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well the last sample I pulled wasn't spicy at all from what I remember. This batch is actually still in the carboy and hasn't been bottle up yet, and I honestly don't think I've pulled a sample in about 1.5 years(kept the airlock full though). My son was born a little over 1.5 ago and I...

I'm also generally not a fan of aged beers(personal opinion), but the beers I've made mistakes with(eg: over oaked a batch once), letting it age definitely will mellow out the mistakes.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned from this board is to never dump a batch. Tuck it away in the back of the closet and forget about it for a while, it's amazing what time will do for mead :D Now I'm just pissed I only did a 1 gallon batch(I was a bit skeptical about an all buckwheat...

I completely disagree. About 1 year ago I would have agreed but no more. I made a 1 gallon traiditional mead with nothing but buckwheat honey. At the 1 year mark it was undrinkable, the buckwheat was too overpowering, however I just cracked another bottle at the 2 year mark and it is one of...

ABV really doesn't make a difference in bottle choice. The only gotcha I could think of that would cause you issues with wine bottles would be if the yeast aren't done and you get a renewed fermentation. That would blow corks out of a wine bottle but would just carb(hopefully not explode) a...

So I was digging the Christmas decoration boxes out of the closet, and stumbled across a few bottles of this I had purposely tucked away to forget about(which worked because I did forget about them). Anyway, this was made on 12/11/2010, almost 2 years ago. I originally wasn't impressed by it...

Well the fans definitely seem to be spinning fast, though I'll admit I've never looked at them prior to today, but I can't imagine them spinning much faster. I'll double check the compressor tomorrow, but I don't recall noticing it being hot when I was poking around in there earlier tonight.

So my kegerator finally died on my a couple weeks ago, and naturally it happened while my wife was in the hospital having a baby, which meant I came home to a freezer full of thawed meat :( Anyway, I'm now weighing my options between tossing it or fixing it and am looking for opinions on what...

I don't see any reason he couldn't get it to ferment with wild airborne yeast, the only catch is going to be what it tastes like. This is the same process brewers use to make lambic beers. They just expose the wort(in this case must) to air overnight, and let the wild yeasties do their thing...

give it atleast a year. I made a very sweet metheglin a little over a year ago and the cough syrup tasted has all faded and it's very tasty. It just needs time, just put it in the closet and forget about it for a while.

Cough syrup taste is gone. The spices are coming through nicely now, it's a tad bit sweeter than I like but not too bad(FG: 1.015), think I'll be bottling up soon. This will be good for Christmas :)

Think this bad boy will get bottled up this weekend! The bitterness is gone, it's slightly sweet and I am extremely happy with it! I didn't wind up with the pink hibiscus hue I was looking for, but not the end of the world. Just pulled a sample tonight Made: 11/13/2011 OG: 1.062 FG: 1.005...

while not mead, I made this mistake with a nut brown beer I brewed once. Too much oak and the beer literally tasted like I dropped an oak board in a blender and liquified it :( I stuck it in the closet and forgot about it for 2.5 years, I recently discovered it and the oak has definitely...

my latest trick for testing clearing on dark meads has been to use a laser pointer. If it hasn't cleared yet the red dot on the other side of the carboy will either be non-existant or dull. When the red dot comes out the other side of the carboy as bright as it is when just pointing it at the...

I've made a few meads with Costco honey that turned out well. Personally, I have nothing against the costco special, however I primarily use it when adding fruit or spices to my mead. I don't think I'd use it for a traditional mead, but I've never actually tried a traditional with it...

You're good. I made a JAOM on 12/16/2010 and it's still sitting in the carboy in the closet for the simple fact I forgot about it. The only variation I made was using wine yeast instead of bread yeast, but it's definitely drinkable, though I think I want to back sweeten it now since if...

I've used Kirkland honey for a number of meads, though usually melomels or some sort of spiced mead. I don't think I'd use it for a traditional mead, but it works good for anything you're adding flavor to with fruit or herbs. As far as the apple juice, I've also made Ed Wort's Apfelwein a few...

Not sure about the concentrate, my recommendation though is to just use real cherries as opposed to concentrate unless the cost difference is important(I'm assuming the concentrate is cheaper than 8-10Lbs of cherries for a 5 gallon batch of mead). Otherwise if you are using the concentrate, I...

Ok, so I love hops and mead, so this has caught my interest! I'm curious if anyone has tried this with just dry hopping? I know in my IPA's I brew, a few months of aging and most of those delicious hop aromas disappear, so I generally drink my IPA's young. Now, I would imagine that if you did...

Thank you, and the honey sourcing isn't much of an issue anymore. I was at a family get together a while ago and my brewing/mead making came up, and as it turns out my mom's cousins are beekeepers!!! Haven't called them yet this summer since I've been waiting for a carboy to free up for...