Recent content by Complete_Amateur

Back sweetening is just adding sugar for sweetness after fermentation has finished or you have stabilized the must. With a mead, I would back sweeten with only honey, and preferably the same honey used in the recipe. There are some things to be aware of. For starters, it is easier than you...

Back sweetening is the only, truly reliable way to ensure a sweet mead without stressing the yeast by overloading with sugar up front, or step-feeding (even then might end up dry or stalled). You could try cold-crashing and stabilizing once you have a level of sweetness you like. Another...

5 Gallons Black Irish Braggot 5 Gallons

spider legs

Cheap shot

The fizz is normal, and not anything to worry about. It really just means fermentation is continuing. It will still with time (not under pressure) and with degassing (like shaking, stirring, or swirling the contents). I would never dump anything unless it was undrinkable after substantial...

What kind of pears did you use? And did you add anything else? Spices?

2.5 Blackberry Braggot 1685.5 + 2.5 = 1688

First image is a wildflower spiced mead (Vanilla). Came out nice and clear, but an unfortunate shade of piss. Fermented completely dry, and it needs some sweetening. It isn't bad dry, but its not particularly enjoyable either. I hope I can keep the clarity after making even a small honey...

I would steer clear of watering anything down after running through a fermentation. It will very clearly taste watered-down, and not just the alcohol. My first choice, if I were set on hitting a certain ABV, would be to set my OG to a level just above my minimum desired ABV, ferment dry...

+1 for blending, but if the flavor is off that may not go so well either. If your mead tastes rough, harsh, or any other kind of off, I would age it some more before doing anything with it, or those flavors may just carry over and produce less than satisfactory results. If there are not off...

Is this for sanitary reasons? I am assuming these are the pre-toasted chips, if that is the case. Or is there a benefit to leaching them before using them? I have only used the untoasted chips and toasted them myself immediately before addition, but have never boiled them.

And I don't think you will need to add any more yeast.

12 pounds for a 5 gallon batch is not a lot of honey, so I could easily see it fermenting out in 3 - 4 weeks. More telling is the hydrometer reading. Unless its broken - which should be obvious (you can test in pur-ish water at 60º F and it should ride the 0 line), a very low reading means...

16.7%, 90% apparent attenuation. It is high, but not entirely unheard of. The Campden and sorbate additions would likely prevent fermentation of the additional peaches and brown sugar, but these still make a contribution to the gravity. It is likely that the primary fermented dry, and the...