The other day we got a good snowfall in my area. I’ve been thinking about melting snow and using it to make a mead, so I decided to do it. The snow was melted and taken up to pasteurization temperature. It’s now just waiting for Saturday when I make the batch. I did melt some of the snow in a glass to taste it. It was very clean and refreshing.
This batch will ultimately be pretty normal (aside from using snow). I’ve got a bucket of wildflower honey from an apiary that’s about an hour south of me. Yeast will be D-47.
I don’t imagine using snow will affect this batch in any discernible way as compared to the spring water I normally use. But it will be a fun story to tell anyone who’s drinking it. ;D
A number of years ago, Rogue, in Newport, OR, brewed a beer they called Yellow Snow. I think it was an APA. As I recall, it wasn’t up to my expectations for them.
Cool! Cold actually.
I have made a few maple meads with maple sap instead of water. Similar in that it might not have mattered much but there was a cool factor.
Mead snow cones might be good. I could picture packing a glass with snow and adding a berry Melomel.
You’ll have let us know how it turns out. I imagine you’d get much the same effect as switching from spring water to RO. I assume snow is pretty low on dissolved minerals.
Well this plan unfortunately fell through. The water I melted a few days ago got a metallic taste from the pot. I should have moved it to something else rather than just letting it sit in the boiling pot for all that time. I figured I could gather up some more snow today, but I think it’s been on the ground too long. I melted some and gave it a taste. It tasted dirty. Guess it’s been absorbing stuff from the ground or the air, or both.
I still made the batch of mead today but used my spring water instead.
I’ll try a snow mead at some point, although I’ll need to line up the making of the batch with a fresh snowfall. It will happen, but it’s on hold for the moment.
