my newest baby

This is my spiced autumn mead right after going into secondary, I left it in primary for one month, there was still co2 forming and cloudy as hell, so I'm assuming there was still at least some miniscule amount of ferment going. I tasted it when siphoning and damn was it good, my recipe is as follows
.5 # apple cider at 180 degrees
1 tsp ground cinnamon and leave at 180 for five minutes
Add. 5 oz dried sweet orange peel turn off heat
Steep for 30 minutes and remove oronge peel
Heat to 160 degrees
Turn off heat and add 1# brown suger, 2 opened cardamom seed pods, THEN 3# wildflower honey
Add .5 oz dried sweet orange peel and yeast nutrient
Use cake mixer to aerate for 10 minutes
pour into car boy and add yeast ( ec 1118)
One month primary rack sorbate


I'm waiting till clear rack one more time and bottle. I used the 1118 because it was a real high gravity, and a lot of the flavors, mainly cardamom have potent tastes so a lil loss in that department is okay. Its absolutely amazing right now I can't wait till November to open it and see what it tastes like.

Just an update, i poured the lees out of the car boy into a glass and put them in my fridge for a few days. I'm sick as a dog right now, soar throat and stuffy nose so I decided why not and poured some into a pan and heated it. Other than the crazy strong alcohol flavor this stuff is amazing, way better than my buckwheat adventure. I can't wait till its clear and I can bottle it up.

A mead toddy? great idea!