What I did for/with Mead today

[MightyMosin]

Cold steeping 7lb. of marshmallow root in 1 gallon of water and hot steeping about 1.5 cups of toasted cacao nibs in 1 gallon hot water. The cacao nibs were lightly pulsed in a coffee grinder to break them up a bit. The hot steeping will be for about 15 minutes or so unless it looks like they need more time.

The cold steep will be overnight with about 2g of K-Meta in the water to help deal with any wild yeast.

The Hot water will go into the refrigerator and in the morning I will scoop off the bits of fat floating at the top as best as I can get it... maybe it will make it into a 1gallon carboy with a spout and I'll empty from the bottom. I have to see if I have another carboy available to do that.

 

[RumOnTheDocks]

Finally got around to bottling and racking today, I've been putting it off for way too long.

Now with that being said I've bottled about 2 gallons of my acacia, wild ferment hydromel.
Racked 1 gallon of my pineapple experiment, not optimistic about it, but we'll see how it'll go.
And I've finally started cold crashing 4 gallons of my spiced, plum melomel.

 

[Dan O]

Which Competition are you entering?

I haven't even looked into it yet. Everyone that has tried my meads keeps prodding me to enter

 

[Ren06]

Bottled 7.5gallons of traditional fall mead

 

[Dan O]

Cold steeping 7lb. of marshmallow root in 1 gallon of water and hot steeping about 1.5 cups of toasted cacao nibs in 1 gallon hot water. The cacao nibs were lightly pulsed in a coffee grinder to break them up a bit. The hot steeping will be for about 15 minutes or so unless it looks like they need more time.

The cold steep will be overnight with about 2g of K-Meta in the water to help deal with any wild yeast.

The Hot water will go into the refrigerator and in the morning I will scoop off the bits of fat floating at the top as best as I can get it... maybe it will make it into a 1gallon carboy with a spout and I'll empty from the bottom. I have to see if I have another carboy available to do that.

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Is there a particular reason you are cold steeping the marshmallow root & hot steeping the toasted cocoa nibs?
Also, are you going to use meadowfoam honey for this one?

 

[MightyMosin]

from what I have read,

Is there a particular reason you are cold steeping the marshmallow root & hot steeping the toasted cocoa nibs?
Also, are you going to use meadowfoam honey for this one?

from what I have read, the Marshmallow root can give off a bitter flavor when hot steeped.
The cacao nibs in hot water allows me to get some flavor and allows for the fats to mostly be skimmed off the top once cold.

 

[Dan O]

from what I have read,

from what I have read, the Marshmallow root can give off a bitter flavor when hot steeped.
The cacao nibs in hot water allows me to get some flavor and allows for the fats to mostly be skimmed off the top once cold.

Did not know either one of those.
The cocoa nibs I used in my chocolate/ cherry/ vanilla/ pomegranate mead gave a nice flavor, but, I think I didn't toast them long enough. Being that it was the first time using them, I was a little cautious about overdoing them.
80 grams @ 350°F for 3 or 5 minutes , I honestly forget. The house smelled great when I toasted them, but, I was looking for more of a dark chocolate flavor....a deeper chocolate if you will. Next time will be in a pan on the stovetop & my nose will be the judge of when they're done.

 

[MightyMosin]

Also, are you going to use meadowfoam honey for this one?

I will bochet a white clover, buckwheat and a bit of meadowfoam honey.
Most of the meadowfoam will not get caramelized and some will also be used to back sweeten.

 

[Todd Peterson]

I added medium toast oak cubes to a black currant and blueberry mead 3 weeks ago. Took a tasting sample for the first time today. Started this mead in early November.

The oak really rounded off the sharp, tart taste of the melomel. Probably going to rack to tertiary tonight or tomorrow along with K Meta and K Sorbate treatment with bottling to follow in a week or when I can get to it.

I am assuming that the oak taste will fade with age. While not off putting, the oak flavor is noticeable.

Todd Peterson

 

[Dan O]

I will bochet a white clover, buckwheat and a bit of meadowfoam honey.
Most of the meadowfoam will not get caramelized and some will also be used to back sweeten.

This sounds very interesting . I'll be watching for updates

 

[Rish]

Yesterday, tasted the strawberry jam mead I started 3 weeks ago. Sweet and hot of course but tasting like it has promise. Strawberry flavor is there but subtle.

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked Viognier pyment as well as Mesquite traditional, Pinot Noir pyment, Christmas mead... followed by the cleaning of the carboys. The brew buckets have been rinsed but will have to wait for PBW until tomorrow or another day.

Ah... the downside of doing so many different meads in short succession...

 

[MightyMosin]

I very carefully degassed my Marshmallow Bochet (only about 1/2 gallon headspace in bucket) and then I gave it more pure 02 and then fed it some nutrients.

It was at about 75F temp, so I sanitized some frozen water bottles and dropped them into the must and have swapped those out 2 times today. I now have the ferment temperature down to 62F and it should drop some more to ~58 or so.

Once there, I think the insulated bag with frozen bottles on the outside will keep it in the low 60's for the rest of the ferment. It's not a regulated temperature but it's brought it down nicely now that the yeast are off to the races.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Picked and plucked some dandelions. The last time I did this I didn’t know about putting them in boiling water. So this time I believe I will make mead.

 

[Ren06]

Racked 6gallons of Cranberry raspberry session and added raspberries. Also checked my sweet potato pie mead its sitting around 1.020 and actually tasting good even after almost 2 weeks.

I’ll wait another 2 weeks check gravity again and rack and do my secondary things.

 

[Dan O]

View attachment 818071View attachment 818072Picked and plucked some dandelions. The last time I did this I didn’t know about putting them in boiling water. So this time I believe I will make mead.

What about putting them in boiling water?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

What about putting them in boiling water?

It stops the petals from developing into seeds which are not tasty. Even when saving up enough by freezing the seeds will develop, so even then use boiling water.

 

[Dan O]

It stops the petals from developing into seeds which are not tasty. Even when saving up enough by freezing the seeds will develop, so even then use boiling water.

Are you boiling them before you freeze them or once you pull them out to use them?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Are you boiling them before you freeze them or once you pull them out to use them?

Before, the seeds will develop even in the freezer.

 

[Dan O]

Before, the seeds will develop even in the freezer.

This, I did not realize. Do you keep the water you boil them in to use as your must? There's a lot of flavor in there....or, @ least it helped my 2 Dandelion meads. But, every day's a school day

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

This, I did not realize. Do you keep the water you boil them in to use as your must? There's a lot of flavor in there....or, @ least it helped my 2 Dandelion meads. But, every day's a school day

Yes, what I harvested yesterday is enough for a one gallon batch. I’m going to put the petals in a muslin bag to reduce the mess later. Do you add lemon to yours? i had checked a dandelion wine recipe just to see the quantity of petals used and they used lemon juice, perhaps to retain a bright color.

 

[Dan O]

Yes, what I harvested yesterday is enough for a one gallon batch. I’m going to put the petals in a muslin bag to reduce the mess later. Do you add lemon to yours? i had checked a dandelion wine recipe just to see the quantity of petals used and they used lemon juice, perhaps to retain a bright color.

The two that I have made were totally different recipes.
No lemon (juice or zest) in the first one. Added 1 qt size ziplok bag of dandelions, trimmed, petals only with no greens, to steeped black tea for 15 minutes, (just off boil), then made the must with that water.


Yes, lemon juice & zest in the second one.
It didn't ruin it, but, it almost totally masked the Dandelion flavor....not the flavor I was going for. That said, it was a rather large lemon, so, take that for what it's worth.

This is the second one I did....
https://meadist.com/making-mead/mead-recipes/dandelion-mead-lions-roar/
I still have enough dandelions in the freezer from last years round of Dandelion season (I got a gallon ziplok bag last year)...to which I will only do the zest in secondary with very little to no lemon juice.
Good to know about the boiling part. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Ren06]

Added 3 lbs of pineapple chunks to my pineapple coconut melomel

 

[MightyMosin]

I still have enough dandelions in the freezer from last years round of Dandelion season (I got a gallon ziplok bag last year)...to which I will only do the zest in secondary with very little to no lemon juice.

I've never tried anything with dandelions and I can't say that I have thought to try making one. I'm assuming it is floral on the nose. What about taste?

 

[Dan O]

I've never tried anything with dandelions and I can't say that I have thought to try making one. I'm assuming it is floral on the nose. What about taste?

Surprisingly the honey made the floral on the nose quite pleasant. The flavor was just as pleasant. Not overly floral, but enough so you knew the flower used. Even with only about 1/4 the petals in my first one, the Dandelion flavor really came through nice after about 9 months.
That said, it was my first batch, done with bread yeast...(first time making any mead) almost 3 yrs ago. It was gone by year 2.

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked and started fining on 5 gallon Chrsitmas Mead and 3.25 gallon Mesquite Traditional

 

[amber-ale]

View attachment 818071View attachment 818072Picked and plucked some dandelions. The last time I did this I didn’t know about putting them in boiling water. So this time I believe I will make mead.

Yummmmmm dandelion mead!!!!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Put together my first melomel. Replaced 32oz of the usual water with not from concentrate, no preservatives blueberry juice. Marketed as the juice of 3lbs of fruit. The must tastes absolutely delicious at 1123. I'd put it on pancakes.

 

[Todd Peterson]

Attempted to bottle 4 gallons of black currant blueberry melomel.

I kid you not, I propped the 5 gallon plastic carboy at a 45 degree angle to get the last drops of this fruit mead. The weight of the auto siphon brought the carboy crashing down onto my 12 ounce and 750 ml bottles full of a pretty good fruit mead.

Lost 1/2 of the batch. It sucks because the finished product is good.

I have a lot of mopping to do to do tomorrow morning. Live and learn I guess.
I saved 2 gallons, primarily in 750 ml wine bottles. Most of the 12 once bottles we’re a loss.

Todd Peterson

 

[Dan O]

Attempted to bottle 4 gallons of black currant blueberry melomel.

I kid you not, I propped the 5 gallon plastic carboy at a 45 degree angle to get the last drops of this fruit mead. The weight of the auto siphon brought the carboy crashing down onto my 12 ounce and 750 ml bottles full of a pretty good fruit mead.

Lost 1/2 of the batch. It sucks because the finished product is good.

I have a lot of mopping to do to do tomorrow morning. Live and learn I guess.
I saved 2 gallons, primarily in 750 ml wine bottles. Most of the 12 once bottles we’re a loss.

Todd Peterson

Bummer. They say....there's no mess like a mead mess. Sucks that you lost so much of it.

 

[Todd Peterson]

Bummer. They say....there's no mess like a mead mess. Sucks that you lost so much of it.

I’m just grateful that I wasn’t using a glass carboy. Infuriating mess could have been a medical emergency.

Love and learn I guess. Will not make this mistake again.

I still have almost 2 gallons of a nice mead bottled.

Todd Peterson

 

[Dan O]

I’m just grateful that I wasn’t using a glass carboy. Infuriating mess could have been a medical emergency.

Love and learn I guess. Will not make this mistake again.

I still have almost 2 gallons of a nice mead bottled.

Todd Peterson

Half is better than none and yeah. Glass could've gone a lot worse.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Degas, add nutrient.

 

[malchizedec]

Yup, pressurised glass is a bad idea , 5 stitches later, to be fair I was tired and not thinking the correct steps through.

 

[malchizedec]

I'm currently fermenting three meads all based on apple juice and Coolabah honey. They will be two semi sweet (maple syrup and hazel nuts, Mango) and one sweet mead (based on Falls Bountry).

 

[shetc]

Finally plonked down the start-up money to purchase Go-ferm, Fermaid-o, Fermaid-k and potassium carbonate (not to mention honey) to make my 1st mead.

 

[Dan O]

Finally plonked down the start-up money to purchase Go-ferm, Fermaid-o, Fermaid-k and potassium carbonate (not to mention honey) to make my 1st mead.

You'll be glad you made the investment

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked Christmas Mead off of sediment; looks really clear.
Racked Marshmallow Bochet to secondary. Added fining agents.
Racked Norwegian Tea to secondary. Added fining agents.

 

[bushpilot]

Finally plonked down the start-up money to purchase Go-ferm, Fermaid-o, Fermaid-k and potassium carbonate (not to mention honey) to make my 1st mead.

Oh boy, another one bites the dust. Welcome to your latest obsession.

 

[bushpilot]

Bottled a beautifully clear traditional, and a cyser-chokecherry blend.

Put away my equipment for the season, as I am out of honey and pretty much all my bottles are full. I'll start my next batch in the fall or winter.