Orange mead

Also added potassium metabisufite to the orange mead to stop fermentation. I will be adding honey two it in about a week or so for sweetening.

Appel cyser secomdary

Moved apple cyser to secondary fermenter today a one gallon glass carboy and another gallon carboy filled about half way. I figured I could use the half gallon to re fell the full gallon as I siphon off the mead when racking.

Crisis averted

Well wasn't that bad but sounded dramatic lol. I'll leav the blow off tube in until I don't see gunk coming threw the air hose. Then I'll just replace it with original air lock this mead is going to age a  while.

A first for me

   Got off work this morning came in changed out of work clothes a must after a 12 hour shift. Went to take a look at my meads, when I walked closer I noticed the air lock for the cyser, I started yesterday day was brown. The mead is fermenting so vigorously that it has bubbled all the water from my air lock and there is now cyser in its place. I have watched videos on YouTube of beer brewers using blow off tubs never thought I would need to do one for my meads but I think I might just have to use one for this mead.

Appel Cyser

   Well today was brew day, I decided I wanted a Christmas mead so I poked around on the net and I came across one to try. Man did this mead smell great while mixing it up with the apple juice, honey and spices I used. I am not going  list the steps I took to make this mead but will share the recipe. If you would like to see the step I use to make my mead's cheek my very first post I go in to detail on each step.

3 pounds of wild flower honey 
1 Gallon Walmart brand apple juice many this hear is the juice can have no preservatives in it your must will not ferment with them in it.
1 Al spice berry crushed
1 Clove crushed
1/4 tsp cardamon berry powder
1 tsp vanilla ext
1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp yeast enigizer
1 tsp yeast nutraints
1/2 tsp tannin

Yeast used D-47 one packet

OG was 1.090

update

   Well guys I have not been doing a good job keeping up with my blog so here is a update. Since my last post I have racked the orange mead at least three times, it has cleared up nicely and will be ready for bottling by this time next month. I have not decided if I'm going to to leave it a still mead or make a few 16oz bottles sparkling. I have been trying to find some four oz glass bottles so I can pass out a few samples, but have not been able to find any I like yet.

                                                pic of mead close up clearing out
 

                                                   Mead 2 days later clear as a bell



  I have also made a hard cyder if I can find where I wrote down my reading and exact recipe I will update with it. I bottled the cyber last weekend and it should ready to drink in about a week.

                                                This is the hard cyder cleared out

 I was able to get seven 16oz bottles and about a cup off of a gallon of cyder. This stuff is stout just tasting it while adding the acid blend and sugar I got a good buzz. Should turn out to be a really nice drink tart sweet apple taste.

Day five six bubbles a minute. Forty degrees outside. Fifty degrees inside

Day four. Eight bubbles a minute sixty five outside. Fifty five inside

I bought some yeast energizer today, if fermentation does not pick up by week two I will be adding  a half tsp to the carboy. I picked up the yeast energizer  at a local store we have here in Jackson called Brewhaha. Owner is great very knowledge about brewing beer and wines.

Day three. Seven bubbles a minute. Thirty fours degrees outside fifty five inside

Mead day two. Temp outside twenty six degrees. Temp inside forty five degrees. Airlock eight bubbles a minute 

Well when I woke up today it felt a little cooler in the room. When I took a look at my weather station monitor I saw it was thirty eight degrees outside, but still around seventy something in the room still not bad but its supposed to stay cold for a few days here not good for wine making. When I walked outside I noticed small white speak all over the steps and car. Can not be leave just yesterday it was in the eighties and I was wearing shorts. Welcome to MS don't like the weather wait five minutes. Hopefully the cool weather will not harm my mead when I get home this afternoon I will try to take a pic of the mead and try to count the bubbles per minute.

On March 2 2014 around 3am. I am woken by a ticking sound in the room with me. I finally figure out where the sound is coming from it is the air lock on my carboy. We have the start of fermentation. About nine hours after mixing the yeast with the must. Not to shabby

Recipe I used is for a Melomel witch is a mead made with fruit

ingredients  used
3 lbs wild flower honey
1 pack of d47 Lavin yest
1 tsp yeast nutrients
1 Orange
30 raisins
 1 gallon of water

Steps for putting it all together

 First things first I took all of my lose small items I could fit in the stock pot filled it with water and added 1tsp of one step sanitizer. Next  I filled the the one gallon carboy with water adding one tsp of sanitizer to it. I then let the mixture sit for twenty minutes. During this time I referred back to my book and the net for what to do next. I made one mistake with my adding of the honey. I used a pound and a half more honey then I needed. Shocker that the net failed me lol. In obtaining the correct measurements. If you ever wonder a pint of honey weighs a pound and a half so I only need two pints of honey to a gallon of water. I used four and a half. O well this is a learning process for me.

 After the 20 min wait for the sanitizer to do its job I pored a half gallon of water in my stock pot placing the other half  gallon in the freezer. Bringing the water to a rapid boil for and keeping it there for ten minutes.

While waiting the ten minutes I placed the gallon of honey in a pot of hot water to make for easy pouring. Next I took the water off the heat. Pouring in the honey and adding the yeast nutrients steering the honey with my slotted spoon so the honey did not scorch. I took the half gallon of water out of the freezer and added it to the pot bring the temp down to around one hundred and fifty for and trying to keep it there for ten minutes, this is to kill off the germs that may be in the wild honey. Stirring every so often so the honey mixes well with the water.

Next I took what now is known as a must and the stock pot placing it in the sink adding cold water to the sink until it reached almost the handles of the stock pot. This going to bring the temp of the must down to room temp a lot quicker then just leaving the put siting on the counter un covered running the risk of bugs, germs, or even wild yeast getting in the must. Also during this time I boiled two ounces of water. Then letting  it cool to  around one hundred and nine degrees. Once the water cooled to one hundred and nine or a little lower. I added my yest pack to the water letting it sit until the must finally cooled down to room temp around seventy degrees. I then removed the stock pot from the sink. Letting the water drain out. I replaced the pot with the one gallon carboy placing a funnel in the neck of the carboy and pouring the must in.

 Before adding the yeast I took a hydrometer reading by adding must to the hydrometer tube and spinning the hydrometer to release any bubbles that may have attached to the hydrometer. I still need to do a little more research on reading the hydrometer but this is a pic of the hydrometer in the must filled tube. You can see what it looks like. According to what I saw I should end up with about 16% alcohol at the end of fermentation.

Next I added the cut up orange and raisins  to the must.  I pored the yeast in the carboy shaking the carboy back and forth vigorously for five minutes adding air to the mix  the yeast needs air in order  to ferment properly. I placed the screw on top to the carboy that has a hole in the center of it for the airlock. (A airlock lets the carbon dioxide that the yest puts off  during fermentation escape, but does not let air in.)After the aeration of the must and yest the air lock is placed on the carboy. Outside air is now your wines enemy.

 

 

First attempt of mead items used one 18 quart stock pot, candy thermometer, Pyrex measuring cup, plastic measuring spoon, and large slotted sliver spoon. Most of these items I had laying around the house. Other items I bought from Northern Brewer. Two 1gal carboys with screw on lids,two airlocks, one step sanitizer, hydrometer, and a hydrometer tube.

Well the want to make mead has always been in my head. I have made wine in the past but have never tried mead(Honey Wine). Watching movies with knights  and vikings always makes the want to try my hand at making mead . Here recently I have been watching  the HBO series Game Of Thrones. I know they drank wine and beer on the show and I have not heard the mention of mead yet but its still the right time in history for mead . So I did a little research watching youtube videos I'm also reading a greatbook The Compleat Meadmaker . So bought two gallon sized carboys,  wild flower honey, and yeast and figured what the heck lets give it a try.

This blog is more set up for me to keep records of the mead recipes I attempt to make. Mistakes made and good results