Recent content by ScottM

Sounds like it would be worth a 1 gallon batch experiment, anyhow. Maybe two experiments, one with almonds one with apricot pits. Of course it may be a drag acquiring all those apricot pits. And almonds aren't exactly the cheapest nut. There's an Amaretto extract that I use around Christmas...

Sounds good, I'll add this recipe with the others that I want to try sometime.

Update: Well I've cracked open 2 bottles and both were flat. I think the plastic champagne style corks didn't make a good enough seel on the Belgian style bottles. Oh well now it's a still cider. As far as flavor. There's a nice apple taste, and a fair amount of residue sweetness, but...

I've only made two batches so far, but I've never made a starter. I do, however, study the sticky's at the top of this forum, and follow the staggered nutrient addition. Tried and true methods come through everytime.

I figured I was overthinking it. They were all stemmed and halved before they went in and the one's bigger than the neck were crushed as they were forced through. Thanks for the input.

I'm just killing some time at work today, and I was thinking about racking my strawberry melomel off the strawberries next week sometime. That's when I got to thinking about how I'm going to get those strawberries out of the glass carboy when I'm done. Obviously they had to go into the carboy...

My first, and only cider was 3 gallons of juice and 2lbs of honey, I carbed in and bottled in Belgian style bottles with champagne corks. The still cider tasted amazing at bottling and it's been in the bottles for about 6 weeks now, I'm really struggling to hang on and try this later. Two...

This sounds delicious. I'm a huge fan of Craisins. Please keep us updated on the progress.

Thanks guys. I am looking for a sweeter drink, so I expected the strawberry sugars to not ferment out. I don't have my journal with me, so I can't remember what yeast I used. I think it was a dried packet of Premier Cuvee (sp?). So all signs point to leaving it be until the...

It is in a bucket, not a carboy so the oxygen exposure is a concern I hadn't thought of. When the height of fermentation it was bubbling steadily so I know that CO2 was pushing out and not allowing O2 in, but it hasn't bubbled in a week or so, and if that rim isn't tight O2 could seap in. I...

+1 on Hightest's FAQ. I just started making meads, and I've formulated my own recipes based on those stickies. Print them, read them, you'll use them everytime you start a mead. Also, play around with the spreadsheet. It will give you very valuable info, when constructing a recipe.

I've got a 3 gallon batch made with 10 lbs of Clover Honey and wine yeast, started on 5/15/09. I stepped the nutrient additions, per Hightest's FAQ. This was supposed to be secondaried with fresh picked strawberries but due to a late frost up north here, strawberries from the farm I go to...

x2 on the well nurished yeast. My first batch was with Montrachet (3 lbs of orange blossom and water to 1 gal), and I followed the nutrient additions as per Hightest's posts in the FAQ. Fermentation was very steady and smooth, without a noticable odor. It's been racked twice, and is crystal...

In the 2 meads that I have working right now I paid $3/pound for Orange Blossom, from specialty store, and about $2/pound for clover from a large grocery chain. Depending on any other costs you may run into (re-packaging), and your cost to bulk purchase, I'd say $2.50 to $3.00 per pound for...

Very cool. Please keep us posted as you get this process going.