Mead Update
I'm kind of drunk a little bit.
(as long as you don't want to quibble with me about definitions for "kind of" or " a little bit")
Last night I had every intention of starting a post like that, but clearly it never got done. I wasn't actually "drunk"-drunk. I was enjoying the thought though. And you'll never guess on what I was becoming inebriated...
As previously mentioned in my blog and elsewhere, back in January I started a batch of cranberry mead. In 5 gallons I put not only the 15 pounds of honey, but also 12-ish pounds of cranberries. Back then it looked like this:
In the last few weeks It has cleared up (much quicker than I thought it would. I've actually needed to rack it for over a month. But I've put it off a little since I was trying to figure out how to manage. See, on the top is this gorgeous stuff right here on the left. And on the bottom (almost half) is the crap on the right.
Not wanting to lose nearly half of the batch I tried coming up with some way to harvest more.
This was largely unsuccessful. See how little is running through the filter? I suppose I salvaged a little more liquid but not much. Mostly I made a mess. However, that red mushy stuff is delicious.
Think about it. It's cranberries, honey (sugar), and water; sounds like cranberry sauce so far, doesn't it? but with the addition of the yeast and time, I effectively added alcohol.
Mushy, alcoholic cranberry sauce.
o... m... g...
I had about a gallon of it but nothing really to use it for and no good way to keep it anyway. I saved about a pint just in case.
This is how much volume I lost. I wondered when I first started it if I should dilute it at some point to make up the volume I'd lose by removing the solids. After the couple of sips I had last night, I don't think I'll have the heart to.
(as long as you don't want to quibble with me about definitions for "kind of" or " a little bit")
Last night I had every intention of starting a post like that, but clearly it never got done. I wasn't actually "drunk"-drunk. I was enjoying the thought though. And you'll never guess on what I was becoming inebriated...
As previously mentioned in my blog and elsewhere, back in January I started a batch of cranberry mead. In 5 gallons I put not only the 15 pounds of honey, but also 12-ish pounds of cranberries. Back then it looked like this:
In the last few weeks It has cleared up (much quicker than I thought it would. I've actually needed to rack it for over a month. But I've put it off a little since I was trying to figure out how to manage. See, on the top is this gorgeous stuff right here on the left. And on the bottom (almost half) is the crap on the right.
Not wanting to lose nearly half of the batch I tried coming up with some way to harvest more.
This was largely unsuccessful. See how little is running through the filter? I suppose I salvaged a little more liquid but not much. Mostly I made a mess. However, that red mushy stuff is delicious.
Think about it. It's cranberries, honey (sugar), and water; sounds like cranberry sauce so far, doesn't it? but with the addition of the yeast and time, I effectively added alcohol.
Mushy, alcoholic cranberry sauce.
o... m... g...
I had about a gallon of it but nothing really to use it for and no good way to keep it anyway. I saved about a pint just in case.
This is how much volume I lost. I wondered when I first started it if I should dilute it at some point to make up the volume I'd lose by removing the solids. After the couple of sips I had last night, I don't think I'll have the heart to.