At the start of jan i began a batch of cranberry mellomel. And Things went along ok but im wondering if my decision at the outset of cooking down the berries was a BIG mistake because im now here with a mead with a very odd mouth feel and it is not at all enyojable. Also it has a really odd murk/ jelly / separatin thing going on at the bottom say an inch or so high just on top of the yeast lees I log my meads in excell so forgive to loss of format but it should sum up of what i did. Oh and though I dont list it every time... anything that toches my mead has a long beachy water bath for sanitation.
Cranberries (fresh) $7.00 1.36 kg
cucumber wildflower honey, fergeson apiarys $15.00 2.4 kgs
no name creamed honey $10.00 2 kgs
Lalvin 71b-1122 $1.50 5g
(added mid way) 1kg billy liquid honey
Date, Time, Grav/Test , observations, Process
Jan 2 2005, 6:30 PM, n/a, Jam like with pink froth top, Take 10cTap h20 add 3lb/1.36kg fresh cranberries cook untill all are burst and intigrated into water
Jan 2 2005 7:30 PM, n/a, as above ,Add 2l spring h20 to pot, stir pour into primary… add 2l to pot to rinse out remaining stir lid with tape over port hole till am when I can pick up airlock and bung and yeast and honey… Also ad 1/2 cup black river 100% cranberry juice.
3-Jan 1:30 PM, 5 cran must test
3-Jan 1:30 PM, 5.5 tastes tart sweet and just a but of berry warmed up honey, poured rinced jars with ot tap and added that to the must also… top up to mid lid line
3-Jan 1:30 PM, n/a Pitched out dated yeast Lalvin 71b-1122 made a starter to test how rocking and rolloing it will get… slow but about half of it got going so mixed 1/2 must with warm water and stired in air then let stand 10 then stirred then let stan then stirred
3-Jan 6:00 PM, n/a bubbles!
4-Jan 8:30 PM, 5 lots o bubbles stirred
6-Jan 8:00 PM, 5 blurp blurp blurp blurp Added 1 kb billy bee honey into the mix though this did not seen to raise the sg any…. Hmm very frustrating
7-Jan 8:00 PM, 5.4 don’t ask! I don’t know why…
8-Jan 5:00 PM bubblegum pink .. A lot of the sediment transferred but htats ok Racked into glass carboy to leave behind skins and pulp
9-Jan 10:00 PM 4.2 foamy again
15-Jan 10:00 AM 3.8 rolling juices when I put a flash light to it.. Quite neat.. Foamy on top…filtering this is gong to be a pain!
20-Jan 10:30 AM 2 murkey abd cloudy there is a lighter layer of murk near the bottom… very odd not solid at all moves easily when I move the carboy
29-Jan 10:00 AM 1 still cloudy layer on the bottem Smell alchohal wine, honey, Tastes tart!tart!..fizz… chalk….. Very thich and fuzzy in the mouth .. Not really enjoyable at all… I think I may rack off of the murk and top up with 3 kgs honey…. Got to think about it though. To be honest I don’t even want to finish this tiny half glass
Any sudgestions would be helpfull, this is my first mel and I'm not sure if things are progressing normaly or badly but if taste is any indication I would guess bad.
Cranberries (fresh) $7.00 1.36 kg
cucumber wildflower honey, fergeson apiarys $15.00 2.4 kgs
no name creamed honey $10.00 2 kgs
Lalvin 71b-1122 $1.50 5g
(added mid way) 1kg billy liquid honey
Date, Time, Grav/Test , observations, Process
Jan 2 2005, 6:30 PM, n/a, Jam like with pink froth top, Take 10cTap h20 add 3lb/1.36kg fresh cranberries cook untill all are burst and intigrated into water
Jan 2 2005 7:30 PM, n/a, as above ,Add 2l spring h20 to pot, stir pour into primary… add 2l to pot to rinse out remaining stir lid with tape over port hole till am when I can pick up airlock and bung and yeast and honey… Also ad 1/2 cup black river 100% cranberry juice.
3-Jan 1:30 PM, 5 cran must test
3-Jan 1:30 PM, 5.5 tastes tart sweet and just a but of berry warmed up honey, poured rinced jars with ot tap and added that to the must also… top up to mid lid line
3-Jan 1:30 PM, n/a Pitched out dated yeast Lalvin 71b-1122 made a starter to test how rocking and rolloing it will get… slow but about half of it got going so mixed 1/2 must with warm water and stired in air then let stand 10 then stirred then let stan then stirred
3-Jan 6:00 PM, n/a bubbles!
4-Jan 8:30 PM, 5 lots o bubbles stirred
6-Jan 8:00 PM, 5 blurp blurp blurp blurp Added 1 kb billy bee honey into the mix though this did not seen to raise the sg any…. Hmm very frustrating
7-Jan 8:00 PM, 5.4 don’t ask! I don’t know why…
8-Jan 5:00 PM bubblegum pink .. A lot of the sediment transferred but htats ok Racked into glass carboy to leave behind skins and pulp
9-Jan 10:00 PM 4.2 foamy again
15-Jan 10:00 AM 3.8 rolling juices when I put a flash light to it.. Quite neat.. Foamy on top…filtering this is gong to be a pain!
20-Jan 10:30 AM 2 murkey abd cloudy there is a lighter layer of murk near the bottom… very odd not solid at all moves easily when I move the carboy
29-Jan 10:00 AM 1 still cloudy layer on the bottem Smell alchohal wine, honey, Tastes tart!tart!..fizz… chalk….. Very thich and fuzzy in the mouth .. Not really enjoyable at all… I think I may rack off of the murk and top up with 3 kgs honey…. Got to think about it though. To be honest I don’t even want to finish this tiny half glass
Any sudgestions would be helpfull, this is my first mel and I'm not sure if things are progressing normaly or badly but if taste is any indication I would guess bad.