What I did for/with Mead today

[007]

Started 6 gallons of mead.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Paid for 2 entries in a mead only comp. Then evaluated my honeysuckle mead started earlier this year - delicately flavored wonderful bouquet. Needs some acid and backsweeting. I’m happy with it so far.

 

[MightyMosin]

I racked and stabilized three different meads that have been sitting around a while.

 

[DrWizzard]

I degassed my first brews then stared at it longer then i should because it wasn't bubbling as much before i degassed so I was panicking thinking i killed my mead. But its mead so i should be patient

 

[bushpilot]

Not today, but last Saturday I taught a mead class to 21 people. It went well, hopefully their meads will turn out fine.

I need to get going on this winter's meads, I always do my brewing in the winter.

 

[MightyMosin]

sanitized some bottles and then lost my will to bottle... probably tomorrow

 

[bushpilot]

Mixed up my first meads of 2024. 1.5 gallons of cyser, and 2 gallons of traditional (one will likely become a raspberry melomel).

 

[brewbama]

Entered three meads in DOMRAS Cup: M1C Sweet Mead, M3A Apple/Cin, and M2C Berry.

Mixed up a Cyser for next year’s competition. Planning an Agave Jalapeño and Mixed Berry for next year as well.

 

[Maylar]

The strength of the adhesive used is amazing in how much it varies from place to place. Lagunitas beer bottles are great in that a ~10 minute PBW soak has the labels falling off on their own and a quick scrub of the bottle clears the adhesive away quite fast. Elysian brewery bottles are apparently attached with sovereign glue that never lets go and I just chuck those into the recycle.

I hear that. NASA engineered adhesives. I know that for beer bottles any of the Guinness brands, including Smithwick's, come off with just a soak in warm water.
I drink a lot of Blackstone Merlot and recently got the idea of recycling the bottles for my meads. The labels are 2 part laminations. Goo Gone Took the paper labels off with ease, but there's a transparent film underneath them that was impossible to move. Acetone didn't do it either. Bummer. Into the recycling bin they go.

 

[Maylar]

Preparing for this year's meads. I've been out of it for a while due to health issues. Haven't been to the brew room for about 3 years. Ordered fresh replacements for my chemical stash, as I know most of that has a shelf life. New transfer tubing, a filter housing, gonna do the mead science thing and have some fun. Even have temperature control now. Did an inventory and found about 30 lbs of honey. Tupelo, Star Thistle, and some local wild flower. Cleaned up the brew bench and even washed the floor (spilled mead is darned sticky!). I have 2 gallons of 2019 cider to be kegged (that oughta be tasty!) and 2 gallons of 2020 JAOM to be bottled. We'll find out if aging has an effect on the world's easiest mead...

 

[Dan O]

We'll find out if aging has an effect on the world's easiest mead...

It absolutely does. The clove starts to take a back seat vs when it's green.

 

[007]

Racked 6.25 gallons to secondary for settling, 13.8% ABV. Check it in March.

 

[MightyMosin]

Ordered fresh replacements for my chemical stash, as I know most of that has a shelf life.

I have new stabilizers come. I think they arrive this Thursday along with some Wyeast Malolactic bacteria.

 

[DrWizzard]

I reracked my mead and added blackberry jam and some pecktide powder and some asid(the apple based one) to it as well.

 

[Maylar]

I reracked my mead and added blackberry jam and some pecktide powder and some asid(the apple based one) to it as well.

I see a couple of things there - The headspace in the gallon jug is considered to be a no-no. Chances of oxidation and bacteria growth (bugs need oxygen). Fortunately, mead is less prone to either of those than other brews, but as a matter of best practice that should be avoided. I see you have a Little Big Mouth Bubbler. I absolutely love mine. I can start with enough volume in primary to enable racking to a full gallon jug with no head space. Consider that from now on.

Also, adding acid to a batch without tasting it is silly. That should be done TO TASTE at bottling time. Just an FYI for a beginner.

 

[brewbama]

Added clarifier to a Cyser.

 

[Maylar]

Added clarifier to a Cyser.

What are you using? I find cysers to be particularly difficult to clear. Pectic enzyme works for the pectin, and Bentonite works with honey haze but they don't work together.

 

[brewbama]

Kieselsol and chitosan

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Met with some makers yesterday and made a cyser with local honey and freshly pressed cider from a local orchard. Today getting entries together to ship tomorrow.

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked my Marshmallow Mead v3 out of the barrel (~4.75 gallon) and did bench testing of a cacao nib tincture addition.

First thing to note is that the tincture added to the mouth feel with its viscosity. I almost started with a 10% addition...
I started at a 5% addition and quickly reduced to 2%.

The 5% wasn't really objectionable, but it destroyed the Marshmallow root flavor and that made it a problem.
The 2% was much better as the cacao dropped back so it wasn't a noticeable flavor but more of a supporting actor. I did a 1% test and this was more of what I was looking for.

A quick approximated calculation said I needed 174ml of the tincture to get to a 1% addition. I creeped up to my final by starting with 100ml. At 100ml the flavor was good but the cacao was not really present though the Marshmallow root was displaced a bit.

I added another 40 ml of the tincture which got me to ~.08% tincture added and tried again. This ended up where I decided to leave it for now. There was still the Marshmallow root flavor along with the Meadowfoam honey but the cacao was now a contributing flavor that wasn't entirely a stand out flavor on its own. I can always add more if needed, but that whole taking it out is a problem.

I added 1g K-Meta to the barrel and then racked everything back into a CO2 filled barrel and the plugged the bung up. I will revisit this in a few weeks to see how it has integrated after sitting for a bit. I'll decide after it sits if it needs any acid adjustments. Even at the ~.08% tincture addition there was a noticeable bump in the mouth feel of the drink. Sorry @Dan O that this wasn't ready for you to try with V1 and V2.

The biggest thing that I notice missing in this version is the influence from the whiskey barrel; I assume that the first two batches have extracted all of that from the barrel. I may end doing another bench test and possibly adding a slight amount of Bourbon or other whiskey to this, though it might be less than a .5%, based on what the other tincture added.

That mouth feel bump is nice and I can't wait for my vanilla tincture to be ready for playing with.

 

[Dan O]

Sorry @Dan O that this wasn't ready for you to try with V1 and V2.

No worries, man. I got the box, safe & sound. Can't wait to try them all. Thanks, again.

 

[MightyMosin]

I hope you enjoy those @Dan O

 

[brewbama]

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.

 

[007]

Bottled 6 gallons of traditional Mead.

 

[MightyMosin]

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.

 

[Raptor99]

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.

 

[Dan O]

of this years Christmas mead.

This was fantastic!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Researching herbs and spices for a Polish mead. Checked gravity on a very small batch of cyser.

 

[MightyMosin]

This was fantastic!

I'm so glad you enjoyed. Waiting to hear your take on Marshmallow V1 and V2.

I think the other I sent was a Pinot Noir pyment.

 

[Dan O]

I'm so glad you enjoyed. Waiting to hear your take on Marshmallow V1 and V2.

I think the other I sent was a Pinot Noir pyment.

Correct. I'm hoping to get to at least one of those tomorrow.