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guess what i woke up to this morning?

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Nverinder716

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 14, 2012
11
0
0
Staunton, VA
http://instagr.am/p/Irs1CCgHth/

hopefully the link works, I'm having trouble uploading a photo. so, uh, yeah, here's the new recipe:

Blackberry Spice Mead

3 lbs raw honey (clover)
30 oz frozen blackberries (thawed)
3 jasmine green tea bags
1 clove
spring water to make approx 1 gallon
1 tbs Fleichmann's activedry yeast

threw this down last night, and I'm more than certain I simply did not leave enough room at the top for krausen. :eek: woke up to this mess, even got some splattered on the wall behind the carboy.

so I took the airlock off, siphoned out enough to make some room for more foam, cleaned up the kitchen before wifey got home, re-sterilized my airlock... only two questions:

1) does the recipe look good? kinda took a JAO approach to making it, in terms of the steps I followed to put it together.

2) is the mead still salvageable after something like this occurs? I've locked it off, and it seems to be bubbling away just fine again...
 
Deacon Aegis

Deacon Aegis

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 22, 2012
164
0
0
Marietta, Georgia
www.aegissteamcraft.com
Ouch, looks like a fun little mess there. I just started in the craft myself, but my wife tells me if she ever comes down stairs and finds a mead explosion all over her kitchen or dining room (where I currently run my primary ferments) that my hobby as a mead maker will come to an abrupt end. I must say, this is giving me some impitus to look into some larger real estate (probably can't afford it for another decade or so, but it is worth dreaming... LOL)

Anyway, grats on getting that cleaned up before you wife found it. Sounds like an interesting recipe!
 
BrewinNColorado

BrewinNColorado

Got Mead? Patron
GotMead Patron
Jan 4, 2008
173
2
0
Boulder County, Colorado
I would definitely look into getting a 6 1/2 gallon plastic bucket. The larger size allows for more space so that you don't have the MEA's. The buckets also allow for easier management (stirring, aerating etc) then a carboy.

Just my 2 cents.
 
skunkboy

skunkboy

NewBee
Registered Member
May 30, 2005
2,003
8
0
Between Jackson and Detroit
Ah, yes fruit. You need more head space when using fruit, as one could tell by looking at my kitchen ceiling... :)

Consider yourself lucky it didn't jam up the airlock, and then blow it out of the jug...
 
B

browncoats

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 12, 2012
30
0
0
skunkboy said:
Ah, yes fruit. You need more head space when using fruit, as one could tell by looking at my kitchen ceiling... :)

Consider yourself lucky it didn't jam up the airlock, and then blow it out of the jug...
Click to expand...

You mean like this beer I made for a braggot did? Happened a week ago, got home at 11:30 pm... still cleaning it up.

42577fa6-5898-816b.jpg
 
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Nverinder716

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 14, 2012
11
0
0
Staunton, VA
well, that pretty much makes the unwanted gurgling of my mead from this morning seem like a 1st world problem.

I'm pretty sure something like that in my kitchen would have been cleaned up with a stack of divorce papers from my wife!!!
 
Chevette Girl

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,447
59
48
Ottawa, ON
Yeah, that's some eruption accident all right!!

If you clean it up and she doesn't have to, why would your wife divorce you? I mean, I can understand if she would have to clean it up, but don't you clean up your own messes like any sensible husband who wants to remain a husband??

...or maybe I just don't understand women... ;D

Oh, and in answer to the original questions, your recipe sounds nice (I do blackberry JAO style all the time myself, jasmine sounds like a neat idea to try, I'll be interested to hear if you can detect it when all is said and done) and yeah, your mead's probably just fine, it was coming out too fast for anything unwanted to get in!
 
N

Nverinder716

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 14, 2012
11
0
0
Staunton, VA
Thanks for the advice Chevette! I'll let you know how it turns out. Also, cleaning up wouldn't be the cause for the anger of my wife, as much as the blue spots on the wall where the must sprayed!!! I got it all off the wall though, so it's all good. She's actually interested in the process, but a little nervous about the first bottle we'll be opening this Sunday! My very first batch!!!
 
B

browncoats

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 12, 2012
30
0
0
I decided to combine a sweet sack mead with a really strong beer for a braggot, and being a big fan of Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout, I dug out a clone recipe. SG at pitch (which came from a large starter) was 1.130. I also, on advice from my LHBS, added some yeast nutrient. I think the nutrient sent the yeast wild, and that combined with the extremely high viscosity of the must made for a lot of foam, really fast, that just would not burst on its own. Two days later, I got home at 11:30 at night, wanting nothing more than to go right to bed, and found the lid blown halfway across the room, must all over the wall, ceiling, bookcase and floor so I set to cleaning. The first thing I did was skim off the foam, I had had 6+ inches of headspace in the bucket so I cleared the foam out and set a sanitized lid *on top without closing it completely so I could check on it. After an hour of cleaning, I checked on the aspiring beer, and the foam was already starting to push the lid off again. 6 inches of strong foam in under an hour, no wonder it had blown off! I just wish I could have been there to see it... and the cat's reaction.

I cobbled something together to keep it from exploding again (loosely fit the sanitized lid on, then set a trash bag on top of the whole thing) and two days later it had calmed down enough and the SG had dropped enough that the foam was keeping itself under control. It smells pretty awesome so far.
 
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