What's in your carboy?

[Aspera]

Summer is mead season for me, but I'm just about to gear up for ales again. What lurks in your closet/basement/garage?

[Anthony]

6 gallons of "Breakfast Tea Mead" bulk aging,
6 gallons of "Stout Braggot" ready to bottle,
3 gallons of "Peanut Butter Mead" clearing,
3 gallons "Thai Iced Mead" just started a second fermentation,
3 gallon "Tupelo Varietal Mead" will finish fermenting in the next few days
And a gallon of Sweet Tupelo Vinegar thats coming along very nicely.

Anthony

[daniel G.]

Anthony,

Are you willing to share your recipes for these mixes? Dan

[chemistbert]

I have 5 gallons of Elderbery wine
1 gal methglin
1 gal blueberry melomel
5 gallons of red ale

[ScottS]

5g Sweet concord grape mead - VERY nice.
5g Champagne mead
5g Strawberry melomel - awesome with a little sweetening, probably best of the bunch
5g Mead port
5g Sweet cherry melomel - a cross between a Jolly Rancher and Robitussin -
25g Medium sweet mead - VERY nice with a bit of acid and oak
5g Blueberry melomel - remember to crush berries better next time...
5g Blackberry melomel - I'm not making this again until I have homegrown berries
5g Peach melomel - Very nice, looks like a show mead but smells strongly of peaches
5g Raspberry melomel - Spectacular...
5g Raspberry wine
5g Tart Cherry melomel - Excellent after sweetening just a little
15g Cider - I love this stuff, 5g is kegged
44g Cyser - needs another year of aging, but VERY promising
5g Sweet mead with my honey - not clearing for some reason
5g Red Plum melomel - tart with little plum flavor
5g Stanley Plum melomel - just as boring as the other plum melomel
5g Elderberry melomel - Wonderful.
5g Yeast test - 5 1g mead batches each with a different yeast
5g Multiberry melomel - fruit leftovers from last year, VERY nice
5g Concord Grape Wine
5g Cranberry melomel - mixed reviews, I like it
6g Port - just bottled, from a kit
5g Apricot melomel - just started
5g Blueberry melomel - just started, crushed berries better this time
5g Strawberry melomel - just started
5g Tart Cherry melomel - just started
5g Honey Wheat Ale - YUMMY
5g Nut Brown Ale - also YUMMY but not a summer beverage

On deck:
5g Raspberry melomel
10g Honey wheat ale
10g Semi-sweet show mead - actually 2 5 gal batches that will test the differences between all-at-once nutrient addition and staggered nutrient addition

[Anthony]

Sure Dan, I'm willing to share.

Stout Braggot

I had planned to mash this grain bill;

3 lb Munich
1 lb 8 oz Crystal 120
1 lb roasted barley
8 oz chocolate malt
8 oz flaked barley
2 oz black malt

the day I made it temps got up into the 90's and I wasn't about to run the stove for a couple of hours. Waht I did follows.

Spring water to make 6 gal.
6 lb. Mesquite honey
3.3 lb. Dark malt extract
2 1/2 t. Superfood +
1 t. Irish moss
11g Nottingham Dry yeast

Boiled extract in 1 gallon of water 15 min. added irish moss, blended in honey, chilled. Added superfood, aerated and pitched yeast at 74 degrees.

OG 1.066
PA 9%
Brix 17
--------------------------

Peanut Butter mead

500 ml filtered water @ 74 F.
50 ml purple sage added
1/2 t. Superfood Plus (shaken to mixed).
5g K1-V1116, rehydrated 15 min. @ 104 F. befor added to starter.
Activity in starter within 5 min.

Must started @ 21:00 6/25/05.

12 pounds Purple sage honey
6 pound organic peanut butter, oil drained off.
5 qt. filtered water.
1/4 C. Black tea, loose leaf

1/2 t. Irish Moss & 1 1/2 t. Superfood Plus added after must was removed from heat.

slowly brought to a boil then simmered over medium heat for 40 min. Oils and scum scimmed from surface, moved to a cold burner, covered and left to cool over night.

Removed 3 qt. of muck that had come to the surface. Drained to 3 gallon carboy, filtered water added to bring level to 3 gallons.
Sample drawn:
O.G.: 1.148
P.A.: 20%
Balling: 35%

Pitched starter:
6/27/05
09:30
76 F.

Covered with sanitized cheese cloth, will fit airlock after 4 days.

Honey & water was added at two rackings, for the 3rd, 3 lb of peanuts simmered for 2 days in a crock pot, the fat was scimmed from the surface after cooling and 3 lb of honey was added to this before it was racked to a clean carboy with the mead, this addition started a fourth cycle of fermentation.

It finished at 25% A.B.V. but you'd never know it's that strong by the flavor or aroma.

It smells like peanut butter and honey, it taste like peanut butter and honey, is very sweet at 5 Brix, and will put you on your seat in short order.

If you make this mead, leave a lot of headspace, at least 1 gallon if not more as it foams like a mad dog, I had to clean up after this batch 5 times.
----------------------

Tupelo Varietal

3 gallons;

9 lb. Tupelo honey
Spring water
1 1/2 t. Superfood +
D47 yeast

Balloon whisk used to blend honey into cold water while aerating, added superfood and aerated for 10 additional minutes before pitching yeast starter (made yesterday). Drained to carboy and fitted with airlock.

O.G. - 1.120
P.A. - 16%
Brix - 29
---------------------

Breakfast Tea Mead

500 ml filtered water @ 74 F.
50 ml Avocado honey
1/2 t. Superfood Plus
5g EC - 1118, rehydrated 15 min. @ 109 F. befor added to starter.
Activity: 30 minutes

Must:

16 1/2 pounds Avocado honey
Filtered water to make 6 gallons.
3/4 C. Black tea, powdered

Honey, water & tea added to brew pot, heated over low flame until honey and water blended, 1 t. Irish Moss added when must was removed from heat (must was 100 F). Cooled to 80 F. added 2 1/2 t. Superfood Plus & aerated with ballon whisk before draing to carboy.

Sample drawn:
O.G.: 1.132
P.A.: 17%
Brix: 30%
----------------------

Thai Iced Mead

Spring water for 4 gallons
12 lb Sage honey
Roobios tea
chinese red tea
Star anise
Cinnamon stick
Vanilla bean
1 1/2 t. Superfood +
1 t. Irish moss
5g D47

Boiled tea and spice for 1 hour topping up water as needed, removed from heat to cool. let steep 1 hour. Removed tea and spice from pot blended in 12 lb sage honey. Added irish moss and superfood,aerated for 10 minutes with ballon whisk before draining to carboy.

OG, PA and brix where to high for the hydrometer to read. Poured off enough must to fill a 1 gallon jug and added water to bring the level back up to 3 gallons. Pitched yeast starter at 76 degrees.

OG 1.130
PA 17%
Brix 30%

The D47 stopped fermenting at 14%. Racked to a clean carboy added half gallon of the must that was removed. Started second stage fermentation with EC-1118. when this stops I'll add the remainder of the must and let it sit until it's clear.
------------------------------

Anthony

[Gregory_Naff]

In my carboys
5 gal traditional clover honey mead
5 gal traditional misquite honey mead
10 gallons Blackberry/blueberry mead
5 gallons strawberry mead
5 gallons vanilla mead
5 gallons Prickly Pear Mead (champagne yeast)
5 gallons Prickly Pear Mead (Lalvin's D-47)
10 gallons Lemonade (honey, fresh lemonjuice)
5 gallons traditional fireweed honey mead
10 gallons mixed berry mead
10 gallons merlot pyment
Beers
10 gallons Double IPA
10 gallons American IPA
10 gallons porter

Lots of others in kegs and bottles....

[Aspera]

In my carboys,

3 gallons sour rauchbier
3 gallons sweet clover clover/ginger methglin
5 gallons pinot blanc/clover honey sparkling pyment
5 gallons black current/black cherry melomel
6 gallons sack mead (traditional)

[Anthony]

Aspera, whats the Black Currant/Cherry Mel tasting like?

Anthony

[Anthony]

Last night I started 2 gallons of Tupelo / Black Corinth pyment.

Anthony

[Aspera]

I don't really know yet, its still in the primary and I only added the fruit juices a month ago. Its gone from fruity smelling to sulferous/puke odor back to floral smelling. Right now it is about the color of an amber ale. If I had to do it again though, I would use the wyeast sweet mead strain and skip adding nutrients. Instead I used D47/1118 and I'm worried that some of the fruit aroma has bubbled off. The sweet mead strain loves warm fruit fermentations.

[Aspera]

I like the sound of that breakfast tea mead. Maybe I'll have mine with a little lemon :D