Honey Ale/Mead recipe help?

[Drunken Horse]

Would this be a winner or a binner?

I dont really want to make honey wine mead. I prefer more the ale style.

Going to make a small sample batch in a DJ

Was going to use

800g Honey
800g LME
1/2 sliced (sterilised) orange

30g mixed hops (probably fuggles and saaz because I've got some open) Going to leave these in 1 litre of boiling water for around 40 minutes and strain the tea before adding to the DJ.
1 tsp nutrient
1 tsp pectolase
1 packet of ale yeast.


Would you add anythin different or do something different

 

[RobWalker]

one of my favourites! google for Braggot or Braggard. if possible, boil the LME for a while too. add the honey at flame out and it'll dissolve nicely. leave the skin on the orange too, it adds awesome flavour.

You won't get much bitterness from a 1 litre boil so I'd suggest just boiling them for 15-20 mins as that's the flavour point. Add some towards the end (5 mins or so) for some hop aroma too :thumb:

not much to add past there, although I'm not sure what your OG will be and if the ale yeast will tolerate it. Mangrove Jacks Belgian is £2 a packet and tolerates 14% abv - if not just finish it off with wine yeast. :thumb:

 

[Drunken Horse]

one of my favourites! google for Braggot or Braggard. if possible, boil the LME for a while too. add the honey at flame out and it'll dissolve nicely. leave the skin on the orange too, it adds awesome flavour.

You won't get much bitterness from a 1 litre boil so I'd suggest just boiling them for 15-20 mins as that's the flavour point. Add some towards the end (5 mins or so) for some hop aroma too :thumb:

not much to add past there, although I'm not sure what your OG will be and if the ale yeast will tolerate it. Mangrove Jacks Belgian is £2 a packet and tolerates 14% abv - if not just finish it off with wine yeast. :thumb:

Cheers, I've got some wine yeast will use that, thought Ale yeast for the flavour but didnt think on about there would still be a lot of sugars despite me stripping the proportions back a bit.