View Full Version : Homebrew Mead Wine
Bottled some orange spiced mead tonight (similar to JAOM). It's hard to see with the 12:30am lighting but it had a beautiful color and was super clear. iPotato quality picture. Now I suppose I need to make some labels so I remember in a couple years what batch this is.
http://i.imgur.com/MVFQCgS.jpg?2
http://i.imgur.com/QkQ6BzU.jpg?2
Aardvark
08-09-2015, 08:58
You may have a little too much to handle there. I'll help you drink it...
When you start your random number raffle to give away a few, I pick 17.
hurley842002
08-09-2015, 11:22
I've always wanted to try Mead wine (albeit a bit pricey in stores). I inquired about it in the "sippin" thread, but apparently that was the wrong place.
Yeah it's the price of the honey that kills you. Figure $50-100 of honey per carboy. Even though you get 20+ bottles, it's not cheap.
Planning to age these a bit longer in the bottles now, but we can plan on tasting party later this fall... I've got a few more stashed in a dark corner of the basement waiting for bottles.
It looks tasty. I'm not much of a wine person though.
It looks tasty. I'm not much of a wine person though.
Me either, so we'll see how this goes. LOL.
I think it's mandatory that I buy a Norse Thor costume or something and drink this wearing it, from what people tell me.
I'm down for your drinking party. We can raid a college and steal some wenches.. I'd say virgins but who wants to deal with that bs
Sent by a free-range electronic weasel, with no sense of personal space.
You should do a write up on ingredients and the process.
You should do a write up on ingredients and the process.
Like Herman said...
Tasting party...When are you doing a brewing party?
I have tried to get several people to teach me and nothing yet.
ANADRILL
08-09-2015, 18:37
cask ageing mine:) it wont see the light of day till around christmas
JohnnyDrama
08-09-2015, 19:14
Nice.
Really cool photos as well. My brother made mead around twenty years ago. Pretty tasty. Hope yours works out.
Good to see you making good use of that stuff. What kind of honey and yeast did you use for that? Make sure those bottles are on a rack soon.
SamuraiCO
08-09-2015, 20:42
Need the horn goblet to drink from. Mead was the drink of choice for much of the time men have made brews. Nectar of the Gods
Warning: Possible side effect of mead include singing drinking songs in a language that sounds vaguely like Norwegian, a desire to actually use that battle axe hanging in the hallway, and pillaging villages for gold and wenches...[Viking]
Yeah, congratulations on your next child. That stuffs worse than tequila for fertility or so I've heard.
Bottled some orange spiced mead tonight (similar to JAOM). It's hard to see with the 12:30am lighting but it had a beautiful color and was super clear. iPotato quality picture. Now I suppose I need to make some labels so I remember in a couple years what batch this
http://i.imgur.com/QkQ6BzU.jpg?2
Looks great, Brian. Have never made mead but would like to try yours. Save a bottle once it ages and we'll make a trade.
It's looking like a good fruit and wine grape year here. We're expecting a bumper crop of Riesling, along with the Cabernet Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot I'll crush a ton and half or two of grapes for wine this fall. Gotta take advantage of a good harvest because it doesn't happen every year in Colorado. But when it happens we've got the quality. I'll make some apple and peach wines, too.
We also have a bumper crop of bees so it should be a good year for local honey producers. More mead, more better.
One thing I had planned to do but forgot about until it was too late was to bottle a few in the skinny 375ml bottles instead of the normal 750s. Have had several guys recommend that to me, whether to enter them in contests, or share with friends/gifts - 2x the bottles on hand would be nice.
My problem is I have a hard time going "half way" into a project/hobby. Several of the guys on the board here have lent me advice or helped me acquire gear over the last year or two, so there's quite a pile of "stuff" in the basement right now, not to mention 35-40gal of various mead or wine chemistry experiments going.
Looks great, Brian. Have never made mead but would like to try yours. Save a bottle once it ages and we'll make a trade.
It's looking like a good fruit and wine grape year here. We're expecting a bumper crop of Riesling, along with the Cabernet Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot I'll crush a ton and half or two of grapes for wine this fall. Gotta take advantage of a good harvest because it doesn't happen every year in Colorado. But when it happens we've got the quality. I'll make some apple and peach wines, too.
We also have a bumper crop of bees so it should be a good year for local honey producers. More mead, more better.
Sounds good! BTW I did pick up a like-new floor corker off CL, and bought the capper attachment for it as well. Wow, it really is a lot easier vs. the handhelds.
Only thing I noticed the other night was I had one or two bottles where the cork was pushing back up a bit almost immediately. The mead is 100% dead so it's not carbonation - I'm guessing it has something to do with either the starsan rinse, which I've noticed does tend to make bungs slippery as well (heyoo!) or maybe my corks were too soft or something. Replaced one of the corks with a fresh one and all was good. The other I just shoved down with my thumb and watched it for 12 hours or so to make sure it wasn't coming back up.
They're horizontal in a rack now, will keep an eye on them to make sure I don't have any corks popping. Since this batch is going to be a little sweet due to the style, that would make a heck of a sticky mess.
Good to see you making good use of that stuff. What kind of honey and yeast did you use for that? Make sure those bottles are on a rack soon.
Will have to go back and double check my notes on the honey, but this was an odd one that used grocery store fleischmanns bread yeast. I made a gallon of it back when I was getting started and liked it, so I decided to do a full 5gal this time. Doesn't finish as far as some of the others of course and the lees are pretty loose and fluffy compared to others which is annoying, but it worked out well in the end. The leftovers once I drained all the mead out made the house smell awesome for 24 hours though, assuming you like the smell of mulled cider or whatever. Will be great here in the fall - 6mo should be around October, so maybe I drink a bottle or two for Halloween.
Mead is awesome! My cousin in Washington home brews that stuff. It was like 18% alcohol. Ridiculously good.
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Hmm, my fermenter is going to be free in about 10 days. Looks like a fun change of pace from wine.
Looks like I need to show this to my mom as she is always making wine and giving us batches but some mead sounds awesome! Great work, that stuff looks great!
Bottled another batch over the weekend - a great clear red color on this one. Also labeled a couple batches with some custom-made labels. This one isn't as sweet as the last (on purpose), and it tastes pretty good already - even though it's only about 5mo old. Wish I had made more than 3gal on this batch. Guess I'd better start another batch. 13% on this one but I have a few that are higher.
http://i.imgur.com/hEIUWf4.jpg?1
jdranchman
08-19-2015, 15:09
Nice work. I've got two carboys of mead sitting and about ready to rack again for bottling. Are you on gotmead? A few of us in the front range gm are going to try and setup a sit and sip to sample each others experiments and talk about yeast pee.
Nice work. I've got two carboys of mead sitting and about ready to rack again for bottling. Are you on gotmead? A few of us in the front range gm are going to try and setup a sit and sip to sample each others experiments and talk about yeast pee.
Yep, but I've been pretty much lurking only, and a couple of the other forums too. I saw a post the other day about a get together, just hadn't responded yet, but I will. sounds awesome. I've got a few I need to rack too - I need to reinforce the shelving I'm using, as it's bowing pretty bad from all the weight and I didn't want to stir up any lees moving stuff around if I could rack first instead. There's a strawberry down there that I swear clouds up if I breathe funny.
That looks fantastic, Brian, great label, too.
My young cousin visited today and toured the orchard and garage winery. He's now working at a north Boulder winery that will be showing off their mead at the Colorado Mountain Winefest in Palisade next month. Will have to try it. Usually there are some great meads and fruit wines at the winefest which draws about 8000 visitors to the Grand Valley.
Right now I'm sipping on a 2009 apple wine. Still pretty good.
I have fun making custom labels for our homemade wines, too.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Wine%20Making/HomemadeWines2008.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Wine%20Making/HomemadeWines2008.jpg.html)
Rhino0427
08-20-2015, 13:59
I've been wanting to do this! The guys at Old West in the Springs are big proponents. They said you need to put your carbouy away and let it ferment for a year or more to get it right. Is that what you're doing?
jdranchman
08-20-2015, 15:29
There are methods to make a drinkable mead in a couple months. However, even with those they still get better with age. Two quick methods/recipes you can do at home are named JAOM and BOMM. The JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orange Mead) is a mix it and forget recipe and is ready in a couple of months (don't move it or stir it or nothing till its done). The BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) is more a recipe and protocol that includes staggered nutrient additions (SNA) to help feed yeasties optimally during their short life. BOMM gives you a tasty drinkable mead in about 30 days. If you are interested, I recommend you surf to gotmead.com and read some of the forum articles - lots of good stuff. I wish I read some of that before I made my first batch last year. I did it the old school way and it might be drinkable in a year or two or three...
That looks fantastic, Brian, great label, too.
My young cousin visited today and toured the orchard and garage winery. He's now working at a north Boulder winery that will be showing off their mead at the Colorado Mountain Winefest in Palisade next month. Will have to try it. Usually there are some great meads and fruit wines at the winefest which draws about 8000 visitors to the Grand Valley.
Right now I'm sipping on a 2009 apple wine. Still pretty good.
I have fun making custom labels for our homemade wines, too.
Wow, looks great. Hopefully I'll make it out there to see in person this Spring. I do like how you've tied your hummingbirds into all the labels too - at some point if I get semi-serious I will probably need to be thinking about how to provide some consistency or at least some sort of link between all the various labels.
I'd also be interested in your apple wine recipe. I have a carboy full of Ed Wort's dry German apfelwein stashed in a dark corner somewhere. My wife tends to like ciders and apple-based wines, so I try to keep her happy, but I'm thinking a dry cider may be more to my liking than hers... we'll see. It helps when she gets frustrated with all the "stuff" involved in my hobbies that's scattered all over the house if I can tempt her with something she likes.
There are methods to make a drinkable mead in a couple months. However, even with those they still get better with age. Two quick methods/recipes you can do at home are named JAOM and BOMM. The JAOM (Joe's Ancient Orange Mead) is a mix it and forget recipe and is ready in a couple of months (don't move it or stir it or nothing till its done). The BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) is more a recipe and protocol that includes staggered nutrient additions (SNA) to help feed yeasties optimally during their short life. BOMM gives you a tasty drinkable mead in about 30 days. If you are interested, I recommend you surf to gotmead.com and read some of the forum articles - lots of good stuff. I wish I read some of that before I made my first batch last year. I did it the old school way and it might be drinkable in a year or two or three...
Yep, that first picture I posted above is JAOM-based and was drinkable quite a while ago. It is honestly extremely simple, and you can do it without all the normal brewer's gear. Herman mentioned posting a recipe - I'll try to provide my recipe and a link to a few tips tonight when I have a few minutes.
Some links:
This guy runs stormthecastle.com which is full of mead ideas, among a heck of a lot of other stuff. His video is great for a beginner, and is more or less a JAOM. You can even skip the airlock if you don't have one and use a baloon with a tiny pinhole poked in it. I made my first mead with an old plastic jug and a baloon, and it turned out great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ueyNQfnfE
http://www.stormthecastle.com/mead/fast-cheap-mead-making.htm
Joe Mattioli's JAOM is all over the place:
200+ pages at HBT: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49106
76 pages at GM: http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/6885-Joe-Mattioli-s-Foolproof-Ancient-Orange-Clove-and-Cinnamon-Mead?highlight=ancient+orange
WMT has a number of links too, here's one: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/joes-ancient-orange-mead-gift-kit.html
Joe's Recipe:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Bread yeast
Yeast Starter: nope
Batch Size (Gallons): 1
Original Gravity: 1.100????
Final Gravity: 1.030?????
Boiling Time (Minutes): 1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 months
Ancient Orange Mead (by Joe Mattioli)
1 gallon batch
3 1/2 lbs Clover or your choice honey or blend (will finish sweet)
1 Large orange (later cut in eights or smaller rind and all)
1 small handful of raisins (25 if you count but more or less ok)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 whole clove ( or 2 if you like - these are potent critters)
optional (a pinch of nutmeg and allspice )( very small )
1 teaspoon of Fleishmann’s bread yeast ( now don't get holy on me--- after all this is an ancient mead and that's all we had back then)
Balance water to one gallon
Process:
Use a clean 1 gallon carboy
Dissolve honey in some warm water and put in carboy
Wash orange well to remove any pesticides and slice in eights --add orange (you can push em through opening big boy -- rinds included -- its ok for this mead -- take my word for it -- ignore the experts)
Put in raisins, clove, cinnamon stick, any optional ingredients and fill to 3 inches from the top with cold water. ( need room for some foam -- you can top off with more water after the first few day frenzy)
Shake the heck out of the jug with top on, of course. This is your sophisticated aeration process.
When at room temperature in your kitchen, put in 1 teaspoon of bread yeast. ( No you don't have to rehydrate it first-- the ancients didn't even have that word in their vocabulary-- just put it in and give it a gentle swirl or not)(The yeast can fight for their own territory)
Install water airlock. Put in dark place. It will start working immediately or in an hour. (Don't use grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away in the 90's)( Wait 3 hours before you panic or call me) After major foaming stops in a few days add some water and then keep your hands off of it. (Don't shake it! Don't mess with them yeastees! Let them alone except its okay to open your cabinet to smell every once in a while.
Racking --- Don't you dare
additional feeding --- NO NO
More stirring or shaking -- Your not listening, don't touch
After 2 months and maybe a few days it will slow down to a stop and clear all by itself. (How about that) (You are not so important after all) Then you can put a hose in with a small cloth filter on the end into the clear part and siphon off the golden nectar. If you wait long enough even the oranges will sink to the bottom but I never waited that long. If it is clear it is ready. You don't need a cold basement. It does better in a kitchen in the dark. (Like in a cabinet) likes a little heat (70-80). If it didn't work out... you screwed up and didn't read my instructions (or used grandma's bread yeast she bought years before she passed away) . If it didn't work out then take up another hobby. Mead is not for you. It is too complicated.
If you were successful, which I am 99% certain you will be, then enjoy your mead. When you get ready to make different mead you will probably have to unlearn some of these practices I have taught you, but hey--- This recipe and procedure works with these ingredients so don't knock it. It was your first mead. It was my tenth. Sometimes, even the experts can forget all they know and make good ancient mead.
Good lord the stuff I made in the first post is crazy good warmed up. Added some apple cider, cinnamon sticks, some sliced and peeled peaches and a bit 'o brown sugar and boiled it a bit. Had some friends over and we might have gone through a "few" bottles tonight.
RblDiver
08-23-2015, 09:08
Bottled another batch over the weekend - a great clear red color on this one. Also labeled a couple batches with some custom-made labels. This one isn't as sweet as the last (on purpose), and it tastes pretty good already - even though it's only about 5mo old. Wish I had made more than 3gal on this batch. Guess I'd better start another batch. 13% on this one but I have a few that are higher.
http://i.imgur.com/hEIUWf4.jpg?1
You missed a perfect opportunity there! Should have named it "Dragon Blood Aged Mead" :P
(Even though it's only 9am, now I think I'll go pull out some mead myself)
I have to bump this thread just to brag on Brian's Ancient Orange Mead. On his way to Moab recently, Brian stopped by with his family to say hello and to share some of his home brew wares. We really enjoyed meeting Brian and his wonderful family. What a fine fellow!
Brian brought a bottle of his spiced orange mead (pictured on page 1 in this thread), the Dragon Blood Mead (above) and a couple lemon wine coolers. We enjoyed one of the lemon wine coolers, very nice, and opened the spiced orange sweet mead. Wow, what flavor, it's awesome stuff! It's a sweet, honey rich sipper. Still have a little left which will be gone before I finish typing. Sorry, guys. We haven't opened the other cooler or the Dragon's Blood yet. That will wait to be shared with other wine & home brew friends when they visit.
Thanks again, Brian, for the fun of your visit and the delicious mead. I hope to source honey from a neighbor this summer and try making a mead for the first time.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g292/COHummer/Wine%20Making/Brians-Ancient-Orange-Mead_zpscm5q5sgt.jpg (http://s59.photobucket.com/user/COHummer/media/Wine%20Making/Brians-Ancient-Orange-Mead_zpscm5q5sgt.jpg.html)
Wow you can't beat a backyard view like that! We were all super jealous of your homestead there in Palisade. Don't be surprised if my daughter shows up there someday with a suitcase asking where she can sleep. :)
I'm glad the mead was a positive experience - and definitely appreciate your help and advice as I'm experimenting with this "hobby". I can't wait to try the bottles you sent back with me, but I did promise my buddy that I'd wait until our calendar's aligned so we could enjoy together.
Side note about sweet mead - we did stop by at Meadery of the Rockies on our way through, and I picked up a couple things. The only one I've tried so far that was a bit unique was the "Honey Shere" desert mead. As far as I can tell, it's honey wine that was finished, had a significant amount of additional honey to it, and then also had distilled grape spirits added - ends up almost 20% ABV. It's extremely thick (literally dripping in the glass), and potent - but if you're looking for a little after dinner dessert, it was very good.
On a related note, I've been trying to coordinate a small group to get together to experiment with some apple juice we recently acquired - around 50 gallons of it. I have not been able to get everyone together at the same time, but a few of us did get together on Saturday (apparently, which was also "national homebrew day") and managed to get started. There are now about 10 buckets fermenting underway in the basement, with more to come.
A bit of bubbles for hypnotic enjoyment. If I had room, I'd ferment in my office so I could hear the bubbles plop all day long...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycTmJqUiCIA
GilpinGuy
10-06-2017, 21:34
Thread revival!
I just prepared my first 2 gallons of mead. One bluberry amd one strawberry. This recipe says it can be enjoyed in about 45 days. Hope it comes out ok. I'm tempted to get a bunch more going. Once I taste this stuff I'm not gonna want to run out. [Beer]
OtterbatHellcat
10-06-2017, 22:21
Sounds cool, man, I hope to hear that it turned out as you expect.
KevDen2005
10-06-2017, 22:27
How did I not see this? I love Mead
Double00
10-07-2017, 08:23
I think I just found another hobby I can't afford!
KevDen2005
10-07-2017, 08:29
I think I just found another hobby I can't afford!
I'll just be buying Mead. If I start another hobby I won't be doing any of them.
I made 5 gallons of cyser (mead, but with apple juice instead of water) and then proceeded to drink it all over a few months. I'm just NOW losing that weight lol.
GilpinGuy
10-14-2017, 23:59
I got my inspiration from Jack as well. [Beer]
I started another gallon also. Just orange. I'm new to this and just trying simple stuff for now.
5 days into another 5 gallon batch of cyser in primary.
Basement consistently around 68* F.
Yeast: Premiere Cuvee (high temp stability, but yields more fusels at higher temps, so keeping lower than 70* = good)
Will rack to secondary fermentation at around 3 weeks or whenever fermentation slows as evidenced by airlock activity.
Plan to bottle in swing top bottles and use primarily for gifts.
Have some blackberry flavoring for bottling, but will figure ratio per 5 gal and drop down to how much per bottle and try one bottle first before potentially ruining all 5 gal. Only 2nd time, so never done a flavor before.
GilpinGuy
10-15-2017, 07:12
I think I just found another hobby I can't afford!
I'll just be buying Mead. If I start another hobby I won't be doing any of them.
I'm trying small batches made in one gallon jugs. What is so awesome is that it is stupid easy and pretty damn inexpensive. The only "expensive" ingredient is honey, and you can get wicked exensive honey, but you don't need to. My first 3 gallons here cost me <$5 a gallon. (ETA: each gallon of mead cost me about $5 per gallon in supplies)
And for time, shit. I had my very first gallon made in about 15 minutes. Now it's just sitting and fermenting. Like I said, stupidly easy.
My brother brewed beer for a while and I helped him. It was a big PITA IMHO. Nothing against anyone who makes beer - keep doing it and trade me for some mead!
Like others wrote, spare time, spare $$ and hobbies have to be balanced.
GilpinGuy
10-15-2017, 07:19
5 days into another 5 gallon batch of cyser in primary.
Basement consistently around 68* F.
Yeast: Premiere Cuvee (high temp stability, but yields more fusels at higher temps, so keeping lower than 70* = good)
Will rack to secondary fermentation at around 3 weeks or whenever fermentation slows as evidenced by airlock activity.
Plan to bottle in swing top bottles and use primarily for gifts.
Have some blackberry flavoring for bottling, but will figure ratio per 5 gal and drop down to how much per bottle and try one bottle first before potentially ruining all 5 gal. Only 2nd time, so never done a flavor before.
So cool, good luck! I got a $50 Amazon gift card for my b-day. Blew it immediately on a dozen swing top 16 oz. bottles, mini auto siphon and a hygrometer. I had to add $9, but still awesome.
I just started this early this morning. I think I'm going to add limes and a bit of chili peppers to the secondary. This is my first time. I hope it turns out well. Thanks to everyone here and to Jack Spirko for the inspiration.
I also have some jars of fermented radishes, sauerkraut and a jar of curry kraut going.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171015/f3a6e41650694118cbe746a6d27621ff.jpg
I like those airlock jar lids. We've made kimchee a few times but simply covered with cloth. The airlocks are better. Where did you find the grommeted jar lids?
A caution about using chili peppers: a little bit goes a long ways and you can quickly ruin a batch. I recently used half of a small jalapeno in a 1.75 bottle of tequila to infuse a little bite and flavor. It did the job in 2-3 days so I pulled the chili out. It continued to increase in scoville units and I had to dilute with more tequila to make it right. But, it was goood! I'm starting another batch this weekend with a half jalapeno for 1 or 2 days. Jalapeno tequila caliente!
A few years ago I made a 10 gal. batch of jalapeno apple wine. I was very conservative with the pepper, used only a small one. I pressed early to remove the jalapeno and pulp. It turned out just right with a little bite and jalapeno flavor. My Mexican orchard workers loved it.
So cool, good luck! I got a $50 Amazon gift card for my b-day. Blew it immediately on a dozen swing top 16 oz. bottles, mini auto siphon and a hygrometer. I had to add $9, but still awesome.
A suggestion for those who want to acquire wine/beer/fermenting equipment on a budget. Search Craigslist frequently for winemaking, beermaking, etc. Over a couple years I outfitted my garage winery for a fraction of the cost for new. Carboys for $10-12, siphons, airlocks, brushes, testing equipment, an Enolmatic vacuum bottler, two new cider presses for 1/6 the cost of new, a grape crusher-destemmer, and an 80 liter bladder press. CL is the way to go for anything besides yeast and chemicals.
GilpinGuy -- where in the heck are you getting honey for $5 a gallon? I'll totally drive to wherever that is on a weekend and get like 50 gallons for future use.
I like those airlock jar lids. We've made kimchee a few times but simply covered with cloth. The airlocks are better. Where did you find the grommeted jar lids?
I bought the grommets and airlocks at a homebrew shop in Northglenn. The lids are just 1/2” drilled out Ball and Tattler lids. I cracked a couple of the Balls when drilling and will use the Tattlers from now on.
Quirky Homebrew Supply
425 W 115th Ave #6, Northglenn, CO 80234
(303) 457-3555
https://goo.gl/maps/cWGd2ZRseqA2
Thanks for the advice on the peppers. I like some heat and would probably have overdone it with the peppers.
osok-308
10-15-2017, 20:47
I made 2.5 gallons of cider earlier this month. It tastes a bit more like champagne than I wanted, but still drinkable. Planning on doing a wheat beer this weekend. Home brewing can be very rewarding. I say this as I sip my homemade pale ale.
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
GilpinGuy
10-16-2017, 06:08
GilpinGuy -- where in the heck are you getting honey for $5 a gallon? I'll totally drive to wherever that is on a weekend and get like 50 gallons for future use.
I could have wrote that sentence better. I meant each gallon of mead cost me about $5 per gallon to make.
I could have wrote that sentence better. I meant each gallon of mead cost me about $5 per gallon to make.
Ah. What's your per gallon cost on honey itself?
GilpinGuy
10-16-2017, 06:53
I used regular store bought stuff for my forst go at it, nothing fancy. It was <$10 for 5 lbs. I think my wife picked it up at Costco.
Awesome to see this thread pop up again.
With fall finally here, I've been drinking stuff again I made last year that was stashed away in a dark corner in the basement. Spiced mead is perfect for this time of year, IMHO. Also found a 3 gal carboy stashed away that's been bulk aging now for probably 18 months. Strawberry mead. Flavor was awesome, but I didn't use a lot of chems and it's no longer the super bright red color that was amazing at first. Can't decide how much I want to bottle still vs. adding a little carb. I think a slight fizz would go well with a strawberry mead.
I need to find a good long weekend and start bottling so I can free up some carboys.
A little carbonation does sound like it would lend itself well to a strawberry melomel. I assume should be good til next summer too? Seems like a good summer variety.
Also, I found a place I can get honey @ ~26 gallon.
GilpinGuy
10-25-2017, 01:41
Ok, newb question here. I have several individual gallons going now. The first got made on October 7th. Activity has slowed down significantly, but they're still bubbling away.
So, when is a good time rack for the first time? I see this kinda ugly fruit sitting on top and I'm wondering (it smells wonderful though). Of all the hours of video I've watched about mead, I can't believe I didn't catch this part. [hammer]
Air lock activity doesn't necessarily indicate completion of fermentation; lack of air lock activity simply means excess gas is no longer being produced and the yeast may still be slowly eating remaining sugar. Yeast can also clean up some immediate post-fermentation things to smooth out any off flavors. Fermentation completion awareness is accomplished through gravity readings. Do you have a hydrometer and did you take initial readings?
What yeast? What ambient average ambient temp?
My airlock advice from more experienced brewers is 1 airlock bubble every 30 seconds = rack to secondary.
GilpinGuy
10-26-2017, 04:34
No hydrometer reading at the start - didn't have one and didn't realize taking a reading in the beginning was highly recommended until too late. I have one now.
I've been reading that a reading of 1.000 or less is a good guess if you didn't take a reading at the beginning. I'll do it then I guess.
Yeast is Red Star Cuvee and Red Star Blanc, equal parts. Plus Fermax.
The cuvee will likely be doing the heavy lifting as it has a higher tolerance for alcohol and can go to like 18%. It's what I use. Have to be careful with it as going too high in ambient temp can lead to a lot of fusels -- requiring a longer aging process for smoothing out.
What's your ambient temp been?
GilpinGuy
10-26-2017, 17:03
Temp is about 70. Kind of low I guess.
Here's a question. My hydrometer hits the bottom of my gallon jugs. Can I pour some mead into the grad. cylinder (sterilized), take a reading, then pour it back in or is that a big no-no due to contamination, etc.?
Temp is about 70. Kind of low I guess.
Here's a question. My hydrometer hits the bottom of my gallon jugs. Can I pour some mead into the grad. cylinder (sterilized), take a reading, then pour it back in or is that a big no-no due to contamination, etc.?
It's an infection risk, but you definitely wouldn't be the first or the last to do it. Especially with 1 gallon batches that are really hard to measure. Dunk the cylinder and the hydrometer in starsan for a few seconds first and try not to splash too much when you pour it back in. 9 times out of 10 you'll be totally fine.
On a related note, there are probably two general kinds of people that make mead/wine/beer/etc. Those of us who are pretty anal - my glassware is super clean and steriized, I take and record measurements, read about the differences between yeast strains, etc. But there are the others, like my good friend who got me into this. He does stuff that makes me cringe, uses more or less any old container, and doesn't always keep track of what he did. But his stuff usually turns out just as good or better than mine. While the scientist in me says that you're likely to have more repeatable, better quality results by treating it like a chemistry experiment, I do have to agree that it's probably more fun to just play around and then enjoy the results. So don't sweat it if your personality or equipment doesn't lend you to do everything you read about online that you are "supposed" to do. :)
Temp is about 70. Kind of low I guess.
Here's a question. My hydrometer hits the bottom of my gallon jugs. Can I pour some mead into the grad. cylinder (sterilized), take a reading, then pour it back in or is that a big no-no due to contamination, etc.?
70 is near the top end of what you want for cuvee yeast. Higher and you risk it becoming too high in ABV and the various off-tastes. Guys in warmer climates stay away from it unless they have a fermentation area which they can get down to ~mid 60's. I'm lucking out that my basement is a consistent 68.
There's always contamination risk when you do anything. From primary to secondary to bottling.
There is a sampling tube that Fermentations in the Springs sells. I'm sure other places sell it. You can suck out the needed amount, drop in your hydrometer, and then drop the liquid back in after your reading. Apparently wine brewers use it a lot.
As Brian said, sanitize.
I have a buddy that's anal about everything he brews. Beer, mead, wine. The best this the best that. Reminds me of AR gear queers. "This honey is imported from a farm in Florida in the middle of the oldest citrus grove, so the blossoms are on a more mature tree. I paid $30 extra per bottle over typical suppliers. I think I can tell a difference." No, no you can't. lol
I made mead in my barracks room once and let it sit in the closet while I was deployed.
It was terrible. Tasted like turpentine.
Rear D found it, siphoned, and replaced with turpentine. lol
Did you make mead or gin? Mead shouldn't taste like pine trees.
GilpinGuy
11-05-2017, 22:35
OK, I racked my first gallon this evening. I made some newb mistakes, but that's to be expected.
This gallon is just about a month old. No activity from the yeast in a 3 or 4 days. I siphoned some off and it was at .99 SG or so. So I decided to rack it. Naturally, I jostled it around a little, wiggled the siphon a bit and got some of the lees churned up, but that's ok. I''m learning here.
The mead smelled very "fermenty" if you know what I mean. I took a sip. Not pleasing.
The recipe was super simple:
Honey, water, cuvee, blanc, fermax and water. Plus slices from an orange for this one (I have 4 others going now and I'm a total newb here [hammer])
So, should I be worried a this point? I watch YT videos of guys racking and taking a sip and being like "oh, this is so good....". Mine was not "so good". Yeah, I'm a bit impatient, but if this gallon is junk, I'd rather know now than waiting months to find out.
[Beer]
Cuvee is a high ABV yield yeast and you said before that you are running about 70*F, right? It will probably need a little while to smooth out.
It's not beer or something complicated. It's mead. Let it sit in primary for a few months and then bottle it. If it tastes off still at bottling, put it away for a year to let the fusels mellow.
GilpinGuy
11-05-2017, 23:15
Cuvee is a high ABV yield yeast and you said before that you are running about 70*F, right?
70*F is probably the max. I thought that was too low, but alas, I have learned that it's not with this yeast.
Let it sit in primary for a few months and then bottle it.
Even with fruit sitting in there? I guess I ASS-U-ME-ed it was necessary to rack it after a certain point to avoid problems with the fruit. Such a newb...... Thanks for the info man!
Sorry, I just realized I wrote 'sit in primary' instead of secondary. I'd remove the fruit and push to secondary. Just sit the secondary w/ the mead itself. My main concern is that you'd end up with orange Pledge instead of something more drinkable. However, you have tasted it and I have not, so that is your call.
Cuvee is definitely better w/ lower temps. 70* would be a few degrees too high for my comfort. I'm slightly nervous w/ my own batch at a constant 68*.
I don't know about your batch, but I've had several batches now that just plain do not taste good a few months in, but really change after 6-12 months sitting in a corner somewhere. Rack it, put a good "S" airlock on it and don't let it dry out, and forget about it for a while.
I'd never even consider drinking a month-old mead though. There's a recipe out there for BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) that's supposed to be ok to drink that soon, but I've never tried it. Especially if it tastes "fermenty" I'm guessing you still have yeast in solution. Is it still kinda cloudy or is it clear?
I honestly treat this hobby kinda like NFA stuff. Start something, do all the work and then forget it for a while. Start something else next month, and repeat. Eventually, you start getting to the point where things are ready to drink, or at least for the next step on a regular basis, but you're not sweating that thing you just started, waiting to see when it will be ready. :)
Best advice is patience... :)
Second best advice is to start bottling at least one extra bottle and setting it away, for the day we all eventually figure out how to organize a tasting party. If you're taking decent notes, even the nasty batches can be helpful as we all share what to do and what not to do.
GilpinGuy
11-07-2017, 00:28
I'd never even consider drinking a month-old mead though. (I've seen guys take a sip to try theirs in YT videos, so I thought I'd try it. Maybe these guys know what ass-like mead will taste like months later, dunno)There's a recipe out there for BOMM (Bray's One Month Mead) that's supposed to be ok to drink that soon, but I've never tried it. Especially if it tastes "fermenty" I'm guessing you still have yeast in solution. Is it still kinda cloudy or is it clear? (Due to my noobness, it was a bit cloudy. It was pretty damn clear before I messed with it.)
I honestly treat this hobby kinda like NFA stuff. Start something, do all the work and then forget it for a while. Start something else next month, and repeat. Eventually, you start getting to the point where things are ready to drink, or at least for the next step on a regular basis, but you're not sweating that thing you just started, waiting to see when it will be ready. :)
Best advice is patience... :) Not my strong point, but I knew this was key going in)
Second best advice is to start bottling at least one extra bottle and setting it away, for the day we all eventually figure out how to organize a tasting party. If you're taking decent notes, even the nasty batches can be helpful as we all share what to do and what not to do.
Tasting party! I like this idea.
You guys are awesome. Thanks for the pointers.
Cloudy = lees/yeast cake got disturbed and you likely got it in the secondary. This is not unexpected and should not cause concern. All it means it you will need to re-rack to a tertiary aging bottle. Since this is a months long process from start to finish, it would not be awful to wait a few days (or weeks, who knows) for the following:
1) see if it's still producing airlock activity (which is not itself a sure indication of continued fermentation. might need to just observe it for activity in the solution itself)
2) let it clarify via a process of gravity pulling down the yeast, and then, without disturbing it, siphon to tertiary bottle (sanitize all equipment first!). Have someone else hold the exit end of the siphon in the new bottle while you slowly and with as little disturbance of the yeast as possible, siphon from top down.
Tip: ferment/age/etc in place. If you must move to that place of siphoning, let it clarify before racking again
One other thing probably worth mentioning. Everybody has different preferences, but in general most of those champagne-style yeasts do a great job of eating up all the sugars, leaving you with a very dry result. Often this means you get something like flavored rocket fuel at first. Some of that will tame with time, so rack it and stash it and let it sit. But if you already hit .99, it's probable that you'll want to add some chems to stop any leftover fermentation and then add some sort of backsweetening at some point to make it tasty again. Not every mead has to be super sweet, but a little can go a long way. You can add sugar, honey, juice, etc. - whatever you think you'd like, just do it a little at a time, because it's easy to overdo. Some people prefer to leave it very dry and add something when you drink. If you ever make a dry cider (like the popular german cider apfelwein), many guys swear by leaving it dry and adding sprite or 7-up or something when you drink it.
I'm glad this thread popped back up, hopefully going to inspire me to take care of some of those stashed carboys.
ANADRILL
11-10-2017, 14:06
I cask age my meads in a Hungarian oak barrel..:)
I use a 5 gal home deport bucket that sometimes has bits of paint flakes still floating in it. The residual chemicals bring out a certain bite that covers up for my cheap honey choices.
/sarc
Seriously though -- what sort of actual differences do you notice vs aging in a standard carboy? Have you ever done a portion of the same batch in a small carboy to see if there is an actual difference or just perceived? I ask because I often wonder how much of the brewing hobby is like shooting, where the equipment's difference making is all in the mind of the user rather than actually being better.
GilpinGuy
12-21-2017, 09:16
A few more noob questions.
I got home early this morning and couldn't wait any longer. I poured some mead from a carboy and drank it. This was a raspberry that I brewed on Oct 6th. It was about 70 degrees.
Yum. Very tasty, very dry, but I wanted dry. It did have a bit of a bitter aftertaste that lingered for a few seconds, but I've bought "good" wine with worse bitterness. Is this the tannins that are supposed to mellow over time?
Also, what is the proper glass to drink mead from? I seem to have misplaced my hollow rams horn and the golden goblet that I plundered from that weak-ass village.
What's the abv? When you say bitter... as in a fusel/gasoline style taste or something else?
My cyser is now bottled. I went with 12oz beer style bottles w/ oxygen barrier caps. I didn't measure gravity on this batch, but based on the yeast and past experience, I'd estimate it's somewhere around 18% abv but still very sweet. 12 oz has the same effect on me as ~4beers.
If anyone in the Springs area is thinking about doing cyser and wants to try it first before investing in 120 bucks in honey (5 gal batch), please send me a PM and I'll give you a bottle.
I'll be doing another batch soon and will let it sit in primary longer to try to cut some sweetness and raise abv. to yeast max (~22%). I'll then age in secondary for 6 months or so.
GilpinGuy
12-21-2017, 10:28
What's the abv? When you say bitter... as in a fusel/gasoline style taste or something else?
I didn't check the abv. Just poured into a bottle (now empty) and started sippin out of a glass on a whim. At this point I'd say it has a rather high alcohol content. LOL
I guess you could call it a sort of gasoline after taste, but not nearly as strong. It's totally drinkable though.
The mead is crystal clear and looks awesome. My uneducated guess is that more time will cure the aftertaste.
Funny, I never even tried mead before brewing it, so I have no frame of reference at all. I might have to break down and buy one of the $20 bottles at the liquor store and compare. It's Stonegate or something like that. Worth a try or is it garbage?
I'd try redstone meadery's stuff.
The taste profile you describe is fusels and the result of stressing the yeast by fermenting at too high of an ambient temperature. It takes time to mellow. What I'm reading about that indicates age for 6 months or so.
GilpinGuy
12-22-2017, 05:17
I'd try redstone meadery's stuff.
The taste profile you describe is fusels and the result of stressing the yeast by fermenting at too high of an ambient temperature. It takes time to mellow. What I'm reading about that indicates age for 6 months or so.
Good to know, thanks. I'll have to find a cooler place.
And yes, it's Redstone. It's all I can seem to find around here. I'll have to pick up a bottle.
I found some plum wine that was bottled in 2009 at my grandpa's place. How do I check if it's safe to drink? There is a lot of it.
https://www.coravin.com/blog/WineGoneBad/
http://winefolly.com/tutorial/how-to-tell-if-wine-has-gone-bad/
Thanks, sounds like it should be safe enough to taste and won't kill me.
Anyone you have around familiar with plum wine and/or are you?
I wouldn't trust myself to know if X item is good to go unless I am familiar with the baseline. For example, all liquor tastes like it should be throw away to me.
Not that I know of. I figure I'll grab a bottle and try some. Both links said over and over that it shouldn't hurt you, even if it is bad. If it tastes good I'll drink it, if not, I won't. I'll let you know how it goes.
I didn't check the abv. Just poured into a bottle (now empty) and started sippin out of a glass on a whim. At this point I'd say it has a rather high alcohol content. LOL
I guess you could call it a sort of gasoline after taste, but not nearly as strong. It's totally drinkable though.
The mead is crystal clear and looks awesome. My uneducated guess is that more time will cure the aftertaste.
Funny, I never even tried mead before brewing it, so I have no frame of reference at all. I might have to break down and buy one of the $20 bottles at the liquor store and compare. It's Stonegate or something like that. Worth a try or is it garbage?
Mead has a reputation for being pretty sweet, though that might not be fair anymore since it's started to gain popularity. There's just a lot more variety. When I first started playing around with wines and meads, it was hard to distinguish whether the odd burning flavors were related to issues with fermentation that I could learn to prevent, or just part of having a higher ABV result. But either way, the two most common suggestions were letting it age or adding back some sort of sweetener. Even if you prefer a dry result, adding even a bit more sugars back (honey, sugar, whatever) to your result can change the flavor and mask that harshness somehow. Just do it a little at a time. It's also why measuring ABV is important, because you'll probably find that your preference lands you in a particular range combo of sweetness and/or ABV and then you can target that next time around.
IMHO, the super-high ABV results tent to yield less tasty drinks, but can be fun contests in some ways to see how far you can push fermentation. I have some hooch in the basement that is basically only useful for bragging rights when friends come over. :)
I found some plum wine that was bottled in 2009 at my grandpa's place. How do I check if it's safe to drink? There is a lot of it.
Send me a bottle and I'll try it for you. :)
Seriously though, from everything I've read it's fairly hard to create something too harmful. If air gets to it, you'll be drinking vinegar but you'll figure that out pretty quick. Most bacteria that can live in alcohol are not hurtful and often used on purpose for sours.
It would be nice to know at least a little bit about how it was made though. I had plum wine once that a buddy made and it was awesome.
Send me a bottle and I'll try it for you. :)
Seriously though, from everything I've read it's fairly hard to create something too harmful. If air gets to it, you'll be drinking vinegar but you'll figure that out pretty quick. Most bacteria that can live in alcohol are not hurtful and often used on purpose for sours.
It would be nice to know at least a little bit about how it was made though. I had plum wine once that a buddy made and it was awesome.
The only thing I know about it, is that it was probably made from the plum tree that is on the property, and has been since before I was born. Other than that, if it tastes okay, I don't see why I couldn't get you a bottle.
I really wish I had enough property for fruit trees. Sounds like it's probably more work than I imagine but it would be nice to be able to bottle your own juice and alcohol based on a personal orchard.
And yeah, we do need to figure out how to have an exchange or swap sometime, maybe this spring or something. Winter is a good time for having bubbling carboys in the basement. :)
On a whim, I decided to see if my bungs would fit the gallon jugs my apple juice comes in. They do. This means I need more and more airlocks, so I can do gallon-sized recipes for experimentation. Reading on the reddit mead forum, folks have had success with cherry juice and blueberry juice as a base. Think I'll try a blueberry/cherry recipe and if it's not awful/is good, give it away to an LEO on here.
Many ideas for trying things that I did not want to attempt in 5 gal batches, due to potentially being gross. This is no longer a concern. Let the experiments commence!
Oh, I tried that plum wine. It didn't taste poison, but it also didn't taste good enough to finish.
GilpinGuy
01-04-2018, 16:58
On a whim, I decided to see if my bungs would fit the gallon jugs my apple juice comes in. They do. This means I need more and more airlocks, so I can do gallon-sized recipes for experimentation. Reading on the reddit mead forum, folks have had success with cherry juice and blueberry juice as a base. Think I'll try a blueberry/cherry recipe and if it's not awful/is good, give it away to an LEO on here.
Many ideas for trying things that I did not want to attempt in 5 gal batches, due to potentially being gross. This is no longer a concern. Let the experiments commence!
I started my first 5 gallons in 1 gallon jugs also for the same reason. All 5 are different single fruits and simple, but for my first go around it seemed like a good idea.
GilpinGuy
01-14-2018, 08:26
Well, I tried some of the strawberry mead I made in early October and oh man. So good. I can't imagine it being better, but I'm sure it could be. That gallon didn't last long. I know what my first 5 gallon batch will be.
Then I tried an orange that I made on the same day as the strawberry. Totally horrid. It looked and smelled great, but holy cow, it tasted nasty. Undrinkable. I'll let that one sit for a while longer. Maybe it will improve. Maybe something went horribly wrong. Time will tell.
This is fun stuff. I have 3 other flavors to try. I'm hoping for the best.
I’m interested in your strawberry recipe
Yesterday at Sprouts, I picked up a gallon each of the following:
blueberry juice
pear juice
cherry juice
I also got 6x flip top 750ml bottles of their orangeade stuff imported from France at a whopping $2.99 per bottle. At a brew store or online, just the bottle would be ~$5 so the contained beverage, which the wife and oldest boy will drink, is a bonus.
Looking fwd to trying out the various juices with appropriate amounts of honey. I have high hopes for the pear, in particular.
If you get a good pear mead, definitely let me know the recipe. It's a hard one to do for some reason.
For flip tops, if you're looking for bottles, the "world market" stores sometimes get in sparkling french sodas and lemonade that are pretty decent. If you can get them late in the season about when they "expire" they're cheap sources of bottles that are tasty to drink, esp. in the summer. I bought a bunch of them a couple years ago. The labels come off pretty easy too, at least with the oxyclean soak I use (make sure to get dye/perfume free).
GilpinGuy
01-24-2018, 02:52
Today I got shit ton of honey, frozen fruit and water to get a bunch of 1 gallon batches going in the next few days - 8 gallons (a lot for me anyway). I am impressed with my strawberry, blackberry and raspberry meads. Same recipe, just different fruit. All of these came out good. A bit of back sweetening and they were yummy.
I'm dismayed that the orange came out nasty. I've read that it's not necessary to take the rind off so I didn't, but it came out wicked bitter...and tasted like rind. Any advice for oranges would be awesome....besides take the rind off, LOL
Instead of honey can I just try to make mead with refined sugar instead? I think the vikings would have used it if honey costs so much and sugar (had it been around) been dirt cheap.
GilpinGuy
01-24-2018, 04:59
Instead of honey can I just try to make mead with refined sugar instead? I think the vikings would have used it if honey costs so much and sugar (had it been around) been dirt cheap.
Hell, give it a shot! Do a 1 gallon brew see what happens.
Instead of honey can I just try to make mead with refined sugar instead? I think the vikings would have used it if honey costs so much and sugar (had it been around) been dirt cheap.
The honey adds flavor and depending on the honey type, different "notes". You could make a fermented beverage, but it wouldn't be mead.
Today I got shit ton of honey, frozen fruit and water to get a bunch of 1 gallon batches going in the next few days - 8 gallons (a lot for me anyway). I am impressed with my strawberry, blackberry and raspberry meads. Same recipe, just different fruit. All of these came out good. A bit of back sweetening and they were yummy.
I'm dismayed that the orange came out nasty. I've read that it's not necessary to take the rind off so I didn't, but it came out wicked bitter...and tasted like rind. Any advice for oranges would be awesome....besides take the rind off, LOL
Look up the recipe for JAOM. Super easy and tasty. The outer rind is good, the white stuff under the rind is less good.
The honey adds flavor and depending on the honey type, different "notes". You could make a fermented beverage, but it wouldn't be mead.
Bingo. Grain as the main sugar source = beer. Fruit = wine. Honey = mead.
Hmm, technically rum is made primarily from sugar canes, but then you have to deal with distillation. Would be fun to try though.
In practice, I've tried a few things made from mostly sugar water, with mixed results. I have used raw sugar, sometimes in decent amounts, to add to fruit juices and call that "wine" though the purists may disagree. You can easily convert the sugar into invert sugar too, which is supposed to help make fermentation easier. I usually do it with a couple of my "regular" recipes, but I'm not convinced how much it helps - especially compared to adding nutrients which does seem to make an actual difference.
Here you go. Those containers are easily $100, and these are full of "used honey". :D
https://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/grd/d/totes-of-honey/6462676412.html
Bingo. Grain as the main sugar source = beer. Fruit = wine. Honey = mead.
Hmm, technically rum is made primarily from sugar canes, but then you have to deal with distillation. Would be fun to try though.
In practice, I've tried a few things made from mostly sugar water, with mixed results. I have used raw sugar, sometimes in decent amounts, to add to fruit juices and call that "wine" though the purists may disagree. You can easily convert the sugar into invert sugar too, which is supposed to help make fermentation easier. I usually do it with a couple of my "regular" recipes, but I'm not convinced how much it helps - especially compared to adding nutrients which does seem to make an actual difference.
I think using pure sugar sounds like some sort of prison booze isn't it?
GilpinGuy
01-25-2018, 03:56
Look up the recipe for JAOM. Super easy and tasty. The outer rind is good, the white stuff under the rind is less good.
I found this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/joes-ancient-orange-mead.49106/
Looks yummy. This will be my next batch.
I think using pure sugar sounds like some sort of prison booze isn't it?
Yeah, basically. It's just gonna be high octane hooch.
Fun fact -- I had a teacher in high school who, as a teenager, had been a civilian POW in the PI under the Japanese. His entire family, being American missionaries, were rounded up. Before the pressure started on the Japanese, they would have access to things like fruit. So his older brother decided to make some hooch with bread and fruit. Gave himself a bladder infection. In a Japanese internment camp. In the Philippines. Ouch.
GilpinGuy
01-25-2018, 11:25
Yeah, basically. It's just gonna be high octane hooch.
Fun fact -- I had a teacher in high school who, as a teenager, had been a civilian POW in the PI under the Japanese. His entire family, being American missionaries, were rounded up. Before the pressure started on the Japanese, they would have access to things like fruit. So his older brother decided to make some hooch with bread and fruit. Gave himself a bladder infection. In a Japanese internment camp. In the Philippines. Ouch.
Oh damn. I was hoping for a more happy result like they had secret stashes of hootch for when things got really bad.
Oh damn. I was hoping for a more happy result like they had secret stashes of hootch for when things got really bad.
Nope. But they did do things like eat rats, bugs, and such as the Japanese gradually reduced their daily rice allotment.
GilpinGuy
01-29-2018, 02:48
Brewing 4 gallons now. 2 gal. of strawberry and 2 gal. of blackberry. I'll do 2 gals. of the JOAM when I get to the store and get some oranges.
I'm a few days into blueberry (96oz blueberry juice, 32oz honey, D47 yeast) in a gallon juice jug. Started with with S-airlock. Never used one before. Krausen started foaming into air lock. Immediately pulled and replaced w/ 3 piece standard. Krausen bubbling into that one too. Hrm. Never experienced that before, always brewing in 5 gal batches w/ ample headroom. Did some research and it's totally a thing in gallon batches, it seems.
So, currently I have triple layer cheese cloth soaked in a starsan/water solution and rubber band holding it on. Krausen already calming down with less back pressure to contend with. Will place 3 piece airlock back on either tomorrow or Monday and see if that resolves it.
Might do a blow off tube setup for the gallon experiments.
Researching those, I found this hilarious story:
http://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=279
GilpinGuy
02-03-2018, 10:42
Man, you're fancy...or I'm a caveman. [LOL] I use balloons for all of my 1 gallon batches.
Got 8 gallons going now, including 2 JAOM gallons. One sliced with peel and pith as per the recipe, and one zested, peeled and seperated into slices with pith removed. We'll see which is better.
My wife brought home a bag of Clementines yesterday. I have to do a gallon or two with those. So yummy.
Bottled my first cider last night. Was able to fill approximately 24x 750ml wine bottles, and went with corking instead of capping. When I first put it in secondary I tasted the sample I used for taking a gravity reading. I did not like it because 1) apparently cider really does need some time to age 2) I was expecting something more like Angry Orchard (didn't realize traditional ciders are nothing like that).
At the time, my only available container was a 6.5 gallon carboy, but I only had ~5 gallons of cider. To rectify this and raise headspace, I placed 1000 sanitized glass marbles in the carboy and 64oz of apple juice. The apple juice fermented out a slight bit, but not too much. This provided more apple flavor. This was done on 6 December 2017. I'll typically name the batch based on beginning of primary, but since the addition of the apple juice resulted in more fermentation, I'll break with that and name this batch based on 6 December. That's the feast of St. Nicholas. Since he is famous for punching the heresiarch Arius in the face at the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed was written, I'll call this batch:
Arianism Is A Heresy Apple Cider
The little icon is Jesus Christ Enthroned; liking the clarity:
http://i65.tinypic.com/6pyupu.jpg
Screenshot of ABV via original/final calculator:
http://i65.tinypic.com/a2vic3.png
Here's quick video on Arianism and St. Nicholas, for those interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtin5iLHd-U
An Old English chant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skvzr3QOSHE
Lyrics w/ translation:
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/anuna/stnicholas.htm
----
Here's the blueberry. Klausen has retreated enough I feel comfortable placing the airlock back on. I need to confirm that gravity reading. I realized last night that I was dyslexia-ing the hydrometer. The cider was the first time I used it, so I need to go back and confirm what I thought was the blueberry's gravity and possibly correct based on my new understanding of how to read the hydrometer:
http://i64.tinypic.com/1z3mg0g.jpg
Started 3 more gallon-sized experimental batches last night.
The most experimental is the Coconut/Pineapple/Honey mix. Was browsing juice at Sprouts and saw the coconut and decided I'd follow the wild hair.
Here it is with its blow off tube cooking after less than 24 hours:
http://i66.tinypic.com/bzs6e.jpg
Its ingredients are:
64oz coconut juice mix (http://www.lakewoodjuices.com/product_detail/id-6/)
32oz Pure pineapple juice
32oz honey
1/3 2 packets of premiere cuvee
SG: 1.14 (!?). I had to do a double take as the hydrometer was bobbing so high in the wine thief. The must was almost like syrup, it's so thick and sugary.
No idea how the thing will turn out. I imagine it will be quite high in ABV... north of 18%. It's either going to be delicious or the most awful thing ever and give me botulism. Not sure which. Very glad I opted for the blow off tube because I would have had a royal mess this morning when I went to the basement to check on progress. Blow off tube is just 3/8"O.D.-1/4"I.D. tubing from Lowes. Bought 1x 10' package and cut to 33" sections, sanitized before use. Routed into starsan/water solution.
The other two are tart-cherry/honey and pear/honey. 96oz juice/32oz honey and 1/3 (2x) packets of premiere cuvee, each.
They're going, but so far not forming a klausen like the coconut/pineapple. The blow off tube is bubbling like crazy on that one. Will switch over to 3-piece air locks for all 3 once I know their fermentation is more stable.
Blueberry gallon has turned out weird. Racked to secondary and it almost tastes... sour? vinegary-ish, but not really? I'm going to let it age and see what happens.
Pear turned out alright, but it's a little hot. I need to let it age.
Tart cherry turned out pretty good, but also needs to age.
Pineapple/coconut juice one tasted like Hawaiian Tropic hand sanitizer. It went down the drain instead of into secondary. I just couldn't see it aging well, and I had so much blow off in primary I only had about 1/2 gallon left, so I would have had too much head space for comfort.
Newest batch of cider has a SG of around 9.8%ABV. Will let it age a few months and then see how it tastes.
Cyser has been in secondary a little bit already. Will likely bottle around September or October.
GilpinGuy
05-03-2018, 01:50
Very cool. The JAOM I made a while back is good, just a bit sweet for my taste. I like mead rather dry.
I have a few experiments going: cucumber mint and ginger pear. I'm still a total newb at all this, but it's fun. Everything I've made so far has been drinkable.
Yeah I've had some batches I probably should have poured down the drain too. I bottled some of them given the advice that "they'll age and taste better"... guess we'll see. I also have a few carboys that are probably 3 years old at this point "aging" meaning I haven't bothered to see if they're any good yet... just check the airlocks every once and a while.
The pineapple coconut was my most experimental. It definitely had North Korean levels of fail. I'd have been better off doing pineapple straight, and then some toasted coconut flakes to steep (or whatever the proper term would be).
My intention with the blueberry and cherry batches was always to gift them, so I'm hoping the blueberry recovers with age. The blueberry was with d47 instead of the trusty premiere cuvee, as with all the others. I might re-try with PC yeast and see if perhaps d47 is the culprit.
I've yet to do a straight mead.
I also learned that 4 separate gallons is a PAIN. I washed/sanitized the siphon between pulling each from primary into secondary. The whole process easily tripled my time output. I definitely prefer 5 gal batches since they require less back and forth.
I recently read of a fermented whey/milk drink called Blaand. It's a Norse drink that made its way (whey? ha!) into Scotland (through the peaceful exchange of ideas for which the Norse were so known and respected, no doubt!).
I'd like to try it if I can find a recipe which isn't vague and has good notes behind it.
GilpinGuy
05-03-2018, 10:37
Call me blasphemous, but I've read more than one brewer claim that really HOT water is all you need to "sanitize" your equipment. I doubt Vikings had starsan, though it certainly can't hurt to use it. My guess is they just boiled everything. I've done about 20 one gallon batches and haven't had any nasties growing.
Flame away...[Beer]
My reason for cleaning the siphon between each was primarily to keep flavors separate. However, if I got a vinegary problem in the blueberry, I certainly wouldn't want to transfer that to the others.
Bottled the cyser, cider, and 3 remaining gallon experiments yesterday (pear, cherry, and blueberry).
Cyser is good as always -- somewhere around 15-16%
Cider is consistent -- around 9% and like a dry white wine, flat with only a very slight hint of carb (to achieve sweet cider needs backsweetening and carbed cider really needs a keg unless you want bottle bombs; to do both requires a keg and apple juice concentrate [NEEDS keg] or a non-sugar sweetener like Stevia)
Pear -- wow that's hot. Labeled to not even attempt opening for another year at least.
Cherry -- Wow, my fav of the experiments. Really kept its tart cherry smell and flavor and is around 15%
Blueberry -- aging a few more months really helped this. Aging longer should help it more. Now tastes blueberryish and isn't a vinegar. This is in line with what I've read about blueberry juice usage on the reddit mead forum. I think it has to do with the tannins.
This is my last brew/bottle attempt before any move.
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