Lots of workings

 Sess came over to help and we did loads of racking and final prep for bottling. 

Aella - rosemary honey mead
Nice rosemary kick! Good mid sweetness. I might bring some to wasteland. Bottled

Xanthe - pine mead
This was already done and we drank some at christmas. It has since settled to be less of a slap in the face with a wet pine branch and more mellow piney woodsy. Pretty strong in alc but hard to measure with all the rest sugar. I'd guess at least 15%. Also might bring this to WW. Bottled. 

Zaqar 

Previously backsweetened with ~450 gr thyme honey. Good sweetness and the thyme flavour has turned up. Planning to make this fizzy and bottle it in champagne bottles. It's ready to go for that

Whaitiri

tea with ginger, lemongrass and Kawakawa. A bit more astringent than I enjoy but Sess likes it a lot. Was already done with bentonite but did not clear, so trying it with superclear. Prepared for bottling and ready as soon as it falls clear. 

Yaffe  (lapsang souchon tea)
Pretty nice. Mellowed out a lot. The orange zest really works for it. Added superclear. Ready to bottle as soon as it falls clear

Calliope (cacao bochet)
There's a heavy bochet flavour going on, that specific kind of acidity. Definitely nowhere near ready for bringing to wasteland. I'm not sure if it needs backsweetening or mainly just time.

Bronwyn (Coffee bochet)
The Tia Maria effect is gone. Vanilla pods helped balance it out some but this still has the heavy acidity of the bochet process. 

 

Fern - heather honey mead

Coming along. The heather honey is noticeabe, very nice spicy nose to it. Planning to sweeten this up with about 1 kilo heather honey. 

 

Dorian - chocolate mead

Not fermented completely dry but too dry anyway - sg about 1010.  Backsweetened with 3 kilo honey.

Meadings / tastings

Whaitiri
Bit of a mystery because it's made from a New Zealand tea containing ginger, lemongrass and kawakawa, and we don't know what that tastes like. I really wish I'd thought to save a little tea to drink in comparison!
Mead has good sweetness, not much lemongrass, ginger-warmth without much ginger taste. Hint of pepper. We don't really know what kawakawa is or does but this mead turned out quite nice. Sess is a fan
Added yeast stop and bentonite. When it's clear it's ready to bottle

Xanthe
The pine tip mead!
Rejoice, rejoice, the bitterness is gone! Good sweetness. Tastes of pine forest not pine sap. Very nice and rounded. Fascinating. I might take this to wasteland purely for the interest factor.
Added yeast stop and bentonite. When it's clear it's ready to bottle

Yaffe
The Lapsang Souchon mead.
Ohhhh very smokey nose on this, maybe even a bit much. This is good lapsang, good sweetness. I think the orange zest rounded out the back end with a hint of fresh.
Was previously yeast stopped, newly added bentonite. When it's clear it's ready to bottle

Bronwyn
Coffee bochet. Clear and dark. Ohh coffee. Taste has balanced out.  No more heavy acidity. Doesn't really taste like mead though, or even particularly like wine. More like watered down Tia Maria. Or sweetened watered down cold brew. I don't hate it but it doesn't taste anything like wine.
I think I'll put some vanilla pods in there in the hope the pods leave enough tannin. Possibly more Oak extract if the pods don't do enough

Calliope
Cacao bochet. Sweetness is good now. Some chocolate but at this time the bochet flavour (with acidity) has taken over. Time time time. I am hoping to bring this to Wasteland in 2023, let's hope it's aged enough by then.
Was previously yeast stopped, added bentonite. When it's clear it's ready to bottle and be put away for a long long time.
 

I didn't really do anything with the mead I just racked

 Calliope (cacao bochet)

What with big renovation and all, this stayed in the bucket far longer than intended. Finally racked it and it's acidic as fuck, but there's more chocolate taste to it than anything made with nibs has ever given me, so there's hope. There's no headroom to add honey right now so I figure I'm letting it clear more first. 

 

Bronwyn (Coffee bochet)

Heavy sweet coffee, drinkable but kind of on the oversweet side. Not quite sure yet how to fix that. Oak extract?

Zaqar 

Previously backsweetened with ~450 gr thyme honey. Not a very distint flavour unfortunately but otherwise drinkable. I could make this one fizzy? 

Aella: 

backsweetened with 900 gr rosemary honey. Not as distinct a rosemary flavour as all-rosemary-honey attempts have been, but pretty good, and drinkable.  

Fennah II: 

Just acceptable plain mead right now. Gonna add fresh mint  

 

Whaitiri

tea with ginger, lemongrass and Kawakawa.

Xanthe (pine tips)

This one is tricky, I think the sweetness is right, there is pineyness, but man that bitter slash isn't gone. I added some pine honey, even though that is definitely not the same. I might be stuck adding honey and acidity until this loses that note. I hope the nose doesn't disappear though.

Yaffe  (lapsang souchon tea)
Smokey! Pretty nice? Good nose and front end, a bit meh on the back end. Thought a fresh note might help and added a tiny bit of orange zest

 

Vercopa

10 liter blackberry mead 

 This is surprisingly light. I think it might be nice fizzy, but I don't know if I'll get enough fermentation kicked off to get it carbonated

 

On the go:

Yaffe (Lapsang souchon)

Never got a name so I guess it's stuck with this now Yaffe

Fermented dry. Definitely smokey! really cool. About ~15% alcohol

Sweetened to SG 1026

I feel like this will need an acid to counterbalance all the tannins and sweet, but haven't decided yet if I just want to do an additive or use lemon juice or something else. 

Xanthe (Pine Tips Mead)

...still waiting on my dining room table to be racked. Suspect this will also need an acid.

new things!

Xanthe
100 gr scots pine tips
~1750 honey
port yeast
SG ~1100

Yaffe 
50 gr lapsang souchon tea
~1750 honey
port yeast
SG ~1100