How to Make Dragon Breath Mead

[@amberella1964]

Just had to tell you that I made your Vikings blood and Dragons breath Mead shortly after this video came out. My 3rd batch was a combination. I called it Dragons Blood. Yesterday I pulled a bottle out of storage to take to a Viking Mead Party. I entered it into the competition, 23 bottles of Mead, 4 were commercially made. Mine won! I'd never made Mead before! Thank you both!

[@rossrichert2022]

Gosh I love Derica! She’s so funny. Whenever I watch the Pirate wine video I laugh all the time.

[@Rohnon]

She's a 12 year old in the body of an adult :D

[@deadgirlwalking4354]

As someone who also grows peppers, if I were to make this I'd probably use jalapeños that have ripened red. They're a little hotter than green jalapeños but not completely overwhelming. Either way, I love this and it looks good

[@colinmackay92]

You guys are awesome. When I first found you you only had about 900 subs. Now you have almost 50,000!!! You've come a long way and it's because of all these high quality and fun to watch videos. Keep it up you two!!

[@clydecamilleri6627]

I am proudly enjoying some mead I made with my buds whilst watching this video. Tnx for the recipe. It turned out great.

[@jameskeal8957]

You did the podcast #no 3 and it explained all that I didn't know about your videos i have watched and saved. I'm sure that I've missed several videos because I didn't like them, nor leave a comment. This is a first, for both for me. Thank You both for your great information and keep up the good advice you gave.

[@jaygilbert8741]

thanks guys im giving this a go soon , Derica you look great in this video and make me smile every-time i watch you guys brew lol

[@renatedundysmarrello3369]

I made this brew today! I am so grateful for the work you do creating recipes!

[@danielellis3051]

I found your channel after I stared my first two projects. I love the fact that you are not only entertaining and have some grand ideas, but you also are informative and give context to what is happening. You show in your videos you care about the craft and expanding the knowledge of your community. Thank you!!!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Thank you for watching!

[@jsaucee1]

@@CitySteadingBrews just watched this again after seeing your tasting. I was curious to know if you noticed if that berry mixture stained your white bucket?

[@patlawson1659]

I like the idea of putting peppers in the wine , I have several bottles of pepper sauce that I use . Food for thought . 🤠

[@mildredtoepfer7897]

Jalapeno and Berries are one of the best combos out there.

[@DSK2007]

I did a cherry habanero mead for my buddy not too long ago. It was stunning. Sweet yet tart on the front end with a nice heat at the end. Love you guys keep up the awesome job. I always look forward to your brew videos dropping

[@Humble_Grumble]

I love that idea, cherry and habanero. I'm going to have a go at a spicy wine this year, growing my own jalapenos first, and cherry sounds delicious.

[@tagon42]

Going all out with those action shots. That is a wonderful slow honey pour.

[@thenotsurechannel7630]

What's mildly entertaining is today this video came into my suggested video feed... and similarly not but 2 days ago, I just started 3 meads, one being a mead with water that I boiled berries in. Raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, and strained out the pulp before mixing. Next to it... a bottle of just straight wild flower honey must, and another with sourwood honey. Consistently, my Wildflower honey must in a 1 pint honey to 2 pints water mix comes to a gravity of 1.126. Interestingly enough the sourwood must came to 1.131, and the berry water mixed with Wildflower honey came to 1.140. I can only assume that the sugar content of sourwood honey is a bit higher, and the berry water provided a bit more sugar than that when mixed. With the berry mix, I wanted to do something around a "hypothetical" concept of having found a "wild" hive, (local bee supply store) and a bunch of berries in some fertile land (grocery store) to make it. lol.

[@alexgrable9349]

This recipe looks great cant wait to try it. So far i have an orange mead and a viking blood mead fermenting for 1 week and the other is about 3 days

[@lumberjack5726]

Started a 55 gallon batch of your simple sweet red for my wedding. Fermenting like crazy

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Wow, 55 gallons!

[@lumberjack5726]

@james cowboy blow off bucket

[@dabadydab]

Hey guys! Just wanted to comment and let you know I just started brewing my own mead. Ive had a lot of questions and you guys have answered so many of them. Thank you guys for keeping things simple.

[@davide2711]

I've tried a couple home brew wines, meads, ale and cider and I have to say: I like meads the most! I'll have to try this next. Thank you for the upload.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You are welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@justinsegarra675]

Aside from being awesome, they are just the cutest together lol God Bless

[@DirtHoleFarmer]

I am making this now and just dud my first rack in 6/5 and had to sneak a taste.......this stuff rocks! Thanks for the great recipe!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You are welcome!

[@dillonfisher7756]

Love you videos found them this week and Probably have watched at least half of one minute past week

[@captainhennahead2323]

You both are so awesome!! You remind me of myself and my wife...so in love .. so in tune... and just so darned.. ... GROOVY!!!! I'm studying this home brewing information very thoroughly before I start. You both are teaching me so much!!! I still have two months before I get my gear ( everything in that supplies video you posted! Thank you!!! lol) You've both already made my life more interesting. Thank you. Much love from Shawn and Wanda in Indiana! 💝

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Wow, thanks! Happy to help!

[@captainhennahead2323]

@@CitySteadingBrews Thanks for the light speed answer! Hey wow! Lol! and again.... thank YOU BOTH!!! And you're most welcome! I'm so excited to try this!!!

[@eRahja]

I just found your channel. Love it I'm going to start brewing tommorow for the first time. Greatings from finland and thank for the great content.

[@BrianHolmes]

Highly inspiring.

[@ginmu5265]

Tried maKing this one earlier in the year as my first time mead/wine recipe and it is absolutely wonderful! It was such a huge hit at the local ren faire!!! Thank you guys your recipes are amazing! As where it was my first attempt at homebrew i just wana tba k you not only for this recipe but for all the informational videos you guys have been so generous to gift us with!!!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Happy to help :)

[@gracemoore3822]

I like this and plan to try it soon because you make it look pretty easy.

[@nathanielsizemore8594]

Good morning Brian and Derica. I have found that a red jalapeno chile has a fruitier taste than the green ones, which are more grassy, both have a pleasant heat. I'm looking forward to seeing the follow on videos.

[@erikstrawn3885]

I had a bumper crop of cherries last spring and started a five-gallon batch of cherry-jalapeno wine with 10 lbs of cherries and 10 jalapenos. It turned out pretty good, but feedback was very divided; people really did or didn't like it. The tartness of the cherries makes it seem dryer than it is while it's still very sweet. Also, I used Lalvin 1118 which is good for cherry wines and tolerates a wide temperature range, but also produces about 18%, so the extra alcohol made the heat seem hotter.

[@fleecurley8315]

keep the videos coming guys, your latest updated video honestly made my day!!... I'm currently waiting on all my latest batches being ready to drink and a fresh video from the masters helps kill the time more easily. RESPECT & keep up the good work

[@kstorm889]

Thanks guys! finally started this one last week after waiting many months, as I was told I had too many brews haha. Took a sample tonight to measure and the taste is bomb!

[@DZSabre]

I am taking a different approach to this. In Skyrim, (I know you are only starting into Skyrim meads this year - 2022) there is a Dragon's Breath mead in one of the quests. There is no recipie for this in the Skyrim cookbook so I decided not to go the pepper route and instead, focus on the spices that are already used in the Skyrim cookbook for the other meads. Since Cinnamon Ginger and Cloves are used in half of the mead recipies, I figured the heat is going to come from one or more of these. My approach is to make a cyser with Cloves and Ginger in Primary and then in secondary, add in homemade cinnamon extract (using Everclear 151). SInce Skyrim dragons breath either fire or frost, I figure that the extract produces the heat form the cinnamon and alcohol burn thought he alcohol sensation is also reminicent of frost. I just started the batch and will let you know how it goes. The resulting fortified mead should be near 18% or 19% ABV.

[@DZSabre]

Update: My experiment worked! I really like the result, it has heat from the Ceylon Cinnamon and ginger but the sweetness (1.028 FG) cuts it nicely. I ended up putting 16oz of the homemade extract into a Gallon of mead so it was a larger than normal batch in the end and it ended at a 17% ABV (approx). I think in my next batch, I will only add 8oz to a gallon. It will lower the ABV to something more normal and still have the cinnamon heat.

[@armedbear529]

Even The Derica doesn’t know what The Derica will do.

[@billybaxter1647]

I love watching you guys

[@thanielxj11]

I've been watching these videos for years and I just realized that the name of the channel is like homesteading but in the city.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Lol 😎

[@davestalker5458]

hey guys. i love your videos! youve inspired me to start making my own meads and wines. funny that i should see this one now, as i just tried my first homemade wine last night which i put a jalapeno into for some spice. and oh man is it nice. my buddy thought i was nuts for putting a jalapeno in there, but now he cant get enough. thanks for the inspiration and information. you guys rock!

[@SirGolfalot-]

Glad to see the 71-B. Besides creating fruity esters during fermentation, 71-B also consumes a percentage of Malic acids in the must during fermentation. You know, Malic Acid is like biting into a veryTart Green Apple. 71-B creates a good fruity smooth red wine or red mead. That said I pitched 71-B once to make apple wine, and the apple wine turned out a little flat Good luck. Anticipating the taste tests.

[@thepdevil1993]

You might consider Fresno Peppers or Red Jalapeños if you're looking for a sweet and spicy balance in a capsaimel. (not sure if that's how it's spelled) When Jalapeños fully ripen and turn red they get a bit sweet, mellow out their spice a bit, and the flavor changes a little to something a little more unique among Peppers. Just an idea I had. Been watching for a while and absolutely love everything you guys do. Will be making my own vikings blood mead once I can source ingredients. Kind of a combination of your two versions.

[@jdrains16]

So glad TRBOS is back in this video!!!

[@MikoChika]

Excited to see how this one turns out. Just last night I started a mango jalapeno mead, reeeeaaaally hoping the one 1 of mangos was enough. if not, i get to put another lb into secondary. lol. I've used the triple berry mix before in one of my brews. I'm excited to see the consensus of how the jalapeno stacks up to the triple berries when it comes time for a clean secondary racking.

[@rayhouston7649]

I think a dried chipotle pepper would be amazing in this. Have the heat and smoky flavor

[@bryanmoore7229]

Jalapeños are just sweet peppers! 😇😝 Love the videos. Looking forward to the next video on the step fed sack mead.

[@tomdoyle6030]

That's gonna be a nice tipple . Keep up the great work guys

[@ryansmith9135]

Reffering to the part where your talking about you want the peppers to be sweet & the heat to go away quick - Roquito peppers in that case, would be an amazing choice!

[@Mando_Kor]

@8:42 thanks for giving a real time pour shot of the honey! :)

[@lynsmith2698]

ohh this one is very interesting. Can't wait to follow its progress

[@chrism4673]

WOW, what an opening!!!!!!!

[@LesliePeters]

Working on my own dragon breath, but instead of a berry medley, I use dragonfruit smoothie packs to capture the ‘dragon’ aspect. Will be putting in some dried ghost pepper for a while to power it up. Great shows as always.

[@borttorbbq2556]

Ghost peppers would be really good painful but good does that is one thing I notice about ghost peppers the bite doesn't last as long as you expect no Carolina Reaper that's for certain

[@davidrose415]

Oooo dragon fruit mead... I wonder if it would work. Work as in taste good.

[@tommanning7337]

Great video, like usual 👍🏻👍🏻

[@gregvaughntx]

If you were making Dragon Breath again, would you still cook the berries? In newer videos I've heard you say if they're from frozen then you don't need to do anything to them because the cell walls are broken down well enough.

[@Brandyalla]

This looks interesting, and gave me some ideas. My first fermentation experiments were with a ginger jalapeno thingy that I called Gingereno. I tried it a few times, but could never quite get the spicy balance correct, plus the jalapenos had this vegetal taste that was really off-putting. Also, the family complained about the presence of peppers in their drinks ("Ginger is already spicy enough" etc). But I really like sweet-spicy and I want to make it work. So here are my thoughts. I want to split the batch in half and do one with ginger (and maybe hibiscus too...that would make it kind of a Viking Blood/Dragon Breath hybrid. Imagine a Viking dragon!), and one with a single serrano (serrano because it is spicier than jalapeno, so could get away with just one maybe; but also it's quite a small pepper, so hopefully less of the vegetal taste will get into the brew). To do this, I would ferment the berry mix all together, then split it for secondary and add the adjuncts. What do you think? Would enough of the spiciness get into it with less time and limited fermentation of those bits? I imagine it would, but there's probably something I'm not thinking of. Would only partially fermenting the pepper produce more or less of the flavor I didn't like? I really want this to work; if it doesn't this time I'll probably give up on the whole idea. Thanks!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We found that when we used certain types of peppers we too ended with a vegetal note. The good news is even though we didn’t enjoy drinking it we found it to be a fantastic addition to food such as chili. A side note: Viking Blood is a cherry mead while Dansk Mjod’s Viking Blod has a hibiscus addition. I see your logic in a smaller spicier pepper perhaps giving you the spice you like without the vegetal note but the only way to know for sure is to try it. I hope it works out for you!

[@rogerlareau7621]

Hi Brain I found it Dragons Breath Mead . Sorry for looking better . Love you KZbin cast love learning from you you make everything so easy and understandable Thanks Roger I will be joining the VIP club soon. Thanks again Roger

[@jeffb957]

Hey, could you guys put the recipe in the description? Or is there a blog or page somewhere with the ingredients written out? Thanks

[@jeanjones4964]

I saw this and thought of you guys. Since you are D&D gamers this might interest you. It is an actual cookbook and the recipes look good . There's a section called Elixers &Sales. I checked this out at my local library. Amazon has it. Heroe's Feast is the title.

[@treym322]

Just wanted to say as many as Times as you use that cup I would think that you would have it memorized by now!! Haha I love watching y’all’s videos! ❤️

[@chrism4673]

Great vid! Thanks

[@mattvannostrand54]

I just recently bought a 6lbs of ambrosia honey co. Honey at Walmart and the taste is amazing and I hate honey!

[@Hin_Håle]

You guys have got me sold on capsicumel. I've decided to spice up my autumn fruit mead with long pepper. Not technically a capsicumel I suppose but maybe a pipermel?

[@Kooma4Yew1600]

That sounds amazing! Long pepper is my favorite spice in my milk punch- how did this turn out?

[@Schpooon]

I liked this video 6 seconds in because of that incredible dragon rawr

[@stephenknecht7189]

That growl was very unexpected

[@taylorp.2872]

sweet pepper mead, would love to see what that would turn out to be... that does sound interesting....

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It’s not good, lol.

[@daveEmartin]

Speaking of Scotch. Be sure check out, Scotch: A Golden Dream doc on Netflix. It’s beautiful!

[@DawiFromAnotherHold]

I sampled this brew yesterday after 5 months of aging, served it to 10 people and everyone tasted something different 😂 Next time, will try one pepper(tossed in two) and some oak chips aging. Still! Everyone enjoyed it. Can recommend, and will brew again! Edit. Actually, you guys would know. Does the pepper mellow out a bit?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Not really. I always recommend less chile than you think you want.

[@RobGraham048]

I also used fresh cherries in mine, I'll let ya know how it turns out.

[@user-gm8lz5ni3l]

So I made this today And about 3 hrs in the mead went into the airlock..... I go to remove and replace airlock and got a face full of sticky dragons breath mace lol. It don't feel good in eyes but I'll be damned I doubted how it would taste but that's damn good. Can't wait for it to finish. Thanks guys for the guide. I love making mead!!!!!!

[@user-gm8lz5ni3l]

I'm hoping I didn't mess it up cuz it went from going crazy to nothing happening after the dragon spraying. Oh well if it don't act up I'll just drink the juice.... Make a hell of a smoothie. 😂 🥤 🍷

[@user-gm8lz5ni3l]

Update so what, we are now 4 hrs in and the dang thing exploded all over my wall lol. A pesky piece of fruit blocked the air lock untill pressure got to great wish I could send a photo. Lol I'm done now. Love your content.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yep! You want to keep an eye on that fruit cap. Not only to keep it moist but to make sure it isn't clogging up the works as you witnessed in person. Happy Brewing!

[@drloki1969]

I currently blend liqueurs for myself and those brave enough to not care about homemade stuffs. I make a Fireball clone that uses dried chili to provide the heat (namely Chili de Arbol). Would this be a fair substitute for the fresh jalapenos in this recipe? I have a fair amount of the chilis and would like to utilize them in something new. PS I love the channel, it has inspired me to move beyond blending into brewing (plus my wife fell in love with the meads at the Ren Faire).

[@ariochtheloud9476]

Dear Brian, to connect bottling wand to hose, let the hose end sit in very warm water for 20 seconds

[@scarchie1275]

lol I am thinking of making this, especially considering the current climate in NSW Australia at the moment.

[@gutwrench3147]

You guys have inspired me to try my hand at my first mead with this recipe. Thank you! However, I am concerned already. I added a cup of sugar to the berry’s to macerate and I thought that it would help it sweeten. Did I muck it up already? Or will it just raise abv?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Probably fine… but we recommend following trusted recipes in the beginning.

[@jasonmyersOU812]

If someone were to say that those are sweet peppers you should invite them to "bite your pepper" and find out. I'm sure they will change that tune real quick. :D

[@successfulusername]

So the seeds and veins in a pepper is where the ‘heat’ is stored. But it’s also bitter, so I wonder if you went back to the habanero and de-veined and de-seeded it if you could restrict the heat and limit getting a bitterness?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Could be!

[@nojomo4947]

You should add a wood chip for the second fermentation.

[@nojomo4947]

Add a smoke aspect.

[@AtilaeusGaming]

I know you have mentioned that you can re-use the fruit you use in your fermentation but I don't believe you have put a video out yet about some cool and creative things to do with it. Would you please consider making a video about this if you already haven't. I also had a question about using fruit to ferment. Will the sugars in the fruit affect the hydrometer reading and give a false ABV? Or am I just overthinking? Thank you very much for your time!

[@dan-tv8kv]

jalapeños can be sweet. If you let them finish growing and turn red🤠

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Erm... jalapeños get hotter when red not sweeter.

[@Skulltap]

Love the honey shot lol! I never thought of fruity heat, I'll be adding it to my list. That pesky list I can't seem to keep up with. Now the real question, melomel + capsicumel = melocapsicumel? capsimelomel? melcapsicomel? I haven't had great luck with adding honey before water. I always seem to end up with too much or too little honey for my goal. I got tired of guessing so now I add the water first and get a reading and calculate how much to add.

[@borttorbbq2556]

Mepsimel

[@JustMeSven]

Nice that you did it :D

[@kaku_zato]

would it make any difference, if you used a blender instead of mashing them up?

[@robertmoore6660]

How would adding peppers and fruit in secondary work.

[@iGEARi]

would love to see the follow up added to the video. You always do the batches then mention moving them to a carboy in 2 weeks. Can you video this? show us you bottling/final product etc?

[@jasonandrews2921]

I was thinking about putting cinnamon disks into a batch of mead. Is it possible? Recommendations on when/how during the process?

[@tanasebrle9052]

Gotta love those super slow-mo food pours... brings a whole new meaning to food porn.... lol

[@tattoolimbo]

I am too poor to buy gallons of honey so probably not going to make mead but I am making a batch of different wine every Wednesday. Have 3 weeks worth now, none have finished to rack as of yet but my plan is to make enough weekly to never have to buy alcohol again! lol. But I searched and didn't find anything about wine with hot pepper or chilies. I have had beer with green chilies so I may stick a sliced jalapeno into one of the wines I am making now. Or in my next batch on Wednesday.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You can use any of our recipes that include honey and just sub sugar instead. You'll need about 25% less though since sugar adds more gravity to a must than honey does.

[@tattoolimbo]

@@CitySteadingBrews awesome, thank you

[@ItzQ5]

Jalapeños are a fruit and so if you allow them to ripen more, to a more red color they will have more sugar to them and add give more flavor to the profile than spice :) just something you may consider later ❤️

[@boydmcree9085]

Some people like surprises.

[@CarlPapa88]

Hmm...take a sample through the sieve. Hadn't thought about that.

[@Brandon-vo1jd]

Question. I don’t have any bucket fermenters. Do you think this recipe would fit in the 1.4 gal wide mouth bubbler from Northern Brewer? I want to make this but don’t want to wait on a bucket lol.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

You can just scale it to different sizes.

[@sonnelson3]

Quick question do you have to brew the tea or just throw the bag in with the fruit ? also your videos are great !!

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Brew it first or it might be overpowering since we can control the strength that way.

[@dp5548-g1e]

Do you ever use pectic enzyme when fermenting with fruit?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Yes, but usually after fermentation if it doesn't clear on its own.

[@RobGraham048]

some of your videos recommends using a whole packet if you are making 2 gallons or more, other videos says use whole packet if you are making 3 gallons or more. Is there a change somewhere that I have missed?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I don’t tecall saying 2 gallons.... though it is possible.

[@louise-confessionsofanunce6571]

Hi guys! Have you ever made dragon fruit mead?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

We have not :)

[@jeanjones4964]

Can I use the Fleischman bread yeast?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

When I use bread yeast that's what I use. However, it's a little lower tolerance than the yeast used here, so you may need to adjust your fermentables.

[@CalcioFan4Ever]

So i have a question. I recently tried mead for the first time. It was by stardust cellars and it was vikings blood at 14% It wasnt what i was expecting. I was expecting a sweet/tart drink much like say a blackberry wine. Instead i got something that tasted like beer, though with a weird silky feel to it. I wasnt too much of a fan as im not much of a beer fan and i was hoping what i said, a slightly sweet/tart wine esque drink Did i just get a too dry a mead, or is this the common flavor?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

My meads don’t taste like beer. They must have had malt or hops in the must.

[@nicholaskarako5701]

Good call not using a dragon's breath chili 2,480,000 Scoville units.

[@christopherbostic7833]

You should make a sweet potato mead or wine

[@stephenknecht7189]

I have 2 2gal buckets and i hate em.. They.dont seal good.. The co2 comes out from the lid and not the air lock. Is there a way to fix that

[@lauriloo38c]

Got my dragon’s breath mead in the bucket! My first mead (as with everything new I try, I jump right into the middle rather than start with the basic, lol). My first rookie mistake was try to mix everything in the bag in the bucket rather than mix it in a pot, take a reading and pour it all in. The first reading was about 1.08 and that’s way lower than yours so I stirred some more best I could and got 1.098. Put in the 3.5lbs of honey and all the rest the same as you so hope it goes as well!! Live and learn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

I'm watching this to make like rts! Should I use the fresh Jalapenos or the ones that are a little dried out? I definitely don't want extra spicy (your description of balanced sounds amazing!)

[@CitySteadingBrews]

Fresh is better for fruity.

[@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582]

@@CitySteadingBrews I did end up using the fresh ones. I ate one of the slightly wrinkly ones w cream (love that w takis too) and my mouth was not happy me me for a long time. I decided I should use the fresher ones I bought at the store.

[@firebird5889]

I'm considering making my next batch of mead with buckwheat honey. Any suggestions/recommendations for another strong flavor to pair with it?

[@RobGraham048]

pepper seeds is where the majority of the heat comes from.

[@CitySteadingBrews]

It's actually the core and ribs, but the seeds are connected to them so that's why people think it's the seeds.

[@themonkeyking5]

I wonder what adding smoked oak chips for about a week or two after the fermentation is done would taste like?

[@CitySteadingBrews]

I'd think... smoky oak? :)

[@themonkeyking5]

@@CitySteadingBrews I've heard of people doing it before.