Would you believe that I forgot about it until I saw this post? Definite activity, even though the lock isn't clicking. There's a bit of white bubbly froth up with the floating orange slices now.
That's a good sign. With air locks, I generally have to sit by them for a few minutes before I can hear that tell-tale gurgling sound.
Here's the info on my mead. Would like some input. Spiced Orange (variety) Cinnamon, clove, all spice (3 types; 1 made with a champagne yeast [a touch dry and 15ish % abv], 1 made with sweet mead yeast [should be sweet but have not tried any yet and 12% abv ], 1 made with a little bit of black berries [should be somewhere between champagne and sweet mead with a hint of black berries at the end, but haven't tried it yet and should be between 13 and 15 % abv]) Ginger and vietnamese cinnamon (tastes a lot like a ginger bread cookie, and is good to go and quite enjoyable time now) Viking I don't think I can ever truly replicate this. It's sweet, and hella potent (40 proof). There's a hint of cinnamon, clove, orange, apple, raisin, and all spice to it as I had to get creative to get it to start fermenting. The first two attempts did not take. This is my favorite so far. Dumped the dregs of the JAOM into it, plus cooked up some EC-1118 in a cup of apple juice for a few hours before dumping it in. Those two things combined to kick it off nicely, but there were multiple strains of yeast going to town in there. Rasberry A bit on the dry side, but has a good mix of honey and rasberry flavor. 16.5 percent alcohol. Used a canned rasberry puree I got at the home brew store. Not spices, just honey and the puree and some yeast nutrients... and some acid blend. Peach/Appricott Should finish fairly sweet. Unknown abv %. Same as above, as far as ingredients go. Spiced Peach Cinnamon, clove, and all spice. Was made with frozen fruit as opposed to a puree. It smells incredibly sweet but doesn't taste good at all yet. Hopefully some age will make it yummy. Smells VERY sugary. Fruit medley Black plum, green apple, kiwi, peach, and one other fruit I can't think of atm. A bit sweet but not overly so. Cyzer Apple mead. Motts apple juice + honey + English cider yeast + yeast nutrients. It's a touch dry and fairly spritzy. It made my mouth tingle when I drank it. Loquat mead Loquat's are also known as asian plum and they grow locally. This stuff is smelly, and I'm trying to figure out how to rescue it. Don't think it'll be any good, but who knows? I haven't tasted it yet because of the smell. So... feed back?
I'll take 5 gallons of Viking and Raspberry plz. How the hell did you get the Viking so high in ABV? I'm not a huge peach/plum person myself, not that I wouldn't try them. Apple sounds... strange for some reason, I don't know why! I love cider though, so I can't imagine I WOULDN'T like it, it just sounds odd to me. Not QUITE sure what sort of feedback you'd like, taste testing would be the best way. We planted some current bushes in the backyard a few weeks ago, I may have to try making some mead with those...
I'd agree with this. Not sure what feedback you'd be looking for unless you're handing out free bottles for testing.
I live in Texas also and would love to coming over to give feedback You are very lucky are very talented as far a the percentage of alcohol. Mine always died off between 11% and 15%. If I found a yeast doing beyond 15%, I would skim off some and keep it for the next batch.
It probably has to do with the types of yeast he uses. There are types that produce a very high alcohol yield. Especially if you use a yeast starter with the correct nutrients.
I used EC-1118 (plus a few others wound up in there with it) and a good deal of yeast nutrients to get the ABV up to 18% (if you use distillers yeast, you can push it up to 20%, but it probably won't be great to drink). Then I fortified it with .75 oz of ever clear per bottle I was going to get out of it, which raised the ABV up another 2% (grand total of 20%). EC-1118 is like yeast on steroids. I talked a good deal with a guy who does a lot of fortified wines, and got a few pointers. What my booze makin mentor taught me was no more than 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrients per gallon or it'll end up tasting medicine-y. He is a wise, sort of strange, old man... and I've begun buying 55 gallon drums from him for 20 bucks a pop. What part of Texas, Damien? I'm in Houston. I'm down for donations! I don't want to do much in the way of shipping, as the ATF may get all pissy and seize mah booze! Dihm - There's only about 4 gallons of rasberry left, and of the 15 bottles of Viking, 9 have been spoken for. Would like you to try the Cyzer, as you're a cider person. It's something I'd like to put out commercially when we get to that point, but I'm not a cider drinker. Probably should start, eh? Also, bushes of what? Feed back I'm looking for is just how my batches sound. Is dry cider something people drink?
I'm not a dry person when if comes to drinking, I reserve my dryness for my humor. Do you attend TRF in the fall? The wife and I will be there one weekend this year.
The one in Magnolia? I will be working weekends, so I'll only be at that one for opening and closing weekend (I usually go opening, closing, pirate, and barbarian (my fav!!!! ) weekends... plus maybe one or two more). We camp out, which is always a pretty wild time. Do you camp, or just visit the festival? We even setup a big wooden castle.
Yep, just to the north west of Magnolia. We have not picked out a weekend yet, but will post when we are going. My wife does not do camping so we are thinking motor home. Wooden Castle, damn.
I realize this is more for beer than mead but the principles are the same. http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html This is as about as detailed as you can get and it explains every little step in as much detail as you can handle. I freaking love this site. For those that are new to brewing like me, it gives you the science behind the steps to explain why you should do things the way it supposed to be done, not just that it HAS to be done this way.
Skjaldborg Meadery Sample #1, 1 month from birth. The honey that had settled to the bottom is nearly all eaten up. Excitement abounds!
I keep checking em, so far so good. They're just shriveled/dry on top atm. Any recommendations on how to avoid potential molding?
Make sure your airlock on top has some starsan in the water. It will keep out the bacteria that would normally precipitate mold growth. Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
