Recent content by jscholtes

Sounds like a young mead to me. Mead can take quite a while to age out to mellow the alcoholic heat and actually taste good.

That sounds like a lot of peach extract to me, but I am used to some pretty strong extracts so I'm not totally sure.

It says to bottle condition for 4 weeks. I just tried one after 2, and it had great head with great head retention, and it tasted great. I don't think I can wait another 2 weeks to see how it turns out.

You may also consider using using a mead or wine yeast like D-47 or EC-1118 instead of the bread yeast.

I'm sure it's better after 6 months, but I used D47 so it's bound to be different than if you used bread yeast, I think.

I don't think you have to wait 6 months to bottle. The instructions say you can bottle after 2. I bottled the day before yesterday but it's still way too hot to drink. Maybe bottle and wait another 6 months to drink.

I bottled yesterday

Mine will be ready to bottle tomorrow!

Did you use natural or dutch process cocoa powder? I read that the difference is that the dutch process cocoa powder is not acidic.

I made this last night, and I pitched the yeast this morning. It's bubbling away already. This makes me happy.

Don't fret too much. You can always sorbate and campen when it is done fermenting and backsweeten.

You can also make your own vanilla extract with vodka and vanilla beans. You'll need at least a dozen beans per bottle of vodka, but you can get the beans pretty cheap online. I use a company called Beanilla.

I'm working on something almost somewhat similar: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/new-recipe-opinions-hibiscus-blueberry-ginger-mead-217180/

I took a taste on 1/22 and there was a slight vegetable flavor so I racked the mead off the hibiscus flowers. I checked the gravity a few days ago and it was a smidge below 1.000, maybe .97 or so. I figured I would give it another try since I had some in the hydrometer tube anyway, and I tasted...

I checked today, and it is at 1.003. I rack it off the hibiscus in another week, and I will take another reading then. It is dropping a bit faster than expected, but but may be right on.