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Whats fermenting?

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Dmntd

NewBee
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Apr 18, 2005
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A pic of the mead in progress here.

From the left; Breakfast tea / Avocado, Peanut Butter / Sage, Stout Mesquite Braggot, Thia iced tea / Sage, the 2 on the end are Black Currant / Buckwheat from the same 3 gal. batch.

Anthony

[attachment deleted by admin]
 

memento

NewBee
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Aug 3, 2005
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Not quite as many (yet!), but here are my 2:

Vanilla mead, pretty much done fermenting - now aging and clearing
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fall spiced mead, cleared and ready to be bottled
33978675_f2b2dc6633.jpg
 

lostnbronx

Senior Member
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Dec 8, 2004
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Oooh,

Keep us up on your tasting notes for that blueberry -- I want to make one soon myself!

-David
 

Brewbear

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2005
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Hope you didn't freeze your berryes, Urban :-\

Sorry, couldn't resist :'(
Looks good, keep us informed,

Ted
 

infojunkie

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 21, 2005
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84976519813_th.jpg

Current ferment, started 8/20, picture from first or second day.

3.8:1 water to orange blossom honey
a splash of bottled lemon juice
a sprinkle of champagne yeast on top

covered with a clean cloth napkin, rubber-band to keep closed

stirred lightly a few hours later
 

infojunkie

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 21, 2005
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Two and three days later...stirred thoroughly, resulting in much foaming which subsided but returned as large bubbles.

several hours after stirring 8/22
84976635013_th.jpg


very foamy again when stirred 8/23
85113511045_th.jpg


Was put into anaerobic phase with airlocks 8/23. Most in a large vodka bottle with a proper airlock (topped off fully in the end, but I had to go slowly), and the remainder in a Fuze(TM) bottle with a balloon. It tastes fizzy and VERY sweet--1.088 at this point still.

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(Images are from my camera phone, made into thumbnails with the jpegtopnm suite for my photo blog. My new hobby, mead-making, is just one of the things I document. 8))
 

infojunkie

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 21, 2005
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84976547845_th.jpg


This is my second ferment, still in progress.

It's 4:1 regular Vermont honey:water, with a quarter to half-cup of fresh lemon basil and a splash of lemon juice added during primary fermentation. Lemon basil was completely strained out by the end of the first week. Can't remember if I added any champagne yeast in. I hadn't bought any when I first started this ferment. This is still bubbling slowly in the airlocked bottles, three weeks later.
 

infojunkie

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 21, 2005
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The "remainders" bottle, with hydrometer:
85113644037_th.jpg


I made a nice sweet-potato soup with the lees when I racked, but where I had some fairly clear mead in progress that wasn't enough for another bottle, I threw it into this mixture. It's got
- some carob molassas "mead" from batch #1
- some carob molassas pyment (with Welch's white grape and H20) from batch #1-b.
- some of the Dole frozen fruit melomel that had just cleared a lot of solids, from batch #3...

That fermenting had slowed down, and I just added
- some of the brand-new orange blossom must and champagne yeast from batch #4, to top off the bottle and re-start the fermenting. That worked. There's some scum collecting around the top.

An experiment. A bit more experimental than the others. :p

8/23 update....YUM! Wow! I pulled out some floating solids with a clean turkey baster, then poured out enough to use the hydrometer. I tried to avoid the glug, glug. (My lack of siphoning skills doesn't make that a better option yet.) I just measure SG in the plastic tube the hydrometer came in...no cling problems thus far, and it makes a great tasting cup afterwards. The Remainders Bottle got down to 1.018, with components starting around 1.08, and all brewing for under a month. Back of the envelope says that's almost 10% alcohol? It tastes rather like beer, but a fruity one with perfect sweetness and no bitterness. I like medium sweet, fruity, with no unfermented honey taste, and this has that.

I topped the Remainders Bottle back off with the fizzy 1.088 orange-blossom batch #4 (which still tastes like unfermented honey, under that fizziness).

Sander...is a "perpetual," "stable" yeastie community to make your honey-based alcohol what you're looking for? That's kind of my goal for now, I guess. Something I can feed honey-water and a bit of fruit, and get a glass from now and then. This bottle's got some wild yeasts now, plus a little boost of champagne yeast in with its fresh food every so often. I'm going to see how long I can keep it going, testing (and tasting the tested portion) every time I rack another one that would blend well. ;) I'm keeping it airlocked when I'm not pulling a sample and refilling.
 

HomeBrew

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 13, 2005
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The current brood: http://whatsbrewing.mypicgallery.com/

From L to R:

Ancient Orange (I didn't want to be the ONLY person not to brew a batch :))

Raspberry (Made with wild raspberries, this was primed and bottled last weekend...Very tasty.)

Orange-Ginger (Very hot....This one will have to age awhile.)
 

Mynx

NewBee
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Apr 8, 2005
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Awesome colour on the Raspberry.

What on EARTH is the first jug tho? lol...It's like I wanna put wee gloves on the ends ;)
 

HomeBrew

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 13, 2005
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Mynx,

LOL, that is Bob The Bioreactor. He is a 20L (working volume) cell culture vessel that I liberated from work. I usually get first dibs on older equipment that we no longer use. The vessels are normally made from Pyrex or Kimax, so I can add hot wort or must right to them without fear of cracking.

Peace.
 

memento

NewBee
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Aug 3, 2005
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From left to right: Peach Cinnamon Melomel, oak dry mead, vanilla mead bulk aging (2). The carboy on the left is actually 6.5 or 7 gallons. I did my vanilla in that, but when I racked it to bulk age, it filled up the 5 gallon, 1 gallon, and 2.5 wine bottles!

40222205_eb7e1e12f9.jpg
 

memento

NewBee
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Aug 3, 2005
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It is beautiful. I think the vanilla gave it a little color. The honey was wildflower from Spring Hill Merchant. very tasty! I have a beautiful label for it that I'll post in the appropriate place.
 
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