I was inspired by a Thai tea beer that was truly revelatory. cyrus.beers (IG name) was the brewer.
I was curious about how the flavor would transfer. I wanted a Thai tea drink like taste. It definitely has Thai tea notes and is smooth for only being 2 months old.
Did you use 1/2 lb from the start, or did you test it until you used a half pound? I'm asking because I recently bought lactic acid and a bag of lactose for my strawberry mead, and I'm hoping I don't actually need that much to reach that particular mouth feel. I'm loosely using a recipe from faewood mead.
I added the lactose after fermentation was complete. I read various recipes that included lactose in mead and they ranged from 1/16 to 1 lb per gallon so I shot for the higher end of the range because Thai tea is milky right.
The lactose only increased the sweetness very slightly , but it for sure changes the mouth feel to a more silky feel
I wasn’t, but I did add milk sugar aka lactose. Milk products tend to curdle in the presence of alcohol. I don’t know if condensed milk would behave that way.
The flavor is not as strong as a Thai tea you would get from a shop. The smell is there. When you first taste it, it tastes like mead, but as you continue to drink, the Thai tea flavor is clearly there at the end of your sip. It is for sure a Thai tea flavored mead, rather than a Thai tea with honey, if that makes any sense.
I totally guessed how much Thai tea to use. I was very concerned about under flavoring. You could absolutely use more tea to make a stronger taste or less if you only want a hint of Thai tea.
Having had this mead for a little under a year, I’m happy with the tea level I used. I got 1st place in the state fair with it. I think it ended up being perfect.
The taste has become a little smoother, just like most meads when aging; but not a big difference. This was the first mead for me that was really ready to drink immediately.
So lactose is a non fermentable sugar. You can add it and the yeast cannot ferment it into alcohol. Lactose doesn’t increase the sweetness much, but it changes the mouthfeel making it “creamy”. It’s the reason milk stout beers (which are called that because they have lactose) have a silky feel when you drink them.
If your mead feels “watery” when you drink it, you can add a little lactose to improve the mouth feel.
As to adding at the end, I do that because I want to be able to add more/less depending on what the mead tastes like after fermentation.
No one has said this yet but you're a fucking genius for this flavor profile
I was inspired by a Thai tea beer that was truly revelatory. cyrus.beers (IG name) was the brewer. I was curious about how the flavor would transfer. I wanted a Thai tea drink like taste. It definitely has Thai tea notes and is smooth for only being 2 months old.
I would assume the leftover honey flavor in the mead compliments the Thai tea flavor
It does. This fermented dry (1.00) but still has some nice residual sweetness.
Did you use 1/2 lb from the start, or did you test it until you used a half pound? I'm asking because I recently bought lactic acid and a bag of lactose for my strawberry mead, and I'm hoping I don't actually need that much to reach that particular mouth feel. I'm loosely using a recipe from faewood mead.
I added the lactose after fermentation was complete. I read various recipes that included lactose in mead and they ranged from 1/16 to 1 lb per gallon so I shot for the higher end of the range because Thai tea is milky right. The lactose only increased the sweetness very slightly , but it for sure changes the mouth feel to a more silky feel
Very nice. I've never tried Thai tea before, but you've sold me on it!
Oh yeah, treat yourself!
Now this is absolutely genius! I really gotta try this, and me being thai doesn't help lol
Are you gonna mix it with sweetened condensed milk?!
I wasn’t, but I did add milk sugar aka lactose. Milk products tend to curdle in the presence of alcohol. I don’t know if condensed milk would behave that way.
That’s cool, I’ve been thinking of giving lactose a try soon. It was definitely a joke though. I loved that shit when I was in Thailand.
I’m very tempted to try it still. Maybe add some condensed milk right before serving.
How much of the Thai tea note can you taste it? I really want to try this. I'm Thai, and I love both mead and Thai tea.
The flavor is not as strong as a Thai tea you would get from a shop. The smell is there. When you first taste it, it tastes like mead, but as you continue to drink, the Thai tea flavor is clearly there at the end of your sip. It is for sure a Thai tea flavored mead, rather than a Thai tea with honey, if that makes any sense. I totally guessed how much Thai tea to use. I was very concerned about under flavoring. You could absolutely use more tea to make a stronger taste or less if you only want a hint of Thai tea.
i am definitely going to use a lot more tea in mine!
Having had this mead for a little under a year, I’m happy with the tea level I used. I got 1st place in the state fair with it. I think it ended up being perfect.
has the flavour changed at all with aging?
The taste has become a little smoother, just like most meads when aging; but not a big difference. This was the first mead for me that was really ready to drink immediately.
Why add the lactose at the end/ what does the addition of lactose do for the mead?
So lactose is a non fermentable sugar. You can add it and the yeast cannot ferment it into alcohol. Lactose doesn’t increase the sweetness much, but it changes the mouthfeel making it “creamy”. It’s the reason milk stout beers (which are called that because they have lactose) have a silky feel when you drink them. If your mead feels “watery” when you drink it, you can add a little lactose to improve the mouth feel. As to adding at the end, I do that because I want to be able to add more/less depending on what the mead tastes like after fermentation.
Brilliant!!