At a glance
- Style
- Melomel
- Alcohol
- About 12.9% ABV
- Finish
- Off-dry
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Honey
- Orange blossom or wildflower
- Yeast
- Lalvin QA23
- Ready in
- 4 to 6 months
- Batch
- 1 gallon, scalable
Ingredients
Quantities are for one US gallon (3.8 liters). Pick a batch size and every amount updates; one packet of yeast covers up to six gallons. Not sure how much honey your own twist needs? Use the mead calculator.
- 2.25 lb Honey, orange blossom or wildflower
- 3 lb Ripe mango flesh, peeled and cubed (fresh or frozen) (about 4 to 5 large mangoes; added in secondary)
- 0.75 gallons Spring water (to make 1 gallon of must with the honey)
- 1 packet Lalvin QA23 wine yeast (5 g; one packet covers up to 6 gallons)
- 6 g Go-Ferm (yeast rehydration nutrient) (optional but recommended)
- 4 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 4 doses, see steps)
- 1 tsp Pectic enzyme (half with the fruit, half after)
- 1 Lime (zest (no pith) and juice, to taste)
- 0.5 tsp Potassium sorbate
- 1 Campden tablet (potassium metabisulfite)
Swapping the fruit or changing the amount? Adding fruit to mead covers how much to use per gallon, when to add it and how long to leave it. The dose and timing of the enzyme are explained in how much pectic enzyme per gallon of mead. This recipe ferments dry and is sweetened at the end: how to backsweeten mead has the stabilizing doses and a honey chart for any batch size.
Equipment
- 2-gallon bucket with lid
- 1-gallon glass jug
- Airlock and drilled bung
- Hydrometer
- Two fine nylon straining bags (double-bagged)
- Auto-siphon and tubing
- No-rinse sanitizer (Star San)
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
-
Mix and pitch
Dissolve the honey in half the water and top up to 1 gallon; the reading should be around 1.079. Rehydrate the QA23 with Go-Ferm, pitch, and keep it at 59 to 68°F (15 to 20°C).
-
Feed the yeast
Add a quarter of the Fermaid O at 24, 48 and 72 hours and at the 1/3 sugar break (about 1.053) or on day 7. QA23 has a low nitrogen demand, which is why this recipe uses 4 g rather than 5.
-
Peel the mango properly
Use ripe mangoes that give slightly and smell sweet at the stem. Peel them thickly, cut the flesh off the seed and cube it. Leave no skin behind: mango skin carries a piney, resinous flavor (and urushiol, the same irritant as poison ivy). Freeze the cubes for at least 24 hours; bagged frozen mango chunks work fine.
-
Rack onto the mango
When the gravity is below 1.005 (2 to 3 weeks), thaw the mango in a double straining bag, add 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme and rack the mead onto it. Mango turns to mush, and a single bag lets a lot of pulp through.
-
Seven days on fruit
Push the bag under daily. After 7 days, lift it out and let it drain without squeezing. Expect a thick layer of pulp on the bottom.
-
Cold crash and rack
If you can, put the bucket somewhere cold (a fridge or a cold garage) for 3 to 5 days to compact the pulp, then rack carefully into the glass jug with the remaining pectic enzyme. Budget for losing about a tenth of the batch to pulp lees.
-
Add the lime
Once it is clearing, add the lime zest in a small bag for 3 to 5 days, tasting as you go. Then stir in lime juice a teaspoon at a time until the mead tastes bright instead of soft.
-
Stabilize, sweeten, bottle
Add the crushed Campden tablet and sorbate and wait 48 hours. Sweeten with honey: about 7 oz takes it from 0.996 to 1.010. Bottle and give it 2 months.
Timeline
- Day 0Mix, pitch yeast
- Days 1 to 7Nutrient additions; peel and freeze mango
- Weeks 2 to 3Rack onto thawed mango
- Weeks 3 to 4Remove fruit, cold crash, rack
- Weeks 8 to 10Lime, stabilize, sweeten, bottle
- Month 4 and onDrink; best within about 18 months
Why this recipe works
Mango flesh is sweet, around 14% sugar, so 3 lb adds roughly 19 gravity points. That is why the honey is cut to 2.25 lb to land at 1.098. The fruit goes in secondary because the tropical aroma is what you are paying for, and primary would blow most of it away.
Peeling is the step people underestimate. The skin and the layer right under it have a resinous, turpentine-like flavor that extracts readily into alcohol, and mango skin contains urushiol, which some people react to. Cut deeper than you would for eating.
Mango is low in acid, so without help the mead tastes soft and sweet. Lime juice adds acid and the zest adds a top note that makes mango read as more tropical, which suits the fruit better than a neutral acid blend. Add it by taste at the end.
QA23 is a white-wine yeast used for aromatic whites such as Sauvignon blanc. It has a low nitrogen demand, ferments cleanly at cool temperatures and keeps fruity aromas fresh, which is what a tropical fruit mead needs.
Variations
- Pineapple mead: replace the mango with 3 lb of peeled, cored fresh pineapple (about 10% sugar, so roughly 14 points and a starting gravity near 1.093) and skip the lime, because pineapple is already sharply acidic. Sweeten a little more, to about 1.014.
- Tropical blend: 1.5 lb mango plus 1.5 lb pineapple, with half a lime. The pineapple supplies the acid the mango lacks.
- Mango habanero: add half a seeded habanero in a bag for 24 to 48 hours during clearing, tasting every 12 hours. Pull it before it is as hot as you want.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| A thick layer of pulp at the bottom | Normal for mango. Cold crash for a few days and rack slowly with the siphon tip well above the pulp; accept a smaller yield. |
| A resinous, piney taste | Skin got in. It fades somewhat with age, and a slightly sweeter finish helps mask it. Peel more thickly next time. |
| It tastes flat and sweet | Not enough acid. Add lime juice (or 1/4 tsp acid blend) before you judge the sweetness. |
More mead recipes to try
- Peach mead recipe: Ripe peaches in secondary, extra pectic enzyme and acid set by taste for a clear, fragrant mead.
- Hibiscus mead recipe: Dried hibiscus in secondary for ruby color and tartness, balanced with a semi-sweet finish.
- Ginger mead recipe: Fresh ginger twice, lemon for lift and a crisp, dry finish. Excellent sparkling.
More fruit mead recipes: Strawberry mead, Raspberry mead, Blueberry mead, Blackberry mead, Cherry mead, Cyser (apple mead), Joe's Ancient Orange Mead (JAOM), Pyment (grape mead), Elderberry mead, Banana mead, Pomegranate mead, Pumpkin mead, Cranberry mead, Apple pie mead.
Or browse all our mead recipes. If this is your first batch, start with the traditional mead recipe or the step-by-step guide to making honey wine.
Frequently asked questions
How much mango per gallon of mead?
2.5 to 4 lb of peeled flesh per gallon. This recipe uses 3 lb, about 4 to 5 large mangoes.
Can I use frozen mango or mango puree?
Frozen mango chunks are ideal. Pure mango puree works too, but check that it has no preservatives; mango nectar usually has added sugar and often preservatives, so avoid it.
How do you make pineapple mead?
Use this recipe with 3 lb of fresh pineapple instead of the mango, skip the lime and sweeten slightly more. Pineapple is very acidic and thin-bodied, so it needs a bit more sweetness to balance.
Should mango go in primary or secondary?
Secondary. Mango aroma is delicate and would largely ferment away in primary, and pulp in primary makes a much bigger mess of the lees.
How long does mango mead take?
About 2.5 months to bottle and 4 months to drink. Enjoy it within a year or two, while the tropical aroma is fresh.
What ABV is mango mead?
This recipe is about 12.9% ABV; the pineapple version comes in a little lower, around 10%.