Well, finally got this one off the back-burner & racked to secondary last night. It had already started to clear quite a bit, but was still bubbling slowly. I've been keeping it around 67 degrees F now for 2 1/2 months. Sediment/lees have accumulated to approximately 3/4".
Color is amazing. A fairly deep golden orange.
Siphoned to secondary with: 1/4 lb golden raisins, 1/4 tsp yeast nutrient and 1/2 Campden tablet. Topped up and attached airlock.
Took a sip out of the siphon tubing. Heat from the alcohol was present, but there was a very nice floral hit up front, finishing with a hint of citrus & honey. Active bubbling this morning, 3 or 4 per minute, about 8 hours later.
__________________
Primary: 5 gal Joe's Ancient Orange Mead
Secondary: 5.5 gal Apfelwein variation, 1 gal Dandelion Metheglin
Looks amazing and sounds like it will be very tasty. I'm going to have to start picking some dandelions and follow your footsteps when I'm able to gather enough. Thanks for posting all the details...will be very helpful when I look to setting up my own!
--R
__________________
Primary:
- JAOM
Secondary:
- Lemon-ginger mead (based on Mr. Nice Guy's recipe)
- Lime-ginger mead (same as above, but with lime)
Tertiary
- Apfelwein ("Man, I Love Apfelwein")
Bottled:
- Apfelwein-mead ("Man, I Love Apfelwein," sub. honey)
I get a ton of dandelions around here and might start saving..
edit: he hasn't been around in a while. Hopefully he'll make an appearance.
Wondering the same, myself. Missed out on the dandelion crop last year, but I've rejuvenated my mead-brewing, so hope to harvest dandelions for this mead this spring as they start popping up.
--R
__________________
Primary:
- JAOM
Secondary:
- Lemon-ginger mead (based on Mr. Nice Guy's recipe)
- Lime-ginger mead (same as above, but with lime)
Tertiary
- Apfelwein ("Man, I Love Apfelwein")
Bottled:
- Apfelwein-mead ("Man, I Love Apfelwein," sub. honey)
I didn't use honey for my first try, but here is how I PICKED the flowers....
Sit on the ground with your legs out in front of you in a "V". Get your handy ice cream bucket. Pull off blossom with one hand, and immediately pull off the yellow only with the other... usually 3-4 pulls get it all. Toss leftovers away from you.... keep going until you need to move..."skooch" your butt to a new spot.... do this until you get tired of that position. Next go to kneeling on 1 knee... one knee down, one knee up..... again, pick and pull as fast as you can. When this position gets tiring, stand up and bend over as in picking strawberries. Go back to the first position with "V" legs. Only pick as much as stays fresh. Get it in a zip lock bag, squeeze the air out and get in the freezer. Letting it heat up and degrade would alter the goodness, I would think. Keep adding until you get enough. I found a recipe that listed grams instead of "quarts of loosely packed blossoms". I used 64 oz of petals for a 6 gal batch. Mine is still in the carboy from last year. Will bottle in a month or so.
My feeling on picking....
I tried picking and bringing in the house to destem.... the flowers wilt quickly and are very hard to destem once they start to close up. It was double duty to handle them twice, so you'll get more blossoms faster by doing the work all at once.
It was nice to go out in the spring sunshine and pick. I actually MISSED this activity when the dandelions were done! I would pick 2-3 hrs at a time. Take music with you, meditate, pray or just enjoy nature. It can be a calming experience, if you let it be!
I didn't use honey for my first try, but here is how I PICKED the flowers....
Sit on the ground with your legs out in front of you in a "V". Get your handy ice cream bucket. Pull off blossom with one hand, and immediately pull off the yellow only with the other... usually 3-4 pulls get it all. Toss leftovers away from you.... keep going until you need to move..."skooch" your butt to a new spot.... do this until you get tired of that position. Next go to kneeling on 1 knee... one knee down, one knee up..... again, pick and pull as fast as you can. When this position gets tiring, stand up and bend over as in picking strawberries. Go back to the first position with "V" legs. Only pick as much as stays fresh. Get it in a zip lock bag, squeeze the air out and get in the freezer. Letting it heat up and degrade would alter the goodness, I would think. Keep adding until you get enough. I found a recipe that listed grams instead of "quarts of loosely packed blossoms". I used 64 oz of petals for a 6 gal batch. Mine is still in the carboy from last year. Will bottle in a month or so.
My feeling on picking....
I tried picking and bringing in the house to destem.... the flowers wilt quickly and are very hard to destem once they start to close up. It was double duty to handle them twice, so you'll get more blossoms faster by doing the work all at once.
It was nice to go out in the spring sunshine and pick. I actually MISSED this activity when the dandelions were done! I would pick 2-3 hrs at a time. Take music with you, meditate, pray or just enjoy nature. It can be a calming experience, if you let it be!
Happy Picking!
Debbie
Around here, that's a recipe for a fire ant attack! I'll stick to the comfort of my table chairs.
I've been checking back here every month or so, hoping the OP would post an update. Such a shame after he went through all that work to post his process.
I made a 5 gallon batch following this recipe last summer and bottled a few months ago:
It tasted pretty great when I took a sip from the siphon. The dandelion definitely makes an appearance in the finish. There was a lot of heat from the alcohol though. My abv was around 16%, so I'm going to have to age this forever. I plan on opening one up on the anniversary of its brew day, and I will stop report my findings. So far, I'm quite pleased with this recipe.
Edit: Sorry about the picture size! Just zoom out a bit...
Last edited by Aviciouswind; 03-31-2011 at 05:52 PM.
Reason: Apology
Looks great. I'm still going at the collection. Probably should pick a few today. There are probably 500 in the yard, literally.
I don't know if I want to make this strictly dandelion, or add some honeysuckle. Interesting combination and would definitely be a statement about the summers around here in NC.
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