3 new meads

[sangwitch]

wade - no, wouldn't fit. I've got another drill in the shed, but if you could look in the door you'd know why I didn't try to fetch it.

appleman - I've got some gorilla glue I can try using. I checked the shaft and it looks like it was one piece.


Incidenally, This thing actually broke as I was walking from one room to the other. I had it in the drill and was holding the drill so the stirrer was wobbling slightly and, "snap", that was the end. I'm sure it would have broken during that stir though.


masta - I'm going to take a look at the fizz-x... I've been wanting to anyway. I meant to ask you yesterday what mead you were going to make. Sounds yummy.... blueberries and honey just seem to go together.


Angell - I'm glad you asked me if I was going to oak these because until you did I had no plans to do that. I read a few different items about oaking meads last night though (one I posted earlier). It seems that oak does wonderful things for meads. I think I'll try some light oak and then do some experimenting with levels on some 1-gallon batches. I'll be travelling soon so I won't be around to keep taste testing the oak. Edited by: sangwitch

 

[sangwitch]

Looking good sang. Just curious thoughwhat are your concerns about boiling your honey?

I gotta be honest with you Waldo,at this point any original thought I have pertaining to mead making is limited to recipe tinkering. My no-boiling method pretty much comes straight from Ken Schramm's book so I'll paraphrase...


Basically what he says is that the reason old mead recipes told to boil the honey was because the honey would contain unwanted components of the hive such as bees, comb, etc.


Heating the honey destroys some ofthe aromatic compounds that you want in the finished product.


Another reason he gives is that the foam boiling creates is composed mostly of protein compounds that contain nitrogen that the mead needs to ferment strongly.


He goes on to say that the natural antibiotic nature of honey will prevent bacterial infection and that a good fermentation will stop any infection providing "good sanitation procedures are adhered to stringently for all implements, instruments, and vessels."


So there you have it...for the moment Ken is doing my thinking for me. That way I have more time to relax.

He actually doesn't heat his honey at all, but I did heat mine a bit. So maybe I have a little thought coming through.

 

[masta]

sang - I also have Ken's book and I learned much about making mead and more about honey itself. I do not and never have heated my honey for the same reasons and so far it has worked well for me.

 

[sangwitch]

I pitched the yeast tonight. The SG readings were slightly higher tonight, which I found strange since I mixed thoroughly both times.


Anyway... I added a quart of tart cherry juice to the 'Tart Cherry', a cup of strong chamomile to the 'Blueberry' and the ginger to the 'Ginger Peach' before pitching. I will add the fruit in a couple days and take some pics at that time.

 

[sangwitch]

this mead is violent over here! It's spitting the liquid right out of the airlock like a water fountain and it's making deep guttural noises that sound like my name being called.

Is this usually the case with meads? I went to bed last night with no visible action and woke up to buckets possessed!


On another note, my bergamais didn't take off for some reason. I used Lalvin EC118 because the packet of Premier Cuvee got used for something else. The Lalvinis supposed to be the same strain. I had to run down to the local shop for a new packet of yeast this afternoon and another customer down theretold meto always rehydrate Lalvin before using. Has anyone every heard that? I rehydrated the 71b-1122 I used for the meads, but sprinkled the EC118 directly on to the bergamais. I've never hada batchnot start before.Edited by: sangwitch

 

[sangwitch]

I'm adding the fruit tonight. I'm not sure the SG will be right where masta recommended, but I won't have time over the weekend to work on them so tonight it is. I set up a temporary humidor for the fruit to sit in while it thaws out...

 

[Wade E]

Looking and sounding great sang!

 

[sangwitch]

thanks Wade. I added the fruit to the meads. I couldn't get shots of the mess I made at the table cause I was home alone and my hands were a mess, but here are a few of the carboys. The ginger smelled awesome in the ginger peach batch.


Ginger Peach

Blueberry Chamomile

Tart Cherry

 

[Waldo]

Looking awesome there buddy.......I need to come and get me a good sniff of them darlings

 

[grapeman]

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH YYYYYYEEEEEAAAAHHHHHH, that's looking mighty good there!

 

[masta]

Looks and sounds awesome sang!

I finally found some honey at a decent price after my e-bay connection in CA ran out and hope to be starting my Blueberry Melomel next weekend.

 

[Wade E]

thanks Wade. I added the fruit to the meads. I
couldn't get shots of the mess I made at the table cause I was home
alone and my hands were a mess, but here are a few of the carboys. The
ginger smelled awesome in the ginger peach batch.


Ginger Peach

Blueberry Chamomile

Tart Cherry

More like you didnt have time to take a picture because you had to
clean up the mess before the honey got home and put you in the bucket
to ferment!

 

[sangwitch]

masta, if you like the new honey connection how 'bout a link? Looking forward to following along with that batch.


wade... well... don't blow my cover eh? Since no one really knows me here I like to pretend that I'm in charge at home!

 

[masta]

masta, if you like the new honey connection how 'bout a link? Looking forward to following along with that batch.

I will let you know how the honey works out and my issue right now is availability of an empty carboy since production at Valley Brew is at it's peak!

 

[sangwitch]

Ok... I racked my meads to carboy tonight...

Ginger Peach - .996 : I didn't taste this one because people showed up at my house in the middle of racking. It smelled great though!


Tart Cherry - .996 : tastes a bit harsh, but very complex. I took several small sips and I swear each one tasted completely different. I think this is going to be a huge winner after a year or so!


Blueberry Chamomile - 1.020 : wow. This one tastes great already!It's still pretty active. I also have a 1-gallon batch that I started on 1/7 that is still bubbling away.


Besides the 5-gallon carboys each of the batches produced almost another gallon, which I have in smaller jugs. I started these as 5-gallon recipes, but the addition offruit/juice to secondary added almost another gallon in volume.

 

[sangwitch]

Besides my blueberry 1-gallon batch being active, so are my ancient orange batches. (I have 2 1-gallon going). So either they have a very slow secondaryfermentation or meads release C02 easier. Anyone?

 

[Wade E]

Nice colors! Thet look like they should be sitting on top of a Slurpy Machine!

 

[Bert]

Can you check your PH??? I had a mead drift kind of low on the PH level [below 3.0] I brought it up to 3.4 [I think] and it helped move things along...But Meads can be a bit slower than kits or friut wines..

 

[grapeman]

Looking good there Sang. What reaction do you get to visitors showing up like that. Here some people ask what that horrible smell is while others are genuinely excited to see the operations going on.

 

[Waldo]

Looking good there sang !!