Moragh - coffee mead (!)

Last year at Wasteland Weekend I tried an apparently rather popular coffee mead, and to me it was undrinkable - waaayyy too heavy on the coffee/bitter and also to my tastes really sour. I can't stand black coffee so I suppose I was never going to enjoy a strong black coffee mead.

It did intrigue me though! So here's an attempt at a subtle version.  A hint of coffee rather than a punch of coffee.

MORAGH (2 liter)
Coffee cold-brewed from two pads of mocca
750 gr honey
mead yeast
yeast activator

Kearney

I made the two Kearney batches into one, since I had a 5l carboy free. Measured it while I was at it.

SG: 1032 (bang on where I like it for sweetness)
Alc: ~12%

It didn't taste half bad, the spice tea is distinct, but it's still very yeasty and 'working'. I added 250 gr honey because it's going to ferment a little further than it is now so I'd have to backsweeten anyway.

Mead ideas to try:

- Blueberry juice. Like, a LOT of it. I just finished a bottle of Yngvi and that had no colour at all.  Shame
- Dates. They sell them at Odin
- Rosehip. I even ordered dried rosehip at some point.
- Speculaas spices. This could be a thing
- coffee mead. Come on, I gotta try. Just go easy on the coffee so it's a flavour suggestion, not a kick in the face

Lane

Lane - the 2.8 demijohn
1 kilo honey (lidl)
Steeped tea of 8 bags of ginger-hibiscus-apple tea
The new brand mead yeast (Mangrove Jack's) - then standard brand sherry/mead yeast.
Yeast activator
little bit of pecto-enzyme 1

I'm beginning to think that Mangrove Jack's yeast just isn't much good, that was the stuff I couldn't get the Kearney batch started on either and it wasn't doing anything in the starter I made to prep for this batch. Added the sherry yeast and they can battle it out in there.
Was curious what that tea would do and this demijohn was standing empty in my kitchen. Hibiscus should give a nice colour.


I put Edain (lemon) and Dale (pomegranate) in the fridge to cold crash. Dale has been clearing slowly but Edain is still hazy as hell, so I hope this will help.

Kearney(s)

Could NOT get this batch to start. Not with a warm bath, not with port yeast. The tannins of the tea making it hard for the yeast to get foothold? Gravity too high? I split it out over the two 2-liter jugs I have, adding about half a liter of water to each. Then it took another half-day and some more yeast before they're finally blooping away.

Kearney

Note to self: the size of this brown-glass carboy is, for reasons I do not understand, approx 2.8 liters

Kearney (~2.7 liters)

8 bags of Bengal tea (a known success) steeped to the max
1 kilo honey
mead yeast

to be put on cacao nibs in secondary

Idris, June

Racked the big batches.

IDRIS
Bochet with apple juice.
I was concerned I had made this too sweet, but it fermented out to 1012 SG (a touch too dry for my tastes) and 14% alcohol. Racked and added 500 gr honey. It's bubbling again now, so we'll see where that leaves us. I guess I could stabilise it? 14% is plenty so maybe I should.

JUNE
Bochet with cacao nibs
This had been in a bucket so far and still bubbling very actively. It's now in a demijohn.
Added 550 gram cacao nibs - toasted them first for about 20 minutes in a 150c oven. Really made the smell come up. Nibs are much, much less messy than cacao powder (which takes a century to clear out) so I just have to hope the taste transfers as well.
SG 1090, with alcohol at 9% - this still has a good distance to go.


I've ordered a 19 liter carboy. 19! That's kinda crazy. What the hell should I put in it? I feel like with a batch that big maybe it should be something simple and reliable and I can split it out and flavour it in secondary.

Or maybe I should do that Bengal Chai + cacao nibs idea I fever-dreamed up. Spicy peppery chocolate. That should be good, right? Right. Maybe I should test that theory in a 3 liter demi first.

19 liter! That's gonna take a fucking fortune in honey