Mead Making Book Review

[gordsellar]

Huh, where'd you find Fleischman's? The big shops in my area only have the brown pillule-looking Korean yeast, or the very grainy Russian stuff, so I went with the latter. Hmmmmmmm. Ah well, if it flops, it's, what, ten or fifteen bucks down the tube? (And it may age nicely, too.)

[Kunkemonster]

I have my ways

[gordsellar]

[Rob]

How is this going? Any updates?

[Kunkemonster]

It's very clear. It fermented for about 6 weeks. The yeast doesn't stay put so any bump or movement hazes up the mead and it takes a while for it to clear. I will take a pic tonight, I have to figure out how to rack and bottle it without getting a ton of yeast in the bottle as I don't have a racking cane.

[Kunkemonster]

Here it is.

[Kunkemonster]

So I transferred it to a secondary jug last night. I'll let it sit for a few more weeks and then transfer to my swing tops. I tasted a few drops from the transfer tube and the taste... is, I don't know...chalky? I don't know if I left it on the yeast too long or I just got a bunch of yeast in the sample. I hope it ends up tasting better, I could diffidently taste the oranges in there.

[Kunkemonster]

I tried some last night and WOW, it has a very strong alcohol smell. As far as taste, I don't think I like it. Very strong and not smooth, some spice and orange flavor. I'm glad I only did a 1 gallon batch. I will have to bottle the rest and let it sit a year or so before I want to try any more. I added an ice cube and some Korean cider, that made it drinkable. Sadly, I wouldn't recommend this.

I have 5 pounds of honey that I was planning on making another mead with. Now I will have to figure out what to do with that. Maybe a cyser or a honey ale?

[gordsellar]

My experience is that some meads have stronger. (EDIT: I meant to write, "My experience is that some meads can be much stronger than others." What I mean is: the first mead I had killed my throat, it was killer dry, but the one I had recently, a blackberry melomel, was wonderful -- slightly sweet, rich in flavour, and with some alcohol warmth.)

My JAO is still sitting the jug, btw: been too busy to deal with, but also, it hasn't cleared as much as yours -- though I'm starting to think it's as clear as it'll get without gelatin finings or filtration. Probably the problem is I used Russian bread yeast, Fleischman's being unavailable to me. The orange pieces and most of the raisins have dropped, though, and I think I'll try bottle it this weekend or next.

I haven't tasted mine, but it has a strong orange scent. Also, and it's hard to tell from your photo since it's so clear, but mine looks quite light in color, more like a blond/straw color than what I see in your pics, though I'm, guessing the tabletop is coloring your JAO and so on.

Yeah, long aging is probably the solution for this mead, like others. Some take up to a year, which, well... makes me leery, since I may or may not be moving in that timeframe, or even -- who knows? -- leaving the country.

If you still haven't found a use for that honey, and are leaning toward the beery side, "braggot" is another (older) term for something between mead and beer -- honey and barley together. Lots of recipes and some of them look really tasty.