What I did for/with Mead today

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Mixed up a 1 gal batch of Experimental Mead: 1 jar of Meyer Lemon, Blood Orange, Pepper Jelly into three lb of Orange Blossom Honey and ~.75 gal Spring Water, inoculated w/ QA-23 in an effort to emphasize the fruit. SG ≈ 1.124.
 
Bottled ~11 gallons of carbonated mead this week; 6 of those tonight.

Tonight I bottled 1 gallon of a carbonated session and 5 gallons of this years Christmas mead.
 

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Tonight I bottled 1 gallon of a carbonated session and 5 gallons of this years Christmas mead.
Looks great! I was thinking of looking for some clear beer bottles to use for mead. Right now I only have amber beer bottles, so I use gold caps for mead and silver caps for hard cider.

Have you shared your recipe for Christmas mead somewhere? I would like to see it.
 
Bottled 2 gallons of 4 year old JAOM. Not what I expected. The flavors have faded to the point of nothing is discernable. No orange, and just a hint of clove. I've been told that 8 months is the sweet spot for this mead. Oh well...

JAOM Mead 2024.jpg
 
Could you “dry hop” with orange zest to add sparkle and orange flavour?
Maybe 25% bitter orange peel and 75%regular orange peel/dried peel?
Or whole mandarin orange peel with the pith
Or a bit of grand marnier/triple sec/curecao etc?
Just add directly to a (one) bottle to add sparkle?
 
I've never done a JAOM, but good to know if I try.
I'm going to amend my first impression to add a more refined review. My first taste was with the mead chilled from the fridge. Letting it come to room temp made a huge difference. This mead is very complex and incredibly smooth. The honey is definitely there (local wildflower), and there's a clove presence that's very subtle. The orange has blended with the spices but it's there. Overall I'm calling this one a win. Long live the JAOM!
 
I'm going to amend my first impression to add a more refined review. My first taste was with the mead chilled from the fridge. Letting it come to room temp made a huge difference. This mead is very complex and incredibly smooth. The honey is definitely there (local wildflower), and there's a clove presence that's very subtle. The orange has blended with the spices but it's there. Overall I'm calling this one a win. Long live the JAOM!
So 4 year old JAOM was good but it needed to be closer to room temperature.
That makes sense as so many drinks have a muted flavor when cold.
 
Started a 5.5 gallon batch of Tupelo traditional. Overshot my target OG by 10 points - I guess Tupelo really is sweet. Using Lalvin DV10 and I think I injured my yeast during rehydration. I think I thermal shocked it going from the cold 60°F basement to the 104° hydration slurry. At 24 hours after pitch there was no activity at all. Luckily I had another packet and I was more careful about temperature the 2nd time. Got foam now so it's time to start the SNA.

Love my Cool Zone temperature controller:

Mead Cooler.jpg
 
Yes, there's a regulator built into the valve do-hickey. But I removed the valve after the first use and the bottle leaked out with nothing attached to it.
My experience with disposable bottles is the screw valve needs to have something attatched to prevent leaks. Full size bottles don't have that problem. But who in homebrew status has a need for a full size bottle? Not I. I recommend leaving the regulator attatched until you empty the bottle. Bummer on the loss of a whole bottle after one use
 
My experience with disposable bottles is the screw valve needs to have something attatched to prevent leaks. Full size bottles don't have that problem. But who in homebrew status has a need for a full size bottle? Not I. I recommend leaving the regulator attached until you empty the bottle. Bummer on the loss of a whole bottle after one use
Yeah but these O2 bottles seem to go flat regardless. I've never had this problem with propane torch bottles, just O2. I've got a 40 lb. O2 cylinder for my welding torch.. think that's a bit of overkill? ;)
 
Yeah but these O2 bottles seem to go flat regardless. I've never had this problem with propane torch bottles, just O2. I've got a 40 lb. O2 cylinder for my welding torch.. think that's a bit of overkill? ;)
Maybe just a little😉
 
I usually skim off the foam and discard as impurities rise up with the foam. But there's no hard and fast rule.

With really raw honey you will get a lot of pollen and other stuff coming up into the foam.
 
I usually skim off the foam and discard as impurities rise up with the foam. But there's no hard and fast rule.

With really raw honey you will get a lot of pollen and other stuff coming up into the foam.
Thanks for the information I had a feeling that it was possibly not desirable but, it’s already in the fermenter! It reminded me of the foam we skim off of jelly and jam being cooked.
 
Yes, there's a regulator built into the valve do-hickey. But I removed the valve after the first use and the bottle leaked out with nothing attached to it.
Damn! In the past I've read that leaving the valve on the tank actually tends to drain them slowly, so brewers would remove the valve assembly before storing.

I guess before storing the little tank, it would be advisable to dunk it (valve removed) into a tub of water and check for a leak (bubbles). If there's a (small) leak it could remedied.

I've got a 40 lb. O2 cylinder for my welding torch.. think that's a bit of overkill? ;)
No overkill.
I use one of those, but only for oxygenating wort and starters.
A $40 regulator/flow controller gets me down as low as 1/32 liter per minute or as high as 8 liter per minute or anywhere in between (in powers of 2).

Awesome!
 
Damn! In the past I've read that leaving the valve on the tank actually tends to drain them slowly, so brewers would remove the valve assembly before storing.
That's exactly what my thought was. Yet even without the valve it leaked out. I suppose I could return it to Lowes and say WTF, but I'm too lazy.
 
Got 6lbs of raspberry honey to start my 2nd batch of mead just waiting on my nutrients to come in. I learned a lot from everyone here so im confident im going to have a much better batch then my first.
 

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Racked over the mead I made 2 weeks ago to clear out some more. Once my dry hop gizmo is free (currently in a batch of House NEIPA) will add some thawed frozen raspberries to soak for a further week or so before kegging in my baby keg. Last batch of this went super fast, just too tasty. Might have to get another 6lbs of honey this week from our local apiary (Bees In the Burbs, if you're in my neck of the woods, and don't forget to say Hi to Sparta the Cat) to start another batch.
 
Today I took on the glorious task or sorting, cleaning and peeling labels from bottles. Much honor to my Mead Family!!!

I drank a 13% Blueberry Cyser while doing some of this.

My Zinfandel pyment received Wyeast 4007 Malo-Lactic. That should take about a month to complete and then I will use the chromophotographic test kit to see if that and two batches on Cabernet Sauvignon have completed the conversion of Malic acid to Lactic acid.

I also slightly chilled a Pinot Noir pyment to enjoy with the beef ribs that are cooking on the Weber kettle grill.

I have a pound of Marshmallow root cold steeping in two gallons of spring water in the refrigerator.
To go with that is two cups of toasted cacao nibs (lightly ground in the coffee grinder) that was hot steeped and allowed to cool before joining the Marshmallow root tea in the fridge.

I figure Tuesday or so I will bochet the needed honey and start my v4 of Marshmallow mead while we hit another cold burst for it to ferment in cooler weather in the garage. That mead has a history of vigorously fermenting, even with frozen water bottled being added to it.

Lots done today.
 
Yesterday I put together my v4 of my Marshmallow mead. Today it received its 24 hour feeding. The mead dropped 14 points in that time and I expect to see a much larger drop tomorrow as this has usually been a very fast fermenter.

The weather is cooler and it is out in the garage, so nature is helping with the temperature control.
 

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