My first attempt at a hibiscus mead turned out boozy and very sweet. We murdered the entire gallon at a BBQ in 2015 and had absolutely wonderful time with it.
But for round two, I wanted something less kick-your-ass sweet. The problem with batch 1 was that the sweetness overpowered the hibiscus. So I knocked the honey back from 3lbs per gallon to 2.4 lbs per gallon.
Batch 2 Hibiscus Mead:
12 lbs honey from Cook’s Honey
1 gallon of hibiscus tea
Lalvin EC-1116 yeast
Topped with water to 5.2 gallons
In primary for 3.5 weeks, then glass carboy till today.
I started it Jan 26, 2016 and it’s going into bottles today. It’s on the sweet side, but the hibiscus is there this time. I’m happy with it.
Two bottles are going to our work’s holiday raffle basket and the rest are going in for aging. And drinking, when people come over, of course!
rumhounds 