Fussy yeasties!!

[GntlKnigt1]

Or continue Joe's original madam rosemerrta thread.....which was spun off my frankenstein/polyjuice potion thread.

Sent from Arthur Dent's towel smothering a volume of Vogon poetry, some of which just leaked out.

 

[joemirando]

Hahahahaha! One of the first smiles I've had all day! Thank you!

A word of caution though... If you have licorice (liquorice) root, I would recommend using that instead of star anise. I don't like the flavor of the anise in the batch.

I couldn't find 'real' cherries at the time, so I used some dried ones. I'm of the opinion that the "remarkably subtle hints of liquorice and cherry" came from the barrel or cask that it was aged in, which had previously held batches flavored with both, either at the same time or one after the other. My 'issue' with the cherries is that if you use enough to give even a hint of the taste, you may end up tinting it red. The mead in the movie (Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince) is a beautiful golden yellow, like a clear traditional.

I kept the alcohol percentage at between 10 and 11 percent, if I remember correctly, since a youngster (Harry Potter) found it delicious. He made no mention of the taste of alcohol, but neither did he make mention of it being "too sweet". Of course, he didn't mention butter-beer being too sweet either, if I remember correctly.

My batch is now clear, but the star anise is unenjoyable. I am contemplating making a larger (6 gallon) batch of traditional and using some of it to temper/reduce the taste of the star anise.

As far as stealing the recipe; nothing can be stolen that is freely given. Go, take it and make it better. I messed about with the recipe as I searched through the books (thank goodness for Kindle). There are a couple different kinds of mead mentioned throughout the series. The two that come to mind at the moment are Madame Rosmerta's Oak Matured Mead (Dumbledore's favorite, which he serves to Harry and the Dursleys) and Mulled Mead (Hagrid has hoisted a bucket or two of this on occasion).

See? I TOLD you I had way too much time on my hands!

Be well,
Joe

So the title JMPMROMM translates as: Joe Mirando Presents Madame Rosmerta's Oak Matured Mead!!! (Panting to gather the dexterity to type again......) Hack, hack, hawk, HaWK, HACK, PTooie... OK!!! So, here are the plans so far:

1) Steal recipe.
2) Implement recipe.
2.5) With slight changes.
3) Record lab notes on everything.

Did I miss anything?? ??

Oh yeah!! The Recipe!!!!!

Ingredients:

4 Pounds of local raw honey (step fed, schedule below)
Fill to 1 gallon with Artesian water
25 organic raisins, mooshed
1 Tbsp lysed yeast hulls
1 small chip of pink sea salt
1 sachet K1V made into 300ml starter culture
1 star anise (add to secondary, monitor daily)
6 cherries (add to primary, frozen, pitted, and mooshed)
4 cherries (add to secondary, frozen, pitted, and mooshed)
~1/4 oz medium toasted white oak chips (add to secondary, monitor daily)

Procedures:

Dissolve 3 pounds honey in Artesian water, add water up to 4 gallons, minus a bit over a pint, moosh raisins, grind salt, boil yeast hulls, make starter culture with K1V, dump it all together, aerate the frell out of it, cork it, airlock it, fill with vodka (the airlock not me!!!), aerate for 3 days 2x/day @ 5 minutes each time with electric drill, add 6 cherries at 1.050 SG. At 1.010 SG I will start adding the additional honey at the rate of 4oz, 4oz, 2oz, 2oz, 1oz, 1oz, 1oz, 1oz, approximately every few days or until it stops and holds about 1.020 to 1.025 for a couple weeks to a month (lightly sweet to both myself and my partner), rack onto 4 more cherries and a star anise in a bag on a string with marbles for weight, taste daily with partner, adjust flavorings as I go along, let it clear, rack onto K-Meta, taste one last time, then bulk age 6 months or so, taste, check SG, etc, if it's good, bottle some, and sip the rest, otherwise let it age, let it age, let it age...

Now then, who wants to help shift an entire kitchen around to make this easier?? Especially when I start that collection of carboys I've been wanting, panting, and drooling over??

OK, nice simple, probably overdoing the cherries in primary and secondary, but Joe Mirando said his cherry flavoring did not really come out very well, so a little stronger cherry infusion from the beginning for me, star anise in secondary checked daily to NOT overdo the licorice flavors, and my own homemade toasted oak. Nice being able to toast my own oak chips and chunks too!!!

After day 3 I will be sure to swirl the fermentor several times a day to off gas the CO2 to prevent buildup and acidification of the must.

Ummm, that's about all I can think of for now..

Guess I better start a new thread in the mead log...

 

[EJM3]

Hahahahaha! One of the first smiles I've had all day! Thank you!

A word of caution though... If you have licorice (liquorice) root, I would recommend using that instead of star anise. I don't like the flavor of the anise in the batch.

I couldn't find 'real' cherries at the time, so I used some dried ones. I'm of the opinion that the "remarkably subtle hints of liquorice and cherry" came from the barrel or cask that it was aged in, which had previously held batches flavored with both, either at the same time or one after the other. My 'issue' with the cherries is that if you use enough to give even a hint of the taste, you may end up tinting it red. The mead in the movie (Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince) is a beautiful golden yellow, like a clear traditional.

I kept the alcohol percentage at between 10 and 11 percent, if I remember correctly, since a youngster (Harry Potter) found it delicious. He made no mention of the taste of alcohol, but neither did he make mention of it being "too sweet". Of course, he didn't mention butter-beer being too sweet either, if I remember correctly.

My batch is now clear, but the star anise is unenjoyable. I am contemplating making a larger (6 gallon) batch of traditional and using some of it to temper/reduce the taste of the star anise.

As far as stealing the recipe; nothing can be stolen that is freely given. Go, take it and make it better. I messed about with the recipe as I searched through the books (thank goodness for Kindle). There are a couple different kinds of mead mentioned throughout the series. The two that come to mind at the moment are Madame Rosmerta's Oak Matured Mead (Dumbledore's favorite, which he serves to Harry and the Dursleys) and Mulled Mead (Hagrid has hoisted a bucket or two of this on occasion).

See? I TOLD you I had way too much time on my hands!

Be well,
Joe

Well someone had the bright idea of letting my partner decide on the next flavorings (Any guesses???), and although he liked the SOUND of the "remarkably subtle hints of cherry and liquorice", he has (AGAIN!) changed his mind, and we are now at a cherry melomel with anise and hints of cardamom, and he wants it sweet (~1.020 to ~1.030ish). So right now it is fermenting away with a cap of mooshed cherries (~25 of them), decidedly reddish/pink, a distinct anise/licorice flavor but not overpowering as I pulled them after only 60 hours in the must, and a slight cardamom flavoring that seems to be being leached out by the fermentation process. So far no "cherry cough syrup" flavors, or other off flavors for either of us. Gravity is dropping at ~.005 a day, slow but steady... Then again by the time I get done with the honey additions, I should get an ABV of ~18% to ~19%, MAYBE ~20%.

Sigh, one day, maybe, possibly, I'll actually get to make a ferment WITHOUT his input! That's what I should have asked for... ONE batch of something WITHOUT his input... Love and learn I guess (Yes I meant LOVE and learn). ;D

Still looking and taste testing well...

 

[GntlKnigt1]

And then he mixed it.....

Sent from the Nexus of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which has been infected with Vogon poetry, some of which leaked out here.

 

[EJM3]

Oh, he mixed it all right... Mixed himself into white slavery for a few batches anyway ^-^...