Desperately Needed Brewing Day
I haven't had the opportunity to make anything in a while, so thankfully, since berries won't last forever, the day had to happen-and it did.
The basics:
Batch 1: "Carlsonberry Melomel" (black raspberry melomel)
9.5 lbs Black Raspberries
10 lbs Honey
Spring Water
Yeast = Premier Cuvee
OG = 1.062 @ 70°
Total volume at pitching: 6 gal.
Notes: Thanks to queenserenity42 and family for the fruit.
Batch 2: "Great Depression Mead" (semi-dry mead)
14.5 oz. Buckwheat Honey
14.5 oz. Black Forest Honey
Spring Water
Yeast = Lalvin 71B-1122
OG = 1.10 @ 70°
Total volume at pitching: .5 gal.
Notes: Test recipe, Honey was a brewing competition prize from a couple years ago (SCA - All Souls).
Details:
I don't boil, heat, or pre-sulfite
I do use acid blend, tannin, and plenty of yeast nutrient
The rest of my process is secret
Comments:
I'm hoping for a light, crisp, and relatively dry mead from the berries, and a strong, complexly flavored one from the test batch. We'll see what happens with both of these-I'm usually pretty confident when it comes to my mead making skills, but today's work was done on about 6 hours of sleep total since Thursday night. For now, we wait.
I also really need to figure out a way to get back to making beer, too. Our kitchen sucks, and I don't have a lot of space or outdoors area, so my options are limited. I'm also very picky when it comes to beer making equipment and procedure (much more so than when I make mead), so "good enough" for me usually isn't. It's definitely time to research and get to it, though.
Now, time to quench the thirst and kill off some braincells, so hopefully I sleep tonight.
The basics:
Batch 1: "Carlsonberry Melomel" (black raspberry melomel)
9.5 lbs Black Raspberries
10 lbs Honey
Spring Water
Yeast = Premier Cuvee
OG = 1.062 @ 70°
Total volume at pitching: 6 gal.
Notes: Thanks to queenserenity42 and family for the fruit.
Batch 2: "Great Depression Mead" (semi-dry mead)
14.5 oz. Buckwheat Honey
14.5 oz. Black Forest Honey
Spring Water
Yeast = Lalvin 71B-1122
OG = 1.10 @ 70°
Total volume at pitching: .5 gal.
Notes: Test recipe, Honey was a brewing competition prize from a couple years ago (SCA - All Souls).
Details:
I don't boil, heat, or pre-sulfite
I do use acid blend, tannin, and plenty of yeast nutrient
The rest of my process is secret
Comments:
I'm hoping for a light, crisp, and relatively dry mead from the berries, and a strong, complexly flavored one from the test batch. We'll see what happens with both of these-I'm usually pretty confident when it comes to my mead making skills, but today's work was done on about 6 hours of sleep total since Thursday night. For now, we wait.
I also really need to figure out a way to get back to making beer, too. Our kitchen sucks, and I don't have a lot of space or outdoors area, so my options are limited. I'm also very picky when it comes to beer making equipment and procedure (much more so than when I make mead), so "good enough" for me usually isn't. It's definitely time to research and get to it, though.
Now, time to quench the thirst and kill off some braincells, so hopefully I sleep tonight.