! I’ll post the update soon.

[@dudetapedtoafridge3073]

I like to add a tiny tiny bit of natural orange extract and substitute about half of the wine tannin with 2.5 grams (1 bag) of black tea. Torn open and yeeted into the mix. And possibly half a cup of grape juice. It's all about personal preference but I've found my wines have a bit more body with a touch more fruityness especially in the aftertaste if that makes sense. Im really bad at explaining lol

[@letswineaboutit]

All worth trying! Thanks for the info!

[@princevesperal]

Don't you get bitterness from oversteeped tea leaves? The one time that I left the tea for the whole fermentation was clearly a mistake. Now I brew sone tea and pour it in without the bag.

[@christophervisavati8983]

I’ve made mango wine before, not mead. It always ends up being around anywhere from 13-15%. I have to let it age at LEAST a year before drinking otherwise it will have a strong alcohol taste. But after, it does have the sweet mango taste.

[@letswineaboutit]

Good advice! I’ll make sure to leave some to age.

[@christophervisavati8983]

@@letswineaboutit the recipe I use. It is for 5 gallons. Miami Mango To make five gallons of delicious golden white wine Ingredients: 17.5 pounds of mangos (I used frozen mangos) Yeast Nutrient: 2.5 teaspoons Sugar 10 lbs/five gallons Tannin: 1.25 teaspoons Pectic Enzyme: 2.5 teaspoons Acid Blend: 5 Tablespoons Yeast: 1 packet of “Champagne” yeast Water: Enough to bring your must up to five gallons Ascorbic Acid: .25 teaspoon per racking (prevents oxidation) Potassium Sorbate: 2.5 teaspoons at end of fermentation. Stops the fermentation process. Bentonite: Used to clarify wine at the end of fermentation Method: DO NOT PUT MANGOS IN A BLENDER! 1. Thaw frozen mangos and place into a sterilized mesh bag. Gently squeeze into a six gallon size open top fermenter that has been cleaned and sterilized. 2. Add sugar, tannin, pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, acid blend and water. 3. Cover fermenter top with a nylon cloth or cheesecloth. 4. For 24 hours let fruit pulp sit, except for four or five stirrings with a long handled spoon or paddle. This kills germs. 5. Add “champagne” yeast or wine yeast. 6. For the next four days let must ferment. Stir thoroughly twice a day. 7. Next, strain fruit pulp. Throw pulp away or put into compost pile. Put liquid in an air-tight fermenter (with an airlock). 8. Allow wine to ferment for about three weeks until it stops bubbling. 9. Take a hydrometer reading. If it reads 1.000 SG, the wine is finished. If the reading is 1.001, 1.002, or 1.003 or higher, let it ferment for another few days until you get a reading of 1.000. 10. Next add potassium sorbate to stop fermentation. 11. Immediately add bentonite slurry and let sit for 7-10 days. 12. Syphon into another container. 13. Add ascorbic acid. 14. Discard layer of yeast behind. 15. Back sweeten to taste, if desired. 16. Cork bottles. 17. Let age. 18. Enjoy!

[@dalestevenson4398]

Thanks!

[@vance7354]

You should check Out Kveik Yeasts. They are Bullet Proof and Most of them go nearly as high on the ABV Scale as wine yeasts. Arset Kveik yeast will go all the way up to 16% Abv or Higher with proper nutrition. Just a note if you do try out Kveik yeast at mininum Double your normal yeast nutrient additions Or even triple the amount and on the lower end of abv 10% or less, Front load ALL of the nutrients becuase it will likely be done in 3 days. Especially if you run it at a warmer temp( I have went all the way up to 110F with Kveik yeasts and it was done in 36 hours).

[@letswineaboutit]

I’ll have to check those out!

[@dockofthebaycountrywines69]

Great video!

[@letswineaboutit]

Thank you!

[@jscancella]

When will you publish the results?

[@letswineaboutit]

I went off to grad school and that cut everything short! It turned out delicious, long story short. I back-sweetened a bit if I recall. It was this lovely tropical, sweet mead. 5/5 stars from me.

[@kirbydegeyter8133]

God bless you

[@ChrisMartin-xf6ke]

I just use a pestle to weigh the bag down

[@jayco10125]

so what was the result, any updates? this is your latest video :(

[@letswineaboutit]

It was indeed my last video - I went off to grad school! But I have a new channel now focused on something entirely different (it's called, 'Miles K. Donahue,' you can't miss it haha). The mango mead came out delicious, one of my favorites that I will do again when I return to home-brewing.

[@jayco10125]

@@letswineaboutit yeah, I haven’t had much time for home brewing lately either, been too busy working on my startup haha

[@raevynhomestead]

I think your gravity is way higher than you think it is. Mango has its own sugars that will raise ur gravity higher than you measured it upon initial reading. I'd do regular readings in the first wk to see if ur gravity climbs rather than drop. I'm of course not expert but I've experienced far higher sugar content spikes caused by my fruit used. Pectin Enzyme while is a fantastic add in this recipe will make the sugar spike effect way worse. The step feeding should keep the fermentation steady but the potential of ur abv% being way higher should be expected. I watch mead and wine videos on the regular and have been watch some of ur content as of late. Hope u see some success in ur KZbin adventure.

[@letswineaboutit]

I did a little digging, and mangos have about 46 grams of sugar per 336 gram mango, or 0.15 grams of sugar per gram of mango. I used about 1800 grams (or 4 pounds) of mangos, so that’s 246 grams of sugar. That, added to at least 1.5 gallons of must, should only raise the gravity about 0.016, which corresponds pretty well to my original estimate of 1.100 for our original gravity.

[@gsxr600rafii]

Come on, we need more videos!!!!!

[@letswineaboutit]

I would if I could but now I’m literally packing everything up to move to Oxford! I’m gonna post a few more videos before I leave, though.

[@dudetapedtoafridge3073]

@@letswineaboutit will you keep posting after your settled in?

[@letswineaboutit]

Probably not to the wine channel. I can’t take very much with me, so I won’t have most of my winemaking equipment. But I will probably start my philosophy channel!

[@Hawk2phreak]

Why not zero out the bucket on the scale and add 3lb of honey to it vs doing reverse math 😂. Good video!

[@letswineaboutit]

Yeah I mean you could do that much easier route too 😂😂

[@carrera2530]

Man you just spit a bunch of bacteria in front of your mangoes. lol

[@myshinobi1987]

It concerns me that you've been speaking over the bucket for 16 mins. I'd bet money that micro-spit has been spraying into the bucket the entire time.