Slightly belated: Buckwheat varietal mead (brewed 10-15-08)
My lovely assistant for the day was freegade
15 lbs raw buckwheat honey from Smitty Bee Honey
2 pkgs EC1118 yeast (yeast was very close to expiration date)
must at 120-145 for ~40 min
added~2.5 gallons bottled spring water to the carboy
pitched yeast and stuck carboy into pantry about 5:45 pm
Colour: very dark, looks like Guinness (the first few days had sort of a fine bubble-caramel coloured head like Guinness as well)
% pot alc. = ~16
spec grav = ~1.12
% sugar = 28
Very sluggish to start fermentation, only noticed truly active fermentation today (bloops at approx 4 seconds)
Rapid bubbling observable at the sides of the carboy. No observable solids and very little of the scummy looking stuff on the top.
Using black vodka in the airlock makes it much easier to see what's going on. :)
15 lbs raw buckwheat honey from Smitty Bee Honey
2 pkgs EC1118 yeast (yeast was very close to expiration date)
must at 120-145 for ~40 min
added~2.5 gallons bottled spring water to the carboy
pitched yeast and stuck carboy into pantry about 5:45 pm
Colour: very dark, looks like Guinness (the first few days had sort of a fine bubble-caramel coloured head like Guinness as well)
% pot alc. = ~16
spec grav = ~1.12
% sugar = 28
Very sluggish to start fermentation, only noticed truly active fermentation today (bloops at approx 4 seconds)
Rapid bubbling observable at the sides of the carboy. No observable solids and very little of the scummy looking stuff on the top.
Using black vodka in the airlock makes it much easier to see what's going on. :)