Two days shy of exactly two months, I decided to proceed and rack my three one-gallon batches of JAOM (I'm going out of town and wanted to get it going beforehand). I have been posting on another member's page (xanderphillips) about his first meads, but I thought that it might help others in the future if I made my own thread about JAOM.
Looking back, one of the biggest things I would advise to the new brewer: DRY YOUR STOPPERS! My very first brew, I didn't know that my rubber stopper needed to be dry, so when I muscled it down into my carboy (it wouldn't stay in place), it sloshed right through into my brew! After lots of work, transfer, and contamination worries, I was able to fetch out the stopper. Simply dry the sides of your stoppers and your carboys and this shouldn't be a problem. If you are worried about contamination, dry them off with a sanitized paper towel (I have read).
Also, I duct-taped my stoppers down in place, due to the pressure of early fermentation. This worked well, I don't think it's a necessity, but it did make me feel better about leaving the brews unattended. On my current brew, I have used the metal wiring which holds down the corks on Chimay bottles. I took this metal wire and tried to tighten down the stoppers around the lip of the carboy.
I used Star San and PBW for cleaning. I was relieved today to find that after initially racking my three meads out of their primaries, the PBW and some gentle scrubbing with a brush cleaned up the carboys relatively easy. After rinsing and allowing to drain, I soaked them each in Star San for about ten minutes and drained. They looked brand new.
Go easy on the spices! I proceeded with GROUND clove (even after Joe instructs NOT to deviate from his recipe -- I chose the wrong cloves on accident) and on my first batch, put an entire teaspoon in the brew. This is a lot of clove for such a small batch. On my most recent, I used 1/16 of a teaspoon on spices, and I didn't even use clove.
First batch: OG: 1.141 FG: 1.040ish
Second: OG: 1.138 FG: 1.030ish
Third: OG: 1.141 FG: 1.030ish
These three batches were made with local wildflower honey.
I have sampled and racked all three. While the first is relatively hot and spicy("clovey!"), it's still pretty darn good. I can't stop drinking it, even while it's crude and on the lees! I'm a pretty big beer drinker and alcohol consumer in general, so I'm not very hard to satisfy. Most may find these brews unpleasant, but the joy of making it myself along with the reflection of enjoying a good drink has really made the process a blast.
Since I've dabbled into the first batch so much, and because I tried to drown it with clove, I'll probably drink it up. The last two, I'll rack once more, and then I'll bottle and stow them away. I fully intend to put these drinks aside, forget about them, and come back years later to taste. I have even told my wife that if I die, she has to drink them or give them to my neighbors hah. ;D
I must give credit to Skyrim, as I bought this game to get me through a military deployment recently. Turned out that I couldn't play it at my location downrange, so when I returned home I hit it heavy and became indoctrinated with "mead". I'm not the first heh, go read about mead and Skyrim. I'm glad that I took the fall, because it's been not only a blast, but a learning experience and the drink isn't bad! And still these are the introductory brews of course.
If anyone feels compelled to ask any questions, please post up. I will try to answer but I'm still a novice myself. Lots of the vets browse these threads as well though so rest assure the right person is here to help you out.
PS-- I have a FOURTH brew currently under way. I decided to all out abandon the orange and go straight for strawberry, and I've been reading about all of the horror-story-explosions haha. True to form, my gallon is already blowing off the charts, once the air lock has blown off, and I've been cleaning up the foam for about half an hour. I drained a bit of must, stowed the stopper with the Chimay wiring and left the brew in a sink, so we'll see what it looks like in the morning. I made some other very big, gambling deviations and I'll follow up when I have more to say!
In my astronomy forum, the posters say "Clear Skies" as a farewell. I guess I'll leave you with "Bottoms Up!".
Looking back, one of the biggest things I would advise to the new brewer: DRY YOUR STOPPERS! My very first brew, I didn't know that my rubber stopper needed to be dry, so when I muscled it down into my carboy (it wouldn't stay in place), it sloshed right through into my brew! After lots of work, transfer, and contamination worries, I was able to fetch out the stopper. Simply dry the sides of your stoppers and your carboys and this shouldn't be a problem. If you are worried about contamination, dry them off with a sanitized paper towel (I have read).
Also, I duct-taped my stoppers down in place, due to the pressure of early fermentation. This worked well, I don't think it's a necessity, but it did make me feel better about leaving the brews unattended. On my current brew, I have used the metal wiring which holds down the corks on Chimay bottles. I took this metal wire and tried to tighten down the stoppers around the lip of the carboy.
I used Star San and PBW for cleaning. I was relieved today to find that after initially racking my three meads out of their primaries, the PBW and some gentle scrubbing with a brush cleaned up the carboys relatively easy. After rinsing and allowing to drain, I soaked them each in Star San for about ten minutes and drained. They looked brand new.
Go easy on the spices! I proceeded with GROUND clove (even after Joe instructs NOT to deviate from his recipe -- I chose the wrong cloves on accident) and on my first batch, put an entire teaspoon in the brew. This is a lot of clove for such a small batch. On my most recent, I used 1/16 of a teaspoon on spices, and I didn't even use clove.
First batch: OG: 1.141 FG: 1.040ish
Second: OG: 1.138 FG: 1.030ish
Third: OG: 1.141 FG: 1.030ish
These three batches were made with local wildflower honey.
I have sampled and racked all three. While the first is relatively hot and spicy("clovey!"), it's still pretty darn good. I can't stop drinking it, even while it's crude and on the lees! I'm a pretty big beer drinker and alcohol consumer in general, so I'm not very hard to satisfy. Most may find these brews unpleasant, but the joy of making it myself along with the reflection of enjoying a good drink has really made the process a blast.
Since I've dabbled into the first batch so much, and because I tried to drown it with clove, I'll probably drink it up. The last two, I'll rack once more, and then I'll bottle and stow them away. I fully intend to put these drinks aside, forget about them, and come back years later to taste. I have even told my wife that if I die, she has to drink them or give them to my neighbors hah. ;D
I must give credit to Skyrim, as I bought this game to get me through a military deployment recently. Turned out that I couldn't play it at my location downrange, so when I returned home I hit it heavy and became indoctrinated with "mead". I'm not the first heh, go read about mead and Skyrim. I'm glad that I took the fall, because it's been not only a blast, but a learning experience and the drink isn't bad! And still these are the introductory brews of course.
If anyone feels compelled to ask any questions, please post up. I will try to answer but I'm still a novice myself. Lots of the vets browse these threads as well though so rest assure the right person is here to help you out.
PS-- I have a FOURTH brew currently under way. I decided to all out abandon the orange and go straight for strawberry, and I've been reading about all of the horror-story-explosions haha. True to form, my gallon is already blowing off the charts, once the air lock has blown off, and I've been cleaning up the foam for about half an hour. I drained a bit of must, stowed the stopper with the Chimay wiring and left the brew in a sink, so we'll see what it looks like in the morning. I made some other very big, gambling deviations and I'll follow up when I have more to say!
In my astronomy forum, the posters say "Clear Skies" as a farewell. I guess I'll leave you with "Bottoms Up!".
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Although at the prices I see listed on their sight, even I don't think I'm that good a friend. :0
