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.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)