Fermentor tour

I've got several things sitting around in fermentors and in various stages of aging, and I'm in a mood to try a few things.

So, I got out my turkey baster (a poor-man's wine thief), glass of sanitizer, and tasting glass and got to "work".

Wedding Stout:  This tastes a bit thin, but it needs some more time on the gas to come together.   If I don't get enough Brett. character in time, i'll probably blend in a bit of the Old Ale, which is tasting great.   I had a little of both in a glass, which had an excellent flavor.   Brett. Lambicus and cherries just go well together.

Hard Cider Experiment:   I took a gallon of local cider that Abby picked up at the Murfreesboro farmer's market (~1.049 SG), added 1/4tsp of pectic enzyme, and a packet of rehydrated Lalvin EC-1118 Champagne yeast, and let it sit in the cellar for a couple of weeks (the cellar was right at 70F for most of that time).   It fermented down to 0.994 SG and has a really pleasant flavor.   I think it'll taste great chilled and naturally carbonated.

Strawberry Melomel:   Most of the strawberry flavor and aroma have dissipated at this point.   It's something more than just the mead, but the strawberries are definitely better represented within a jar of jam.  This one also still tastes a bit "young".

Blackberry-base Meads:
Back at the beginning of March 2011, Abby and I mixed up some water and a gallon of Oregon Blackberry Honey.    At some point this summer (shortly after gooseberry season, I suppose), we split the batch into 5 1-gallon jugs, to try out a few different flavors in it.   1 was plain, and was a partial jug, which I bottled a couple of weeks ago, so the cider would have a place to go.   All of these batches got an additional dose of winemaker's acid blend, which really livens up the mead.

Cinnamon Metheglin: This had a single stick of ceylon cinnamon broken in half and dropped in.   There is a hint of cinnamon in the nose, but I don't notice any in the flavor.   We either need to pulverize it or add more.  

Vanilla Metheglin:  This has a light vanilla nose, and a lovely vanilla flavor.  One bean split, scraped, and rough chopped per gallon of mead is pretty much perfect for me.  Neither the mead nor the spice overwhelms the other.

Rosehip Metheglin:  This was 2oz of dried rosehips in a gallon.  The mead extracted a beautiful color from the rosehips, and has a really unique flavor and aroma.  I have no words for this, but I really like it.   There is something slightly citrusy to it, but something else, too.   "Rose", I suppose.

Gooseberry Melomel:  Quite quite sour.  It has a nice crisp and clean flavor otherwise, though.  This may really need to be blended with something to be generally palatable, if I were going to send it to a competition or something.   It does have a nice fruity flavor to it.


Milksick Stout: Tremetol B: Cherry Stout:   The roasted malt flavor and aroma are still the predominant features of this one.   There is a sourness on the tongue with this, but it isn't overwhelming, and doesn't quite stand out as much as I would like.   The oak character in this one is starting to assert itself, as well.   It should be quite tasty whenever I manage to get it ready for serving.

Sour Thing:   Wow, last time I tasted this, I was on the verge of dumping it, and it has since come around nicely.   It's still not a great beer, but I could sit and drink half a 12oz bottle of it, now, and I wouldn't have attempted that before.   This was my first attempt at a wild brew, and I wound up just throwing the kitchen sink at it (not to mention the dregs of a few sour beers).   I have a plan for another, and meant to get some cheesecloth when i was at the store tonight, but forgot that.   oh well, I have some time before i'll need a live starter to maintain.


...  and I've probably had enough, tonight.

Clover Mead For Strawberry Melomel

Abby and I made another mead on Sunday morning.   This time around was 4 quarts of Clover Honey from a somewhat local source.   I wanted to go with about 4 gallons this time, to get the Original Gravity somewhere in the 1.100 range, and we were successful with that, though we had to add a little extra from a honey bear that I bought when I bought the rest of that.    2 gallons of the water were leftover Milksick water from the Cherry Stout.

The whole thing pretty much went right as planned.   We've been doing the "no heat" method, and have had a decent amount of success with it (no failures so far, anyway).   I'm also doing the stepped feeding & stirring, as outlined by Ken Schramm in The Jamil Show on Mead.  That basically involves stirring in nutrients every day or two, to provide additional oxygen for yeast growth, and to give them the nutrients they need as they deplete their reserves.    Essentially, you keep them from getting too stressed, since honey is a nutrient wasteland.

We did soak the jars in a hot water bath this time, which made the honey pour very easily, and made stirring it into the water pretty much a breeze.   

This coming weekend, we're planning to run down to a Local Farm that does "pick your own" strawberries, and I'll be getting several pounds of them to put into this.    I'll top, clean, and freeze the berries, then thaw them and get them near room temperature before adding them to the must, once it's up near the 10% alcohol mark.

Clover Mead for Strawberry Melomel

Batch Size (Gal): 4
Honey (Gal): 1
Anticipated OG: 1.100

Sugar
4 1-quart jars of Weber Farms Clover Honey

Water
2 gallons Milksick water
1 gallon Clearview water

Yeast
Lalvin 71B-1122 2 5g packets, rehydrated in 1 cup of 100F distilled water

Extras
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Energizer
1/2 teaspoon Yeast Nutrient

Notes

• Mixed on Sunday, May 14 2011, around 9AM  
• 24.75 Brix, ~4 gallons
• Airlock activity by 8:40PM
• Temperature in the house has been in the low 60's
• 9PM Tuesday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/2t Yeast Nutrient and stirred pretty vigorously.   A lot of gas came out of suspension, but the gravity hasn't changed much yet.   Maybe 1/2-degree Brix.  pH around 3.8
• 9PM Thursday night, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred vigorously.   pH still 3.8, gravity 23.5 Brix
• 10AM Saturday Morning, added 1/4t Yeast Energizer and 1/4t Yeast Nutrient and stirred.  pH 3.6, gravity 20.5 Brix