Mead Journal: Rackings
So, back again. Lots of work with my apprentice this last sunday, after a bit of a break because I got sick and she did and many of my friends did.
We started off the day with rackings.
Mead from the Darkside
Racked this one and boy did it keep it's dark color. It is a deep purple. I bet if I put in the dark with a flashlight through it as it was going through the racking tube it would look much like a purple lightsaber. I may end up calling this one Sith Lightning. It had dropped a lot of the sediment but it didn't look like it was that thick. I may only backsweeten this with 3 pounds of honey. I don't know. But good progress. All I need to do is backsweeten and oak it. I think that I am going to go with medium toasted oak.
Sina-Raz-Time
the Raspberry Thyme with a touch of cinnamon.
Racked this on from the primary on to the secondary. First blended up the raspberries and then deseeded them. Put some pectic enzyme into it when blending to break apart the cell walls of the raspberry and get more juice out of the flavor. Overall, looks good. Hard to tell at the very first racking. In 4 weeks it's off of the fruit and put in the spices for a few weeks. Then oaking, then backsweetening. and then clarifying.
Ameretto Cream Bochette
Racked this one off of the primary onto 1 pound of pureed black cherries. Only wanted a hint of the black cherry so I only put in a bit. Also put in 1/2, cup of home made vanilla extract and the rest of the apricot kernal/sweet almond extract (about 1/2 cup) that I had. I did put 1 tablespoon of Potassium Sorbate in to stablize it. So all this one needs is backsweetening and oaking. The look of it is good, still an opaque amber. It smelled good and tasted a bit burnt but I think that it's fine. It had a lot of sediment but the gravity didn't drop as much as I thought it did.
Peach Vanilla Nutmeg
I left it on the nutmeg for a long time. Hope it doesn't go too hot with it. The peach is almost not there and the vanilla is subtle. You get the smell of the nutmeg on the primary and the taste at the back of the mouth of it but bearly. Racked onto 6 pounds of Orange Blossum honey in 1/2 gal of water, total volume is 1 galon. The Peach will come back in the aging process. But prior to sweetening it it was very clear. Almost water like translucency. It was great. Has a great peach smell. This one should turn out great.
Mojito (Vanilla Lime Mint)
This one was racked and backsweetended and watered down a bit more. The lime was very sharp but it had a nice balance with the vanilla. The mint was almost not there and since this is supposed to be a Mojito flavor, I added 1/4 teaspoon of extract, bringing up the total to about 1/2 teaspoon of home made mint extract. Should be good. I bulked this up with 1 extra gallon of water. So, added 1 gal of water/honey mix.which was 1/2 gal water and 6 pounds of orange blossom honey. I did put 1 tablespoon of Potassium Sorbate in to stablize it. It tasted great and I am sure that I wil have a great drinking mead on this one.
Next up in 4 weeks, Some oaking and rack off the raspberries with the Sina-Raz-Time.
That's all for now
Dave
We started off the day with rackings.
Mead from the Darkside
Racked this one and boy did it keep it's dark color. It is a deep purple. I bet if I put in the dark with a flashlight through it as it was going through the racking tube it would look much like a purple lightsaber. I may end up calling this one Sith Lightning. It had dropped a lot of the sediment but it didn't look like it was that thick. I may only backsweeten this with 3 pounds of honey. I don't know. But good progress. All I need to do is backsweeten and oak it. I think that I am going to go with medium toasted oak.
Sina-Raz-Time
the Raspberry Thyme with a touch of cinnamon.
Racked this on from the primary on to the secondary. First blended up the raspberries and then deseeded them. Put some pectic enzyme into it when blending to break apart the cell walls of the raspberry and get more juice out of the flavor. Overall, looks good. Hard to tell at the very first racking. In 4 weeks it's off of the fruit and put in the spices for a few weeks. Then oaking, then backsweetening. and then clarifying.
Ameretto Cream Bochette
Racked this one off of the primary onto 1 pound of pureed black cherries. Only wanted a hint of the black cherry so I only put in a bit. Also put in 1/2, cup of home made vanilla extract and the rest of the apricot kernal/sweet almond extract (about 1/2 cup) that I had. I did put 1 tablespoon of Potassium Sorbate in to stablize it. So all this one needs is backsweetening and oaking. The look of it is good, still an opaque amber. It smelled good and tasted a bit burnt but I think that it's fine. It had a lot of sediment but the gravity didn't drop as much as I thought it did.
Peach Vanilla Nutmeg
I left it on the nutmeg for a long time. Hope it doesn't go too hot with it. The peach is almost not there and the vanilla is subtle. You get the smell of the nutmeg on the primary and the taste at the back of the mouth of it but bearly. Racked onto 6 pounds of Orange Blossum honey in 1/2 gal of water, total volume is 1 galon. The Peach will come back in the aging process. But prior to sweetening it it was very clear. Almost water like translucency. It was great. Has a great peach smell. This one should turn out great.
Mojito (Vanilla Lime Mint)
This one was racked and backsweetended and watered down a bit more. The lime was very sharp but it had a nice balance with the vanilla. The mint was almost not there and since this is supposed to be a Mojito flavor, I added 1/4 teaspoon of extract, bringing up the total to about 1/2 teaspoon of home made mint extract. Should be good. I bulked this up with 1 extra gallon of water. So, added 1 gal of water/honey mix.which was 1/2 gal water and 6 pounds of orange blossom honey. I did put 1 tablespoon of Potassium Sorbate in to stablize it. It tasted great and I am sure that I wil have a great drinking mead on this one.
Next up in 4 weeks, Some oaking and rack off the raspberries with the Sina-Raz-Time.
That's all for now
Dave