Mead No. 1
Gravity: 0.995
Racked it for a fourth time. There's really too much headroom in this one gallon carboy so I'm going to need to pick up a smaller bottle to put it into. Taste is really improving. It's still hot and I don't think it tastes like the Midnight Jack from Melovino -- it's got a chocolatey taste to it -- but it's not bad and after I rack it one more time into a smaller container I'll just let it age.
Mead No. 2
Already bottled.
Mead No. 3
Will wait till tomorrow for this one as my notes last time said it's ready for back sweetening and bottling, so I'll read up on the procedure for that first.
Mead No. 4
Broke my hydrometer trying to attach the hose to the racking cane so I'll need to get a new one (don't ask. Okay, I had the racking pump in the tube holding the hydrometer while I got the hose out of the StarSan. While trying to attach the hose I pressed down hard, forgetting the hydrometer was there and it cracked. Oh boy). I may just hold off on doing more mead work until I get a new hydrometer.
Mead No. 4, however, had been clearing and had only a little sediment on the bottom, but my methods of racking suck so I ended up stirring up a lot of the lees so it will probably need to be racked one more time.
Mead No. 5
This was a sort of JOAM, and it's turning pretty sweet. Still a little hot, but probably ready for some long-term aging now. I'll need to clear out a shelf where I'll put those that aren't going to be checked for some time.
Mead No. 6
Gravity: 1.010
Removed it from the refrigerator and racked it to a new carboy. I had forgotten to take a gravity reading after adding the pomegranate juice last time so I'm not sure what the difference was. However I sampled it, and Oh. My Goodness! This tastes really good. I see in my notes from last time that it had a tart taste after adding the pomegranate juice which also overpowered the raspberry flavor, but now the pomegranate flavor is much more subtle and there is definitely raspberry flavor throughout. Still a very slight "hotness" to it, no doubt from being young, but as I said it tastes really, really good. I'm quite pleased with it so far.
Tastings
Mead No. 7
Very sweet. No alcohol hotness discernible. Tastes pretty good, but in reality is probably too sweet.
Mead No. 8
There is a white film with some bubbles on the surface of the mead, which is a cyser. I still tasted it and it didn't taste bad, though it's flavor has weakened considerably over time.
Mead No. 9
Not very good. Dry tasting, and no sweetness. May need to back sweeten this one to make it palatable.
Mead No. 10
For some reason I keep expecting a chocolate syrup-like taste, but it's more of a hint of chocolate. It's good, but not great.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Thursday, October 6, 2016
The Calm After the Storm
Today's de-gassing sessions went a lot smoother than yesterday's, and all without the mess. I imagine this evening's de-gassing could have had an explosion, but I was watching carefully this time and as the foam started to accumulate I raised the mixer and knocked them back down. After that it never roses to such heights again.
I also added the next step in the nutrient addition, except I accidentally added a 1/2 tsp. of nutrient instead of 1/4 tsp. I hope that's not a problem (but I don't think so).
I did take a gravity reading this morning, but forgot to record it. I think it was around 1.095, but that would be surprising since this evening's reading was 1.083, which would seem to be a pretty big drop in just 12 hours. But what do I know?
Now I'll wait for the one-third sugar break. With the OG of 1.108, that would mean when the gravity reaches 1.040 I'll make the final nutrient addition.
It should be noted that this SNA is slightly different than the one Bray Denard recommends. With that one, you take you OG, divide it by three, and as the gravity hits each one-third drop you add one third of your total nutrients.
In the recipe I'm following, you divide your nutrient additions into fourths, and and one quarter when you pitch the yeast, and then 24 hrs and 48 hrs afterwards. The final addition goes in when the gravity reaches one third of the original. I guess it's about the same...just a little different.
So I'll continue to de-gas for the next few days and take gravity readings waiting for the sugar break, which I figure will be in about 2 days. As said in a prior post, I'll de-gas for a full week.
I also added the next step in the nutrient addition, except I accidentally added a 1/2 tsp. of nutrient instead of 1/4 tsp. I hope that's not a problem (but I don't think so).
I did take a gravity reading this morning, but forgot to record it. I think it was around 1.095, but that would be surprising since this evening's reading was 1.083, which would seem to be a pretty big drop in just 12 hours. But what do I know?
Now I'll wait for the one-third sugar break. With the OG of 1.108, that would mean when the gravity reaches 1.040 I'll make the final nutrient addition.
It should be noted that this SNA is slightly different than the one Bray Denard recommends. With that one, you take you OG, divide it by three, and as the gravity hits each one-third drop you add one third of your total nutrients.
In the recipe I'm following, you divide your nutrient additions into fourths, and and one quarter when you pitch the yeast, and then 24 hrs and 48 hrs afterwards. The final addition goes in when the gravity reaches one third of the original. I guess it's about the same...just a little different.
So I'll continue to de-gas for the next few days and take gravity readings waiting for the sugar break, which I figure will be in about 2 days. As said in a prior post, I'll de-gas for a full week.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Foam Explosion!
Okay, that didn't go as planned. I actually remembered to de-gas mead No. 13's must today -- twice! -- but things went completely awry on the second attempt.
This morning I went and de-gassed without incident, using my mixer with a cordless drill I stirred the must for about 5 minutes, and did so rather vigorously. However, this evening when I went to do the same thing before I added the second SNA addition, I had barely put the mixer into the must and turned it on when the foam rapidly rose and spilled over the side of the bucket. And kept spilling and spilling and spilling! What a mess! Fortunately, I did get it all on camera.
I'm not sure how much of the must I actually lost and though it was a lot of foam, comparatively speaking the amount of liquid it turned into on the counter (and cabinets and floor) didn't seem so much. Oh, sure, it was still a whole bunch, but certainly I'd say less than a quart, and probably closer to a pint.
After cleaning everything up, I stirred up the must again and there was hardly any foam left. After 5 minutes I added a 1/4 tsp. of energizer and 1/2 tsp. of DAP. I didn't mix it with any water, but added it right to the bucket and then mixed up the must again. Hopefully that was okay, but I was admittedly flustered by the foam explosion and wasn't quite thinking properly about procedure.
Tomorrow morning I'll de-gas the must again, but using much more care. As they say, the burned hand learns best.
This morning I went and de-gassed without incident, using my mixer with a cordless drill I stirred the must for about 5 minutes, and did so rather vigorously. However, this evening when I went to do the same thing before I added the second SNA addition, I had barely put the mixer into the must and turned it on when the foam rapidly rose and spilled over the side of the bucket. And kept spilling and spilling and spilling! What a mess! Fortunately, I did get it all on camera.
I'm not sure how much of the must I actually lost and though it was a lot of foam, comparatively speaking the amount of liquid it turned into on the counter (and cabinets and floor) didn't seem so much. Oh, sure, it was still a whole bunch, but certainly I'd say less than a quart, and probably closer to a pint.
After cleaning everything up, I stirred up the must again and there was hardly any foam left. After 5 minutes I added a 1/4 tsp. of energizer and 1/2 tsp. of DAP. I didn't mix it with any water, but added it right to the bucket and then mixed up the must again. Hopefully that was okay, but I was admittedly flustered by the foam explosion and wasn't quite thinking properly about procedure.
Tomorrow morning I'll de-gas the must again, but using much more care. As they say, the burned hand learns best.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Mead No. 13 - The Canadian Sasquatch Competition Blueberry Melomel
I finally started the blueberry melomel I want to enter into the Canadian Sasquatch competition. It was much more work than I anticipated, but only because I wanted to video the whole process and start up my YouTube channel for mead making.
Of course, recording everything is time consuming, and trying to remember all the steps as it is, and then making sure I captured it on camera, is a pain in the ass. But I think I got everything, and now just need to edit it into a cohesive and intelligible video. Still, I forgot how much fun it isn't to record everything.
The hardest part was figuring out the conversions. Since I went with 3 gallons instead of 5, I needed to figure out how much water I actually needed. Using MeadMakr's BatchBuildr calculator, I was originally supposed to use 7.5 lbs. of honey, but got confused on just how much water that meant I was supposed to take out. In the end, I accidentally substituted adding that much honey rather than taking out the water, which ended up using all the honey.
What the calculator said was 7.49 lbs. of honey which I calculated to be 14.4 cups of water to be removed. Instead, what I did was attempt to put in 14.4 cups of honey. 10 lbs only came to about 13 or so cups, at which time I realized my error. Honey weighs 3/4 lbs per cup, so for 7.5 lbs of honey, I should have added about 10-3/4 cups of honey.
Of course, this just means I'll probably have a sweeter mead since, to account for the extra honey I had to remove more water, or around 1-1/4 gallons in total. However, it didn't seem to quite all add up properly.
The stainless steel pot I was using is a 2.5 gallon pot. Somehow I thought it was bigger. But I placed one gallon of spring water in the pot, and after warming up the two 5-lb. containers of honey in a sink full of hot water to liquify it, poured it into the pot and stirred with a mixer for about 5 minutes. I then added what I thought was the appropriate amount of water, minus a half cup to mix in the yeast, which brought it right up to the brim. At the time, I didn't realize it was a 2.5-gallon pot, but decided to measure how much must was in there and that's when I discovered I was coming up short for what I needed.
I subsequently transferred the must into the 5 gallon plastic bucket I'm using as the primary fermenter and then added extra water to bring it up to 3 gallons. With a starting gravity of 1.108, that seems like the appropriate volume, but it was a bit confusing. I'll need to pay more attention next time, maybe write everything out first rather than afterwards.
The yeast was pitched, I added a 1/4 tsp. of energizer and a 1/2 tsp. of DAP to the must, swirled it all around and placed a lid on it with an airlock. Hopefully tomorrow I'll remember to degas the must and add more nutrients.
UPDATE: As I was closing down all the windows that were open on my computer, I looked at the BatchBuildr calculations again and realized I actually should have used 2 packages of yeast, not one. Apparently increasing the amount of honey necessitated more yeast so I went and pitched another package of D47 yeast.
Of course, recording everything is time consuming, and trying to remember all the steps as it is, and then making sure I captured it on camera, is a pain in the ass. But I think I got everything, and now just need to edit it into a cohesive and intelligible video. Still, I forgot how much fun it isn't to record everything.
The hardest part was figuring out the conversions. Since I went with 3 gallons instead of 5, I needed to figure out how much water I actually needed. Using MeadMakr's BatchBuildr calculator, I was originally supposed to use 7.5 lbs. of honey, but got confused on just how much water that meant I was supposed to take out. In the end, I accidentally substituted adding that much honey rather than taking out the water, which ended up using all the honey.
What the calculator said was 7.49 lbs. of honey which I calculated to be 14.4 cups of water to be removed. Instead, what I did was attempt to put in 14.4 cups of honey. 10 lbs only came to about 13 or so cups, at which time I realized my error. Honey weighs 3/4 lbs per cup, so for 7.5 lbs of honey, I should have added about 10-3/4 cups of honey.
Of course, this just means I'll probably have a sweeter mead since, to account for the extra honey I had to remove more water, or around 1-1/4 gallons in total. However, it didn't seem to quite all add up properly.
The stainless steel pot I was using is a 2.5 gallon pot. Somehow I thought it was bigger. But I placed one gallon of spring water in the pot, and after warming up the two 5-lb. containers of honey in a sink full of hot water to liquify it, poured it into the pot and stirred with a mixer for about 5 minutes. I then added what I thought was the appropriate amount of water, minus a half cup to mix in the yeast, which brought it right up to the brim. At the time, I didn't realize it was a 2.5-gallon pot, but decided to measure how much must was in there and that's when I discovered I was coming up short for what I needed.
I subsequently transferred the must into the 5 gallon plastic bucket I'm using as the primary fermenter and then added extra water to bring it up to 3 gallons. With a starting gravity of 1.108, that seems like the appropriate volume, but it was a bit confusing. I'll need to pay more attention next time, maybe write everything out first rather than afterwards.
The yeast was pitched, I added a 1/4 tsp. of energizer and a 1/2 tsp. of DAP to the must, swirled it all around and placed a lid on it with an airlock. Hopefully tomorrow I'll remember to degas the must and add more nutrients.
UPDATE: As I was closing down all the windows that were open on my computer, I looked at the BatchBuildr calculations again and realized I actually should have used 2 packages of yeast, not one. Apparently increasing the amount of honey necessitated more yeast so I went and pitched another package of D47 yeast.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Canadian Sasquatch 3rd Annual Mead Challenge
Today I signed up for the 3rd annual Canadian Sasquatch Mead Challenge.
Canadian Sasquatch is a YouTuber who for the past two years has challenged mead makers to submit their meads for judging. There's nothing at stake more than just bragging rights, and the first year it was a traditional mead that had to be submitted and last year it was a chocolate mead. It was watching CS's mead tasting video for the chocolate mead that inspired me to try my hand at my own chocolate mead (No. 10).
This year, the challenge is to produce a melomel, or a fruit (or vegetable) mead. I, of course, have already attempted to make my own melomel (No. 6), which is a raspberry mead that was backsweetened with pomegranate juice, much to its detriment, at least so far. I'm hoping with time the pomegranate juice will mellow out.
For the challenge, though, I'll be making a new melomel. I'm not sure what flavor I'll be going with, but I'm thinking blueberries. It will be a 5 gallon batch, though, because part of the requirements for the contest is to submit enough samples that others will be able to judge the mead as well as Canadian Sasquatch.
Amongst the requirements are that it be bottled in at least a 12 oz (355 ml) capped bottle, and enough samples will need to be submitted for the number of people entering. As of now it's capped at 20 entries, so CS recommends making at least a 3 gallon batch so you'll have enough to submit plus have some left over for yourself. I figure 5 gallons will leave me with plenty afterwards. The real challenge will be capping it as I'm only just getting used to corking; now I'll have to figure out how to cap a bottle.
Other requirements include having a label on the bottles listing all the important information a judge would need to know to rate the mead and you have to rate at least 80% of the submissions or be disqualified. So if 20 people enter, I'd have to rate 16 meads. Why I wouldn't want to rate all 20 is beyond me!
There is a $15 entrance fee per submission (max. 2) and that will need to be paid by Sept. 1, 2017. Everything needs to be shipped by Oct. 1, 2017.
Looking forward to this challenge as it will mark the start of my video recording of my mead making process. I've put off doing so for so long and this contest is as good a reason as any to start.
Canadian Sasquatch is a YouTuber who for the past two years has challenged mead makers to submit their meads for judging. There's nothing at stake more than just bragging rights, and the first year it was a traditional mead that had to be submitted and last year it was a chocolate mead. It was watching CS's mead tasting video for the chocolate mead that inspired me to try my hand at my own chocolate mead (No. 10).
This year, the challenge is to produce a melomel, or a fruit (or vegetable) mead. I, of course, have already attempted to make my own melomel (No. 6), which is a raspberry mead that was backsweetened with pomegranate juice, much to its detriment, at least so far. I'm hoping with time the pomegranate juice will mellow out.
For the challenge, though, I'll be making a new melomel. I'm not sure what flavor I'll be going with, but I'm thinking blueberries. It will be a 5 gallon batch, though, because part of the requirements for the contest is to submit enough samples that others will be able to judge the mead as well as Canadian Sasquatch.
Amongst the requirements are that it be bottled in at least a 12 oz (355 ml) capped bottle, and enough samples will need to be submitted for the number of people entering. As of now it's capped at 20 entries, so CS recommends making at least a 3 gallon batch so you'll have enough to submit plus have some left over for yourself. I figure 5 gallons will leave me with plenty afterwards. The real challenge will be capping it as I'm only just getting used to corking; now I'll have to figure out how to cap a bottle.
Other requirements include having a label on the bottles listing all the important information a judge would need to know to rate the mead and you have to rate at least 80% of the submissions or be disqualified. So if 20 people enter, I'd have to rate 16 meads. Why I wouldn't want to rate all 20 is beyond me!
There is a $15 entrance fee per submission (max. 2) and that will need to be paid by Sept. 1, 2017. Everything needs to be shipped by Oct. 1, 2017.
Looking forward to this challenge as it will mark the start of my video recording of my mead making process. I've put off doing so for so long and this contest is as good a reason as any to start.
Fermenting Finally Starts to Slow
It appears the yeast in mead No. 12 is finally beginning to slow as the gravity reading today had fallen to only 1.000, which is where I would like it to end up around. However, since it's only slowed and not finished fermenting I added another half cup of honey to the must, which raised its gravity reading to 1.010. I'm guessing it will probably end somewhere around 1.005, but since this is my first time incrementally sweetening a mead it is just that -- a guess.
The taste of the mead is also improving as I backsweeten it each time. I think this is a great way to get the right taste without having to add chemicals to the batch. Just keep adding honey until the yeast conks out.
The taste of the mead is also improving as I backsweeten it each time. I think this is a great way to get the right taste without having to add chemicals to the batch. Just keep adding honey until the yeast conks out.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Continuing to Backsweeten
I took another gravity reading today of mead No. 12 and it had fallen to 0.995 so I added another 1/2 cup of warmed up honey which raised its gravity to 1.006 again. I also tasted it before the honey addition and it's starting to develop a nice sweet taste, not overpowering. I'll continue to add 1/2 cup of honey at a time until the yeast conks out.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Week 1 Fermentation Complete
So I'm still really horrible at staying on schedule as I didn't degas the meads (No. 11 and No. 12) on either Thursday or Friday. Both days I thought about it, but ultimately procrastinated long enough that I eventually forgot about doing so.
I took gravity readings today though and both came in at 0.994 which is below the 1.000 I think I should've been shooting for, and probably would have caught had I been degassing daily as I should have. I'm not surprised at the traditional mead being at that level as it was at 1.004 on Wednesday, so it probably hit 1.000 on Thursday. The pumpkin pie spice mead, however, seems to have plummeted over the intervening days at its prior reading was 1.034. Yet, since it was three days since the last gravity reading, it's probably not so surprising after all.
Now is the time to decide what to do with the meads. No. 12 can be backsweetened at this point, either first stabilizing it with sulfites or step-feeding it with honey until the yeast conks out and I get it to my desired sweetness level. I'll probably go with that method since this is all experimentation for me anyway.
For the pumpkin pie spice mead, however, I may add a little more spice when I rack it to the secondary. The taste of spices that were added at the start are still present but have mellowed with time. I would imagine by the time a year has passed they might not be discernible at all and I would like there to be a slight kick with the pumpkin pie flavor.
UPDATE: Backsweetened No. 12 with a 1/2 cup of honey, which raised the gravity to 1.006. I'll continue to add 1/2 cup until the yeast stops consuming it, probably on an every other day schedule. I'll try to remember to degas daily, but good luck with that!
I took gravity readings today though and both came in at 0.994 which is below the 1.000 I think I should've been shooting for, and probably would have caught had I been degassing daily as I should have. I'm not surprised at the traditional mead being at that level as it was at 1.004 on Wednesday, so it probably hit 1.000 on Thursday. The pumpkin pie spice mead, however, seems to have plummeted over the intervening days at its prior reading was 1.034. Yet, since it was three days since the last gravity reading, it's probably not so surprising after all.
Now is the time to decide what to do with the meads. No. 12 can be backsweetened at this point, either first stabilizing it with sulfites or step-feeding it with honey until the yeast conks out and I get it to my desired sweetness level. I'll probably go with that method since this is all experimentation for me anyway.
For the pumpkin pie spice mead, however, I may add a little more spice when I rack it to the secondary. The taste of spices that were added at the start are still present but have mellowed with time. I would imagine by the time a year has passed they might not be discernible at all and I would like there to be a slight kick with the pumpkin pie flavor.
UPDATE: Backsweetened No. 12 with a 1/2 cup of honey, which raised the gravity to 1.006. I'll continue to add 1/2 cup until the yeast stops consuming it, probably on an every other day schedule. I'll try to remember to degas daily, but good luck with that!
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Second Nutrient Addition Update
Fermentation is still going strong with both meads No. 11 and No. 12 and I took gravity readings in anticipation of adding more nutrients today.
As expected the pumpkin pie spice mead (No. 11) had dropped down to 1.034, while No. 12, the traditional mead, dropped to 1.004. I again added the nutrients at the recommended levels (1/4 tsp. DAP; 1/2 tsp. energizer).
The taste of each had become more mellow. While the pumpkin spice flavor was still present it was much more subtle. The traditional mead had a softness to its flavor profile and neither had any harsh notes to them. I'm not certain if that's because of the staggered nutrient additions I've given them or the fact that it's less than a week since pitching them so they haven't made much alcohol yet.
Since No. 12 is now at almost the 1.000 level, and the purpose of the SNA is to get the gravity reading there as quickly as possible, I'll see what the next step in the process is.
I should also note I forgot to degas the meads yesterday. I kept postponing doing it until I simply forgot about it. I'll have to redouble my efforts next time and make sure I stick to the schedule.
As expected the pumpkin pie spice mead (No. 11) had dropped down to 1.034, while No. 12, the traditional mead, dropped to 1.004. I again added the nutrients at the recommended levels (1/4 tsp. DAP; 1/2 tsp. energizer).
The taste of each had become more mellow. While the pumpkin spice flavor was still present it was much more subtle. The traditional mead had a softness to its flavor profile and neither had any harsh notes to them. I'm not certain if that's because of the staggered nutrient additions I've given them or the fact that it's less than a week since pitching them so they haven't made much alcohol yet.
Since No. 12 is now at almost the 1.000 level, and the purpose of the SNA is to get the gravity reading there as quickly as possible, I'll see what the next step in the process is.
I should also note I forgot to degas the meads yesterday. I kept postponing doing it until I simply forgot about it. I'll have to redouble my efforts next time and make sure I stick to the schedule.
Monday, September 19, 2016
First Attempt at Staggered Nutrient Additions
I've never done staggered nutrient additions (SNA) before, having always just put in DAP and yeast energizer in at the original yeast pitching. But as I've read up on the subject more, it looks like it can help improve the taste of the mead so I'm willing to give it a shot.
Now the method I'm using looks like a basic formula for adding nutrients, and I know there are more advanced strategies for it, but just as my very first mead had no nutrients added -- following the Storm the Castle recipe, it was just a basic, dead-simple mead-making technique -- and my first nutrient additions were an all-at-once method, my first SNA attempt is basic too.
According to Bray Denard, this first introduction to SNA is simple: take your starting gravity reading, divide it into thirds, and as the gravity readings hit each one of these "breaks," you add more nutrients.
For example, if you SG is 1.099, you divide it into thirds and as the sugars break at each interval -- at 1.066 and 1.033 -- you add the nutrients in equal amounts. He recommends the original nutrient additions as 1/4 tsp. DAP and 1/2 tsp. Fermaid-K, and each supplemental feeding is done in the same amounts.
For meads No. 11 and No. 12, my SG readings were 1.084 and 1.094, respectively, meaning the first "sugar breaks" would occur at 1.056 and 1.063, respectively. When I took my gravity readings today, two days after having pitched the yeast, No. 11 was right on the money; No. 12 had already dropped to 1.040. I'm not sure why that is, but could it be that No. 11 is my pumpkin spice mead and the spices and cinnamon stick slowed it down? No. 12 just had 25 raisins in it (No. 11 had 1 oz. of raisins, which was appreciably more).
So I added the DAP and energizer to both musts, having swirled both beforehand in an effort to churn up some yeast that may have settled while also degassing a bit. I'll continue swirling and taking gravity readings this week as recommended and see what happens. The goal is to get the gravity down to 1.000 as quickly but efficiently as possible so that no off tastes occur from the yeast producing "fusels." Should be an interesting experiment.
Now the method I'm using looks like a basic formula for adding nutrients, and I know there are more advanced strategies for it, but just as my very first mead had no nutrients added -- following the Storm the Castle recipe, it was just a basic, dead-simple mead-making technique -- and my first nutrient additions were an all-at-once method, my first SNA attempt is basic too.
According to Bray Denard, this first introduction to SNA is simple: take your starting gravity reading, divide it into thirds, and as the gravity readings hit each one of these "breaks," you add more nutrients.
For example, if you SG is 1.099, you divide it into thirds and as the sugars break at each interval -- at 1.066 and 1.033 -- you add the nutrients in equal amounts. He recommends the original nutrient additions as 1/4 tsp. DAP and 1/2 tsp. Fermaid-K, and each supplemental feeding is done in the same amounts.
For meads No. 11 and No. 12, my SG readings were 1.084 and 1.094, respectively, meaning the first "sugar breaks" would occur at 1.056 and 1.063, respectively. When I took my gravity readings today, two days after having pitched the yeast, No. 11 was right on the money; No. 12 had already dropped to 1.040. I'm not sure why that is, but could it be that No. 11 is my pumpkin spice mead and the spices and cinnamon stick slowed it down? No. 12 just had 25 raisins in it (No. 11 had 1 oz. of raisins, which was appreciably more).
So I added the DAP and energizer to both musts, having swirled both beforehand in an effort to churn up some yeast that may have settled while also degassing a bit. I'll continue swirling and taking gravity readings this week as recommended and see what happens. The goal is to get the gravity down to 1.000 as quickly but efficiently as possible so that no off tastes occur from the yeast producing "fusels." Should be an interesting experiment.
Mead Gravity Readings Update - 09182016
On Sunday, I took gravity readings of all batches of mead, and also bottled up No. 2 for long-term aging.
Below I also noted the changes, if any, from the prior readings I had taken. Some of the meads appear to show gravity readings that rose from last time, but I'm assuming that was because of an erroneous reading before. This week's readings I'm fairly certain are correct. I also added brief tasting notes of each batch.
Mead No. 1 - Midnight Jack
Gravity: 0.993 No change
Mead No. 2 - Traditional
Gravity: 1.009 (up from 1.006? Not likely)
Sweet taste. Bottled into 4 old Carroll's bottles
Mead No. 3 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.993 (down from 1.000 on 8/14)
Dry taste, very clear. Ready for back sweetening and bottling
Mead No. 4 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.993 (prior reading: 0.992)
Dry, not as harsh tasting as it was
Mead No. 5 - JOAM
Gravity: 0.998 (prior reading: 0.994)
Dry, slightly sweeter than No. 4
Mead No. 6 - Raspberry-Pomegranate
Gravity: 1.012 (prior reading: 0.994, but that was before pomegranate juice was added; forgot to take reading afterwards)
Tart taste; the pomegranate juice has overpowered whatever raspberry flavor was there. It also didn't appear to be clear at all
Mead No. 7 - Sweet
Gravity: 1.107 (prior reading: 1.106)
Very sweet taste
Mead No. 8 - Cyser
Gravity: 0.995 (prior reading: 1.034)
Dry, white wine taste. It lost the sweet apple cider flavor it had before, and looked carbonated
Mead No. 9 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.992 (prior reading: 1.073)
Dry, but slightly sweet and light
Mead No. 10 - Chocolate
Gravity: 0.993 (prior reading: 1.113)
Chocolate-y, but more like powder than syrup, but otherwise dry and light
Below I also noted the changes, if any, from the prior readings I had taken. Some of the meads appear to show gravity readings that rose from last time, but I'm assuming that was because of an erroneous reading before. This week's readings I'm fairly certain are correct. I also added brief tasting notes of each batch.
Mead No. 1 - Midnight Jack
Gravity: 0.993 No change
Mead No. 2 - Traditional
Gravity: 1.009 (up from 1.006? Not likely)
Sweet taste. Bottled into 4 old Carroll's bottles
Mead No. 3 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.993 (down from 1.000 on 8/14)
Dry taste, very clear. Ready for back sweetening and bottling
Mead No. 4 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.993 (prior reading: 0.992)
Dry, not as harsh tasting as it was
Mead No. 5 - JOAM
Gravity: 0.998 (prior reading: 0.994)
Dry, slightly sweeter than No. 4
Mead No. 6 - Raspberry-Pomegranate
Gravity: 1.012 (prior reading: 0.994, but that was before pomegranate juice was added; forgot to take reading afterwards)
Tart taste; the pomegranate juice has overpowered whatever raspberry flavor was there. It also didn't appear to be clear at all
Mead No. 7 - Sweet
Gravity: 1.107 (prior reading: 1.106)
Very sweet taste
Mead No. 8 - Cyser
Gravity: 0.995 (prior reading: 1.034)
Dry, white wine taste. It lost the sweet apple cider flavor it had before, and looked carbonated
Mead No. 9 - Traditional
Gravity: 0.992 (prior reading: 1.073)
Dry, but slightly sweet and light
Mead No. 10 - Chocolate
Gravity: 0.993 (prior reading: 1.113)
Chocolate-y, but more like powder than syrup, but otherwise dry and light
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Trying To Be More Exact
Following Bray's step-by-step instructions on mead making from this article, I swirled Meads No. 11 and 12 this morning to help degas. I'm sure I didn't do it nearly enough as one video I saw says you have to do it for like 30 minutes, but I'm trying to improve my processes to make a better mead.
The pumpkin spice mead (No. 11), however, had a MEA, which is a mead explosion accident, just as I suspected it would. I had used Lalvin D47 yeast and though it didn't seem to be doing much last night, today it was beginning to bubble up through the airlock. I may have caught it early enough as there was no big mess, but having overfilled the jug I was expecting it would happen.
Mead No. 12 was fine as I kept the level a little low on purpose, and it is bubbling along nicely now. Both are actually.
I took a gravity reading of No. 11 and it doesn't seem to have moved at all so I'll check again tomorrow as I'm supposed to do another nutrient addition when the reading drops by 1/3, which is called a "sugar break." As the original reading was 1.084, that means that when the reading drops to 1.056, I'll add more nutrients, followed by another dose when it falls to 1.028. From other readings, staggered nutrient additions (SNA) is usually every other day anyway.
The pumpkin spice mead (No. 11), however, had a MEA, which is a mead explosion accident, just as I suspected it would. I had used Lalvin D47 yeast and though it didn't seem to be doing much last night, today it was beginning to bubble up through the airlock. I may have caught it early enough as there was no big mess, but having overfilled the jug I was expecting it would happen.
Mead No. 12 was fine as I kept the level a little low on purpose, and it is bubbling along nicely now. Both are actually.
I took a gravity reading of No. 11 and it doesn't seem to have moved at all so I'll check again tomorrow as I'm supposed to do another nutrient addition when the reading drops by 1/3, which is called a "sugar break." As the original reading was 1.084, that means that when the reading drops to 1.056, I'll add more nutrients, followed by another dose when it falls to 1.028. From other readings, staggered nutrient additions (SNA) is usually every other day anyway.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Pumpkin Spice Mead
Tis the season! When everything is pumpkin spice these days, why not make a pumpkin spice mead?
From my original readings on recipes, I saw you could use either a real pumpkin, cut up and bake for an hour (and bake some sweet potatoes too), or use canned pumpkin like Libby's. However, as I read further, I found that adding vegetables like pumpkin and potatoes really doesn't add much to the flavor of the mead and it's really the spices that make the taste.
For that reason, I decided to follow a recipe I found on HomeBrewTalk.com from Tattooed Viking who eschewed using pumpkin and just used spices. You can find the recipe on the Recipe tab.
I'm fermenting the mead in the spring water jug because, as Bray Denard, PhD (of Bray's One Month Mead -- BOMM -- fame) says, it's just one less thing you have to sanitize. I think I overfilled it, despite following the instructions Bray provides, and I will probably have a blowout, but I'll keep an eye on it and be ready to act if necessary. Check out the Mead Log to see what exactly went into Mead No. 11.
I also made No. 12, too, which for the moment is just a simple mead. Whether or not I add fruit or something to it in the secondary remains to be seen, but I've decided what I really like about mead is just its plain, simple flavor. I've had a few other styles of mead that were either spiced or otherwise flavored and though enjoyable, they're not as good as my go to Carroll's mead. So I think most of the mead I'll be making from now one will be plain.
With that said, I do plan on making a hydromel next. I just learned about what this is, and it's apparently a lower alcohol content mead that's ready to drink in about 2 months. While there's always a BOMM I could make and drink in a month thereabouts, a hydromel sounds more up my alley. I'll give it a shot and see.
From my original readings on recipes, I saw you could use either a real pumpkin, cut up and bake for an hour (and bake some sweet potatoes too), or use canned pumpkin like Libby's. However, as I read further, I found that adding vegetables like pumpkin and potatoes really doesn't add much to the flavor of the mead and it's really the spices that make the taste.
For that reason, I decided to follow a recipe I found on HomeBrewTalk.com from Tattooed Viking who eschewed using pumpkin and just used spices. You can find the recipe on the Recipe tab.
I'm fermenting the mead in the spring water jug because, as Bray Denard, PhD (of Bray's One Month Mead -- BOMM -- fame) says, it's just one less thing you have to sanitize. I think I overfilled it, despite following the instructions Bray provides, and I will probably have a blowout, but I'll keep an eye on it and be ready to act if necessary. Check out the Mead Log to see what exactly went into Mead No. 11.
I also made No. 12, too, which for the moment is just a simple mead. Whether or not I add fruit or something to it in the secondary remains to be seen, but I've decided what I really like about mead is just its plain, simple flavor. I've had a few other styles of mead that were either spiced or otherwise flavored and though enjoyable, they're not as good as my go to Carroll's mead. So I think most of the mead I'll be making from now one will be plain.
With that said, I do plan on making a hydromel next. I just learned about what this is, and it's apparently a lower alcohol content mead that's ready to drink in about 2 months. While there's always a BOMM I could make and drink in a month thereabouts, a hydromel sounds more up my alley. I'll give it a shot and see.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Racking the Melomel to a Secondary
Today I racked to a secondary my first (and, so far, only) melomel. The raspberry mead (No. 6) had a slightly sweet aroma to it, and its taste, while young, was pleasant too. I had lazily left it in the primary for 2 months (it was originally pitched on July 9) but also because I've heard you should wait for the fruit to settle to the bottom. But like my cyser, the fruit never did so, so I decided to rack it over.
As this was also one of my early meads where I didn't take an original gravity reading, there's no starting point for determining alcohol content, but the final reading was 0.994.
Also racked over to a secondary my attempt at a very sweet mead (No. 7), which has indeed a very sweet taste that definitely overpowers any alcohol flavor, but with a gravity reading of 1.106, that's perhaps not very surprising. The "carbonation" that was seemingly present the last time I tested it (Aug. 14) has completely dissipated and it now seems very still.
But now I really need to come up with a table to record my findings with these meads because this blog is something of a mess with information about the particular meads all over the place. A table would be much more helpful and allow me to see at a glance what still needs to be achieved with each batch and where we are at any point in time.
UPDATE: I added nearly a quart of pomegranate juice to the raspberry mead to make up the volume and add some additional sweetness. I had wanted to add raspberry juice, but apparently they don't make that, so I did see a few store brand juices with a pomegranate-raspberry mix and decided to go with that.
I had seen on the GotMead? forums that Swordnut(?) recommended adding a little bit of juice at a time over a couple of days to adjust the taste. I neglected to do that and the mead has a definite pomegranate-y taste which I hope will mellow with time. I didn't taste much of the raspberry after the addition, and if that's been overpowered by the pomegranate that will be a disappointment.
I've also put it into the refrigerator to cold crash it for a period of two weeks.
As this was also one of my early meads where I didn't take an original gravity reading, there's no starting point for determining alcohol content, but the final reading was 0.994.
Also racked over to a secondary my attempt at a very sweet mead (No. 7), which has indeed a very sweet taste that definitely overpowers any alcohol flavor, but with a gravity reading of 1.106, that's perhaps not very surprising. The "carbonation" that was seemingly present the last time I tested it (Aug. 14) has completely dissipated and it now seems very still.
But now I really need to come up with a table to record my findings with these meads because this blog is something of a mess with information about the particular meads all over the place. A table would be much more helpful and allow me to see at a glance what still needs to be achieved with each batch and where we are at any point in time.
UPDATE: I added nearly a quart of pomegranate juice to the raspberry mead to make up the volume and add some additional sweetness. I had wanted to add raspberry juice, but apparently they don't make that, so I did see a few store brand juices with a pomegranate-raspberry mix and decided to go with that.
I had seen on the GotMead? forums that Swordnut(?) recommended adding a little bit of juice at a time over a couple of days to adjust the taste. I neglected to do that and the mead has a definite pomegranate-y taste which I hope will mellow with time. I didn't taste much of the raspberry after the addition, and if that's been overpowered by the pomegranate that will be a disappointment.
I've also put it into the refrigerator to cold crash it for a period of two weeks.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Racked Cyser To a Secondary
Today I racked the cyser (No. 8) into a secondary, a 2-1/2 gallon bucket. I had planned on adding a half gallon more of apple juice to the must because I had only been able to use a half gallon when I first pitched it, but after racking it and seeing how much of the lees was left behind I decided to add a second half gallon.
Prior to adding the apple juice, I took a reading and got 1.014 for an ABV of 17.7%. I probably should have took a reading after adding the first half gallon, but didn't think of it. I did take one after adding the full gallon of apple juice though and got a reading of 1.034, or an ABV of 15.65%.
I also took tastings of the cyser at each reading and the first one tasted very sweet, but had a definite alcohol taste as well, though not harsh at all. The second tasting though seemed to have diluted the alcohol taste almost completely and gave it more of an apple juice flavor. I wonder if I diluted it too much. But we'll take tastings in the future to see.
Prior to adding the apple juice, I took a reading and got 1.014 for an ABV of 17.7%. I probably should have took a reading after adding the first half gallon, but didn't think of it. I did take one after adding the full gallon of apple juice though and got a reading of 1.034, or an ABV of 15.65%.
I also took tastings of the cyser at each reading and the first one tasted very sweet, but had a definite alcohol taste as well, though not harsh at all. The second tasting though seemed to have diluted the alcohol taste almost completely and gave it more of an apple juice flavor. I wonder if I diluted it too much. But we'll take tastings in the future to see.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Mead Log Update 08142016
I took readings and tastings from (almost) all of my meads. I now have a digital thermometer so I'm taking temperature reading of the musts too. Most seem to be in the low 80'sF and I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem or not.
Mead No. 1
Temp: 82.4F
Gravity: 0.993
There was a slight alcohol burn to the taste of it, but considering all the fruit in it, there was a surprising chocolatey taste. It has a seemingly dark brown color to it though it's probably more of a deep purple.
Mead No. 2
Temp: 82.6F
Gravity: 1.006
Quite sweet tasting. Very clear, golden color.
Mead No. 3
Temp: 82.6F
Gravity: 1.000
Dry, white wine taste with a hint of honey
Mead No. 4
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 0.992
Well that tastes god awful. My worst batch. This is the one I made with the dehydrated orange slices. Blech. I'll keep it and hopefully the long term aging will smooth out the taste and then I'll be able to back sweeten it.
Mead No. 5
Temp: 83.8F
Gravity: 0.994
I racked it to a secondary. I had been watching the water jug all week as it was well over 30 days from pitching the yeast and where this morning the balloon was still erect, suddenly tonight it deflated. I figured since I was in the middle of racking and measuring my meads I may as well rack it to a secondary.
It has a nice amber color, has a slight honey smell to it, and is surprisingly sweet though not overpoweringly.
Mead No. 6
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 0.995
Reddish pink in color (bright!) and there is only a slight raspberry taste. That's surprising because last week it had a very pleasant raspberry taste to it. I racked it off the fruit into a tertiary carboy.
Mead No. 7
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 1.110
Very sweet tasting and the must had a definite carbonation to it.
I forgot to take readings/tastings of Meads No. 8 and 9, so I may do them tomorrow.
Mead No. 1
Temp: 82.4F
Gravity: 0.993
There was a slight alcohol burn to the taste of it, but considering all the fruit in it, there was a surprising chocolatey taste. It has a seemingly dark brown color to it though it's probably more of a deep purple.
Mead No. 2
Temp: 82.6F
Gravity: 1.006
Quite sweet tasting. Very clear, golden color.
Mead No. 3
Temp: 82.6F
Gravity: 1.000
Dry, white wine taste with a hint of honey
Mead No. 4
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 0.992
Well that tastes god awful. My worst batch. This is the one I made with the dehydrated orange slices. Blech. I'll keep it and hopefully the long term aging will smooth out the taste and then I'll be able to back sweeten it.
Mead No. 5
Temp: 83.8F
Gravity: 0.994
I racked it to a secondary. I had been watching the water jug all week as it was well over 30 days from pitching the yeast and where this morning the balloon was still erect, suddenly tonight it deflated. I figured since I was in the middle of racking and measuring my meads I may as well rack it to a secondary.
It has a nice amber color, has a slight honey smell to it, and is surprisingly sweet though not overpoweringly.
Mead No. 6
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 0.995
Reddish pink in color (bright!) and there is only a slight raspberry taste. That's surprising because last week it had a very pleasant raspberry taste to it. I racked it off the fruit into a tertiary carboy.
Mead No. 7
Temp: 82.9F
Gravity: 1.110
Very sweet tasting and the must had a definite carbonation to it.
I forgot to take readings/tastings of Meads No. 8 and 9, so I may do them tomorrow.
Repitching Yeast
The yeast in Mead No. 10, the chocolate mead. seemed to have not been doing anything. I'm used to the Lalvin 71V-1122 starting a pretty strong ferment within hours, certainly within 24 hrs, but there wasn't much happening here.
I queried the GotMead board and was advised that with a 5 gallon batch as many as 3 packets of yeast might be needed (another forum member said he's always had success using just one, but with 5 gallons it may take a little longer). That did seem to be the case because by late afternoon the must was backing up through the airlock.
Not wanting another mess, I siphoned off a bit into a 375 ml carboy and then rehydrated another packet of yeast. I didn't have any more 71V-1122 on hand so I used a packet of Pasteur Blanc. Hope that doesn't screw things up too much. I then pitch 3/4 of it into the bucket and added the rest to the glass carboy.
Let's see how long it take to get fermentation going now.
I queried the GotMead board and was advised that with a 5 gallon batch as many as 3 packets of yeast might be needed (another forum member said he's always had success using just one, but with 5 gallons it may take a little longer). That did seem to be the case because by late afternoon the must was backing up through the airlock.
Not wanting another mess, I siphoned off a bit into a 375 ml carboy and then rehydrated another packet of yeast. I didn't have any more 71V-1122 on hand so I used a packet of Pasteur Blanc. Hope that doesn't screw things up too much. I then pitch 3/4 of it into the bucket and added the rest to the glass carboy.
Let's see how long it take to get fermentation going now.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Liquid Sex
Having acquired several 5 gallon food-grade buckets from a local bakery, I've been wanting to make a unique batch of mead to fill them. I discovered a chocolate mead recipe from a Lord Rhys who describes the recipe as creating "liquid sex." Well, who can argue with that?
A search of YouTube found only one person that actually made one using the recipe, Larmo22, and it seemed easy enough that I figured I'd give it a try (you can find the recipe in the "Recipe" tab above).
Mead No. 10
After cleaning and sanitizing the pail and lid, I warmed up 15 lbs. of honey in a sink filled with hot tap water to help it flow easier. I added one gallon of water to the bucket then one 5 lb. container of honey and mixed them together vigorously.
At the home brew stores, they sell for $20 a mixer that attaches to your drill. It seemed rather pricey for a piece of plastic, so I wanted to see if I could make my own. I bought a garden stake from Lowe's, one of those green ones you would use to tie up a tomato or other plant with. I thought it was plastic, but it's actually plastic-coated aluminum. It's about 2-feet long.
I cut off two 2" long piece from one end and flattened them both in my bench vise. I then flattened the cut end of the stake and drilled a 1/4" hole in the flat end of the stake and at one end of each of the 2" long pieces. I then threaded a small nylon screw through the holes, attaching one of the small pieces on either side of the stake, and then secured it with a nut. Viola! For $1.76, I replicated the $20 tool.
Using the mixer I added all the water and honey. I probably should have held off on adding the last gallon oil the very end because I did splash a little bit while mixing because 4 gallons of water and 15 lbs of honey brings the fill line within a 1/2" of the top.
I then added the cocoa powder and mixed using my home-made mixing wand. I measured the temp of the must and it was 89.7F. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.113 for an ABV of ___.
Next I rehydrated the yeast, warming up the water to about 107F (the package says between 104-109F) and let sit for 15 minutes or so.
After pitching the yeast I blended up the mixture and then added one tsp. of DAP and one tsp. of yeast nutrient and mixed them as well. I then drilled out the lid of the bucket with a 1/2" bit, added a rubber bung, and secured an airlock filled with sanitizer into the hole. I am concerned about blowout though because of how full the bucket is so I'll need to keep an eye on it.
I did take a taste of the must with the chocolate and it tasted good, though I was thinking it would be more chocolate-y than it seemed. Also wasn't as sweet as I imagined it would be. If necessary, I can always back sweeten the must after primary fermentation. Now I hear this has to store for longer periods of time than typical meads, up to two years, before it really begins to taste good. That might be difficult, but we'll see how it goes.
A search of YouTube found only one person that actually made one using the recipe, Larmo22, and it seemed easy enough that I figured I'd give it a try (you can find the recipe in the "Recipe" tab above).
Mead No. 10
After cleaning and sanitizing the pail and lid, I warmed up 15 lbs. of honey in a sink filled with hot tap water to help it flow easier. I added one gallon of water to the bucket then one 5 lb. container of honey and mixed them together vigorously.
At the home brew stores, they sell for $20 a mixer that attaches to your drill. It seemed rather pricey for a piece of plastic, so I wanted to see if I could make my own. I bought a garden stake from Lowe's, one of those green ones you would use to tie up a tomato or other plant with. I thought it was plastic, but it's actually plastic-coated aluminum. It's about 2-feet long.
I cut off two 2" long piece from one end and flattened them both in my bench vise. I then flattened the cut end of the stake and drilled a 1/4" hole in the flat end of the stake and at one end of each of the 2" long pieces. I then threaded a small nylon screw through the holes, attaching one of the small pieces on either side of the stake, and then secured it with a nut. Viola! For $1.76, I replicated the $20 tool.
Using the mixer I added all the water and honey. I probably should have held off on adding the last gallon oil the very end because I did splash a little bit while mixing because 4 gallons of water and 15 lbs of honey brings the fill line within a 1/2" of the top.
I then added the cocoa powder and mixed using my home-made mixing wand. I measured the temp of the must and it was 89.7F. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.113 for an ABV of ___.
Next I rehydrated the yeast, warming up the water to about 107F (the package says between 104-109F) and let sit for 15 minutes or so.
After pitching the yeast I blended up the mixture and then added one tsp. of DAP and one tsp. of yeast nutrient and mixed them as well. I then drilled out the lid of the bucket with a 1/2" bit, added a rubber bung, and secured an airlock filled with sanitizer into the hole. I am concerned about blowout though because of how full the bucket is so I'll need to keep an eye on it.
I did take a taste of the must with the chocolate and it tasted good, though I was thinking it would be more chocolate-y than it seemed. Also wasn't as sweet as I imagined it would be. If necessary, I can always back sweeten the must after primary fermentation. Now I hear this has to store for longer periods of time than typical meads, up to two years, before it really begins to taste good. That might be difficult, but we'll see how it goes.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Gravity Reading Updates
I've decided to take weekly gravity readings to check on the progress of my meads. Some of them I fully suspect won't change much week to week since they've finished their ferment so I'll prepare to bottle them for long term storage.
Below I provide not only the gravity readings, but notes of aroma, taste, and color, as well as temperature as well as I can figure. Most of the musts were at 80F-84F, which I'm not sure is a problem, but then again I was using an inexact thermometer and will invest in a digital one for greater accuracy.
Mead No. 1
82F
FG 0.992
This is the mead that I attempted to replicate the taste of the Melovino Meadery's Midnight Jack mead, adding in blackberries, black currants, and black cherries. Although it had a somewhat fruity smell in the container and a beep burgundy color, there wasn't much sweetness to the taste -- more like a dry wine -- and it was clearly still a young mead as there was an alcohol taste present.
I had no original gravity reading so I have nothing to compare it too. I can probably back-calculate it based on the honey used and water volume, and may determine that later on, but I also never took gravity readings after adding the fruit in the secondary so it would probably be an exercise in futility. I'll just have to accept this one as is.
After the fruit has been in the secondary for a month (next week), I'll rack again to a tertiary container and try to back sweeten it.
Mead No. 2
82F
FG 1.011
There was a strong alcohol smell in the pail, but it's taste was actually sweet with little of the same hot taste. I had attempted to make this a basic mead, and I'm surprised at how sweet it remains. MY notes were shady at the beginning, and I only think I used Lalvin D-47 but considering its sweetness compared to the others I may have to check into this further. It had a light gold color (seemed darker in the bucket) and was very clear.
This is another mead I didn't have an OG reading on, but I did take a reading apparently when I racked it to the secondary on July 26. My notes say it was 1.03 at the time, though I'm not sure how accurate that is so it will be another mead I'll just be accepting as is. I'll be racking it to a glass carboy for long term storage in about 2 weeks.
Mead No. 3
84F
FG 0.992
There was a mild alcohol smell in the bucket, but its taste was not like that at all. It was dry, but not sweet, really like a good white wine. It also had a light gold color and was very clear.
Mead No. 4
FG 0.992
There were no real smells to speak of, though its taste was dry and not fruity. This was the one that I had used dehydrated orange slices with. My earlier notes indicate there was an orange taste to it, but that has apparently dissipated, though it had a weird flavor. Not bad, as if the mead was no good, just odd. Its color was a deeper, reddish gold. The gravity reading has remained unchanged since I took it last time on July 17. In a couple of weeks I'll rack to a glass carboy for long term storage.
Mead No. 6
FG 0.992
Not much of a fruity smell but the taste was surprisingly pleasing with a definite raspberry flavor. It was somewhat dry however. It had a bright pinkish reddish color.
It was racked to a secondary on July 9 so next week I'll rerack it off the fruit for long-term storage.
Mead No. 7
83F
FG 1.110
OG 1.150
% ABV 5.98
There were no real aromas to speak of, and it seems that trying to discern smells while in a carboy is more difficult than when it's in a bucket. The mead had an amber color, but seemed carbonated with lots of bubbles.
The taste was very sweet with only a hint of alcohol coming through. This is the one I was trying to make a sweet mead with, but I was still surprised at the ABV reading above. However, that OG reading may not have been correct so it will be watched over time.
Meads No. 5, 8, 9
I did not take readings of these meads. No. 5 is still fermenting in the original plastic water jug and the balloon has yet to deflate. It was created a month ago so it should be ready soon to go into a secondary.
Mead No. 8 was the cyser that I made a week and a half ago and I took a reading on it earlier this week while Mead No. 9 I just made the other day, so I will wait for a full week before taking the first reading.
Below I provide not only the gravity readings, but notes of aroma, taste, and color, as well as temperature as well as I can figure. Most of the musts were at 80F-84F, which I'm not sure is a problem, but then again I was using an inexact thermometer and will invest in a digital one for greater accuracy.
Mead No. 1
82F
FG 0.992
This is the mead that I attempted to replicate the taste of the Melovino Meadery's Midnight Jack mead, adding in blackberries, black currants, and black cherries. Although it had a somewhat fruity smell in the container and a beep burgundy color, there wasn't much sweetness to the taste -- more like a dry wine -- and it was clearly still a young mead as there was an alcohol taste present.
I had no original gravity reading so I have nothing to compare it too. I can probably back-calculate it based on the honey used and water volume, and may determine that later on, but I also never took gravity readings after adding the fruit in the secondary so it would probably be an exercise in futility. I'll just have to accept this one as is.
After the fruit has been in the secondary for a month (next week), I'll rack again to a tertiary container and try to back sweeten it.
Mead No. 2
82F
FG 1.011
There was a strong alcohol smell in the pail, but it's taste was actually sweet with little of the same hot taste. I had attempted to make this a basic mead, and I'm surprised at how sweet it remains. MY notes were shady at the beginning, and I only think I used Lalvin D-47 but considering its sweetness compared to the others I may have to check into this further. It had a light gold color (seemed darker in the bucket) and was very clear.
This is another mead I didn't have an OG reading on, but I did take a reading apparently when I racked it to the secondary on July 26. My notes say it was 1.03 at the time, though I'm not sure how accurate that is so it will be another mead I'll just be accepting as is. I'll be racking it to a glass carboy for long term storage in about 2 weeks.
Mead No. 3
84F
FG 0.992
There was a mild alcohol smell in the bucket, but its taste was not like that at all. It was dry, but not sweet, really like a good white wine. It also had a light gold color and was very clear.
Mead No. 4
FG 0.992
There were no real smells to speak of, though its taste was dry and not fruity. This was the one that I had used dehydrated orange slices with. My earlier notes indicate there was an orange taste to it, but that has apparently dissipated, though it had a weird flavor. Not bad, as if the mead was no good, just odd. Its color was a deeper, reddish gold. The gravity reading has remained unchanged since I took it last time on July 17. In a couple of weeks I'll rack to a glass carboy for long term storage.
Mead No. 6
FG 0.992
Not much of a fruity smell but the taste was surprisingly pleasing with a definite raspberry flavor. It was somewhat dry however. It had a bright pinkish reddish color.
It was racked to a secondary on July 9 so next week I'll rerack it off the fruit for long-term storage.
Mead No. 7
83F
FG 1.110
OG 1.150
% ABV 5.98
There were no real aromas to speak of, and it seems that trying to discern smells while in a carboy is more difficult than when it's in a bucket. The mead had an amber color, but seemed carbonated with lots of bubbles.
The taste was very sweet with only a hint of alcohol coming through. This is the one I was trying to make a sweet mead with, but I was still surprised at the ABV reading above. However, that OG reading may not have been correct so it will be watched over time.
Meads No. 5, 8, 9
I did not take readings of these meads. No. 5 is still fermenting in the original plastic water jug and the balloon has yet to deflate. It was created a month ago so it should be ready soon to go into a secondary.
Mead No. 8 was the cyser that I made a week and a half ago and I took a reading on it earlier this week while Mead No. 9 I just made the other day, so I will wait for a full week before taking the first reading.
Friday, August 5, 2016
Taking a Cyser's Gravity Reading
At the recommendation of Swordnut on the GotMead forum I took a gravity reading of my cyser (Mead No. 8) and got 1.071.
djsxxx said to take my original gravity reading (1.153) and the current reading, and plug them into the GotMead batch calculator to get the current alcohol by volume content. Doing so gave me an estimate of 10.99%, and I'll assume by the time it finishes fermenting it should be lower.
UPDATE 9/2/2017: Actually, the lower you allow the readings to go the higher the ABV will be. That's because as the yeast eats the sugar it produces more alcohol.
I also tasted the cyser and though it was a tad potent at the moment, it tasted sweet nonetheless. I think I read that a cyser takes like two years to completely age, so it will be a challenge to see if I let it survive that long. Patience, although a virtue, is not a strong suit of mine.
djsxxx said to take my original gravity reading (1.153) and the current reading, and plug them into the GotMead batch calculator to get the current alcohol by volume content. Doing so gave me an estimate of 10.99%, and I'll assume by the time it finishes fermenting it should be lower.
UPDATE 9/2/2017: Actually, the lower you allow the readings to go the higher the ABV will be. That's because as the yeast eats the sugar it produces more alcohol.
I also tasted the cyser and though it was a tad potent at the moment, it tasted sweet nonetheless. I think I read that a cyser takes like two years to completely age, so it will be a challenge to see if I let it survive that long. Patience, although a virtue, is not a strong suit of mine.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
First "Large Batch" Mead
Mead No. 9
2 gal. Spring water
5 lbs. Pure 'n Simple honey
1 tsp. Pasteur Blanc yeast
1-1/2 tsp. Yeast energizer
1-1/2 tsp/ DAP
4 gal. Pail
OG 1.073
My idea with this mead batch was to make a large amount and then after the primary fermentation, divide it into two individual one-gallon batches that I could then amend with other ingredients. So rather than one gallon of mead a week, I'd be making two-plus.
I warmed a small dish of water to just under 100F and added the yeast to rehydrate. I've since read on the yeast packet 100-105F is the preferred temp, so note to self, heat it a little more next time. The yeast was very clumpy in the water despite attempts to mix it, but after sitting for a time it seemed to "dissolve" and it looked like it was coming alive.
The packet of Pasteur Blanc yeast, however, was the same one I used for Mead No. 7. I wanted to see if it was true that you could keep the yeast opened, but in the refrigerator, for at least a short period of time. It was about two weeks and I wonder if that affected the yeast's vitality at all because although it did begin to ferment the must, it didn't seem particularly active in the airlock. I'm also wondering if that was because of the volume of space it needed to fill up in the bucket.
I used one of my 4-gallon buckets I had gotten from the bakery that had been cleaned and sanitized. I drilled a 1/2" hole in the lid and inserted a bung. It all seemed to fit. Between the water, which used a full 2 gallons, and the honey, which seemed to add about a gallon more, there was a large head space of air.
Whereas in the one-gallon jugs with very little headspace there seems to be fairly vigorous fermentation within hours, it took between 12-24 hours for the airlock to show activity. It kept up a good pace for a day, but after that day it had slowed considerably. As I said, I'm not sure if it's the yeast having been open, the amount of headspace that needed to be filled, or even the bucket that I used. We'll check back within a week and get another gravity reading then, and see what's happening at that time.
Speaking of gravity reading's, I was a little surprised at how seemingly low this one was. According to the yeast alcohol tolerance chart, Pasteur Blanc is supposed to be both vigorous (see concerns above) and have a tolerance of 18%. Next time I'll take a temperature reading of the must too, but the 1.073 starting gravity seems to suggest an ABV of around 9.5%, which seems low, no?
UPDATE (9/4/2017): No. The tolerance of the yeast doesn't mean the ABV will rise to that, just that the yeast can go that high. ABV is determined by how much sugar (honey) is present, so the gravity readings give you how much alcohol is ultimately present.
I'm also not expecting this one to taste great. It has sat for over a year on the lees without ever having been racked so I'm guessing it may have off flavors to it.
UPDATE (9/16/2017): I racked the mead into a 2-1/2 gal carboy and backsweetened with 1.3 lbs (21.1 oz) of honey, which raised the gravity to 1.014 (just above my 1.010 target) and markedly improved the taste. I'll let it sit for a week or two before splitting into two 1-gal. carboys for possible fruit additions.
2 gal. Spring water
5 lbs. Pure 'n Simple honey
1 tsp. Pasteur Blanc yeast
1-1/2 tsp. Yeast energizer
1-1/2 tsp/ DAP
4 gal. Pail
OG 1.073
My idea with this mead batch was to make a large amount and then after the primary fermentation, divide it into two individual one-gallon batches that I could then amend with other ingredients. So rather than one gallon of mead a week, I'd be making two-plus.
I warmed a small dish of water to just under 100F and added the yeast to rehydrate. I've since read on the yeast packet 100-105F is the preferred temp, so note to self, heat it a little more next time. The yeast was very clumpy in the water despite attempts to mix it, but after sitting for a time it seemed to "dissolve" and it looked like it was coming alive.
The packet of Pasteur Blanc yeast, however, was the same one I used for Mead No. 7. I wanted to see if it was true that you could keep the yeast opened, but in the refrigerator, for at least a short period of time. It was about two weeks and I wonder if that affected the yeast's vitality at all because although it did begin to ferment the must, it didn't seem particularly active in the airlock. I'm also wondering if that was because of the volume of space it needed to fill up in the bucket.
I used one of my 4-gallon buckets I had gotten from the bakery that had been cleaned and sanitized. I drilled a 1/2" hole in the lid and inserted a bung. It all seemed to fit. Between the water, which used a full 2 gallons, and the honey, which seemed to add about a gallon more, there was a large head space of air.
Whereas in the one-gallon jugs with very little headspace there seems to be fairly vigorous fermentation within hours, it took between 12-24 hours for the airlock to show activity. It kept up a good pace for a day, but after that day it had slowed considerably. As I said, I'm not sure if it's the yeast having been open, the amount of headspace that needed to be filled, or even the bucket that I used. We'll check back within a week and get another gravity reading then, and see what's happening at that time.
Speaking of gravity reading's, I was a little surprised at how seemingly low this one was. According to the yeast alcohol tolerance chart, Pasteur Blanc is supposed to be both vigorous (see concerns above) and have a tolerance of 18%. Next time I'll take a temperature reading of the must too, but the 1.073 starting gravity seems to suggest an ABV of around 9.5%, which seems low, no?
UPDATE (9/4/2017): No. The tolerance of the yeast doesn't mean the ABV will rise to that, just that the yeast can go that high. ABV is determined by how much sugar (honey) is present, so the gravity readings give you how much alcohol is ultimately present.
I'm also not expecting this one to taste great. It has sat for over a year on the lees without ever having been racked so I'm guessing it may have off flavors to it.
UPDATE (9/16/2017): I racked the mead into a 2-1/2 gal carboy and backsweetened with 1.3 lbs (21.1 oz) of honey, which raised the gravity to 1.014 (just above my 1.010 target) and markedly improved the taste. I'll let it sit for a week or two before splitting into two 1-gal. carboys for possible fruit additions.
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