divi2323
Well-Known Member
Craigslist the other day, found a dude with a ton of winemaking equipment. He wanted $150. I went to check out what he had. In my journey I came home with:
400 wine bottles (yes, that's 400 empty wine bottles, about half of which are delabeled and stored sanitized)
3 primary fermenter buckets
6 or 7 airlocks
2 hydrometers
2 wine thiefs
2 J siphons (no automatic siphons or hose, go figure)
2 lbs pectic enzyme
2 lbs K-meta
1 lbs Sodium-meta
500 campden tablets
1/2 lb bentonite
8 oz grape tannin powder
7x 1 gallon glass jugs
2x 3 gallon glass carboys
3x 5 gallon glass carboys
500 corks (estimated, i'm not counting that box)
200 toppers (estimated, not counting, looks like about 7 packs of 3x10 each though.)
and now the kicker:
1x 3 gallon carboy of already made/fermented/aged mead..... MADE IN 2004 and racked only once a year, every other year using campden tablets (1 per gallon)
1x 1 gallon jug of already made/fermented/aged mead..... MADE IN 2005!
For someone as impatient as I am, I feel that the mead alone is worth the $150 in labor to make it.
My question to you is, I need ideas with what to do with it. It is crystal clear, and the SG readings are all on the side of the jug. I tlooks like one started at about 1.092 and the other at 1.114. They are currently in the 1.008 and 1.012 range respectively. It looks like it fermented over the course of 5-6 years which I find odd, but whatever.
I've never made a mead before, but i had planned on giving it a try next summer. the 1 gallon jug is labeled "mesquite" the other, just "honeymead". the guy said he used only honey to get the SG up.
What should I do with this before bottling? I like a good dry red wine, not too fond of sweet reds, but I'll drink about anything. I was thinking of making 4 different varieties of flavors (1 being leaving the mesquite straight up). I'm looking for ideas on what you guys have done with your finished mead products. LHBS suggested making one with a wine conditioner and sweeting it just a hair. Another guy in the store said that he likes to add flavored wine conditioner to his such as rasberry or cherry. I'm open to these ideas and i'd like to get the mead makers takes on this before I start to dig in.
(and before you all ask, yes i've sampled a bit, it's great but can tell it definitely needs something.)
400 wine bottles (yes, that's 400 empty wine bottles, about half of which are delabeled and stored sanitized)
3 primary fermenter buckets
6 or 7 airlocks
2 hydrometers
2 wine thiefs
2 J siphons (no automatic siphons or hose, go figure)
2 lbs pectic enzyme
2 lbs K-meta
1 lbs Sodium-meta
500 campden tablets
1/2 lb bentonite
8 oz grape tannin powder
7x 1 gallon glass jugs
2x 3 gallon glass carboys
3x 5 gallon glass carboys
500 corks (estimated, i'm not counting that box)
200 toppers (estimated, not counting, looks like about 7 packs of 3x10 each though.)
and now the kicker:
1x 3 gallon carboy of already made/fermented/aged mead..... MADE IN 2004 and racked only once a year, every other year using campden tablets (1 per gallon)
1x 1 gallon jug of already made/fermented/aged mead..... MADE IN 2005!
For someone as impatient as I am, I feel that the mead alone is worth the $150 in labor to make it.
My question to you is, I need ideas with what to do with it. It is crystal clear, and the SG readings are all on the side of the jug. I tlooks like one started at about 1.092 and the other at 1.114. They are currently in the 1.008 and 1.012 range respectively. It looks like it fermented over the course of 5-6 years which I find odd, but whatever.
I've never made a mead before, but i had planned on giving it a try next summer. the 1 gallon jug is labeled "mesquite" the other, just "honeymead". the guy said he used only honey to get the SG up.
What should I do with this before bottling? I like a good dry red wine, not too fond of sweet reds, but I'll drink about anything. I was thinking of making 4 different varieties of flavors (1 being leaving the mesquite straight up). I'm looking for ideas on what you guys have done with your finished mead products. LHBS suggested making one with a wine conditioner and sweeting it just a hair. Another guy in the store said that he likes to add flavored wine conditioner to his such as rasberry or cherry. I'm open to these ideas and i'd like to get the mead makers takes on this before I start to dig in.
(and before you all ask, yes i've sampled a bit, it's great but can tell it definitely needs something.)