Three racks and a new mead

05/05/2018

I had been a busy day home brewing starting early in the morning when I got up soon after sunrise. Summer has arrived in Arizona with the temperatures getting up into the 100's by mid say but still in the 60's at night. Therefore, we decided to get up early to get our grocery shopping done before it became unbearable. And like others that have live in Arizona during the summers, we were not alone in our thinking. By the time we made it out the door by 7:30 am, the streets were already filled with Saturday shoppers.

I have a seventh airlock that is being neglected so decided that today would be a good day to pick up some more honey at the store and put it to use. Last week I received a package of vanilla beans in the mail for a batch of Vanilla Methiglyn that I’ve been wanting to make. The first step is to make a sweet clover honey mead so that the flavor of the honey doesn’t over power the flavor of the mead. And I think the sweet mead will go well with the sweet vanilla that I’ll be adding to in about four weeks.

I also picked up a one-pound package of yeast energizer that I’m eager to try out to see how it works. The last batch was for some wine I tried and failed make several years ago and was sitting in the garage. It was only a 2 oz. package and cost a little under $4 to get while the one-pound packages cost me $14. The ingredients are a little different so I’ll be interested to see if it reacts any differently from the old batch. Also, being a fresh batch having not sat in the sweltering heat all summer for years should have an effect as well.

While shopping, I was looking for some frozen peaches so I could make my “Peaches ‘n Cream” mead in June. Surprisingly, there were no peaches on any of the shelves which instead held frozen mangos instead. I have no desire to make mango mead as I don’t really care for the taste of mangos and hear they don’t ferment well. I’m also, however optimistically, looking for frozen cranberries for a spiced cranberry mead for this coming Christmas. Neither of these fruits could be found so I’ll just have to stick to the vanilla that I already have at home for now.

In the afternoon after we came home from shopping and other errands, I found time to rack the raspberry mead. I had thawed out some frozen raspberries that I had purchased earlier and pureed them in a blender. I found this method easier when I made the cherry Melomel in dealing with cap management. The clover mead that I had made for this was almost done fermenting and it was the perfect time to add the fruit. The end result was a beautiful rose color with a gravity of 1.020, ideal gravity for a sweet mead.

But, now the Cherry Melomel needed attention as it had been sitting in the secondary fermenter finishing up. Almost all of the pulp had settled to the bottom of the jug and placing it at an angle as able to get a good quantity racked. There was some pulp that made it over to the new jug but giving it another three weeks to clarify would settle it out. My plan is to let my mead clarify for three weeks to see if it needs any bentonite to clear it up. If so, I’ll add some to the jug, wait one more week, and then rack again.

Now was time to take care of my big experiment in mead making; the Bochet or “burnt” mead as it is sometimes called. Karin remarked that it looked almost like coffee and I would have to agree with her when I watched it siphon over. It’s virtually crystal clear and a dark amber color and I couldn’t resist a taste of it even though I knew it wouldn’t be ready. With a gravity of 1.040, I was expecting an almost too sweet mead but this wasn’t what I found. Although definitely sweet, there was a distinct smoky, toasted flavor with a hint of caramel in the background. The raw flavor was still present and this will need at least three months before it will be ready to drink. But, I’m amazingly pleased with the result and can’t wait to show it off later this summer in Lake Tahoe.

After eleven batches of mead, I think I’ve developed a technique that is working well with me and producing nice meads. I’m now able to control the initial gravity and predict with some accuracy what the final gravity will be. I’m going to try for a dry mead unlike the orange mead that came out dry on accident although a pleasant accident. I’m planning a Celtic Methiglyn for this winter as I’m having trouble finding cranberries right now. On that one, I’ll try for a dry mead but this time deliberately instead of on accident using what I’ve learned so far.