Lisidh:
pale yellow and cloudy, typical plain mead still in active progress, though the primary fermentation is mostly done. Has almost completely stopped bubbling the waterlock (maybe once a week, maybe less), but still quite fizzy when racked - too fizzy to get an accurate SG measuring.
Somewhere between 1018 and 1032 SG is the best I can say. About 14% alcohol.
This one might be headed for champagne bottles. I can't figure out why some meads stop bubbling and go still, and others stop bubbling and stay fizzy.
Keir:
Has completely fallen clear and is a beautiful raspberry red. Smells good, a sourish sort of fresh. Less than a bubble a week now, and only very slightly fizzy.
SG 1020, alcohol 15.5%
Jove:
Dark cloudy yellow. Bubbles a couple of times a day. Very fizzy, SG approx 1018, alcohol impossible to measure at this point.
More tasting
My parents had been clamouring for a taste, and I gave them a bottle of Caelan. Turns out they opened it at a dinner with their neighbours. Apparently it was a big hit :-)
Introducing
Jove
- 1300 gr honey
- 1 litre homemade Elstar apple juice
- 50ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp pectine enzym
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
Keir
- ~1800gr honey
- 0.5l homemade raspberry juice
- 1 tsp pectine enzym
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
Lisidh
- ~1800gr honey
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
- 1300 gr honey
- 1 litre homemade Elstar apple juice
- 50ml fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp pectine enzym
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
Keir
- ~1800gr honey
- 0.5l homemade raspberry juice
- 1 tsp pectine enzym
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
Lisidh
- ~1800gr honey
- 1 tsp yeast starter
- 1/2 tsp yeast ('aromatic')
Actually Drinking The Stuff
Shared a small bottle of Fennah with my housemate last week. It was the first time she drank mead and she really liked it. Then felt encouraged enough to bring some mead to the Eindhoven AFPmeet this past weekend.
- bottle of Caelan
- bottle of Drake
- bottle of Fennah (figuring we'd at least have *some* tasty mead.
Caelan is carbonated and I expected it to be dramatic (it was very extreme when bottled, had to be rebottled) but actually it turned out exactly right - a polite pop and some mist from the bottle, and a very nice level of sparkliness. Taste pretty good - nicely honeyed scent and taste. A bit dry. What a nice surprise!
Drake was very clearly strawberry, but rather dry and not very appealing. I think I'll leave that one for a while before trying again.
Fennah was a success. It's strangely spicy for something that had mint leaves in it at some point. Tastes a little bit hot (you can tell it fermented fast) but otherwise yum. Heavy, sweet mead though - my parents keep wanting to try my homebrew but I know they won't like this one.
Overall this is nice - the proof that patience does pay off, and I haven't spent the past two years turning perfectly good honey into something good only to go down the drain.
- bottle of Caelan
- bottle of Drake
- bottle of Fennah (figuring we'd at least have *some* tasty mead.
Caelan is carbonated and I expected it to be dramatic (it was very extreme when bottled, had to be rebottled) but actually it turned out exactly right - a polite pop and some mist from the bottle, and a very nice level of sparkliness. Taste pretty good - nicely honeyed scent and taste. A bit dry. What a nice surprise!
Drake was very clearly strawberry, but rather dry and not very appealing. I think I'll leave that one for a while before trying again.
Fennah was a success. It's strangely spicy for something that had mint leaves in it at some point. Tastes a little bit hot (you can tell it fermented fast) but otherwise yum. Heavy, sweet mead though - my parents keep wanting to try my homebrew but I know they won't like this one.
Overall this is nice - the proof that patience does pay off, and I haven't spent the past two years turning perfectly good honey into something good only to go down the drain.
Final 3
Fennah
Wow! This actually tastes pretty good. I think I would bring this to a party without worry people were going to spit it out. Yay!
SG 1012
alc 16.5%
Gwy
Rocket fuel! Interestingly it smells less wine-like than it used to, but I can detect the elderberry scent now. I'm not sure about the taste. It's not bad, it's not good - it's not really anything.
Have bottled it, because what the hell.
SG 1006
alc 19.5% (!)
The seperate litre bottle I used as overflow when I started messing around with it actually tastes better - less thin, which makes sense since I didn't add water there. I think that one also didn't get the second go-over with port yeast.
Didn't get an SG for that one but alc is 17%.
Ehle
Racked into two 5l demijohns. With the clear glass it's easier to see what's going on, and they are much easier to handle than the 10l ones. It smells okay - I think I can detect the cacao scent now and I couldn't before. But the taste is EWWW. It's very sour. I have no idea if that means it's spoiled though - I despaired about most of the other batches at times and some of them are beginning to turn out okay. I might be cultivating 10 litres of spoilt honey and cacao, but it can just stay in the windowsill for another year. We'll see. I might add more honey:
SG 1000
Alc 17%
So now I have four empty demis standing around. I'm vaguely contemplating starting something new..
Wow! This actually tastes pretty good. I think I would bring this to a party without worry people were going to spit it out. Yay!
SG 1012
alc 16.5%
Gwy
Rocket fuel! Interestingly it smells less wine-like than it used to, but I can detect the elderberry scent now. I'm not sure about the taste. It's not bad, it's not good - it's not really anything.
Have bottled it, because what the hell.
SG 1006
alc 19.5% (!)
The seperate litre bottle I used as overflow when I started messing around with it actually tastes better - less thin, which makes sense since I didn't add water there. I think that one also didn't get the second go-over with port yeast.
Didn't get an SG for that one but alc is 17%.
Ehle
Racked into two 5l demijohns. With the clear glass it's easier to see what's going on, and they are much easier to handle than the 10l ones. It smells okay - I think I can detect the cacao scent now and I couldn't before. But the taste is EWWW. It's very sour. I have no idea if that means it's spoiled though - I despaired about most of the other batches at times and some of them are beginning to turn out okay. I might be cultivating 10 litres of spoilt honey and cacao, but it can just stay in the windowsill for another year. We'll see. I might add more honey:
SG 1000
Alc 17%
So now I have four empty demis standing around. I'm vaguely contemplating starting something new..
Bottlings
Long overdue!
Alexis
It's weird, this is (obviously) the A batch and it was still bubbling, all be it veeery slowly . I got leery about bottling things that weren't completely quiet, so I just kept this one on the shelf all this time, long after later batches were in the bottle. Interestingly enough this is the only batch that I heated, way back when - after this one I switched to a cold process. Coincidence?
In any event I wasn't unhappy with the taste now - it smells really good, taste doesn't quite live up to it. I'd give it a 6 now - drinkable but not moorish.
Since I had champagne bottles anyway, I decided to mess with it some more and add about 25ml of strawberry syrup (sugar+strawberries set in the fridge for a couple of days, then strained) to each of the 4 bottles. I probably shouldn't leave these for too long before I drink...
SG 1012
Alc 17%
Halle (quince mead)
This had cleared beautifully and has been quiet for months.
Smells good, taste interesting, sweet but a bit sourish. Maybe it'll improve on the bottle..
SG 1020
alc 16%
Imre (apple wine)
Last time I tried this I was disappointed because it was ciderish, and I think I messed with it. Still kind of sour but definitely not ciderish now - in fact it's much closer to Apfelkorn!
SG 1014
alc 16%
I intend to continue tomorrow to bottle Fennah, make a chuck-or-bottle decision about Gwy, and I think Ehle needs another racking.
Alexis
It's weird, this is (obviously) the A batch and it was still bubbling, all be it veeery slowly . I got leery about bottling things that weren't completely quiet, so I just kept this one on the shelf all this time, long after later batches were in the bottle. Interestingly enough this is the only batch that I heated, way back when - after this one I switched to a cold process. Coincidence?
In any event I wasn't unhappy with the taste now - it smells really good, taste doesn't quite live up to it. I'd give it a 6 now - drinkable but not moorish.
Since I had champagne bottles anyway, I decided to mess with it some more and add about 25ml of strawberry syrup (sugar+strawberries set in the fridge for a couple of days, then strained) to each of the 4 bottles. I probably shouldn't leave these for too long before I drink...
SG 1012
Alc 17%
Halle (quince mead)
This had cleared beautifully and has been quiet for months.
Smells good, taste interesting, sweet but a bit sourish. Maybe it'll improve on the bottle..
SG 1020
alc 16%
Imre (apple wine)
Last time I tried this I was disappointed because it was ciderish, and I think I messed with it. Still kind of sour but definitely not ciderish now - in fact it's much closer to Apfelkorn!
SG 1014
alc 16%
I intend to continue tomorrow to bottle Fennah, make a chuck-or-bottle decision about Gwy, and I think Ehle needs another racking.
Drake tasting
Got talking about brewing with a friend and realised I have not touched any of the brewings since half April. Got so desillusioned then that I went into a 'Fine! Be like that. Just sit there and suck, see if I care' sort of sulk.
I'm kind of curious to have a look now, maybe I'll get to racking and measuring tomorrow.
While I was in the mood I dug out a small bottle of the Drake batch. It was bottled on Juli 28 2009, so very nearly a year and a half of aging.
This is a strawberry mead, but it's mostly lost the pink colour. Small amount of sediment in the bottle. Very slightly fizzy in the glass. Smells REALLY nice, smells like something I want to drink bottles of.
Sadly the taste dissappoints - sourish and 'hot' - it's 16% alcohol and you can really taste that. I wonder if it was a too-fast fermentation. Looking back at my notes, I started it in the first days of june, and bottled it on july 28. The aftertaste isn't bad, you sort of get a hint of what it could be in the scent and the aftertaste, but.. no.
The D batch did not get opened or rebottled, which is what I thought was the cause of the sourishness in Brynn, so I really don't know what to do now. Does sour mean ruined, chuck down the drain? Or should I just put it away and see what it's like a year from now?
I'm kind of curious to have a look now, maybe I'll get to racking and measuring tomorrow.
While I was in the mood I dug out a small bottle of the Drake batch. It was bottled on Juli 28 2009, so very nearly a year and a half of aging.
This is a strawberry mead, but it's mostly lost the pink colour. Small amount of sediment in the bottle. Very slightly fizzy in the glass. Smells REALLY nice, smells like something I want to drink bottles of.
Sadly the taste dissappoints - sourish and 'hot' - it's 16% alcohol and you can really taste that. I wonder if it was a too-fast fermentation. Looking back at my notes, I started it in the first days of june, and bottled it on july 28. The aftertaste isn't bad, you sort of get a hint of what it could be in the scent and the aftertaste, but.. no.
The D batch did not get opened or rebottled, which is what I thought was the cause of the sourishness in Brynn, so I really don't know what to do now. Does sour mean ruined, chuck down the drain? Or should I just put it away and see what it's like a year from now?
Euphoria
So about a year ago, I made this. It was intended for my graduation party, which probably isn't going to happen (I'm graduating, just not in the position to have much of a party). I opened it a few weeks ago for a games/Eurovision weekend with friends. Filtered out the fruit. I had the cherry and strawberry I made in that post, and peach and raspberry that I made a few weeks after that.
Some of them work neat, some of them are mixers. Strawberry is nice if a bit syrupy sweet. Raspberry is nice if a bit overly tart. Mixed, they are delicious. Peach isn't very nice neat (tastes like the syrup in canned peaches, but alcoholic) but I'm told it tastes fab with bitter lemon or tonic water. I don't much like alcoholic cherry flavours but my mother loves the cherry variety. It also tastes like it could be good in chocolate fondue. Actually, they all do..
I made a new version yesterday - apple. I cut up two Granny Smith apples and a lime (just the flesh), added 60gr sugar, a few slivers of lime peel, and filled up with vodka. I'm hoping for a mild apple sour effect. Let you know how it turns out.. in 6 months or so :-)
Some of them work neat, some of them are mixers. Strawberry is nice if a bit syrupy sweet. Raspberry is nice if a bit overly tart. Mixed, they are delicious. Peach isn't very nice neat (tastes like the syrup in canned peaches, but alcoholic) but I'm told it tastes fab with bitter lemon or tonic water. I don't much like alcoholic cherry flavours but my mother loves the cherry variety. It also tastes like it could be good in chocolate fondue. Actually, they all do..
I made a new version yesterday - apple. I cut up two Granny Smith apples and a lime (just the flesh), added 60gr sugar, a few slivers of lime peel, and filled up with vodka. I'm hoping for a mild apple sour effect. Let you know how it turns out.. in 6 months or so :-)
Ehle! - and give me hope, please
Ehele is the cacao mead batch that I stashed with my neighbour. I figured it was time to see how that was going and collected it. Easy to remember why I decided not to use more 10l bottles - they're bloody heavy and a pain to clean, because they don't fit in the sink.
Ehle
Alc 12.5%
SG 1000
Doesn't smell bad, though surprisingly faint for something that's a ton of honey and a fair amount of cacao. Taste is similarly light, which was good (I guess) because it's sour and ergh.
It's murkey but considering how brown it started out it's cleared significantly. The fat was drifting on top (looked gross) but is mostly out after racking.
Added 500gr honey, which is not stirred in and sitting as a layer on the bottom now. Not sure if that was a good idea. I intended to backsweeten but it might restart the fermentation instead.
Was feeling a little hopeless about it until I remembered that the recipe says to let it age for at least a year after the fermentation stopped, so maybe I'm just being impatient.
Impatience and discouragement is a bit of a theme at the moment with my brewing activities. I'm not getting the results I want and I'm not sure if the current batches might improve with age or if I should just chuck them already. With the meads I know to expect them not to taste now and that they might improve dramatically with time, but the fruit wines I was expecting to be palatable by now.
If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Anyone have any uplifting tales about stuff that started out as dreck and turned great? I'm not expecting instant miracles here, but it'd be nice to have some optimism that all this stuff actually pays off by becoming drinkable.
Ehle
Alc 12.5%
SG 1000
Doesn't smell bad, though surprisingly faint for something that's a ton of honey and a fair amount of cacao. Taste is similarly light, which was good (I guess) because it's sour and ergh.
It's murkey but considering how brown it started out it's cleared significantly. The fat was drifting on top (looked gross) but is mostly out after racking.
Added 500gr honey, which is not stirred in and sitting as a layer on the bottom now. Not sure if that was a good idea. I intended to backsweeten but it might restart the fermentation instead.
Was feeling a little hopeless about it until I remembered that the recipe says to let it age for at least a year after the fermentation stopped, so maybe I'm just being impatient.
Impatience and discouragement is a bit of a theme at the moment with my brewing activities. I'm not getting the results I want and I'm not sure if the current batches might improve with age or if I should just chuck them already. With the meads I know to expect them not to taste now and that they might improve dramatically with time, but the fruit wines I was expecting to be palatable by now.
If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Anyone have any uplifting tales about stuff that started out as dreck and turned great? I'm not expecting instant miracles here, but it'd be nice to have some optimism that all this stuff actually pays off by becoming drinkable.
Retcon updates
I did this in the weekend of 10/11 April, just haven't posted it here... to be honest things are kind of depressing on the brewing front, that's why I put it off.
Imre
Alc 15%
SG 1014
Still murkey though maybe starting to clear a little. Smells and tastes ciderish. I'm really sad I lost the sweet apple scent and taste I was after.
Racked and added a sugar syrup of 50gr white sugar with 100ml water.
Halle
Alc 12%
SG 1014
Racked. Doesn't smell 'gone bad' just not good. May need time? Doesn't taste outright bad either, but.. I don't know, hard to believe this could get drinkable, it's nothing like mead. Sourish aftertaste.
I am really starting to regret using the quince juice right off the bat, it smelled SO good and the fermentation has just killed that. Then again I don't think I could have frozen it, not enough space...
Gwyllion
Alc 18%
SG 1010
Racked. Smells good - sweet wine. Tastes drinkable (not spit-out stuff) but not nice. Oh I don't know. If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Imre
Alc 15%
SG 1014
Still murkey though maybe starting to clear a little. Smells and tastes ciderish. I'm really sad I lost the sweet apple scent and taste I was after.
Racked and added a sugar syrup of 50gr white sugar with 100ml water.
Halle
Alc 12%
SG 1014
Racked. Doesn't smell 'gone bad' just not good. May need time? Doesn't taste outright bad either, but.. I don't know, hard to believe this could get drinkable, it's nothing like mead. Sourish aftertaste.
I am really starting to regret using the quince juice right off the bat, it smelled SO good and the fermentation has just killed that. Then again I don't think I could have frozen it, not enough space...
Gwyllion
Alc 18%
SG 1010
Racked. Smells good - sweet wine. Tastes drinkable (not spit-out stuff) but not nice. Oh I don't know. If I had the space I would just wait it out, bottle it and see what it's like in a year or so. As it is I'm not much inclined to bottle stuff that's likely just going down the drain in a year's time.
Pectin enzym
After some advice from the people from the homebrewing group on livejournal I ordered a pectin enzym for Halle and Imre. You're supposed to add this stuff when you first mix the protowine, but some say it'll still work afterward, so we're trying that now.
Racking
Gwyllion: 0.990 / 17% (racked)
Much too dry like this. Added about 150 gr sugar. Hope that wasn't too much, but I dissolved 100gr and that only brought it to 1.004. Wait and see.
Halle: 1.018 / ?% (didn't write it down apparently) (racked)
I don't know. Not appetising. Maybe it'll turn into something?
Imre: 1.010 / 14.5% (racked)
Lovely delicate apple taste/scent gone. Damn! Smells/tastes like dry cider now. Have added some demerera sugar.
Much too dry like this. Added about 150 gr sugar. Hope that wasn't too much, but I dissolved 100gr and that only brought it to 1.004. Wait and see.
Halle: 1.018 / ?% (didn't write it down apparently) (racked)
I don't know. Not appetising. Maybe it'll turn into something?
Imre: 1.010 / 14.5% (racked)
Lovely delicate apple taste/scent gone. Damn! Smells/tastes like dry cider now. Have added some demerera sugar.
101 things to do with vodka
As a displacement activity for being really impatient to try the apple wine, I've been making some NotMead booze...
Barenjager Recipe
Barenjager Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cloves
- 1 vanilla bean
- 700ml vodka
- 300ml very nice heath honey
- a container large enough to hold 1 liter
Directions
Making Barenjager liquor is a simple task, requiring mostly time before everyone can begin enjoying delicious homemade Barenjager drinks.
- First, rough chop the cloves and split the vanilla bean lengthwise before adding them to the container and filling it with the vodka.
- Let this mixture sit for at least 24 hours before straining the vanilla bean and the cloves from the vodka.
- Once the vodka is clear of any remaining pieces, stir vigorously, pouring the honey in a thin stream. Do not stop until the honey and the vodka are completely blended together. Store the finished Barenjager honey liqueur in a cool, dark area and enjoy.
Gwy / Imre
Gwyllion: fed more sugar, I think about 50 grams
Imre: added bentonite. I'm not sure if bentonite is going to do it for fruit haze (have a vague recollection of pos charged and neg charged clearing methods but.. meh. I figure it's going to take ages to get this one cleared as it is super cloudy because the juice was super cloudy, so I might as well start from bentonite and see how that turns out. The next step would probably be gelatine. Will see how that goes.
I'm super curious about Imre because I think it might turn out really nice, sweet apple wine, not at all like cider. If it works out well I will be making one with orchard pear juice as well. These fruit wines also satisfy my urge to make something I can drink soonish, because they should be reasonably drinkable around when it's bottling time, not take ages to age.
Imre: added bentonite. I'm not sure if bentonite is going to do it for fruit haze (have a vague recollection of pos charged and neg charged clearing methods but.. meh. I figure it's going to take ages to get this one cleared as it is super cloudy because the juice was super cloudy, so I might as well start from bentonite and see how that turns out. The next step would probably be gelatine. Will see how that goes.
I'm super curious about Imre because I think it might turn out really nice, sweet apple wine, not at all like cider. If it works out well I will be making one with orchard pear juice as well. These fruit wines also satisfy my urge to make something I can drink soonish, because they should be reasonably drinkable around when it's bottling time, not take ages to age.
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