Notes on my wine/mead making (newbie)

[Jericurl]

Holy smokes, lady!

You are a machine! Or possibly mental! Maybe both.

This is an awesome thread.
I was about to go to bed when I clicked on this, and of course had to finish all 6 pages.
I'm truly in awe.
Will post more specific impressions and some questions tomorrow.
My sleep aid is kicking in and I've found it is best to get off the internet when I start to feel it. Otherwise I begin to post insane ramblings.

Keep up the fantastic updates on this thread.

 

[vernsgal]

I agree with Jericurl. How do you find all the time let alone have the energy? I remember when all my kids were young I had time for nothing let alone having any brain left to work with lol.

 

[the_rayway]

You two are hilarious!

I'm looking forward to your questions Jeri

And Kim - it's because both of my kids are in bed at 7:00. That gives me three whole hours in the evening to play!

 

[Jericurl]

Ok,
First, how many bottles of wine do you have in your house?

What is your favorite so far?

How much harder is mead than wine?
It seems messier/more involved than wine so I haven't messed with it at all.
I love honey, but from the descriptions people give, I'm not sure that I would like mead.

 

[jamesngalveston]

holy crap what a post...you either got better meds, are you guit the meds...
lol...you go girl

 

[the_rayway]

Thanks James! (I think?) Lol. Hope you like my labels

Jeri, here goes:
I just counted the other day and I'm at approx 250 bottles of wine, mead, Island Mist, and port. Not bad for only doing this for less than 2 years!

For favourites, I would have to say:
Reds: either the cheeky Monkey Malbec, or the Cellar Craft Cabernet. They are good, early drinkers that never last around here.
Whites/Rose: The WE White Zinfandel is a winner, although I haven't really made many whites yet.
Island Mist: Hands down the Peach Apricot Chardonnay
Meads: TBC - none are over two years old yet. If you could say I'm a toddler in wine making - I'm still in the egg for meads. The Orange Creamsicle has big potential though...
Port: RJS Apple Tatin is INCREDIBLE

Meads are the same as wines to make IMHO. There are always things you can tweak and get very technical about - but at the same time you can toss a bunch of honey, water & yeast together and still end up with something drinkable. They do take some time to come around though if you go over 10%. Like, years.

We have a thriving beekeeping industry up here with all of the crops around, and I can get local sourced honey for $2.50/Lb. A guy I work with has his own bees and is giving me honey for $1.00/Lb plus some of whatever I make. Pretty good deal! I like buying/ supporting local, and I'm a fantasy-reading nut, so mead is a natural extension of these things for me.

I would suggest you find yourself 3Lbs of a nice, untreated, unpasturized honey like wildflower, or clover; mix up a 1 Gallon batch with some D47 and let her rip. Toss in some yeast nutrient as well, just to make sure she takes. Then check out "The Compleat Meadmaker" by Ken Schramm and have a look. There's so much fun to be had!

Speaking of, I requested a recipe from a member of a mead site I go to and he said I could use it/post it for our Wine of the Month Club. Pumpkin Hazelnut Mead. Yum! Maybe for January? Or December

So...short story long...I like making stuff.

 

[vernsgal]

Raelene I am always in awe of what you can achieve! I've got my 1st mead(raspberry) sitting at 2 months. I am totally new at these and hope you don't mind if in the near future I shoot you a list of questions Lol. I just acquired 1/2 a doz. 1 gal more carboys and am planning on filling them with different meads.

 

[the_rayway]

Raelene I am always in awe of what you can achieve! I've got my 1st mead(raspberry) sitting at 2 months. I am totally new at these and hope you don't mind if in the near future I shoot you a list of questions Lol. I just acquired 1/2 a doz. 1 gal more carboys and am planning on filling them with different meads.

Oooohhh! Good score! And good idea

For sure send me a list of questions - I won't promise that I will know the answers, nor that the answers I have will be 'the best way', but I'm always happy to share the little bit that I do know! Send it on!

 

[Stressbaby]

Speaking of, I requested a recipe from a member of a mead site I go to and he said I could use it/post it for our Wine of the Month Club. Pumpkin Hazelnut Mead. Yum! Maybe for January? Or December

Great thread.
I hope you post or make this, the recipe sounds interesting.
Like you, I find myself planning 2-3 months ahead on the Wine of the Month club. I already have my December, January, and February wines lined up...

 

[the_rayway]

For the sake of my obsessive list habit, here is a list of everything I've made thus far. This includes wines/ports/meads/beer in all stages: fermenting, clearing, ageing, bottled, and gone!

Next to start will be the Apricot Port from scratch for the December Wine of the Month Club.

Vintner's Reserve White Zinfandel
Vintner's Reserve White Zinfandel
Order & Chaos Winery Apple Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Wild Blueberry Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Caramel Vanilla Crab Apple Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Spiced Crab Apple Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Concord Grape Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Peach Ginger Wine
Order & Chaos Winery Wild Blueberry & Concord Grape Blend
Order & Chaos Winery Apple Wine with Hot Peppers
Order & Chaos Winery Welches Wine Competition - WMT
Order & Chaos Winery Rhubarb & Mixed Berry Mead
Order & Chaos Winery Blackberry Mead
Order & Chaos Winery Raspberry Mead
Order & Chaos Winery Lilac Mead
Order & Chaos Winery Orange Vanilla Mead
Order & Chaos Winery Pure Pear Mead
R. J. Spagnols Apple Tatin Port
R. J. Spagnols Orange Chocolate Port
Wine Expert Selection Speciale Blackberry Port
Cheeky Monkey Chilean Malbec
Cellar Craft Sterling Amarone
Cellar Craft Sterling California Cabernet Sauvignon
Cheeky Monkey Chilean Malbec
Cheeky Monkey Spanish Cabernet/Merlot/Garnacha
Cellar Craft Sterling Malbec/Shiraz
Tosca Fresh Juice fr California Merlot (silver medal series)
Tosca Fresh Juice fr California Malbec (gold medal series)
Tosca Fresh Juice fr California Amarone (gold medal series)
World Vinyard Washington Riesling (Breanne)
Mosto Italiano Riesling
Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay
Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay
Island Mist Blackberry Cabernet Sauvignon (Co-op)
Island Mist Green Apple Riesling (Co-op)
Island Mist Cranberry Malbec (Co-op)
Island Mist Strawberry Merlot (Co-op)
Cru - Orchard Breezin' Apple Pomegranate (Co-op)
Cru - Orchard Breezin' Blood Orange (Co-op)
Island Mist Peach Apricot Chardonnay
Niagara Mist White Pear Pinot Gris
Order & Chaos Winery Chocolate Vanilla Ale

 

[Jericurl]

Raelene, I may be picking your brain here pretty soon.

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking that my February Wine of the Month batch is going to be a mead, I just need to figure out what recipe I want to use, and if I want to get my honey from Sam's club or order it online somewhere.
I read entirely too much fantasy, etc. Actually between the two of us, we have well over 1000 books. Eight 6ft tall bookshelves crammed full and we still have stacks of books around the house that need a home. A good 50-60% are scifi/fantasy genre.
Throw in nerd tv shows and gaming, mead is pretty much going to be a foregone conclusion for me.
Right now I'm thinking up different mead recipes for Skyrim and Game of Thrones themed meads.

 

[jamesngalveston]

well, if i wine the mega millions, i will buy a winery, then hire raylene to run it...lol

 

[jamesngalveston]

hard to imagine her with unlimited budget and full blown winery....she would but gallon out of business.

 

[vernsgal]

Right now I'm thinking up different mead recipes for Skyrim and Game of Thrones themed meads.

A dragonfruit mead might be good for game of thrones

 

[Jericurl]

Vernsgal,

It would work well for Skyrim too!

 

[the_rayway]

Jeri - one day we definitely need to meet! Lol, when I was in school, I didn't know anyone else who read fantasy. I'm lucky now that my Brother In Law does, and has connections to all the fantasy/gamers/etc. around the city. I get my geek-fix from him Love, love love the idea of Game of Thrones Meads! Quirky names are running through my head already. Since I am regrettably horrible at video/computer games, I've never had a chance to get a feel for them Always wanted to try though!

Are you thinking you want to do a straight up traditional? Melomel? Metheglyn? What is your brain telling you will taste good? We can work it from there. Depending on how much the actual honey is to shine through will determine where/what kind to get for the best results.

Or, you may want to consider doing a 'BOMM' mead (short for Bray's One Month Mead), which is drinkable fairly quickly (think Dragon's Blood), to give you an idea of if you like it. There's also JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orange Mead) which is the same idea. These use either beer or bread yeasts, have imperfect recipes that work perfectly for what they are. People really seem to like them. I personally will get around to trying both, but just haven't had the time yet!

James - you win, I'll pack up the family and move! Lol! Ohhh, a whole winery to play with...

 

[vernsgal]

Vernsgal,

It would work well for Skyrim too!

you could always throw a pepper or 2 in and call it dragon's fire

 

[vernsgal]

you could always throw a pepper or 2 in and call it dragon's fire

I meant Drogon's Fire

 

[the_rayway]

I meant Drogon's Fire

Or Dragon's Breath?

Or if you wanted it to go in Chronological order, according to the books/movies. You could do an "Into The Fire", then branch out into dragons, etc.

 

[Jericurl]

Oh, I like the idea of Drogon's Fire.

And White Walker......Red Wedding....man, I could go on and on.

Raelene, I'm lucky I think. Both Manthing and my best friend love sci-fi/fantasy. It's nice to have someone to swap with and/or discuss books.