Butter Beer Mead: Recipe, Honey Choices, and Tips
This Harry Potter-inspired Butter Beer is a light, sweet mead designed to taste more like butterscotch or hard soda than a traditional mead. It is a session mead with an ABV a little above 5%.
The recipe uses several types of sugar. Honey provides the main fermentable sugar. Cane or beet sugar and dark Belgian candi sugar add more fermentable sugar. Lactose and maltodextrin add body and sweetness because normal brewing yeast does not ferment them.
The recipe also uses caramelized honey. This is called a bochet. The caramelized honey creates the roasted, toasted, and toffee-like flavors that make this mead taste different from a standard honey wine.
Butter Beer Mead
Equipment
- 1 stock pot or dutch oven
- 1 large stainless steel spoon
- 1 large funnel
- 2 five-gallon carboys or buckets
- 1 airlock
- 1 long-handled mash paddle
- 1 kegging system
Ingredients
- 5 lbs wildflower or clover honey in primary
- 1 lb table sugar in primary
- 4 oz lactose in primary
- 1 lb dark Belgian candi sugar in primary
- 3 grams wine tannin in primary
- 4.7 gallons water in primary
- 1 packet wine yeast in primary
- 10 grams Fermaid-O yeast nutrient in primary, use meadtools.com to calculate alternative nutrients
- Stabilizers, by packet instructions in secondary
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract in secondary
- 8 oz lactose in secondary
- 8 oz maltodextrin in secondary
- 5 grams lactic acid (88% solution) in secondary
- 1 gram citric acid in secondary
- 3 lbs honey in secondary, for backsweetening after stabilization
Instructions
- Place all primary sugars in stock pot and bring to a simmer, stirring often.
- Simmer 15-30 minutes without burning the sugars.
- Allow to cool 30 minutes, then loosen with one quart of warm water. Cool completely.
- Pitch yeast.
- Affix airlock.
- After 24 hours, add nutrients.
- Ferment for two weeks.
- Confirm complete fermentation by using a hydrometer.
- Transfer to secondary.
- Stabilize the mead.
- After 24 hours, add in secondary ingredients and backsweeten, stirring gently to combine.
- Allow to clear.
- Transfer to keg and carbonate.
- Serve chilled in a frosty glass.
Video
Why this recipe works
The key to this recipe is the combination of sugars.
Honey provides the main flavor and fermentable sugar. When you caramelize part of it, the heat creates new flavor compounds. These give the mead deeper flavors such as caramel, toast, and toffee.
Cane or beet sugar increases the fermentable sugar without adding much flavor. Dark Belgian candi sugar adds both fermentable sugar and darker caramel-like flavors.
Lactose and maltodextrin work differently. Yeast does not ferment these sugars. They remain in the finished mead and add sweetness and body.
Vanilla reinforces the butterscotch character. It adds a familiar dessert-like aroma without adding actual butter.
The small amounts of lactic acid and citric acid help balance all of this sweetness. Without enough acidity, a sweet drink can taste heavy or flat.
Choose your honey carefully
Honey quality is especially important in this recipe.
The recipe uses 5 pounds of honey in a five-gallon batch. Some of that honey is caramelized, but honey still provides much of the base flavor.
Use a honey that tastes good on its own. Mild wildflower, clover, or orange blossom honey can work well.
You can also use a stronger honey if you want more honey character. Keep in mind that the caramelization, vanilla, and dark candi sugar will already create strong flavors.
Do not use poor-quality honey just because the recipe includes several other ingredients. Bad honey can still show through.
Caramelize the honey carefully
The caramelized honey is the most important part of the recipe.
The recipe caramelizes the honey, cane or beet sugar, and 4 ounces of lactose together for one hour.
Heating honey changes its flavor. It also makes the honey darker and creates caramel and toasted flavors.
This process is hot and sticky. Use appropriate heat-resistant equipment and work carefully.
Do not walk away while the sugar mixture is heating. Hot sugar can cause serious burns.
Fermentation and finishing
EC-1118 wine yeast is used for primary fermentation. This yeast is well suited to a high-sugar fermentation and produces a relatively clean result.
Ferment the mead completely before you finish it. Use a hydrometer to confirm that fermentation is complete and the gravity is stable.
The secondary additions provide much of the final character. Vanilla, lactose, maltodextrin, acids, and erythritol are added after primary fermentation. The recipe also allows honey as the final sweetener if the mead is stabilized or kept very cold.
The finished mead should be sweet and carbonated. Kegging makes this simple because you can sweeten and force carbonate the mead.
Bottle conditioning requires more care. Fermentable honey cannot simply be added for sweetness before sealing the bottles – which is why I recommend erythritol. The yeast can ferment that honey and create excessive pressure.
Things to keep in mind
This is not a traditional dry mead. It is supposed to be sweet, creamy, carbonated, and dessert-like.
Do not expect lactose or maltodextrin to ferment like honey. They are included to remain in the finished drink.
Vanilla can become strong with time. Start with the recommended amount and taste as the mead conditions.
Acidity is also important. A sweet mead needs enough acid to taste bright rather than syrupy.
The main goal is balance. Caramelized honey provides toffee and roasted flavors. Vanilla provides dessert character. Lactose and maltodextrin provide body. Erythritol or honey provides sweetness. Carbonation makes the result crisp and refreshing.
The finished drink is closer to a sparkling butterscotch soda than a traditional mead. That is exactly what makes Butter Beer work!