Recent content by nitack

Bernard is right, if one bottle popped the others will either pop or gush when you try to open them. At the very least you should consider rebottling after the mead off gasses. Try chilling the mead before opening more bottles, it will lower the pressure inside the bottle and possibly save you...

Are you using a bucket or carboy? I have a couple buckets that don’t form a perfect seal and the bubbler doesn’t flow unless there is a crap ton of off gassing. You don’t really need to worry about it if there is a small leak. The positive pressure will keep oxygen out and it is unlikely that...

Acerglyn ages extremely well. Congrats

There is a pretty well known site ...cough...stormthecastle...caugh... that most newbies land on that does advise using raisins. It WILL add nutrients. Wine does not need nutrients for a reason, grapes have the literally perfect nutrient profile for fermenting yeast. However, a few raisins...

Honeys and juices carry flavors (volatile organic compounds) along with sugars. Once the sugars are consumed the volatile organic are left behind. I tend to have high ABV meads because I like the intense flavor that more honey brings. However, I’d also caution that when you do high ABV meads...

I have used plenty of store bought apple juice with no problems. It could obviously pose a challenge for the yeast, but shouldn’t be considered the most likely cause. My guess is that it is a combination of much too much honey and the sorbates didn’t help

If this is your first bochette then go plain. The sweet smokyness is interesting and you will appreciate it for its own flavor. After your first batch of flavor you’ll have a better appreciation of what flavors might go well with it. Right now I’ve got a blackberry bochette going.

If there was no carbonation when you uncorked it then the ferment was done, but it had not fully cleared when you bottled. It could not have continued fermenting without building up carbonation, and it takes very little additional fermenting to cause it to be noticeable. It is unsightly, but...

Hahaha, let's chat again after your mead has sat for a year and still has not cleared. Bentonite is all natural and has been used for a long long time.

Mead is a long game. You'll start brewing it and try to drink it before it is ready. It might be OK, but it becomes amazing over time. After many years, and many batches you will one day realize that you have A LOT of mead on the shelf. I had that realization today, I don't have to drink 6...

If your at 13.65% ABV and your yeast has a max tolerance of 14% you are not going to get a real viable culture to harvest. Your max ABV for a yeast is the "most of it will be dead" number. That is the LD99 (lethal dose 99%). If your going to harvest you probably want to be about 1/3 below you...

My bad, I saw the previous poster say it and didn't bother to check myself. Yeah, your at about 14%. Still going to be hot for a while, especially with almost no residual sugars. Your D47 can eat almost all that sugar. I'd give it at least nine months.

Just to eco what was already said, you are looking at over a year of aging time. It is definitely worth the wait, so throw it in a dark corner out of sight, out of mind, and get back to it in a year. I routinely brew 18% with EC-1118. It is hot and harsh even after six months, but you wait...

If you are making mead then why sweeten with anything other than honey? Mead is about the flavor of the honey. More honey = more flavor.

Flavors change over time and the honey flavor shines through the longer it ages. I had some meads that I was really unhappy with because they were bland. Threw them in the back of a closet and forgot about them for two years. Opened a bottle a month ago and it was great. Mead making is not a...