What a relief

After discussing things with my local wine making advice giver, he said it's normal to taste off/skunky/weird at only 6 weeks. It won't start tasting right until at least 6-9 months, ideally a year. Must have more patience. He also suggested that unless we need the jug, leave it in the jug until that 1 year mark. 

So that's good to hear. We will need to improve our sanitizing solution vessels to accommodate bigger tools (like the siphon and wine thief) to make sure when we rack the next batch everything is hunky dory. 

Looking fairly clear to me, but am told it's nowhere near as clear as it will be when finished.

News everybody!

Racked the first 1 gallon batch again to get it away from the things that I didn't like the looks of... Stole a little taste. It has certainly matured since the little taste I took at 2 weeks, but something about it seemed a bit... off somehow. Beth said it smelled and tasted of mold. I will have to look into things to try to do to save it if that is the case. Maybe it's a lost cause. If that is the case it would appear that I introduced something to it when racking it for secondary fermentation. Must be more careful and thorough with the sanitizing of the tools when we rack the big batch. Would be a shame to lose that one.

The 1 gallon batch was looking really good tho, nice and clear already.



The plan is to bottle this in a couple weeks and make another 1 gallon batch to use to top up at racking for secondary fermentation. I guess we'll see in a couple weeks how it is.

ETA: According to people on the internet, it's still way too early to tell how it will turn out. We could leave it in the jug for 6-9 months and then bottle it, or just bottle it in 2 weeks for aging and deal with a bit of sediment in the bottom.

The big batch will need some data along the way. Might be too late for an initial specific gravity reading, or maybe you take that when racking after primary fermentation? Will need more research.

We're going to mead a bigger batch

June 23, 2013

Brad brought over 7kg of Srayko Honey this weekend. We weren't able to schedule a time for us to work on it together, but I couldn't wait another 2 weeks to do it. (the next time he'd be in town) So I took it upon myself to get this batch started.

Cleaned and sanitized a large carboy, along with all the tools I would need. I then proceeded to cook the must. Some recipe say you don't need to, but I went ahead and did it because being a newbie, I want to eliminate as many variables as possible to zero in on anything that happens to go wrong.

This process took two batches in my stock pot, had to cook the honey with the distilled/spring water to over 160 degrees for 15 minutes. Had 6 kg of honey to do. I didn't skim any of the foam off the top, which is maybe something I should have done, but I guess we'll see.

After this pasteurization was complete my wife helped me transfer it to the carboy. (I know most people would use a big bucket for primary fermentation, and I would too, but I don't have one right now and have several big carboys).

After allowing the must to cool the yeast was re hydrated and woken up, then added to the must with some yeast chow. After topping the carboy up with more spring water, a bung and airlock were added and it was off the the dark coolness of my basement for a couple weeks.

Next step will be racking this mead into another carboy for secondary fermentation. We will use the first small batch to top up the carboy. Might have to take a bottle or 2 if there's enough, one for sampling, and one for storing as our first ever batch. To see how it ages.

It officially begins

My brother and I decided to start making mead. The idea is that it will start out as a hobby, and probably wind up as a hobby. But there is a thought in the back of our minds to make it into a commercial side project once we've come up with a recipe and learned the process.

We started our first little 1 gallon test batch on May 11, 2013. This was to see what the process was like, and give it a shot with some locally available raw/unpasteurized honey (without wasting too much if it doesn't work)

This batch was racked into another jug after 2 weeks (May 25, 2013) to get the mead off all the sediment that collected on the bottom for secondary fermentation. I took a little taste at this stage and it was clearly on its way to being every bit as tasty as the Mead I got in Regina at Slow Pub, albeit dryer. (dryer was the intent)

44 days later and I think I need to rack it again. There is some stuff forming on the surface that is most likely normal/benign but I don't want to take chances. I will also test the specific gravity of it, and sneak another taste.

The plan now for the little test batch is to use it to top up a larger 5-6 gallon batch after racking it for secondary fermentation (as you lose some in the racking process)