Peaches 'n Cream

05/19/2018

I started the Peaches 'n Cream mead this weekend after mulling over the recipe to use for the past several weeks. I've decided to start with a wildflower mead and add peaches and vanilla to the secondary fermenter. I looked for frozen peaches when we went shopping on Saturday morning and found none on the shelves. There was mango and pineapple but no frozen peaches at all. But, I did see some over at Sprouts when I picked up some purified water and other groceries. They were more expensive than what I would want but at least I have a source for some later on.

I also added the blueberries to the Bilbemel that I’m making and measured the gravity to see how it was doing. To my surprise, it was coming in at 1.004 making it a very dry mead instead of the semi-sweet that I was aiming for. Stirred up the mead to get the blueberries well mixed with the mead and was able to bring it put to 1.008; still too dry for me. Took a risk and decided to add a bit of some leftover clover honey and brought it up to 1.016; a solid semi-sweet mead.  

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to feed the wildflower honey for the Peaches ‘n Cream mead. I had prepared ahead of time emptying out the fermenting bucket in preparation of a blowout when I add nutrient. I’m glad I did because that’s exactly what it did when I added it to the jug.

I added the nutrient and popped on the bung as soon as it started bubbling. Covered the hole with my thumb thinking I would hold it there until it settled down but as soon as I released the pressure it popped the entire bung out. I got some paper towels and put the bung back in as foam continued to pour out the hole. Mead and foam bubbled and spit out the tiny hole as it erupted into the bucket containing the sticky, goopy mess.

Added the lock back in the foam blindly hoping to stem the flow and mead filled it up in a matter of seconds. I sat mesmerized as the clear fluid inside the airlock churned and turned cloudy as the pressure tried to equalize. The flow had been slowed was now flowing into the airlock filling it beyond capacity.

I took the now sticky airlock off and quickly ran to the kitchen sink to rinse it out and fill it with water. Returning back to the bucket, the foam had once again filled the bung and was overflowing into the bucket. Plunging the airlock back into position, I watched as the activity bubble and churn out the top of the airlock. After a while, the wild foaming slowed and eventually stopped and I cleaned up the airlock for the last time putting it back.

I lost about a quarter inch of the mead and was at first a little upset about this. But, after looking at how well the Bilbemel is doing, decided that the peaches that I’ll add will more than make that up. I’m considering adding only half the amount of nutrient for the next two feeding left in the schedule. As the wildflower honey had a lot of nutrients in it already, I’m not exactly sure I need to worry too much about the yeast. They seem plenty happy about their environment already without me adding to their drunken party.