• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Mad AlcheMead

Experiments in Brewing

  • What is Mead?
    • What is Mead?
    • What does Mead taste like?
    • History of Mead
    • The Mead of Poetry
    • Honey: What makes the Mead
    • Is Mead Gluten Free (and other Drinks)?
  • How To Make Mead
    • How do I Make Mead? (Beginner)
    • How do I Make Mead? (Intermediate)
    • Mead Making Equipment Guide
    • How to deal with a Stuck Fermentation
    • Is my Mead Infected?
    • How to Back Sweeten Mead
    • How much Spice to put in Mead?
    • Oaking your Mead
    • How to Clear Mead
    • How to Filter Mead
    • How to Keg Mead
    • How to Bottle your Mead
    • Clean and Sanitize Mead Brewing Equipment
  • Brew Logs/Recipes
  • Reviews
  • Articles
Mead Spices

How much Spice to put in Mead?

June 25, 2017 by The Mad AlcheMeadist

Spices are a great flavor additive that can add a ton of variety and complexity to your meads. However, unlike with fruit, their potency can impart a strong taste in a very short period of time. So it can be prudent to err on the side of caution when adding spices. More can always be added to increase the flavor. But once it is infused, blending or an extreme amount of aging are your only hopes at redeeming an overpowering spice. Do note that the aging process can do some miraculous things. I’ve read about some meadmakers accidentally adding five times the recommended amount of a certain spice, and it turned into an interesting drink after a year or two of aging. But in order to avoid such long timelines, I’ve compiled a list of guidelines to at least give you a relative target to aim for. These should be good to get the flavor infused and noticeable. If you’re looking for a more dominant character from the spice, adding a bit more would be within reason.

Remember there are a few methods to extracting flavors from spices. You can add them directly into your brew (do so after fermentation ends so that the flavor compounds don’t get pushed out the airlock). This method is the simplest, but you have the least control over the end product. You’ll want to monitor it closely. Another method is to steep the herbs or spices in boiling water to extract the flavors. This works on certain types of chemical compounds better than others. The final method is to make a tincture by soaking the spices in a strong alcohol like vodka. This will extract flavors that are soluble in alcohol. The latter two methods allow you to add the flavoring to the mead with more control, as you can just add until the taste is where you want it.

Amount to add per gallon of mead

Spice/Herb Quantity
Allspice ½ tsp
Anise 1-2 tsp
Basil, sweet ½ cup
Cocoa nib 1-2 ounces
Caraway seeds ⅕ tsp
Carob pods ¼ pod
Cardamon seeds ½ tsp
Chamomile ⅓ ounce
Chile, pepper ½ ounce
Cinnamon ½ – 1 stick
Citrus blossoms 1 cup
Clove 1 bud
Coffee, bean 2.5 shots espresso
Coriander seeds ½  tsp
Cowslip flowers ½ ounce
Dandelion leaf ¼ pound
Dillweed ½ tbsp
Elderberry flower ¼ ounce
Elecampane root ¼ ounce
Fennel  seed ½ tsp
Fig Leaves ⅙ cup
Ginger ½ -1″ of fresh ginger, sliced
Grains of paradise ¼ tsp
Heather 2 cups
Horehound flower ⅓ ounce
Juniper berries ¼ tsp
Juniper leaf ½ ounce
Lavender flower  ⅕ ounce
Lemon leaves ⅙ cup
Licorice root 1/10 ounce
Mace ½  tsp
Mahlab (cherry pit) ¼ tsp
Mint ½ tbsp, bruised
Milk thistle leaf ⅓ ounce
Mugwort leaf ⅓ ounce
Nettle leaf ⅙ pound
Nutmeg 1 nut, crushed or 1 tsp powder
Orange zest of a single orange
Orange Leaves ⅙ cup
Oregano 1-2 tbsp
Peppercorn ¼ tsp
Rose Petals 1 cup
Rosehips, dried 2-8 ounces
Rosemary ⅕ ounce
Sage ⅙ cup
Sarsaparilla root 1/10 ounce
Spruce bud 1 ounce
Star Anise ½ -1 tsp
Sweet gale ⅓ ounce
Sweetgrass ⅙ ounce
Vanilla bean 1 bean, split
Wintergreen leaf ⅓ ounce
Wormwood 0.04 ounce
Yarrow leaf ⅓ ounce

Time Limited Additions

There are some herbs and spices that you cannot leave in your brew until it is ready to bottle. These are so potent that you only want to have their flavor being leached for a limited amount of time. Otherwise the flavor will overwhelm anything else in your brew. You can rack off of these ingredients, or place them in a hop bag that can be removed when you’ve hit the concentration you want.

Spice/Herb Quantity Duration
Szechuan Peppers 2 tbsp 2-4 weeks
Orange peel with pith ½ orange peel 1-2weeks
Lavender ⅙ cup Check Daily*
Rosemary ⅙ cup Check Daily*

*Remove when half desired strength. Tends to intensify

Filed Under: How to Make Mead

Mead Accessories

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Brew Log: Plum Mead
  • Banana Wine
  • Brew Log: Ginger Mead
  • Brew Log: Orange Blossom Honey Traditional
  • Hive & Barrel Meadery

Where To Find Mead

Meaderies by State

Tools

Brewing Calculators

Suggested Article

clearing-mead

How to Clear Mead

Presentation can be fairly important. If you offer your homebrew to a friend, and they receive a cloudy drink with sediment floating around, their first impression of your work is not likely to be very positive. No matter what it tastes like, if it looks gross, that initial judgement is going to taint their overall […]

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · HARU Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in