So quiet in here

I wish I had time to. I could certainly use it right about now. And yes, it has been pretty quiet here lately. Come on people! Samhain approaches! What are your plans???

 

yeah.... that's it! lol
I am trying to deal with my son, who is psychotic, my daughter who is learning the craft and a BF that thinks I wear "The Devil's Star".
My big plans for my birthday (samhain) are to renew the wards on the house. oh, and eat a lot of chocolate. the usual... lol

 

Sorry, I must have fell into a trance, watching the airlock bubbling on that new batch of mead I've got working in the fermenter.

Looks like we are going to be attending a party with some pagan friends for Samhain.

 

lol FyreDragon! My father used to make wine. My mother banned him from fermenting in the house after one batch got overexcited and spewed red wine through the airlock all over the pale carpet. Took Forever to get the smell out! I remember helping him bottle in the back yard as well. But I have never liked wine, so after 2 batches I brewed as a teenager, I haven't messed with it since. I also don't care for beer, so I never learned how to brew it. This year, I have discovered the holy joy of moonshine and also realized why no one in arkansas ever bothers to do much.... I could get behind learning to brew that!
So what does mead taste like? besides mead, I mean. lol is it beery?

 

Yes! It can be quite entrancing can't it. My first two batches (Orange/Cinnamon/Clove & Cardamom/Clove) both ran into a slight issue of having mold grow on the top film. This was largely due to me racking them in my basement rather than taking them up stairs first. Fortunately, it was just on the top and hadn't grown down in so I could pull off about 50% of each by pulling from the lower half and watching very VERY carefully to the mead getting pulled through. So now I have a single batch that is half and half of the above to batches, and its almost time to bottle so I will know soon if the short space of time with mold on the film effected the flavor. I know its not mold infested as the alcohol content is too high for it to grow IN the mead, so at least I know it wont make any one sick. Let me know how yours is doin'!

 

Mead, in it's basic form is simply fermented honey water. Think honey wine.

A friend of mine calls it "The Bubble Meditation". lol Although I have brewed some other beers and stuff, I haven't tried any of the more adventurous mead recipes yet. (though I expect I eventually will.) Just a plain traditional mead that has been turning out very good indeed. Had a little trouble getting the last batch to fall clear on it's own, so I boiled up a little bit of Irish moss, strained it, and added the solution to the carboy. Within three days it fell sparkling clear and was ready to bottle. I think I am going to go ahead and add the Irish moss again this time, right at first racking. Since that should prevent the mead from sitting on much of the old yeast, I expect this batch to be even better than the last. I added a wee bit more honey to this batch as well. (potential alcohol on my hydrometer reads about 13-14%) It will definitely have some "punch" to it!

BB Fyre

 

Fyre,

I havn't yet tried the Irish Moss trick. It was recommended to me, but I have yet to try it. Can you PM me or post an overview on the water:moss proportions and how long you boil it? Its in my book somewhere I think, but not listed in the index so digging it up would take a while. Also, just curious here, what sized batches are you doing (1g, 3g, 5g, etc.)?

 

It does sound like it'd be good. I know my scandinavian ancestors sure drank a Lot of it. lol I think it's quite interesting as well.

 

hmmm... It's hard for me to guess what was wrong with the mead your friend gave you, Nyxie. Sounds like maybe it's not completely fermented out, or something like that. But that's just a shot in the dark.

When my mead is done, it comes out very similar to a strong white wine. Pretty much all of the sugar is converted to alcohol, so there's not much residual sweetness.

Sending a PM regarding the Irish moss.

 

You can make certain types of mead rather quickly, but personally, I don't prefer them. Different yeast strains and different honeys will also give differing results. For the type of traditional mead I make, most of the primary fermentation is usually done in about two weeks, but the slower secondary fermentation often takes at least a few months for mead in my experience. A long secondary fermentation allows the yeast to "correct it's mistakes", so to speak.

 

That is a very good idea! Lots of wines (most meads included) require some aging time in the bottle before they go from drinkable to tasty. In my opinion this waiting game is the hardest part of this whole process... I am so not a patient person! LOL

 

hehe Yeah, patience is the hardest part of it to be certain! It's almost as bad as waiting for a box of goodies from China. (certified mailbox stalker)