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Over a decade and a half ago, a barista and a former barista got hitched, and one of the things they served at their wedding was a punch made from hibiscus tea, ginger ale, orange juice, and cinnamon syrup.

Just like any recipe, it took time to develop. Different amounts of juice, different amounts of syrup. Steep times. It all got tested. And then tasted. And it went over well. So well in fact that I had almost completely forgotten it. After all, it was the (now) wife’s idea, I was just another hand to stir and a set of taste buds.

But, when she came to me and suggested I try to make a mead based on it, I decided to give it a go. She puts up with all of my hobbies, and in fact even supports most of them. Plus she enjoys mead, so why not?

Research

So the first thing that goes into making a recipe, at least in my book, is to figure out if someone else has done it before. Don’t re-invent the wheel. So I looked. And I came across this but that never led anywhere. Did it work out, did it just die? By now, the thread is six years old and dead. So I kept looking. And then there was this Viking Blöd clone recipe. Closer, and one I will be trying at one point in the future! And then I struck gold on Reddit. Heartbound. The pictures from this mead were what I envisioned, and it had enough of a starting point for me to go from. Okay, I had the hibiscus part settled, now the orange. JOAM! I had already made a batch of Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead once (my second batch of mead ever), so I went back to it, and relied on some of what I had learned there. That took care of the orange, and the cinnamon stick for that matter. Let me note now that I had completely forgotten about the ginger element at this point. All of my research shows that ginger should be added during the primary fermentation phase, so a bit late now. We’ll see if I add any during secondary when I update this post.

1 Gallon Orange-Hibiscus Melomel Recipe

Ingredients

3 lbs orange blossom honey
1 tsp orange zest
1 Large Orange, peeled (remove all the pith) and cut into 1/8s
1 Cinnamon Stick, broken
1/4 lb of hibiscus petals
1 tsp of yeast nutrient
1 packet of SaftBrew T-58 Yeast
90 Ounces of water

Instructions:

Bring water to about 140 degrees and add the 1/4 lb of flower petals. Steep for 2 hours. Strain and add honey and 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, stirring thoroughly.  Cool to room temperature add the fruit and cinnamon stick. Aerate! Take a Gravity reading and pitch the yeast, giving it a final shake.

After 3 days, add another 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient and give it a shake.
After another 3 days, add another 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient and give it a shake.

Primary Fermentation is complete when the fruit has dropped.

This last picture is right before I pitched the yeast, look at how much the orange absorbed the color of the hibiscus! This batch started bubbling almost immediately, and went powerfully for a few days before slowing down. Waiting now for the fruit to drop so I can taste-test it and move it off the yeast cake and spent fruit.

My plan right now is to rack onto 1 whole hibiscus flowers worth of petals. Leave for two weeks then rack again. This is strictly to impart back into the mead the aromas that the initial fermentation took out of the mead. I expect very little flavor change here, but we will see. I will also be checking this throughout the process to look for the characteristics I am after. If they come out sooner, I will rack again off of the flower petals.

Let this clarify, rack one more time, and then bulk age or move to bottles to age. Take your final gravity rating before you bottle.

OG via refractometer: 1.122

Questions, thoughts?