Recent content by Taise

I've been tempted but I'm still trying to come up with something that is a blue color.

If you're carbonating I prefer to use beer bottles. Empties are easy to come up with if you talk to the bartenders at your favorite pub. You end up with a strange collection of bottles but you get them for free.

If you hadn't bottled it yet I would recommend splash racking it to degas it. Since it's already bottled I'd probably either uncork, pour back into a sanitized carboy or brewing bucket. Once you have it unbottled take a whisk to it and stir it up for a bit and see if the smell clears up. If...

If you are getting a fart/sulfur smell you might try aerating or splash racking to off gas it.

As long as it tastes great you could try sparkaloid or bentonite if you wanted to hurry the clearing now or rack it and just wait to see if it clears. It may be the orange juice that is causing the cloudiness.

Have your hydrometer readings changed at all? Did it ever bubble the airlock? Also how does it smell? It's possible your fermentation never started if it was too acidic.

1 gallon jugs are your friend and enemy there. They're great for making different batches cheaply and always having something to play with. The down side is if you make a really great batch you've only got a gallon.

Normal in my experience when bottling if it's not already crystal clear. I'm still looking for some sort of filter on the intake side of my siphon to help with clearing.

Depending on what you are making it most likely isn't completely drinkable once it clears. Mead needs time to age and improve the flavor even after it's clear.

You had a half gallon left after a bachelor party? If it was anything like the bachelor parties I've been to that was either a 5 or 6 gallon batch to start with or you hid that half gallon.

I have to agree with BigBeavk. Start with a Joe's Ancient Orange Mead and simply add a split vanilla bean. Once it clears in about 3 months you can drink it, but I always put about 1/2 - 2/3 of the batch up in bottles because it just keeps getting better with age.

Good luck in the competition. I'm curious how it works out. I like the taste of JAOM but my wife doesn't like the thicker mouth feel so I'm looking for another yeast with a thinner wine mouth feel.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with that labeling system.

Here's one from the recipe section. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/sweet-potato-pie-mead-75582/

Did you get a picture of it with the 3 layers. That would be interesting to see.