What I did for/with Mead today

[Dan O]

Oh boy, another one bites the dust. Welcome to your latest obsession.

I call it the most addictive hobby on the planet

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked my Viognier Pyment off of everything that has settled from the fining agents and added American and Hungarian Med+. About 30g of American and 20g of the Hungarian.

A reminder is set on my phone to check it every two weeks for the oak level in it... I am fighting the urge to purchase another oak barrel for it and I just may fail at this as I have enough juice concentrate to make another 12 gallons which means I can fill the barrel as soon as I plan on emptying if I go that route.

Then again for the same money I can get another stainless Torpedo keg and just leave oak in it until its at a level I like... So far the oaking I have liked the best has been in the barrel but I haven't done a ton of it in the kegs as those have mostly contained my melomels.

 

[Ren06]

Racked my Viognier Pyment off of everything that has settled from the fining agents and added American and Hungarian Med+. About 30g of American and 20g of the Hungarian.

A reminder is set on my phone to check it every two weeks for the oak level in it... I am fighting the urge to purchase another oak barrel for it and I just may fail at this as I have enough juice concentrate to make another 12 gallons which means I can fill the barrel as soon as I plan on emptying if I go that route.

Then again for the same money I can get another stainless Torpedo keg and just leave oak in it until its at a level I like... So far the oaking I have liked the best has been in the barrel but I haven't done a ton of it in the kegs as those have mostly contained my melomels.

I don't currently have a barrel but I've been oaking using staves at different char levels and different types of wood and it complements the meads very well! I don't think I'll ever go back to using wood chips.

 

[Maylar]

Xoaker spheres for me. 4 per gallon, 3 months.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Ok, ok. I've got some Hungarian oak cubes, might as well drop a few in one of the gallons I've got clearing.

 

[Maylar]

Ok, ok. I've got some Hungarian oak cubes, might as well drop a few in one of the gallons I've got clearing.

0.6 oz. per gallon worked for me when I used cubes.

 

[Ren06]

Bottled 4.75 gallons of grape blueberry melomel

 

[Todd Peterson]

Shared a 750 ml bottle of black currant blueberry melomel with some friends this evening.

The fruit mead was a hit. Oaking this mead for a month following the manufacturers dosing instructions completely changed the taste profile of this beverage for the better. Was not bad before using the Stavin oak cubes. A better final product now at just 6 months.

The oak added some tannins and rounded out the taste of the mead.

Will definitely be oaking my meads going forward.

Todd Peterson

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Bottled cider so I have a fermentor free for mead.

 

[MightyMosin]

Poured (3) 750ml bottles of the new Viognier Pyment to enjoy over this weekend.

It's young but still very tasty... I'm anxious to see what time and the oaking does for flavor integration. I also added this into my Batch Cost spreadsheet.
With calculating in a basic labor cost if I was paying myself, this batch works out to $10.76 for a 750ml bottle.

I have to say that it is a hell of a bargain for such a nice honey forward white pyment. I love doing this!

Also bottled a bit of Pinot Noir Pyment and Marshmallow Bochet for friends to try.

 

[Ren06]

Racked and kegged 5.5 gallons of a cranberry raspberry hydromel and taking a few sips of it now. Itself hazy because it was just backsweetened but in a day or 2 it’ll go back to the original clarity that it was.

 

[SixShooter]

I bottled my very first mead. A tart cherry recipe based off of the open source Groennfell recipe I found on the forum. Started with a scant gallon. Ended up with 8, 12oz bottles. I didn't backsweeten and it is rather astringent and potent. It cleared nicely and is a beautiful color. I'm hoping age will help. Unfortunately, i didn't get pictures.
This is fun!
-Sue

 

[DBhomebrew]

Bottled a wildflower traditional from July. Racked a January batch onto oak.

 

[Dan O]

Today I added fruit to a split batch of Big Berry melomel, 4 lbs of frozen strawberries to each, 3 lbs of mixed berries to each, (one of the mixed berries was blueberries, blackberries & raspberries....the other was strawberries, raspberries & blueberries) This will bring on slightly different flavors to each, but, it's all about having variety in my house.

Also checked on several others today.
Tasted & removed the lime zest from my blackberry/lime.
Tasted the blueberry/vanilla....yum!!, but still needs another week with the bean.
Tasted the blueberry/lemon/vanilla, maybe a few more days with the lemon zest, but, like the other, I think @ least another week with the bean.
Tasted the blueberry cobbler....(graham crackers, vanilla. ceylon cinnamon & nutmeg) Tasty, but it's missing something, not sure what though.
Tasted the chocolate/cherry/vanilla/pomegranate, aging on cherry wood staves. OMG, why did I only make 2.25 gallons of that???!!!!!

Finished off the night with some almost 2 year old Acacia Rose BOMM....which is totally delicious!!

 

[bellhp]

Bottled my first mead last night , a mixed berry Melomel .
Used 750 ml Belgian corked beer bottles .

 

[MightyMosin]

I finished up all the partial bottles that were left from Saturday evening

 

[Ren06]

Bottled 5gallons of pineapple coconut melomel

 

[Dan O]

Picked up 5 bottles of this. Pricey, but, I haven't been able to find cherry blossom honey for sale anywhere. Wow does this stuff have a nice flavor.very cherry !

I have a chocolate/ cherry/ vanilla/ pomegranate that's aging on some cherry wood staves. It could use some backsweetening when it's done on the staves. This honey would really make the cherry pop.

 

[RumOnTheDocks]

On Monday I finally bottled about 3,5 gallons of my spiced, plum melomel. Has been bulk ageing for about a year now.
It already tastes good, in my opinion. It'll be even better come the cold autumn months.

P.S Ignore the random bottle labels, it's what I had on hand.

 

[shetc]

Ok, went a little crazy at a local arts and craft fair

Beautiful flavor, but I wasn't going to buy at $35 for a 2 lb bottle. The beekeeper asked me what I wanted it for, and told him mead. Turns out he is a mead making madman. We spent 30 minutes talking about his recipes, and using kveik for fermenting (he recommended Omega Espe in the warmer months). He said I get the mead maker's discount, $25 per 2lbs.

 

[Todd Peterson]

Added oak to a black currant blueberry melomel. 2 ounces of Stavin medium toast French oak cubes to the 5 gallons in secondary (after a vodka bath).

A couple of takeaways:

1) the oak serves as a nucleation point for the CO2 is solution. This mead went into secondary in February. There is a lot of gas coming out of this mead right now. Airlock looks like active fermentation.

2) I tried to dial this recipe down by increasing the volume / reducing the starting gravity. The mead finished at 1.014 vs the 1.020 that the last batch came in at. I’m surprised what a difference 6 gravity points makes using the same ingredients.

I’m hoping the oak smooths out the front end tartness/bitterness similar to the impact it had on my last melomel.

I am always somewhat disappointed in the sample prior to stabilizing. It always seems to come out better as we get to bottling day and thereafter.

Todd Peterson

 

[bushpilot]

Opened a 2 year old cyser last night. It was OK, nothing to brag on, but OK.

I was making them sweet back then, for some reason. Its SG (according to the label I put on it) was 1.020 at bottling. It also could have used a touch more acid.

 

[Maylar]

Beautiful flavor, but I wasn't going to buy at $35 for a 2 lb bottle. The beekeeper asked me what I wanted it for, and told him mead. Turns out he is a mead making madman. We spent 30 minutes talking about his recipes, and using kveik for fermenting (he recommended Omega Espe in the warmer months). He said I get the mead maker's discount, $25 per 2lbs.

If Tupelo is local to you, I assume you're in the Florida panhandle? I have about 14 lbs. of it waiting to become a traditional. With shipping to Connecticut it was about $225.

 

[Dan O]

Last night added Hungarian medium toast oak cubes to the blackberry/ lime, Hungarian medium toast oak cubes to the blueberry/lemon/ vanilla, American medium toast oak xoaker to the blueberry/ vanilla.

Harvest day today. I picked almost a full 1 gallon bag & I got about 5 cups of petals total after trimming .

 

[bushpilot]

Harvest day today. I picked almost a full 1 gallon bag & I got about 5 cups of petals total after trimming .

I so badly want to make dandelion wine/mead, but I have beehives, and they need the dandelions more than I do.

At least I get honey from it.

 

[shetc]

If Tupelo is local to you, I assume you're in the Florida panhandle? I have about 14 lbs. of it waiting to become a traditional. With shipping to Connecticut it was about $225.

That's a little more than I paid but not bad, I assume. I moved to the Atlanta area about a year ago. Seems to be quite a number of beekeepers in the area. I bought from Brandon Thai who has hives in Atlanta, and helps others in south (tupelo) and north Georgia (sourwood). He told me he gives discounts to any mead maker.

 

[MightyMosin]

For the weekend.
Racked my Cab Sauv pyment out of a barrel to add K-Sorbate and a bit more K-Meta.
Rinsed the barrel out with boiling water and then again with cold water. Added 750ml rum back to the barrel to keep it good while empty... lots of rolling to get everything covered,

Back sweetened to 1.008 with bochet Mesquite.
Racked the rum out and then and racked the Pyment back to the barrel.

It is a light sweet touch, but exactly what was needed to cancel out some vegetal character in the mead. Now to let it sit some more and eventually bottle it.

 

[malchizedec]

For the weekend.
Racked my Cab Sauv pyment out of a barrel to add K-Sorbate and a bit more K-Meta.
Rinsed the barrel out with boiling water and then again with clean water. Added 750ml rum back to the barrel to keep it good while empty... lots of rolling to get everything covered,

Back sweetened to 1.008 with bochet Mesquite.
Racked the rum out and then and racked the Pyment back to the barrel.

It is a light sweet touch, but exactly what was needed to cancel out some vegetal character in the mead. Now to let it sit some more and eventually bottle it.

Hi Mosin, what's your dose rate?

 

[MightyMosin]

I'm not sure what you mean by the dose rate. Can you expand on that?

 

[malchizedec]

Hi Mosin, my many grams per litre are you adding to the must of each preservative?

I'm not sure what you mean by the dose rate. Can you expand on that?

 

[MightyMosin]

pH	K-Meta 1 gallon (grams)	K-Meta 3 gallon (grams)	K-Meta 5 gallon (grams)
3.2​	0.138​	0.414​	0.690​
3.3​	0.171​	0.513​	0.855​
3.4​	0.210​	0.630​	1.050​
3.5​	0.256​	0.768​	1.280​
3.6​	0.322​	0.966​	1.610​
3.7​	0.414​	1.242​	2.070​
3.8​	0.519​	1.557​	2.595​
3.9​	0.644​	1.932​	3.220​
4​	0.810​	2.430​	4.050​
K-Sorbate
ABV	Sorbic acid (mg/L)	g/gallon
5.5%	275.00​	1.40​
6.0%	250.00​	1.30​
6.5%	237.50​	1.20​
7.0%	225.00​	1.10​
7.5%	212.50​	1.05​
8.0%	200.00​	1.00​
8.5%	187.50​	0.85​
9.0%	175.00​	0.90​
9.5%	162.50​	0.85​
10.0%	150.00​	0.80​
10.5%	137.50​	0.70​
11.0%	125.00​	0.60​
11.5%	112.50​	0.55​
12.0%	100.00​	0.50​
12.5%	87.50​	0.45​
13.0%	75.00​	0.40​
13.5%	62.50​	0.35​
14.0%	50.00​	0.30​
14.5%	37.50​	0.25​
15.0%	25.00​	0.20​

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I so badly want to make dandelion wine/mead, but I have beehives, and they need the dandelions more than I do.

At least I get honey from it.

Depending on your location, by mid-May other flowers are available for the bees.

 

[SimPilot]

Today
Bottled 3 gallons of cider. (12 x 750ml bottles)
Moved 3.5 gallons to secondary + added spiral oak.
Started 6 gallons 1.115 + 2 x D47.

 

[MightyMosin]

Racked 3 gallons of Mango Chile for the 3rd time and I believe I finally have it racked off of everything that is going to settle, but since I have to make another batch to blend this with it will have time to see if any more chile will drop out.

Unfortunately I left the chile in a little bit too long and it needs blending to cool it down some.

 

[Ren06]

Racked 19 gallons of mixed berry melomel

 

[Dan O]

I checked the gravity of my dandelion mead last night, down to 1.063. Added the remainder of the nutrients. Now we wait. It smells absolutely delicious. I think the Ulei blossom honey will be the perfect pair with the dandelions.
DV10 seems to be living up to the hype. Very active this morning.

 

[Dan O]

Dandelion mead must in the making.....round 2 for this season, but a smaller batch than the first. About 3 cups of petals, trimmed. It should be about a 3/4 gallon batch. Still needs to steep for a couple of days in the fridge before it becomes a mead.

 

[shetc]

Ok Meadonites - I think/hope I'm a better journey to a good mead. OG was correct this time, and I don't think I made any mistakes. Going for a semi-dry traditional mead of 12% ABV. The taste of the tupelo honey is so yummy.

 

[Ren06]

Added 9# of mixed berries in my secondary to my mixed berry melomel.

 

[DBhomebrew]

1mo sample of my first melomel. K1V, TOSNA 3.0, 1Gal batch, 32oz blueberry juice, 3# wildflower, 1.123

Turbid when racked to secondary last week, starting to clear, still very hazy.

.989 16.7%

Absolutely delicious, clean flavor. Berry level seems appropriate.

Added .3oz Hungarian oak.

Really pleased with it at 1mo. Will mix up a tart cherry with the same recipe soon.