Mead Journal: Rackings and cleaning
Ok, On sunday I had my aprentice over and we worked a bit. Bit of a light day.
Raspberry Cinnamon Thyme: This I just took out the mesh bag of raspberry. It was cloudy and fluffy with more pulp and yeast so we didn't taste it or do anyting else. Going to let it settle before I put in the spices and oak it. Not to mention backsweetening.
Lime Vanilla Mint: Racked this one, then added some light toasted oak to my oaking cane as this is in my glass 6 gal carboy. Gravity readings seem to indicate 7% ABV. A good drinking mead. The mead taste is spot on. The vanilla, lime are balanced nicely with the mint on the fore and the background. Overall, I am pleased. The color is a very clear pale green. After I take the oaking cane out and let it settle a bit then it will be ready to bottle.
Peach Vanilla Nutmeg: Racked this one to and oaked with medium toasted oak. The backsweetening worked as well. This one is also very clear and once the oak is taken out it will be ready to bottle. It tasted strong of the nutmeg but that will calm down. The peach and vanilla are maried well and you can taste both. A nice peachy aroma with the nutmeg scent. Again, very pleasing.
Mead From the Darkside (AKA Blackberry Black Tea): This one was a bit bitter but then again I haven't backsweetened it. I decided to go with heavy toasted oak. Need to get honey to backsweeten it. But the taste is great. It had a decent taste, It should sweeten up well. Next up remove the oak and backsweetening.
Ameretto Cream Bochett: This one tasted bitter but not burt rubber bitter. I think that this one will sweeten up well. I did put a lot of extract and the flavor of almond my have been showing it's bitter uglyness. Backsweetening this up and I didn't oak it. I may not. If I do, I may use either medium or heavy toasted oak. This one should age out wonderfull. I may need to add a bit more cherry as it was only a hint of flavor in it. Next up, backsweetening with honey, lactose, and maltodextrin. Worried that I wont get it creamy enough.
Things to buy: Honey for 3 backsweetenings at least (18 pounds or 1 1/2 gallons), if not more for more batches. Fresh Thyme, a couple of cinnamon sticks. 2 pounds of lactose.
The other thing we did was clean off my brew shelfs. Get the dust off and organize it to see what I had. Gave my aprentice a list of what she needs to get as she now has 2 brew buckets and 1 5 gal glass carboy that were given to her by her mom, which she got for free. I also sent her home with my spare autosyphon and hydrometer set up to rack her 1 gal mead. She said it's starting to clear and we have about 1/4 inch of lees there. Time to rack.
Next batches should be:
Spring/Summer: Pineapple Lime Mint part 2, Strawberry Rhubarb, apricot something
Fall: perhapse the rockbitter test with step feeding, raspberry chocolate and maybe a cranberry something.
That's all for now.
Dave
Raspberry Cinnamon Thyme: This I just took out the mesh bag of raspberry. It was cloudy and fluffy with more pulp and yeast so we didn't taste it or do anyting else. Going to let it settle before I put in the spices and oak it. Not to mention backsweetening.
Lime Vanilla Mint: Racked this one, then added some light toasted oak to my oaking cane as this is in my glass 6 gal carboy. Gravity readings seem to indicate 7% ABV. A good drinking mead. The mead taste is spot on. The vanilla, lime are balanced nicely with the mint on the fore and the background. Overall, I am pleased. The color is a very clear pale green. After I take the oaking cane out and let it settle a bit then it will be ready to bottle.
Peach Vanilla Nutmeg: Racked this one to and oaked with medium toasted oak. The backsweetening worked as well. This one is also very clear and once the oak is taken out it will be ready to bottle. It tasted strong of the nutmeg but that will calm down. The peach and vanilla are maried well and you can taste both. A nice peachy aroma with the nutmeg scent. Again, very pleasing.
Mead From the Darkside (AKA Blackberry Black Tea): This one was a bit bitter but then again I haven't backsweetened it. I decided to go with heavy toasted oak. Need to get honey to backsweeten it. But the taste is great. It had a decent taste, It should sweeten up well. Next up remove the oak and backsweetening.
Ameretto Cream Bochett: This one tasted bitter but not burt rubber bitter. I think that this one will sweeten up well. I did put a lot of extract and the flavor of almond my have been showing it's bitter uglyness. Backsweetening this up and I didn't oak it. I may not. If I do, I may use either medium or heavy toasted oak. This one should age out wonderfull. I may need to add a bit more cherry as it was only a hint of flavor in it. Next up, backsweetening with honey, lactose, and maltodextrin. Worried that I wont get it creamy enough.
Things to buy: Honey for 3 backsweetenings at least (18 pounds or 1 1/2 gallons), if not more for more batches. Fresh Thyme, a couple of cinnamon sticks. 2 pounds of lactose.
The other thing we did was clean off my brew shelfs. Get the dust off and organize it to see what I had. Gave my aprentice a list of what she needs to get as she now has 2 brew buckets and 1 5 gal glass carboy that were given to her by her mom, which she got for free. I also sent her home with my spare autosyphon and hydrometer set up to rack her 1 gal mead. She said it's starting to clear and we have about 1/4 inch of lees there. Time to rack.
Next batches should be:
Spring/Summer: Pineapple Lime Mint part 2, Strawberry Rhubarb, apricot something
Fall: perhapse the rockbitter test with step feeding, raspberry chocolate and maybe a cranberry something.
That's all for now.
Dave