Show us your Mead in a photo!!!

Frognostic said:

Left this on primary too long, started on 31st October and only racked it today on the 17th November.

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More seasoned mazers might disagree with me, but I don't think 17 days is too long in primary.

I'll play along.. 1.5 year old Blackberry Melomel.

BGBC said:

More seasoned mazers might disagree with me, but I don't think 17 days is too long in primary.

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If it had been in an airtight container with no headspace I wouldn't have been worried (after five or so days) but for most of that time it was in an open air plastic bucket covered by tea-towels haha.

I removed the towels and attached the lid on the last day or two but the lid is not airtight and there was lots of headspace in there.

My initial plan was to rack it into the glass jug around about the 4th or 5th of November but I got sick and didn't get around to it.

It's still fermenting by the looks of it but only just. My concern is that the prolonged air exposure oxidised it and possibly caused the yeast to metabolise the alcohol, reducing abv.

Ah, got it. Yea, that's a good reason to rack earlier.

Blueberry melomel, ten months in the bottle, nice!View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1447812022.348625.jpg

Just finished bottling my first batch of JAOM, or as I've now dubbed it, my Orange Blossom Special.

Plan is to crack one of the 750s at Christmas and hold on to the other as long as I can. The 12ozs will obviously go much sooner.

Pumped it turned out so good!

These started off as a 3 gallon batch of base mead that sat in primary for 50 days. I racked into the three 1 gallon carboys to test out a few different recipes.

The carboy on the left has a tincture I made with a stick of cinnamon and a vanilla pod added to it.

The carboy in the middle is just standard mead (I didn't add anything when i racked)

The carboy on the right has 4 cups of prickly pear juice added to it (which caused some additional fermentation, hence the gunk in the neck of the carboy)

They've been in secondary for 16 days now.

Sorry for the crap photo.... This isn't my mead. It is actually a Capsicumel with red chilli from India that a good friend made. Very nice! Fresh honey in the aroma. The flavor is sweet honey with oranges and a unique flavor from the chilli. The heat from the red chilli starts out subtle, but then it sneaks up on you from the back end.

Getting this photo up before the forgetful holiday slam
2015 batches
L to R
Oaked Kraken and Ginger
Rhubarb
Plum
Apricot
Blueberry
Pear
Blackberry
Braggot V1

missing from this pic---
Caco Almond
Cranberry
Braggot V2

Happy holidays all and good brews next year!!!!!

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It's obviously not finished but this is what I woke up too this morning.

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wmcc75 said:

It's obviously not finished but this is what I woke up too this morning.

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3 words... Blow. Off. Tube.

I use one with every primary for just this reason!

(At least it looks like the mess was contained!)

biochemedic said:

3 words... Blow. Off. Tube.

I use one with every primary for just this reason!

(At least it looks like the mess was contained!)

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I second that!!

I know, I know. I should have used one, but with this yeast (cote des blancs) I've never had this much krausen (don't know if it has a different name in the mead world) so I figured no big deal, I think the difference is this is a braggot and the proteins from the malt may be making things messy. However that is a total guess.

biochemedic said:

3 words... Blow. Off. Tube.

I use one with every primary for just this reason!

(At least it looks like the mess was contained!)

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Fermcap S anti-foam drops helps to prevent this, too.

Racking bochet
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shadowmerc777 said:

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Did you use real lotus in your blue lotus mead?
Regards, GF.

Yes. I used 2 ounces for 1 gallon

What's in the glass is this traditional mead from a swingtop "test" bottle, unfortunately not bubbling, but has a nice flavor. I sampled a partly filled champagne split was a little effervescent... With proper headspace I would expect these to be bubbly. These will be shared as holiday gifts.

Which do you like best? Red ribbon collar or blue wax seal with bee stamp? I tried putting the wax on the ribbon, but it was a mess, I could possibly with a hot glue gun.

Personally. I think the red ribbon fits better with the lable you have designed. I like the stamp but would probably go with either a red or black wax over a slightly longer red ribbon. Thats just my opinion though.

shadowmerc777 said:

Personally. I think the red ribbon fits better with the lable you have designed. I like the stamp but would probably go with either a red or black wax over a slightly longer red ribbon. Thats just my opinion though.

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Thanks for the feedback, I appriciate it.

HB_in_Subic said:

Here is what I got going on now;

From left to right - BOMM - Tropical Honey (12lbs), 4 lbs Orange Honey, 1 lb Buckwheat @ 9 days (secondary)
BOMM - Orange Honey (15lbs) @ 9 days (secondary)
Saison Mead - Orange Honey (15lbs) @ 39 days (secondary)
Saison Mead - Texas Wildflower (15lbs) @ 72 days (secondary) will be bottled in 2 days...

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Here is where the last three batches are at. All ready to be bottled and looking pretty. I decided to oak the one on the right with French Oak chips soaked in bourbon for a week to give it some "cask" flavors.

First batch attempted, using the JAOM recipie.

Ribbon. It makes the bottle pop more than the wax seal.

Here's a 1.5 year old Bochet

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1449549235.735754.jpg

Still in progress, but looking good!

Tangelo spiced melomel, blackberry vanilla, and spiced apple/pear.

MarshmallowBlue said:

Ribbon. It makes the bottle pop more than the wax seal.

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Thanks, I see what you did there!

Pumpkin Spiced mead bottled last weekend. OG 1.17, FG 0.99.

Lots of bottling. Ten gallons of traditional Mead, five of a Christmas Mead and half gallon of Pumpkin Spice. Also we put skyrim Meadery labels on a few for a party we are having next week. Can't wait.

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Just racked my JAOM I started back in October to secondary. It had been pretty clear till I stirred up some yeast in the racking process. At least it's off the fruit and most of the yeast.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450044408.487069.jpg

Preparation for Christmas baskets, 5 different meads all bottled. Left to right:

1. Szechuan Mead - Crisp and dry with a slight Szechuan bite at the end.

2. Joe's Ancient Orange Mead - Orange and cinnamon. (First mead My daughter View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450045189.775667.jpgand I made and bottled) Made with items that can all be bought at the grocery store, just like in ancient times.

3. Vanilla Apple Cyser - honey and apple cider instead of water. Had a fresh vanilla bean in it for over 2 months.

4. Herbal Ginger Mead - Flowery with a ginger bite.

5. Unlabeled is T'ej which is an Ethiopian hopped mead. Currently my favorite.

Mesquite Blossom traditional in the fermenter, Strawberry mead aging in the center, Orange Blossom traditional aging on the right.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450202944.067607.jpg Pomegranate melomel, cherry wine, wildflower & clover traditional, and blackberry saw palmetto honey mead. Going to make a buckwheat cranberry batch soon.

Short metheglin, still clearing but getting there

Requiemm said:

Preparation for Christmas baskets, 5 different meads all bottled.

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Very pretty, bro. Is your cyser carbonated or still?

Maylar said:

Very pretty, bro. Is your cyser carbonated or still?

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Thanks!!

All still. Will try carbing the next batch

Ruddy the (occasionally) red-nosed reindog with a bottle of orange blossom mead.

Pomegranate melomel,View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1450754795.173636.jpg

Getting ready to rack to tertiary. These were in primary for 50 days and secondary for 48 days. Started as 3 gallons of base mead using Lalvin D-47 and then I split it into the three 1 gallon jugs you see here. They're sitting at around 14% ABV

From left to right: Cinnamon/Vanilla, Prickly Pear, Base (no additions)


The prickly pear mead is extremely pink!


Tasting notes when racking:
* Cinnamon/vanilla: no real aroma of either spice. When you taste it, the vanilla comes through very well but I wasn't getting any cinnamon.
* Prickly Pear: a little bit of a sweet aroma. It had a sweet flavor that I couldn't really place. I guess I wasn't really sure how strong the prickly pear flavor would come through. It came through in color more than anything
* Base / untouched: honey aroma and flavor. A little on the hot side. It needs a while longer to age.