My First Hydromel

I made my first true hydromel today, a traditional one to get a base reading for the process, but in anticipation of making a number of melomels off of it.

I followed the step-by-step guide and added only 1 lb. of honey to the must. When I took a hydrometer reading, it was almost exactly 1.050, which is what I was shooting for, and after adjusting for the temperature of the hydrometer, it came out right on the button. The taste was also very nice as well, but I wonder how it will finish.

If it's anything like the last two traditional meads I made, I'll be very pleased. Using this new step-by-step method so I don't screw anything up, these two meads tasted delicious after a month. Interestingly, one of them had an FG of 1.006 while the other had a 0.996. I did use two different yeasts -- Red Star Premier Blanc and Lalvin EC-1118, respectively -- but I was still surprised at the difference between the two.

I racked them both to a secondary though as they had both turned crystal clear. The benontonite definitely stripped all the flocculant out of the mead and seemingly some of the color as they were now a bright yellow in the glass carboy. I'm looking forward to tasting these in a few months because they were very good as is and I want to see what happens to them as they age.

Similarly, this hydromel should be drinkable with 45-90 days so I'm looking to see how this turns out. The next one I'm going to make is a peppermint one, maybe using candy canes, because it will be ready right in time for Christmas.

Also, I bottled the other hard cider. This one tasted better than the other, but not really what I was expecting. It didn't have as much of a cider-y taste as I expected, but it did taste good. I also broke one of my beer bottles capping one as I didn't realize exactly how the capper was working and I cranked down on it which broke the neck. I was still able to get 3 full bottles from the jar though. In reality, I don't think I should have bottled them yet, but rather transferred them to a secondary. I'll have to keep an eye on these because I may not have sulfated them to stop the fermentation. Of course, from one YouTube video I watched, that seemed to be the way to carbonate them, so we'll see.