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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.