Recent content by BeeMad

I always put paint strainer bags over my buckets, sometimes more than one. I don't usually see any fruit flies around my fermentation buckets, but I did find one this morning trapped between two bags.

The latest version of TONSA, which was behind a $60 pay-wall, is now free. This simplifies the process of meadmaking for those of us who are still learning the ropes. https://www.meadmaderight.com/tosna.html

There is that, more like a honey-flavored wine. Still, I'd like to compare it to the meads.

I wonder what went wrong with your brother's batch, because I've used it to make five different meads and so far everything has turned out well (besides the two traditionals, I've made two blueberry melomels and an orange melomel). Granted, I only make one-gallon batches at a time, and I...

He actually has an updated version, but it's behind a paywall, so I don't know what changes he may have made to it since I'm sticking with free for now. I'm new to wine/mead making, having started only last November. Out of curiosity, what do you disagree with? It may help me in the future. Thanks.

Check my earlier post with the link to Meadmakr's batchbuilder. It uses TOSNA.

I started my first two traditionals back in December, each made from a different honey, one a light-colored, sweet honey I harvested from one of my hives and the other a dark, very flavorful honey I extracted from a colony I cut out of my neighbor's ceiling. I was really hopeful about the dark...

I started out making mead before trying wine. I've spent a lot of time on Gotmead and listened to the podcasts, but this batch builder really helped with the nuts and bolts. https://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/

As a beekeeper, my thought are that the honey most likely wasn't filtered, or at least not filtered very well, so you have some pollen/wax particulates affecting the clarity. Personally, if it's only for your consumption, it's nothing to worry about.

That makes sense since I disturbed it when taking the gravity reading. I'll rack it today. Thanks!

I'll be sure to do that. It still hasn't stopped bubbling, so this thing wants to go as far down as it can. I'll get it into a secondary in a day or so and set it aside for a while. Thanks again!

Thanks for the feedback, Scooter68. I remember you as the one with all the blueberry plants. Here you go: 5 lb blueberries 3 lb sugar Initial acidity was 3.3, which is why I didn't add any. It moved slightly up the last time I checked to 3.4, but I haven't checked in a couple of days. It...

Do you think adding the acid will help? Or is that one of those additions that may differ by the drinker?

Well, my very first wine, a gallon of blueberry, has fermented to 0.990 from 1.100 SG in a week and a half. According to the ABV calculator, it should be about 14.6% ABV, but it really doesn't have any alcohol smell, and it also doesn't have any blueberry taste, either, despite the deep purple...

Meadmakr has a great batch builder you can use to make sure your mead is made to the latest protocols. https://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/