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?
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.
Measurings
Fennah: 15% / 1.022
Still cloudy, still quite fizzy. It's been bubbling, so that seems to want more time. The drop I tasted seemed rather sweet, but it's hard to tell with the yeast taste still in, we'll see.
Gwyllion: 12% / 0.990
Hungry, hungry yeast - I fed it about 50 gr cane sugar and it foamed so hard it spilled over. Oops! Mead doesn't react that hard when I add new honey, so that was a surprise. Added a small piece of lemon peel to help keep the foam down. I'm going to try to get it to ferment out by alcohol level without oversweetening it again, so sugar in small increments I guess.
Halle: 16% / 1.020
Very cloudy and fizzy. It smells of heavy fermentation, but the drop I tasted seemed to suggest it could turn out quite nice when the yeast is done.
Imre: 15% / 1.010
Still cloudy, but hardly any fizz when agitated - this seems to be going toward finished. Underneath the yeast taste it was quite nice and appley. I Will Be Patient (for once!) and let it run its course - I'm very curious how this one'll turn out though. And I'm now thinking of doing a similar wine but with the orchard pear juice..
Still cloudy, still quite fizzy. It's been bubbling, so that seems to want more time. The drop I tasted seemed rather sweet, but it's hard to tell with the yeast taste still in, we'll see.
Gwyllion: 12% / 0.990
Hungry, hungry yeast - I fed it about 50 gr cane sugar and it foamed so hard it spilled over. Oops! Mead doesn't react that hard when I add new honey, so that was a surprise. Added a small piece of lemon peel to help keep the foam down. I'm going to try to get it to ferment out by alcohol level without oversweetening it again, so sugar in small increments I guess.
Halle: 16% / 1.020
Very cloudy and fizzy. It smells of heavy fermentation, but the drop I tasted seemed to suggest it could turn out quite nice when the yeast is done.
Imre: 15% / 1.010
Still cloudy, but hardly any fizz when agitated - this seems to be going toward finished. Underneath the yeast taste it was quite nice and appley. I Will Be Patient (for once!) and let it run its course - I'm very curious how this one'll turn out though. And I'm now thinking of doing a similar wine but with the orchard pear juice..
Brynn, and Gwyllion - again
Very unhappy day yesterday as several of the Brynn bottles decided they didn't like it in the bottle and pushed out corks. Even one that was already in the fridge! I lost about a litre and a half in total, salvaged about 500 ml that I'm probably going to drink, and opened a few others before they popped corks. Was. Not. Happy. Messy to clean up too. I'm mourning for quite a bit of what promised to become very nice mead. The remaining bottles are standing on the kitchen counter, loosely corked so they can breathe off, and until I stop being pissed off about it and start dealing with it.
Gwyllion is more hopeful. Had a slight brainwave and realised that with a different wine with a similar problem, I'd be looking to add fruit juice or concentrate to fix the thin-ness problem. The hippie food shop sells elderberry juice, so I went and got some, and did a little test with some of the thin, too sweet port. About 1:8 juice:port balances it out very nicely - counteracts the sweetness, gets rid of the thin-ness. Yum. I took out 0.7l to make space, and then added juice - originally 660ml, but reduced to about 0.5l.
I didn't stop there, because that would make sense - I added the yeast starter I've been putting through Alcohol Tolerance Bootcamp over the past week. It's more wine now (14%) and I still hope it'll become a proper heavy port. No idea how that's going to work out, but we'll see.
It was 1040 (I think the previous readings were off - they were with a less precise hydrometre) & 14% just now.
So I have a demi full of Further Experiment, plus a bottle that with the addition of a bit of juice will make something to try at Christmas - I quite like it, we'll see what my visitors think :-)
Gwyllion is more hopeful. Had a slight brainwave and realised that with a different wine with a similar problem, I'd be looking to add fruit juice or concentrate to fix the thin-ness problem. The hippie food shop sells elderberry juice, so I went and got some, and did a little test with some of the thin, too sweet port. About 1:8 juice:port balances it out very nicely - counteracts the sweetness, gets rid of the thin-ness. Yum. I took out 0.7l to make space, and then added juice - originally 660ml, but reduced to about 0.5l.
I didn't stop there, because that would make sense - I added the yeast starter I've been putting through Alcohol Tolerance Bootcamp over the past week. It's more wine now (14%) and I still hope it'll become a proper heavy port. No idea how that's going to work out, but we'll see.
It was 1040 (I think the previous readings were off - they were with a less precise hydrometre) & 14% just now.
So I have a demi full of Further Experiment, plus a bottle that with the addition of a bit of juice will make something to try at Christmas - I quite like it, we'll see what my visitors think :-)
Gwyllion - Elderberry wine
Gwy: 1035 and 14%
Well, Edmund was right..
Watering is often a mistake. In addition to introducing new issues of sterility and oxidation, watering cuts the balances of sugars and minerals in an unbalanced way; you'll end up with a drink that simultaneously tastes too sweet and too thin.
I tasted it and it does indeed taste thin and is still too sweet. Bugger. Shame I didn't know that before I did it, I didn't think half a litre of water could make that much difference! I bottled half a litre of the un-watered bottle and have set the rest of that aside to add to the new start I've made - I got in a 'killer' yeast that should go to 16%, and I'm going to try making a starter and very slowly introducing the wine to ease the yeast up to the alcohol percentage. Then I'll pitch and see how it goes.
Well, Edmund was right..
Watering is often a mistake. In addition to introducing new issues of sterility and oxidation, watering cuts the balances of sugars and minerals in an unbalanced way; you'll end up with a drink that simultaneously tastes too sweet and too thin.
I tasted it and it does indeed taste thin and is still too sweet. Bugger. Shame I didn't know that before I did it, I didn't think half a litre of water could make that much difference! I bottled half a litre of the un-watered bottle and have set the rest of that aside to add to the new start I've made - I got in a 'killer' yeast that should go to 16%, and I'm going to try making a starter and very slowly introducing the wine to ease the yeast up to the alcohol percentage. Then I'll pitch and see how it goes.
Rackings
Alexis: super dry and starting to fall clear (added bentonite last time). I'm thinking about keeping this one to correct too sweet mead with.
SG: 0.995
Alc. 15%
Halle: Just ticking along - I think it's mostly fermented out now though. This one is going to be a pain to get clear.
SG: 1.015
alc. 15.5%
Imre: I had hoped this would hang on to some of the apple scent, but sadly not. Very ciderish. I added a syrup of 100gr demerera sugar to hopefully sweeten it some.
SG 1.000 (before I added sugar, didn't measure after. 'cause I'm smart like that)
alc. 14.5%
SG: 0.995
Alc. 15%
Halle: Just ticking along - I think it's mostly fermented out now though. This one is going to be a pain to get clear.
SG: 1.015
alc. 15.5%
Imre: I had hoped this would hang on to some of the apple scent, but sadly not. Very ciderish. I added a syrup of 100gr demerera sugar to hopefully sweeten it some.
SG 1.000 (before I added sugar, didn't measure after. 'cause I'm smart like that)
alc. 14.5%
Bottlings and measurments
Alexis: very dry. Starting to fall clear (though unfortunately I stirred up some of the sediment in racking).
SG: 1000
Alc 15%
Brynn: smells great, tastes nice - I have hopes for this one. bottled at
SG: 1020
Alc 14.5%
Fennah: has been completely still - topped out due to max alc reached, but is not falling clear. I watered it down slightly in the hope this might encourage the yeasties to have another go. Racked.
SG: 1032 diluted to about 1030
Alc 16% diluted to about 14.5%
Gwyllion: this smells and tastes pretty good! It's too sweet though, even for port. Must have miscalculated the sugar. Watered down slightly + small amount of yeast activator in the hope that the yeasties will eat a few points of the sugar. With that oversweet edge off I think this could be great.
SG: 1042
Alc: 16%
SG: 1000
Alc 15%
Brynn: smells great, tastes nice - I have hopes for this one. bottled at
SG: 1020
Alc 14.5%
Fennah: has been completely still - topped out due to max alc reached, but is not falling clear. I watered it down slightly in the hope this might encourage the yeasties to have another go. Racked.
SG: 1032 diluted to about 1030
Alc 16% diluted to about 14.5%
Gwyllion: this smells and tastes pretty good! It's too sweet though, even for port. Must have miscalculated the sugar. Watered down slightly + small amount of yeast activator in the hope that the yeasties will eat a few points of the sugar. With that oversweet edge off I think this could be great.
SG: 1042
Alc: 16%
Halle & Imre
Halle was racked and measured:
SG 1032
Alc 12%
As expected, Imre dropped massive amounts of sediment in the first few days (it's that cloudy apple juice) and I also wanted the sultana's out of there to stop them from overpowering the apple.
SG 1045
Alc 9%
Racking lost a fair amount of volume (as expected) so I topped up with the good apple juice (about 750ml) and added about 150gr sugar. No idea about the new SG because I didn't dissolve the sugar, just poured it in - if previous experience are anything to go by, it will simply be eaten from its layer on the bottom.
Brynn is ready to bottle, I think. Will do that sometime this week.
SG 1032
Alc 12%
As expected, Imre dropped massive amounts of sediment in the first few days (it's that cloudy apple juice) and I also wanted the sultana's out of there to stop them from overpowering the apple.
SG 1045
Alc 9%
Racking lost a fair amount of volume (as expected) so I topped up with the good apple juice (about 750ml) and added about 150gr sugar. No idea about the new SG because I didn't dissolve the sugar, just poured it in - if previous experience are anything to go by, it will simply be eaten from its layer on the bottom.
Brynn is ready to bottle, I think. Will do that sometime this week.
Imre
Oh dear, I just couldn't resist the sight of the two empty demijohns in the windowsill, so I filled one of them..
I'd been reading about making cider and apple wine and thought it sounded pretty interesting. I'm not a huge fan of cider, but apple wine.. hmm.
IMRE is:
- 3 litres of very nice cloudy orchard apple juice. This stuff tastes amazing, not at all like the processed juice from concentrate. It's been pasteurised, but nothing else. Tastes like real apple, liquid form.
- 1.5 litres cheaper 'normal' apple juice (I had decided the total cost should be under 5 euro)
- 500 gr demerera sugar
- 150 gr sultanas
- some lemon peel
- doux yeast
It looks kinda unpleasant right now - the sugar gave it a brownish colour and the cloudiness of the juice makes it look, well, brown and murky right now. With the sultanas in there it doesn't look inviting. It's slowly started bubbling though, and we will see how it all turns out. It should be relatively fast (compared to the meads) to drinkability - I'm hoping to have this drinkable by christmas. One can hope.Starting gravity was 1070. Depending on how it progresses I will probably add more sugar later.
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