Fall harvest mind crusher!

Started a need mead today wanted to share and get some feedback.

3/4 inch of cinnamon stick
1 whole clove
Apple juice
1/2 tsp energizer
1 tsp nutrient
Dash ground mace
3 lbs clover honey
1 tsp red star Montrachet yeast
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 sm blood oranges ( cut up )
1/8 cup raisins
15 ounce pumpkin purée (secondary)
1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (secondary)

Rack after 30 days into secondary and add spices and pumpkin purée, leave in secondary for 2-3 months bottle and wait till thanksgiving.:rockin:

Sounds awesome, I love spiced autumn flavors, but watch out for the mace, that stuff and nutmeg can overpower real fast

I know, I literally put in speck. I hope this turns out to be a good fall drink, November is a good 7 months away! Keep posting as this does it's thing!

I used cardamom seed in my autumn mead cyser and the slightly lemony herby flavor is amazing, it's been cold crashing for 3 days now but no sing of clearing at all. Thinking I need to hit the lhbs for some super kleen. You should try the cardamom in a test batch if you get the time, the smell is a perfect mirror of the taste FYI

Is this a 1 gallon batch?

This sounds quite good. Sounds like a gallon batch to me. If so, I might have to put this on my To-Brew List.

Yes this is a one gallon batch and it's feisty too....

Ignore the scribble on the bottle that is left over from an old batch!

Release the KRAUSEN!

bwahahaha!

Subscribed.. sounds really good

I feel like I (in my infinite wisdom you see ) would leave out the pumpkin puree.. might not be worth the volume for the flavor present esp if you're adding pie spice too. But, you are the navigator! Tell us how it goes!

(also, try rubbing alcohol on that bottle - if that's sharpie it oughta work!)

I just brewed this last night with the only major change being I used Safale-04 for the yeast.

But the fermentation never started so I need some help!

I'm wondering if the yeast was bad because the place I bought it, when I walked in, was surprisingly warm. In fact, my first thought was "is the yeast okay" because it was so warm and the yeast wasn't in any kind of refrigeration unit.

When I pitched the yeast last night there was zero reaction and there still is nothing going on. So I'm wondering:
A) Is there a way to test to see if the yeast is any good? I used a teaspoon so I still have most of the packet left.
B) If I pitch more of the yeast and it has gone bad will that impart any bad flavors when I add another yeast?

Help?

I always start my dry yeast by activating them in warm water first about a 1/4 cup. This wakes them up and re hydrates the yeast plus you know if they don't start to foam they are bad. If you just pitched the dry yeast into the carboy then it may take a bit longer, look for a few bubbles rising if you see any bubbles then you should be okay but I would put a 1/4 of warm ( not hot, around 95 degrees) water in a sterile bowl add a teaspoon of honey 1 teaspoon of yeast and give it about 10 - 15 minutes and if it looks like they are blooming then your yeast is good and what the heck just pitch it. Good luck my fermentation stopped 2 days ago and I'm gonna leave it till Sunday them rack into secondary.... Cleared well and has a nice deep bronze hue to it so now for the pumpkin and spices....

Just be ready for a blown head gasket when this thing starts fermenting. The krausenator will strike when you least expect it....

This sounds really good. I wouldn't be able to make a batch for another month, think it would still be tasty by thanksgiving?

the yeast started doing its thing sometime last night.

Chasid that's good news.
Turtle about 6 months so it should be ready. Or at least close, longer the better and think Xmas is a good time for spiced drinks too.... Gonna rack into secondary in a few days let you know how it is going.

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!! just tasted this out of the primary and WOW!!!!! I do not think I will add anything to it.... thick and spicy already and holy dessert wine MEAD MAN! I'll taste again on thursday when I rack to secondary and decide then to add, but the fieriness of the cinnamon really comes through without being cloying and overpowering. I can't wait to see what aging does to this "Bring on the fall season" i'll be ready...:rockin:

Racked into secondary on 5-15-12 onto 1/2 can organic pumpkin purée 2 whole cloves 1/3 of whole cinnamon stick and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. Has a beautiful orange color. Definitely going to be a sweeter mead.

Really sounds good. How much apple juice to water if any?

I currently have a 5-gal batch in secondary. I used all apple juice, no water.

Man this is some gassy [stuff]. Every day I'm swirling the carboy and there's tons of gas coming out the airlock.

Just apple juice, I had to use a blowoff hose for a few days. But yeah it really gets rolling. It's sitting in the basement in secondary, I'm not going to rack it off the pumpkin till July. Put it into beer bottles and cap.

Mine is sitting in the basement in secondary too, and I don't think I've ever had a mead this gassy before!

huesmann said:

I currently have a 5-gal batch in secondary. I used all apple juice, no water.

Man this is some gassy [stuff]. Every day I'm swirling the carboy and there's tons of gas coming out the airlock.

Click to expand...

how did you scale it to 5 gal? x 5 i would assume?

How long did you leave it in the primary? I leave my meads in primary for at least a month or longer never less then 30 days. No problem in secondary. Did you taste it when you racked it into secondary? How did it smell? My only thought is it just wasn't done, but you racked it off the yeast cake, maybe you added to much pumpkin purée. Not sure.

Did you make any changes to the original recipe?

Nope, no changes, just scaled everything up 5x (except the yeast). I wonder if pumkin puree makes things gassy. Never put it in mead before. Don't recall exactly how long it was in primary (log is at home); at least 3 weeks. The gas coming out of the airlock doesn't smell bad, it's extremely orangey, though. It tasted fine when racked to secondary. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with it; it's just really gassy, like I can feel (with my nose) the gas chugging out the airlock when I swirl it hard.

I think maybe it wasn't done at 3 weeks and adding the pumpkin gave the yeast a food source to restart active fermentation.. I'd just set it and forget it. How is the color? Did you get the heat off the cinnamon? anyway I hope you like the mead when you tasted it.

Why are you swirling it? I never have messed with mine, just put them in a dark place and peek on them every now and again. The first few days I keep an eye on things to make sure it's going and to put in a blowoff tube if I have to but that's it.

Swirling to degas (clearly it needs it!).

Also, since the punkin puree settles to the bottom, I'm swirling to get it resuspended, because IMO that way it will transfer more of the punkin flavor to the liquid rather than just sitting on the bottom.

So how many bubbles a minute are you getting? And when did you make it rack it off etc? The pumpkin flavor will naturally disperse into the liquid. So that shouldn't be a problem. Man oct nov is to far away. But it's going to be one wild thanksgiving.

I haven't really checked to see if there's a bubbles a minute. I tend to doubt if there's much actual activity, if any--like I said, it gassy when I swirl it to degas.

I started it at 1.147 on 5/13, racked it to secondary and added the pumpkin and spice at 1.012 on 6/6.

FWIW, I racked this again last night and it's still gassy as all get out. SG was down to 1.011, so I guess the EC-1118 I used really did poop out at 18% (which is what I calculate the ABV to be from the OG). I'm hoping the orange flavor balances out over aging, because right now it's overpowering the pumpkin flavor which is pretty subtle anyway. If not, for future batches I would cut the number of oranges by half or more.

JohnnyBeerbottles said:

Ignore the scribble on the bottle that is left over from an old batch!

Click to expand...

Helpful hint that you may already know:

Mr Clean Magic Eraser cleans that print off a bottle and any caps you mark as if it were a dry erase board. I love that thing!

Did you do any step additions of nutrients with this?

Nope just set it and forget it for a month. Rack into secondary after 30 days onto pumpkin and put it into a dark place for 6 months then bottle for 6 more. Then it should be ready.

Just tasted this on Saturday and I can say this is one thick sweet delicious mead! It's still a touch hot but by the time October rolls around ots going to be perfect! Next step is to up this to 3 gallon batch. The color is amazing and ill bottle this next in a week or two!

Bottled yesterday, tasted unbelievable! I'll be making a 3 gallon batch soon for 2014.

Huesmann how did yours turn out?

Bottled on April 23rd 2013!