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Just now filled 'er up. It's a nice, thick piece of plastic and has a pretty serious valve system. I'll probably still age my meads in a glass carboy, but this is going to be so nice for flushing lees! I'm thinking of drilling a small hole for a solid stopper and getting a long probe...

just picked this little guy up today! so excited i just started a little recipe i came up with that i think will turn out well. its a bochet braggot. cant wait to try this thing out!

i dunno, i never messed with them. i guess they do.

apple wood is safe. i use it for a lot. i hear that black walnut may not be good to use, but i would research that before making a decision. the thing is, a lot of people use woods like choke cherry, not realizing that they can be toxic. even the fruit can be if you dont get rid of the seeds...

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=350 There's the article. It explains a lot about it. I, personally wouldn't risk smoking with or aging mead with a wood or fruit that could potentially cause cyanide poisoning.

Because of its hydrocyanic acid content, most parts of the choke cherry tree are highly toxic to humans and livestock.

I do a lot of meat smoking and anything I've ever read about using the wood had been to not do so. Something about it being toxic or carcinogenic. I'll do some research and post what I find

Good idea, but I'm not very worried about it. When I said that I don't have a way to weigh it, I mean that the only thing in my house that resembles a scale is my power measure for reloading bullets and it measures in grains.

5 gallons

now the fact that i'm using 6lbs doesn't really have much science behind it other than the fact that i usually use about 14lbs for my meads, but dont want this stuff to be very potent. i figure i usually can get around 15%abv using around 14, so from the honey i should be getting around 7.5%abv...

Well, to be honest, I'm using 6 pounds of honey and caramelizing that. Not sure what it will end up like when i'm done. I don't really have the means of weighing it

Yeah, i'll definitely be adding some nutrient and energizer as well as making a yeast starter. The guy at the home brew store told me that this is going to resemble a nice, creamy dunkel-like mead. He's excited to try it when I'm done, so that's a good sign!

Here's my ingredients that I picked up today: 1/2# chocolate malt 1/2# caramel 60 1# breiss Bavarian wheat dme Cream ale wyeast 6# caramelized honey

I also hear that choke cherry isn't a good idea to use in anything. Apparently it's not good for you

Can't go wrong with a little Sassafras, right?

Yeah, once I kill it, if I want it to be sweet, I back sweeten. I understand that he may not be going for this, but... If I ever had a stuck fermentation and used a different yeast, in goes the 1118

I have done 2 meads with this exact gravity successfully without periodic aeration, yeast energizer, starters, or ever getting it stuck by using lalvin ec-1118. That stuff eats through a high gravity in less than 2 weeks.

this looks amazing! i'm actually experimenting with some of your ingredients listed and doing a bochet braggot mead over on the mead forums. any insight you guys might have would be appreciated, as well. i'm mostly a mead and wine maker, but this will be the first time i've dabbled in making...

i may not do the dme because i have some things i want to do with my spent grains. i guess i'll ease up on the chocolate a bit. i found this thread and it looked pretty nice, but i'm going to keep it much simpler and maybe mix just 2 or 3 grain malts and some hops in with it...

that looks delicious and is exactly what i'm going for! however i was considering what dawgmatic said about too much chocolate malt. what would you suggest i do? cut it back to about a quarter pound and use something else? more light caramel? i was also considering vienna.