I haven't updated this thing in, like, forever. Anyway, I lost a lot of mead to dry airlock (or whatever). It's a long story and I don't feel like going into it.

My bf just busted out #12 (a saffron-spiced cyser) and it's fucking amazing. Holy shit. I think I may start up again with a couple of gallons this winter and that cyster bears repeating.

note

Due to illness, exhaustion, and being terribly busy with work, I haven't posted in, well, a long-ass time. I am way behind in racking, but thankfully most of the stuff I brew uses yeasts that can stay on the lees awhile.

I just thought I'd post in case any of my devoted fans thought I'd gone and quit letting things rot in jugs.

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

I'm really not digging this one. I was going to rack it, as it's nearly the new moon, but I decided instead to just let it be. There's not much sediment and the yeast I used should be fine for lees aging. I drew out a tiny sample and it's just sort of sour with a bit of bitter to it. We'll see.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Racked off oak. I was planning on racking it onto some more medium oak (American), but I am satisfied with the oak levels it has now. This has aged pretty smoothly and I think it will just keep on improving. It's immensely warm and comforting, roasty, something you'd want to drink on a crisp late autumn or winter day.

I didn't take an SG reading, but there seems to be a hint of sweetness.

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

Racked off mahleb and vanilla beans. Beautiful, rich red color with a hint of brown. This stuff is pretty smooth, but finishes with a slight alcohol bite. Not unpleasant, though. It has a deep cherry/vanilla fragrance and taste, with the honey present as well. I am tired as hell and feeling non-descriptive, so I'll just say this is really good stuff. It's also just sweet enough.

SG 1.011

#15 Chestnut Varietal Mead

Racked off gross lees. The color of the honey has been carried into the mead, there's definitely an orange to the amber. The sample I drew out tasted pretty much like any month-old mead, but there are distinct tones of the smokey chestnut honey.

SG 1.015

#3 Spiced Cyser

I bottled it this morning. It's still a tiny bit bubbly, but I used old Redstone Meadery grolsch-style bottles. They bottle their sparkling meads in those bottles, so it should be okay.

This one came out really nice. I can taste the apple, honey, and cinnamon. The smell is the cinnamon and a sweet, floral smell. Apples. The taste starts with sweet apple, then the honey, and the finish is warm, warm cinnamon.

SG at bottling 1.022.

Names

I named some of my meads/wines. Because I am a dork. Heh.

The cyser I was bitching about is clearing again. Whew.

#3 Spiced Cyser

God fucking dammit. The sorbate and sulfite I added seem to have created a haze in the mead that doesn't want to drop clear. Guess I'll have to wait a bit and see. The fuck?

#14 Cara Cara Orange Wine

Racked and topped off with some distilled water. I'll top with some orange juice the final racking, I think.

SG 1.005.

#3 Spiced Cyser

Sulfited and sorbated in preparation to bottle.

I'm not up to making any fancy labels, but I'll try to think of a name for it.

#15 Chestnut Varietal Mead

Siphoned under glass and airlocked. Added just under 1/4 tsp grape tannin and same amount of yeast nutrient. I ended up with one full gallon and a 20 oz or so glass container that is also airlocked.

SG 1.09. It's actually lower, the fermentation gasses were pushing up the hydrometer. So probably 1.08 or so.

#15 Chestnut Varietal Mead

Huge, thick head of foam on this one when I woke up. I added 1/4 tsp nutrient.

I think I'm going to call this one Homenaje a Cataluña.

#15 Chestnut Varietal Mead

3.75 lb Italian chestnut honey (approx)
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient
water to a few ounces over a gallon
D-47 yeast

Chestnut honey is amazing. I had some in Catalonia and remembered liking it a whole lot, though I was too drunk at the time to do much more than hop up and down or something. It's pretty pricey back here in the states, but I saw it on sale and decided it needed to be in mead. The honey was better than I remember. Think smoke and toasted wood, roasted coffee and a touch of spice, perhaps maple.

I'm making a little over a gallon so I have some reserved for topping off purposes.

OG 1.122

Mass Racking

#3 Racked. Very tasty. The oak did this one a good turn. Honey and apple are pretty balanced and there is a mid-to-back palate spice. It tastes ready to drink to me.

#2 Racked. Sort of. Godfuckingdammit. I slipped on some water. I saved enough to fill a 50 oz small jug. This one is super dry and very vinous (the raisins I used overpowered the whole thing, I think). I'm not too disappointed, I didn't know what I was doing when I started this one. I'll possibly do another coffee blossom varietal someday, sans raisins.

#1 Racked. I may have, um, overdone the vanilla on this one. It's dry (champagne yeast does that) and floral (the roses) and the aftertaste is straight up, full on VANILLA. No honey presence that I can detect.

#11 Racked. Racking is hard when you only have a gallon to work with. This mead hasn't really cleared as much as I'd like, and there was a layer on top of what looked like proteins or even wax particles from the honey. Trying to rack from under that and over the sediment layer meant more loss than I'm happy about, unfortunately. We'll see. The flavor is good, it's obviously too young to drink, but I can taste that buckwheat honey very clearly, which is nice.

#10 Racked onto heavy toast oak. This one is pretty sweet and still burn-y. I caught the maple and some low, rich, honey tones. This one is about as clear as the buckwheat show mead, which is to say, not so much.

#6 Racked. Sweet, tart, tangy, very pomegranate-y. Good stuff.

#12 Racked. Warm, spicy. Ginger and saffron apparent, apple and alcohol dominating. Just a hint of honey.

To Do List:

#4 Rack Mid-March. Final racking. I am putting this one off because it's D-47 and I'd like a little sur lie aging.
#7 Rack in April.
#9 Rack early April.
#14 Rack early April.

#14 Cara Cara Orange Wine

Racked off gross lees and onto the juice, some zest, and pulp of one cara cara orange and two small blood oranges. The color before the racking was a faintly ruddy orange. With the addition of the blood oranges, it looks like a pale tequila sunset. I added a new slice of ginger, too. It tastes predictably orange-y and alcohol-y.

SG 1.005

#9 Guajillo Mead

Racked off sediment. I had used sparkalloid to clear this one, since it just wouldn't do it on its own. The downside of this is the fluffy stuff it leaves in the mead. So the mead was beautifully clear before I racked it, now the sparkalloid is floating in it again. It's okay, I'll rack it again in a couple months, I think it'll be ready to bottle then.

The color is a fine, very very pale gold. Paler than straw. It's sweet and has a delicate, floral honey scent and taste. Very nice. It's mild, but not at all bland. Good stuff.

SG 1.015

#14 Cara Cara Orange Wine

I drew out a sample and got an SG reading. I took a tiny taste and it was, of course, very alcoholic and very raw. A hint of something good, though. I gave the lees a little stir to keep fermentation going. The color is devoid of any red or pink. It's an extremely pale beige-y yellow, just touched with orange.

SG 1.006

#4 Sassafras Metheglyn

Wow. Just... wow.

Racked off the sage and onto a single star anise. This is the best one yet. The level of sassafras is perfect, with the hint of sage I was trying for. The honey taste is light, but it's there. There is no alcohol burn. It's lightly sweet. The color is a gorgeous sassafras brown-tinged red. So damn good.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Racked off medium toast oak and vanilla bean and onto Hungarian heavy toast. Color is a beautiful red-brown. Aroma is warm, roasty goodness and alcohol. Alcohol burn is heavy in the taste, but mellower than last time I sampled. There is a hint of the honey, a touch of vanilla, and then the warm chicory/carob/root-y goodness. The oak gave it a nifty tang, I think. The aftertaste is honey and warmth.

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

Added one tablespoon of mahleb (sour cherry pits) and swirled the jug. I tried one of the pits to see what the taste was and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It has that rich cherry flavor, without the sweet. Good stuff.

#7 Blueberry Lavender Melomel

Oh my word. This mead is fucking awesome. I racked it today. A tiny bit of the rosemary and some of the blueberry solids ended up making their way through the tube, but not enough to concern me. The mead has cleared to a beautiful red-purple color. The smell is dominated by lavender and general sweetness, a touch of vanilla and blueberry. The taste has an immediate burst of sweet (though not cloyingly so, thankfully) and blueberry. The honey is present as well. There is a touch of the rosemary that sort of gives a crispness and the vanilla makes it fuller. The lavender adds some nice floral tones to it and I think I stopped just short of overdoing it. It's amazingly good and I can't wait to see how it is after a year. This is the best one I've tried so far.

SG 1.02

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

So I was bad and racked this even though it's not the new moon. I have a month of training coming up for my job, which includes some 12+ hour days, so I had to grab time to deal with mead when I had it.

It's totally clear and a lovely blush color. It smells of alcohol (though not horrendously so) and tartness. The taste is much the same. I've read that pomegranate takes a long time to age, so that's fine. It isn't awful, just not ready, obviously.

SG 1.00

#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

Pomegranate Wine Fix

Put into 50 oz glass jug and airlocked. There were some almost anise-y notes in the smell of the wine.

SG 1.034

#10 Acerglyn

I added another small dose of nutrient, hopefully the last. Immediate activity in response.

#10 Acerglyn

SG - 1.025 and still fermenting. If this gets down to 1.02 or a little lower, I'll be psyched. I had a tiny taste of it and it's just bit too sweet right now, but close. The maple is definitely present.

Pomegranate Wine Fix

I am making a microbatch of pomegranate wine to blend with the batch I have that is too sweet.

16 oz POM juice
32 oz water
12 oz blond sugar
tiny bit tannin
tiny bit nutrient
Montrachet yeast

OG 1.08

It will ferment down to dry, I hope. Then I'll blend it with the sweet wine. And hope.

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

Siphoned into glass jug, airlocked. I added about 5 oz. clover honey and some more cherries. I put in a tiny bit of nutrient to make sure the yeast could handle the extra sugar. Put in another vanilla bean.

SG before addition, approx 1.033
SG after addition, 1.04

#9 Guajillo Mead, Mini Cyser

I decided to rack the guajillo mead off its gross lees. There were just so much of them. None of the other meads I'm doing threw down sediments this thick. I'm guessing the honey itself, being raw/unfiltered, had some wax and other things in it. When my fridge is less full, I'll put it in the cold a time. I had the sweetness exactly where I wanted it, so I decided to rack onto sorbate. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not. I read that premature sorbating could produce a nasty geranium character, so I decided to use sulfites just one more time (my partner probably wouldn't drink a straight traditional mead anyway, he is more partial to fruity stuff). During racking, I got a tiny bit of the lees in the tube, I think. Or I just may have disturbed the lees a little while moving it to the sink to rack. I held the jug up to the light to see how close the newly racked mead is to clear and I saw some particles in suspension. That's okay, it'll drop out before too long. Due to the thickness of the lees, I did lose a bit of mead in the process, I just hope there's not too much headspace. Anyway, I worry too much.

So I put a tiny bit of sorbate in the mini cyser and it's been in the fridge. It cleared more (though there is still a little haze). I should have racked it onto sorbate, but I didn't think about it. So I racked it today onto a tiny bit of clover honey and water to sweeten it. The flavor when I sampled it was more apple than honey, so I hope this balances it.

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

I am really impressed with the RC212 yeast so far. The mead was audibly bubbling within 6 hours of pitching the yeast, and foaming before I went to bed. When I transfer to glass/airlock, I think I'll put fresh cherries in, along with another vanilla bean.

I'm drinking some Redstone Meadery Solstice Mead. It's a vanilla cinnamon mead, good stuff. I'm happy to see they don't add sulfites, since my partner is an asthmatic.

Mini Cyser

I have a 20-something ounces of the Spiced Cyser put aside. When I first mixed the cyser, I made too much and set some aside in the fridge to top off with. Then I got ahold of a few small glass containers that had openings that could handle airlocks, so I transferred the extra. I took an SG today of the mini cyser and got a 1.01, which is fine by me. The mouthful I sampled is a bit hot, but definitely honey-apple tasting. I sorbated it and put it in the fridge. I'll attempt to bottle it in a couple days, I think. My only problem is that it's still a little hazy. The parent cyser is clear, but this one isn't quite yet.

#13 Tart Cherry Vanilla Melomel

honey blend (most to least) - orange blossom, guajillo, fireweed, wildflower, and a tiny touch of avocado blossom
four oz blond sugar
2 oz sucanat (in lieu of nutrient)
32 oz Knudsen's Just Tart Cherry juice
some tart baking cherries from a jar, no preservatives, packed in water
water to a bit over a gallon
one split vanilla bean
Lalvin RC212 yeast

I had planned to use nothing but orange blossom, fireweed, and guajillo honey in this one, but I didn't have enough to bring the sugars up to where I wanted it. I supplemented with wildflower and ended up putting in just a little bit of avocado blossom. I tasted the must before and after the avocado blossom addition and was glad I put it in. It rounded it out a little.

OG 1.114

#12 Saffron Cyser

Siphoned into glass jug and put under airlock. Next time, I will use about 10 threads of saffron, I think 25 is excessive. We'll see, though. I added a wee pinch of nutrient before transfer.

SG 1.06

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

I think I over-added sugar to this one (or pushed it to the limit, at least), so I took the mini-brew I had saved from this batch (without the extra sugar addition) and blended it in. Then swirled the lees with the end of my long nylon spoon and added a tiny bit more nutrient. Airlock activity has increased a bit. This one will have to have a long aging time, I think.

SG 1.03

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

SG 1.001. Super dry, some bitter tones, alcohol hot. The pomegranate tartness is there, but lost somewhat in the harshness. I'm thinking the harshness must be the nutrient.

#9 Guajillo Mead

I drew out a sample that read 1.015. That's fine by me. It is still bubbling slowly, so I think it will finish on the low side of sweet or semi-sweet. I really like this one. It's almost drinkable now and has a delicate honey flavor. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm going to leave this one on the lees. It's dropping clear on its own. I was reading that mead made with D47 can be left in primary for months at a time, so I'll just leave it alone.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Racked off sediment, onto medium toast French oak, a couple ounces of avocado honey mixed with distilled water, and a fresh, split vanilla bean. The SG reading was .995. I don't expect the honey to add much sweetness, but rather a touch more rich flavor.

The sample I drew out is dry and hot, of course, but there are some great undertones. The bitter is the bitter of the chicory in the Roastaroma tea. The mead itself has a warm, rich fragrance. I will backsweeten before I bottle it, but I have good hopes for this one. It's not clear yet, but I expect it will clear a lot after this racking.

#12 Saffron Cyser

three honey blend: leatherwood, orange blossom, Texas wildflower
pinch grape tannin
unfiltered apple juice (just under a gallon)
25 threads of saffron, soaked in warm water
small handful white raisins
D47 yeast

OG 1.12

I chose the leatherwood honey because of the spicy flavor, the orange blossom for the citrus/floral character, and the darker wildflower honey for some warm undertones I think will complement the saffron. I'm totally unsure about the amount of saffron, but I can always age it with a bit more.

edit: On second thought, I added a pinch of nutrient.

Misc (#6, #7)

#6 - The pomegranate wine was started with way too much sugar. I followed a recipe intended for a more aggressive yeast. I added about 1/4 (probably less) tsp of nutrient, hoping. Fermentation isn't done, there are still occasional bubbles in the airlock, but it needs a kick in the ass, definitely. SG still around the 1.05 range.

#7 - SG at 1.014. Excellent. The taste is rough, of course, but I can see it developing well. It's not totally clear, but when I held the sample to the light it has a beautiful, very dark purple-red color.

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

The fermentation was still going, but a tiny bit slower than I'd have liked, so I added a pinch (probably just under 1/4 tsp) of nutrient. There was an immediate reaction. I swirled the jug very gently to mix in the nutrient. Now the bubbling in the airlock is moving more quickly.

Later today I'm going to check the SG of the pomegranate wine, the blueberry melomel, and probably the roastaroma metheglyn and guajillo varietal. The guajillo seems to be trying desperately to drop clear.

I may start a cherry cyser today. Tart cherry.

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

I added 2 oz. each of maple syrup, avocado blossom honey, and sucanat. I did the sucanat first and I will never do that again without putting the jug in the sink first. As soon as the sucanat touched the mead, it burst into activity and foamed over. My partner was kind enough to mop up the mess while I added the other stuff.

This would bring the OG up to 1.145.

#7 Blueberry Lavender Melomel

Activity had slowed to one bubble in the airlock every 60 seconds, so I decided to sample and rack. The SG was well under 1.00. I lost more than I'd like during racking when my hand slipped. The sample tasted pretty good after I let it stand a minute or two. It's very fragrant, the lavender is immediately present. The fermented blueberry taste is obvious and the honey is overpowered right now. I added six ounces of wildflower honey, two ounces of organic sugar (evaporated cane juice), and topped with straight blueberry juice (Knudsen's). The color is lovely, a deep purple.

I thought that vanilla would add a lot to the other flavors, so I split a bean and added it. I went outside and picked a couple sprigs of rosemary and replaced the old one.

By my calculations, the honey, sugar, and blueberry juice I added would have made the OG up to 1.134. I think next week I'll add 2 more ounces of sugar.

#9 Guajillo Mead

On the advice of some Got Mead? folks, I gave the lees of this one a slow, gentle stir. There was an immediate, strong, noisy reaction. Pretty cool.

#6 Pomegranate Wine

Racked off sediments, topped with a few ounces of POM juice (reading taken before topping off).

SG 1.047

Taste is pretty good. Tart, a little too sweet. Not a harsh bite at all. It's much better than just a little while back, when I sampled it. I hope it finishes at about 1.03. It's a very nice color, sort of the pinky-red of a ruby more than the deep red of a garnet.

#11 Buckwheat Show Mead

Siphoned into glass jug and put under airlock. Added tiny pinch of tannin.

SG 1.08

#11 Buckwheat Show Mead

My friend and neighbor Jackie had a taste/smell of some of my varietal honeys yesterday and was really in love with the buckwheat. So I thought I'd use my powers for good, instead of evil. And stuff.

3.7 lbs (approx) western buckwheat honey
water to a over a gallon (for topping up purposes)
K1V-1116 yeast

Like I said before, I'm using the K1V in the hopes that I won't need to add any nutrient. If I have to though, I have to. We'll see. I'm also not adverse to adding a pinch of tannin or a tiny bit of lemon juice for acid later down the line. But I'd like to make this as close to a show mead as I can and give a bottle or two to Jackie someday if it turns out. I think I'm going to quit at a dozen batches for awhile, my pantry floor is getting full.

OG 1.115

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

Siphoned into glass jug and put under airlock. I put the leftovers (about 8 oz worth) into a tiny glass apple juice container and put that under airlock too, for topping up after first racking.

SG - 1.085

My guajillo mead is doing a funny thing. I've picked up the jug a couple times to hold it up to the light and see how it's looking. It seems like whenever I disturb the jug, no matter how careful I am, it sets off a little explosion inside it. I hear a massive amount of fizzing and I can see what look like cloudbursts happening inside. So weird. I should ask about it on the gotmead forums.

misc (#6, #1, #10)

I did an SG reading of the pomegranate wine. It's at 1.05, which is still very sweet. I'm going to wait another week to rack it. It's just starting to drop clear. It tastes completely different from the pom mead, which is probably isn't the honey quite so much as the yeast. The wine is Côtes des Blancs and the mead is D47. There's some tartness, but it's really cloying more than anything else. I'll just wait on it.

I drew out a tiny sample of the Rose Vanilla mead. Oh my. I used champagne yeast, because I didn't know any better. It's very, very dry and hot. There is some rose presence, but there's a bitterness too. No vanilla whatsoever. Next time I rack it, I'll add a bean. The color is pretty, though. Amber/brown/rose.

I took an SG reading of the acerglyn. 1.09. It might be lower because of the bubbles pushing up the hydrometer. It's pretty foamy.

I think I'm going to do a buckwheat show mead next. Buckwheat has just enough nutrients, I think, for a K1V to do it.

I took a look at the cyser and sassafras metheglyn. Both were pretty clear. The cyser is nice and gold, the sassafras red-gold. I had saved some of the cyser that wouldn't fit in the gallon jug in the fridge, then found a tiny glass jug (10 oz) and put it in that with an airlock. It's cute, a little mini-mead. I'll use it to top off next time I rack.

#10 Acerglyn (Maple Mead)

1 qt grade B amber maple syrup
1 lb sage honey
approx 1/2 lb avocado blossom honey
a couple oz wildflower honey
pinch acid blend
pinch tannin
water to a gallon
Lalvin D47 yeast

I've read about a lot of people using only lighter honey with maple meads, but I threw in a good bit of the super dark avocado. I prefer the low notes of maple flavor to the high ones, if that makes sense. I hope this ferments to sweetness, I certainly pushed the SG up there.

SG 1.13

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

Since it is around the time of the new moon, I went ahead and racked this one off the sediments and tried a sample. It's fermented down dry with very little detectable honey taste or aroma. It's pomegranate sour, no blueberry present (I used POM blueberry in this one). I've read that pomegranate wines and meads begin very sour but get much better, so I'm not worried. The sourness isn't unpleasant, just dominating. The color is sort of a light maroon.

I topped off with approx. 8 oz POM.

SG 1.00 (perhaps .999)

#9 Guajillo Mead

Added 1/4 tsp nutrient. Transferred to glass jug and airlocked.

SG 1.095

#9 Guajillo Mead

The mead seemed to be lagging badly, with no obvious bubbling or sound when I stirred. I added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient and there was an immediate response.

#9 Guajillo Mead

Added about 5 more ounces of guajillo to the mix.

#4 Sassafras Metheglyn

I went ahead and racked this one off the sediments because I thought I saw something growing on the surface. It turns out it was nothing, thankfully. I did an SG reading and tasted it and it had burnt through the honey down to .995. I can't taste any sassafras, just a vague bitter/herbal undertone. I can taste the honey. I added another couple of ounces of wildflower honey and will probably add more in the future. I'll age this with sassafrass teabags after next racking, I think. It's already starting to clear and is golden pale, with a bare hint of orange.

Note: My OG reading (1.15) was definitely way off. I took it after the mead was bubbling, I believe, so the gas pushed up the hydrometer significantly. I know D47 can get up to 16% alcohol, but not 18%.

Honey and Sugar Content

I asked about this on the Got Mead? forums and was told by two more experienced mazers that honey definitely varies in sugar content enough to skew SG readings from what would be expected. I think I'll get more guajillo honey next time I'm at the store and feed the mix some more.

#9 Guajillo Mead

3 lb guajillo honey
5 oz partially milled organic sugar
tiny pinch tannin
pinch nutrient
pinch acid blend
handful of chopped dates and white raisins, unsulphited
two drops liquid pectic enzyme
Lalvin D47 yeast

I added the extra sugar to push the OG up, hopefully past the yeast's tolerance for some residual sweetness.

OG 1.116 (with the dates/raisins it should be higher)

According to the mead calculator the OG should be 1.124. I was careful with the water this time, so I'm not sure why it's that much lower. Anyway, I have heard good things about guajillo honey, so I decided to make an almost show mead. It's not a show mead because I added the dried fruit and nutrient as a nod to D47's nutrient requirements. The raw guajillo honey I sampled was interesting. It was almost clear, a very white honey, but with a strong honey flavor.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Guess who over-filled the jug? That would be me! I didn't lose much, I just hate having to wipe up the mess and clean out the airlock. Whoops.

To Brew List:

1. Blackberry wine. Unfortunately, I have to wait until they're in season. I can't seem to find pure blackberry juice.
2. Acerglyn, aka maple mead.
3. Garlic cooking wine. Only needs about 3 months aging, would probably make good gifts. Too bad I don't have enough time to get it made before XXXmas.
4. Black cherry wine. Can be made from juice, easy to find.
5. Citrus wine or mead. Probably this winter when they're in season.
6. One or two varietal meads: buckwheat, snowberry, mesquite, fireweed, tupelo.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Transferred to glass jug. Added 2 Roastaroma teabags and one vanilla bean.

SG 1.063

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

Removed mesh bag of raisins and squeezed, replaced with a few chopped dates. The smell of the fermenting raisins was really bothering me, for some reason. The dates have a better odor.

#3 Spiced Cyser

Racked onto 5 medium toast American oak cubes (approx 1/5 oz), added fresh cinnamon stick. Topped with more apple juice, same as original. Added pinch of pectic enzyme, as juice was unfiltered and very cloudy. The sample I tasted was very good. The honey and apple were most apparent, with a faint hint of cinnamon.

#8 Roasted Metheglyn

3 lb Stroope's Texas wildflower honey
12 oz Stroope's cotton blossom honey
1/4 tsp nutrient
1 cup unsulphited white raisins
tiny pinch tannin
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 teabags Celestial Seasonings brand Roastaroma tea
water to one gallon (actually, I mismeasured and added more than a gallon)
1 oz sucanat (evaporated cane juice)
KIV-1116 yeast

OG 1.115

Note: added 2 more oz sucanat awhile after pitching yeast, so I'm not sure what the SG would have been. Like I said above, I over-added the water.

#2 Zapatista Coffee Blossom Mead

Mead has cleared significantly. The color is a medium orange/amber.

#7 Blueberry Lavender Melomel

Added sprig of fresh rosemary and 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme.

#6 Pomegranate Wine

Added 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme. Fermentation has picked up immensely and is bubbling along at a very steady rate.

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

Acting on the advice of more experienced mazers, I added 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme.

#7 Blueberry Lavender Melomel

Transferred to glass jug secondary. I put this one under airlock a little early due to an ant/fly problem. They didn't get in, but I didn't want to take the chance.

SG 1.062

#7 Blueberry Lavender Melomel

32 oz Knudsen's Just Blueberry juice, no additives/preservatives
36 oz. alfalfa honey
8 oz blackberry honey
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup dried lavender flowers
2 oz sugar
1/2 tsp nutrient
Lalvin D47 yeast

OG 1.113

#6 Pomegranate Wine

Transferred to glass jug secondary.

SG 1.12

This one is starting slow, according to that reading, but what I've read about Côtes des Blancs, that's normal.

#2 Zapatista Coffee Blossom Mead

Racked off sediments. Managed not to lose much of the mead. I tried a sample and it tastes very strongly like a young white wine, no honey taste evident. I plan on backsweetening with more honey.

#6 Pomegranate Wine

36 oz POM brand pomegranate juice
barley water to a gallon (1/2 lb barley cooked in water, strained)
3 lbs Florida Crystals sugar (more refined than turbinado, but not bleached out like white sugar)
1 tsp nutrient
Côtes des Blancs yeast

OG 1.15

Recipe adapted from Jack Keller. The guy is a complete jingoist with a shrine to Ronald Reagan, but he knows his wine.

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

Transferred to glass jug secondary.

SG 1.05

#5 New Moon Pomegranate Mead

I decided to try to make this one by the moon cycle, after reading other's people's notes on increased yeast activity. I used the POM pomegranate/blueberry blend to ensure a good color.

32 oz POM brand pomegranate/blueberry (equals juice of about 10 pomegranates)
3 lb Stroope's Texas Wildflower Honey
1 tsp yeast nutrient
water to one gallon
Lalvin D47 yeast

OG 1.116

#4 Sassafras Metheglyn

Transferred to glass jug secondary.

SG 1.05

#1 Rose Vanilla Mead

Mead has cleared. The color is beautiful, a definite rose hue.

#4 Sassafras Metheglyn

2 lb blackberry honey
1 lb 12 oz Stroope's Texas Wildflower Honey
tiny pinch of tannin
40 oz sassafras decoction
2 teabags of sassafras
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 oz chopped, unsulphited raisins
Lalvin D47 yeast

OG 1.15

#3 Spiced Cyser

Transferred to secondary.

SG 1.080

#1 Rose Vanilla Mead

All activity stopped, fermented down below SG 1.000 again. Racked off sediments.