#14 Cara Cara Orange Wine

Transferred to glass jug and airlocked. As I suspected, there doesn't seem to be any reddish tinge to it at all. Ah, well. I removed all the raisins, but left in the ginger and as much of the zest as I could. I may add more zest later and perhaps a clove and cinnamon stick. We'll see. I gave it a small dose of nutrients.

SG between 1.08 and 1.09 (the bubbles were making the hydrometer bob up and down).

#14 Cara Cara Orange Wine

I was going to make blood orange wine, but when I went to the store I discovered that they'd raised the prices on the blood oranges and the new shipment consisted of very small, very hard fruits. On sale, though, were Cara Cara oranges. They're big, juicy navel oranges that are the color of raspberries or ruby red grapefruit inside. Meyer lemons are a cross between lemons and oranges.

juice of 8 Cara Cara oranges (approx 40 oz)
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
zest of both lemon and orange
a handful of white unsulfited raisins
a few slivers of fresh ginger
organic evaporated cane juice
a little yeast nutrient
water to a gallon
Pasteur Red yeast

OG 1.125

I used the Pasteur Red because I read that it's good for fruit wines. The color of the juice was a little redder/pinker than typical orange juice, but I don't think that will carry through the fermentation process. I got a little carried away in adding the sugar, too. I maybe should have kept this one dry, but we'll see.

#6 Pomegranate Wine

I blended the way-too-sweet pom wine made with Côtes des Blancs with a dry batch of the same wine made with Montrachet. I allowed a good bit of the lees from the dry batch to get in with the new blend, hoping I'll get a little more fermentation. Even after the blend, the wine is still too sweet. I added a tiny bit of nutrient.

SG 1.03+

Edit to add: I just counted a bubble in the airlock every 15 seconds, so fermentation has restarted. Whoot!

#1 Rose Vanilla Mead

Racked off sediment and onto fresh vanilla bean and sulfite. This one tasted horrible last time I sampled it, so it's come a long way. Not much honey flavor I can detect yet, the rose and vanilla are evident. The mead is a pretty blush color.

SG 1.00

#3 Spiced Cyser

I suck at racking. Seriously. I disturbed the hell out of the lees on this one. Anyway, I racked this one off the medium oak and cinnamon stick and onto some heavy toast Hungarian oak. The color is a sort of orangey-gold, very pretty. The sample I drew out is sweet, with evident honey, apple, and cinnamon flavors.

SG 1.024

#2 Zapatista Coffee Blossom Mead

Racked onto medium toast American oak cubes. Since I started this mead using sulfites, I went ahead and used them this racking. This mead tastes soooo much better than last sampling. The honey is just now starting to come through, though it still has a definite wine-y taste. I think the raisins added a lot of that, as well as adding color. The mead is clear, with an orange-y brown hue.

SG 1.002

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

Racked off sediment and whole cherries. The mead had fermented dry. I had significant headspace because of the cherries, so I added 6 oz of tupelo honey, dissolved in warm water and topped off liberally with tart cherry juice. I added two fresh vanilla beans. The mead is a nice color, deep red with that brownish cherry tinge. The nose is vanilla. Even though I'm not a huge fan of dry wines, the sample I drew out was very good. It was, however, mostly cherry, the honey was largely absent. I'm hoping the tupelo will bring in more of the honey flavor.

SG (post-additions) 1.018

#12 Saffron Cyser

Racked off sediments. The sample I drew out was completely dry. There is strong apple and saffron in the nose, with a touch of honey. I tasted it and it's really hot, of course, dominated by the apple. I added about 6 oz of tupelo honey, dissolved in some warm water and a tiny bit of a concoction made by The Ginger People, a ginger soother. It contains ginger juice, lemon, and honey. I topped off with apple juice.

This mead had the thickest yeast cake I have ever seen.

#4 Sassafras Metheglyn

Added a bundle of fresh sage to this one.

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

Added five cubes of medium toast American oak.

#11 Buckwheat Show Mead

Racked off sediment. Unfortunately, I disturbed the sediment more than I'd have liked to during racking. No big deal, though. It's gone dry, but not terribly so. There is a definite, clear buckwheat honey showcased here. It's been preserved very well.

SG 1.005

#10 Acerglyn

Racked off sediment. Sweet, but not too sweet at this point. Strong maple presence, with honey tones as well. I think this one is going to be really good.

SG 1.024