..but only the first level badge, the Bubbling Airlock, not yet the Completed Mead Batch Campaign Ribbon.
I've been poring over the forums, obsessing on Mead Making, posting here and there, with questions and whines but finally I have 2 batches in progress.
#1 - Joe's 3 Week No Age Sweet Mead - 1 Gal
which I have already whined about in the Recipes forum
I was patting myself on the back for hitting the gravity PERFECTLY, but the rate of fermentation seems a bit low. Bubble every 8-10 sec. But at least it is going!
#2 - What else? Joe's Ancient Orange - 1 Gal
Ahh hubris... the Mead Gods scowled at my hydrometer worship and somehow I was way off on the gravity here. Much too high.. 1.153 corrected for temp. I guess I shouldn't have rinsed the emptied 5 lb honey jar to guestimate the additional amount needed after measuring out most of it. I was going to decant off about a quart and replace it with water, spin another gravity and redeem myself, but I decided that as a first batch I would obey the first commandment of JAO and FOLLOW THE RECIPE AND DON'T MESS WITH IT. If the deities deign to smile, maybeI will have a drinkable Sweet/Sack Mead at least.
At least the little Fleischmann's were cooperative. Bubbles within 30 min of pitching (84 deg F) and >=1 bubble/sec this morning! The basement temp obligingly rose from the 68-69 deg F to a more JAO-friendly 72. The No Age Sweet is still bubbling slowly...but steadily.
After making the JAO batch by heating water in a pot and dissolving the honey rather than rinsing/dissolving with hot (~140 deg F)tap water on the fly as I did with the 3 week No Age, I could definitely see a difference in clarity.
Perhaps the slow fermentation on the No Age is due to incomplete honey solution. It is in a Brown Glass 4 L carboy, so I can't really tell by looking.
The OG sample was cloudy, but seemed pretty homogeneous, but then I decanted it from the top after a vigorous shake...as my Wine Thief won't fit through the neck of the carboy. Should have used the 10 mL pipets I 'borrowed' from the lab instead, but I was too lazy to fill the hydrometer tube that way.
I'd like to start a batch of Joe's quick Pyment or DeltOgre's Cinnful Cyser, but maybe I will wait and see how successful these batches turn out.
Thanks for listening to yet another NewBee.
Recluse
P.S. Hubris again.. my proposed JAO Label (bottling date and ABV are just fillers...)
I've been poring over the forums, obsessing on Mead Making, posting here and there, with questions and whines but finally I have 2 batches in progress.
#1 - Joe's 3 Week No Age Sweet Mead - 1 Gal
which I have already whined about in the Recipes forum
I was patting myself on the back for hitting the gravity PERFECTLY, but the rate of fermentation seems a bit low. Bubble every 8-10 sec. But at least it is going!
#2 - What else? Joe's Ancient Orange - 1 Gal
Ahh hubris... the Mead Gods scowled at my hydrometer worship and somehow I was way off on the gravity here. Much too high.. 1.153 corrected for temp. I guess I shouldn't have rinsed the emptied 5 lb honey jar to guestimate the additional amount needed after measuring out most of it. I was going to decant off about a quart and replace it with water, spin another gravity and redeem myself, but I decided that as a first batch I would obey the first commandment of JAO and FOLLOW THE RECIPE AND DON'T MESS WITH IT. If the deities deign to smile, maybeI will have a drinkable Sweet/Sack Mead at least.
At least the little Fleischmann's were cooperative. Bubbles within 30 min of pitching (84 deg F) and >=1 bubble/sec this morning! The basement temp obligingly rose from the 68-69 deg F to a more JAO-friendly 72. The No Age Sweet is still bubbling slowly...but steadily.
After making the JAO batch by heating water in a pot and dissolving the honey rather than rinsing/dissolving with hot (~140 deg F)tap water on the fly as I did with the 3 week No Age, I could definitely see a difference in clarity.
Perhaps the slow fermentation on the No Age is due to incomplete honey solution. It is in a Brown Glass 4 L carboy, so I can't really tell by looking.
The OG sample was cloudy, but seemed pretty homogeneous, but then I decanted it from the top after a vigorous shake...as my Wine Thief won't fit through the neck of the carboy. Should have used the 10 mL pipets I 'borrowed' from the lab instead, but I was too lazy to fill the hydrometer tube that way.
I'd like to start a batch of Joe's quick Pyment or DeltOgre's Cinnful Cyser, but maybe I will wait and see how successful these batches turn out.
Thanks for listening to yet another NewBee.
Recluse
P.S. Hubris again.. my proposed JAO Label (bottling date and ABV are just fillers...)