Jove:
SG 1012 / 15% alc
Completely clear, but slightly fizzy on agitation, so racked instead of bottled.
This is apple mead. I can taste it a little, but not as much as I'd like. Apparently a litre of apple juice is not enough on a 5l batch.
Lisidh:
SG: 1022 / 15%
Still murky, tastes unfinished. Have added a vanilla stick
Oriel:
SG 1070 / 18%
Really heavy, overly sweet. Can't really taste the rosehip. Might need some apple acid to freshen it up a bit. I also have oak extract that might make it interesting.
Parlan:
Waterlock dried out. Smelled off, gone down the drain
And in honour of my crazy sailing adventure, 3 new batches:
Quite Windy (2l batch)
750gr honey
Slightly old aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
Rock And Roll (2l batch)
750gr honey
2 cloves
half a cinnamon stick
Slightly old aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
Shattered Spankerboom (5l)
1500 gr honey
Slightly old aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
Oooops
Got home after 4 months at sea and Parlan's airlock had dried up. Stupid. So that batch is probably done for. I will get around to actually testing it this week, I hope.
Ehle is still.. I am beginning to accept that batch is just a bust.
Ehle is still.. I am beginning to accept that batch is just a bust.
Oriel and Parlan - more mini batches
I really like how the 2 litre batches turned out, and how fast they did so, so I made two more.
Oriel
600ml honey from the beekeepers in Eindhoven, kindly donated by friends who have too much of it :-)
200 ml rosehip syrup
somewhat old Aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
Parlan (I think)
1000 gr forest honey (Lidl) (that was an oops, forgot I used 750 gr last time!)
somewhat old Aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
I also added the same yeast/nutrient mix to Lisidh, since that one is resolutely Not Touching the new added honey.
Oriel
600ml honey from the beekeepers in Eindhoven, kindly donated by friends who have too much of it :-)
200 ml rosehip syrup
somewhat old Aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
Parlan (I think)
1000 gr forest honey (Lidl) (that was an oops, forgot I used 750 gr last time!)
somewhat old Aromatic yeast
nutrient mix
I also added the same yeast/nutrient mix to Lisidh, since that one is resolutely Not Touching the new added honey.
Tasty list
Due to unforeseen travel plans this winter, I have decided to give mead as gifts. For that I need a little list of which batches I think are good enough to give away.Bold is what I'm happy to serve to somebody else.
Alexis plain: nice sack mead
Alexis with strawberry syrup: haven't tried yet
Brynn: need to taste this
Caelan: carbonated, bit dry. Nice
Drake: need to taste this
Ehle: still in demijohn
Fennah: spicy heavy/sweet mead [ran out!]
Gwyllion: elderberry port. Suppose I could pull open a bottle and see how this has turned out
Halle: Quince mead - very nice! [ran out!]
Imre: sourish fresh apple wine. Not sure about this as a gift.Maybe as a second bottle of 'hey, try this' and not as the main gift.
Jove: still in demi
Keir: recently bottled
Lisidh: still in demi
Merryn: heavy, sweet, not as spicy as I had expected. Very nice.
Nuggan: heavy, sweet, very nice
Alexis plain: nice sack mead
Alexis with strawberry syrup: haven't tried yet
Brynn: need to taste this
Caelan: carbonated, bit dry. Nice
Drake: need to taste this
Ehle: still in demijohn
Gwyllion: elderberry port. Suppose I could pull open a bottle and see how this has turned out
Imre: sourish fresh apple wine. Not sure about this as a gift.Maybe as a second bottle of 'hey, try this' and not as the main gift.
Jove: still in demi
Keir: recently bottled
Lisidh: still in demi
Merryn: heavy, sweet, not as spicy as I had expected. Very nice.
Nuggan: heavy, sweet, very nice
finally an update
Okay, so this was long overdue. I haven't been in the mood to mess with brewing and thankfully it doesn't really hurt any to just leave it for a while. Today I got around to it though.
Jove (apple mead)
SG 1000, 14% alcohol
Very dry. Racked and added 300 gr honey
Keir (raspberry mead)
SG 1004, 16.5% alcohol
Not sure how thrilled I am with this, but I bottled it. It was a little fizzy, and I'm beginning to wonder if that's just what certain types of fruit do? Back when with Caelan (blueberry) and Drake (strawberry) the fizz never quite went away. (Keir is raspberry). I bottled into champagne bottles. See how that turns out.
Lisidh (sack mead)
SG 1002, 8.5% alcohol
Fed this 500gr honey. I'm not sure if there are still yeasties around to eat it though. That's one disadvantage to taking a year-long break..
Nuggan (2l batch, sack mead)
SG 1026, 18% alcohol
Small batches go faster - this one proves it. SUPER nice heavy sack mead, and it's only half a year old. Which is awesome. Shame that the 2l vessels are an absolute pain to work with (my siphon doesn't fit) and then you only have 2 litre of the very nice stuff. Bottled this.
Merryn (2l batch, oranges/cinnamon/clove/allspice)
SG 1030, 19%
The only reason this isn't rocket fuel is because it's so heavy. Haven't done a proper tasting, but it seemed promising. Bottled it.
Ehle (cacao mead)
SG 1000, don't think I tested alc vol.
Last time I touched this is a full year ago. (Ehle was started in august '09) I think it might be slightly more palatable, but not exactly drinkable. Still keeping this stuff around in the vague hope it'll turn drinkable at some point. Maybe the 4th year will be the charm?
Jove (apple mead)
SG 1000, 14% alcohol
Very dry. Racked and added 300 gr honey
Keir (raspberry mead)
SG 1004, 16.5% alcohol
Not sure how thrilled I am with this, but I bottled it. It was a little fizzy, and I'm beginning to wonder if that's just what certain types of fruit do? Back when with Caelan (blueberry) and Drake (strawberry) the fizz never quite went away. (Keir is raspberry). I bottled into champagne bottles. See how that turns out.
Lisidh (sack mead)
SG 1002, 8.5% alcohol
Fed this 500gr honey. I'm not sure if there are still yeasties around to eat it though. That's one disadvantage to taking a year-long break..
Nuggan (2l batch, sack mead)
SG 1026, 18% alcohol
Small batches go faster - this one proves it. SUPER nice heavy sack mead, and it's only half a year old. Which is awesome. Shame that the 2l vessels are an absolute pain to work with (my siphon doesn't fit) and then you only have 2 litre of the very nice stuff. Bottled this.
Merryn (2l batch, oranges/cinnamon/clove/allspice)
SG 1030, 19%
The only reason this isn't rocket fuel is because it's so heavy. Haven't done a proper tasting, but it seemed promising. Bottled it.
Ehle (cacao mead)
SG 1000, don't think I tested alc vol.
Last time I touched this is a full year ago. (Ehle was started in august '09) I think it might be slightly more palatable, but not exactly drinkable. Still keeping this stuff around in the vague hope it'll turn drinkable at some point. Maybe the 4th year will be the charm?
tastiness
I took a few bottles to the Queen's Day barbeque for my guinea pigs friends to try.
Alexis (plain): I did a few bottles of A in champagne bottles with added strawberry syrup, but this was a plain bottle. Very pleasant sack mead. I'm curious about the other bottles now!
Halle: Quince mead. Very pleasant surprise because this completely regained its quince scent and flavour. Turned out lovely.
Imre: apple wine (not mead). I never had a preconception of what apple wine would or should be like, so this was interesting all along the way. It had lost the Apfelkorn flavour and you could really smell and taste the demerera sugar. Quite fresh/sour but not in an unpleasant way. I'm the least sure about this one, though I still drank a few glasses of it and so did a few other people, so it's certainly not bad.
Alexis (plain): I did a few bottles of A in champagne bottles with added strawberry syrup, but this was a plain bottle. Very pleasant sack mead. I'm curious about the other bottles now!
Halle: Quince mead. Very pleasant surprise because this completely regained its quince scent and flavour. Turned out lovely.
Imre: apple wine (not mead). I never had a preconception of what apple wine would or should be like, so this was interesting all along the way. It had lost the Apfelkorn flavour and you could really smell and taste the demerera sugar. Quite fresh/sour but not in an unpleasant way. I'm the least sure about this one, though I still drank a few glasses of it and so did a few other people, so it's certainly not bad.
Speedy Meady
I was inspired by this site to try some super fast mead - hey, everything here takes so long, it looked interesting. Got two 2-litre demijohns. Sadly they are green glass so it doesn't look as nice. And the openings are too small for my siphon, so racking will be a pain. We'll see.
Merryn
750 gr forest honey
1 juice orange, juice and segments (no skin at all)
Small stick of cinnamon
1/4th teaspoon allspice
1/4th teaspoon ground clove
1/3 teaspoon nutrient mix
1/3 teaspoon Aromatic yeast
Nuggan
750 gr forest honey
1/3 teaspoon nutrient mix
1/3 teaspoon Aromatic yeast
Merryn
750 gr forest honey
1 juice orange, juice and segments (no skin at all)
Small stick of cinnamon
1/4th teaspoon allspice
1/4th teaspoon ground clove
1/3 teaspoon nutrient mix
1/3 teaspoon Aromatic yeast
Nuggan
750 gr forest honey
1/3 teaspoon nutrient mix
1/3 teaspoon Aromatic yeast
Racking
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.
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?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
