Introducing..



Brynn:
This is the nice Springbalsemien honey I still had. Should be a sweet sackmead, and in theory not much different from Alexis. The honey is different, but apart from that the only difference is that I made an overnight yeast starter for this one. Oh wait, and I didn't heat it. The book I'm reading (The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm) suggests that there is not usually a problem with that, and that unheated meads also taste better earlier. We'll see.
This honey was a little thicker than the one I used for Alexis, and seems to sink to the bottom a little. I have mixed and shaken well, but it's still seeming darker in the bottom half. Hope that doesn't affect things too much. Ah well.

Caelan:
Supermarket honey and 400 gr of frozen blueberries. I wanted fresh but they were prohibitly expensive, and I'm still way too much in the experimental stage to want to spend that amount of money on ingredients.

(remind me that I said that when I start talking about buying cool things like Eucalyptus and Heath honey..)

It got darker than I expected (I don't know, of course it did. must have had a brainfart) and I'm not sure if I like that it'll probably look more like normal wine - or grape juice - than mead. Will have to wait until I can taste it to judge if it's worth it. Raspberry and strawberry are apparently popular because they'll give a more subtle colour and taste effect. Since it's strawberry time I may start up one more batch - then I'll sit on my hands for a while and wait until I've got Alexis bottled before I start any more :-)

Now the eager staring at the waterlocks to detect any bubbling has started...

2 comments:

  1. Argh! Now you've made me want to start brewing! Argh! To much to do and not enough time and money! *wibbles*

    :)

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  2. Heh. I'll be ready to set up some new things by the time you're over, so you can have a go at things.. :-)

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