Recent content by Matrix4b

Chocolate is very hard. I tried a couple but didn't have much success. For a creamy mouth feel that adds a little sweetness (no much) use lactose. It is a non-fermentable sugar but it is about 1/4 as sweet as honey. One pound for 5 gal is what concentration that some of the beer guys use...

Don't dump mead. It can make a great marinade or in this case a base for a salad dressing. I have a watermelon batch that tastes like the rind and I use it to cook pork roast or shredded pork in the crockpot with, tastes wonderful. Matrix

In my living room, I have a spot in a corner that we never could figure out what to put in. It was small but large enough for my 8 brewing vessels. 3 buckets, the rest glass carboys. I even just hung a dry erase board up on the wall over it that in my next set of meads, I plan on keeping...

I would say that sulfates do not typically harm or cause allergies to come about. It isn't like a red wine. You use so little of it, I actually just us Potassium Sorbate myself. The important thing here is to kill the yeast or let it die out. Now at this point there will be very little yeast...

Ditto

I agree, Sparging is a beer brewing term, not a mead brewing term. I would ignore that step and simply heat the honey and water to the point that it blends together nicely. Then cool down to 80 or less and pitch the yeast.

I am not sure if a cocoa extract will taste much like chocolate. I don't know. It is worth working an experiment though. It might work. As far as fruit/honey and sanitizing. I don't feel it necessary. Go ahead if you wish and I know you got good results before but I feel that you would...

Ok a few suggestions: "Heat about a half gallon of water to 150, add honey, continue to heat till temperature hits 160 and maintain for 5 minutes. Try to finish the next part at about the same time as the bulk of the must. Split berries into two half pound bags, freeze both. Thaw one bag...

Personally, for Vanilla, I have found it easier to make the Tincture or Extract and add that. For one, it makes it so you can measure how much you put in and replicate it better but either way works well.

I suggest you put the fruit in the secondary and add lemon juice. Lemon Juice will help emphasize the flavor of the blueberry. Trust me it works.

I experimented with different levels of toasted oak. My recommendation is simply make a mead, then Oak it with Heavy Toasted Oak. Use about 1-2 oz of heavy toasted oak left in prior to bottling for about a month. I like to put it in a mesh bag so that you can remove it easier. Not sure...

Correct on the Primary: Water+Yeast+Honey+Nutrient. Secondary as yeast is nearly stopped, one bubble a minute or less. Should be about 2 weeks, sometimes a month at most. Secondary: Rack off lees and on to Rhubarb and Strawberries for a month to let fruit flavor into the mead. It may be...

Ah, I saw the question on how to rack so I was confused.

Oh, and Step Feeding is putting your total nutrients in stages. Like if you were using say 1 oz of nutrients (yes that is high but number is for example purposes) then you would put in 1/3 oz in the primary, add another 1/3 about a day or two later, then add the last 1/3 at the sugar break...

That's a lot of Rhubarb. This will be very tart. Recommendations: Put the Fruit in the secondary, that is after you rack it for the first time about 1 month after it starts.. Just chop into cubes or bits about 1/2 inch size and put in a mesh bag, no need to puree, the alcohol and time...