I posted in the JAOM thread last night, when I probably should have posted here (I blame the reisling). Anyway, because all of my fiber arts and jewelry hobbies apparently aren't enough I've decided to take on mead (and beer for the hubby to help keep me occupied while I wait on the mead. Lol)
I've been in love with mead since I was given some homebrew at a party many years ago, but the only time I can get it is at the Celtic festival in Flagstaff or when we go to Oregon. I'm not new to yeast. I've had my very own fridge pet (his name is Fred) sourdough starter for about a year now. I am new to any kind of intentional fermentation for drinking purposes though.
I'm not brewing JAOM specifically. I followed a very similar recipe from another site. I found this place after I got my first gallon bubbling along.
My brew is as follows:
2 lbs raw local wildflower honey
1 lb processed wildflower honey (it was the only way to get to the 3 lbs from the recipe)
1 peeled blood orange (I despise pith. I spend whatever time it takes to remove it when eating an orange.)
~25 raisins (whatever is in the Sunkist mini box)
1 packet Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast (recipe called for champagne yeast, but I like sweet and this said that it finishes sweeter)
1 gallon distilled water (no chlorine was what the recipe said. I didn't think about trace minerals at all)
I made it on the 19th and it's been at a steady 1 blip/5-7 seconds since.
I don't like the idea of a bunch of additives. It's not really a hippie natural thing (though there's a bit of that) it's more that I get a kick out of making things truer to their original methods.
I have some questions about yeast. I'm told that the 3 lbs was not enough to keep the yeast from drying this thing out. I read in the JAOM thread that Joe was talking about adding honey (he said 12 oz, then he said 8 oz) at the end to kill the yeast off. I'm assuming that this gives them enough food to kick it up to their ABV tolerance and thus yeast armageddon. Is this a feasible way to both backsweeten and prevent bottle bombs? How much do I add? Once the hydrometer gets here I think 1.02 will probably be me goal. I don't have a lot of space for carboys everywhere so the sooner I can bottle it, the better.
How does cold crashing work? I know yeast survive just fine in the fridge (Fred comes out perfectly willing to gobble up all the flour I give him), so what's the idea behind this technique?
I have space for 3 1 gallon carboys. 1 for beer and the other 2 for staggered batches of mead (gotta keep it flowing). My thoughts on the honey to kill yeast method are to put honey in a pot (no heat, just a convenient, sanitary container), rack onto the honey and let it dissolve while I clean out the carboy. Then I suppose I'd need to stir a little to get the honey thoroughly incorporated and pour it back in the carboy. Are there any problems with this plan? Does it expose it to too much oxegyn?
Sorry about the wall of text. I started with one question, but it escalated quickly.
I've been in love with mead since I was given some homebrew at a party many years ago, but the only time I can get it is at the Celtic festival in Flagstaff or when we go to Oregon. I'm not new to yeast. I've had my very own fridge pet (his name is Fred) sourdough starter for about a year now. I am new to any kind of intentional fermentation for drinking purposes though.
I'm not brewing JAOM specifically. I followed a very similar recipe from another site. I found this place after I got my first gallon bubbling along.
My brew is as follows:
2 lbs raw local wildflower honey
1 lb processed wildflower honey (it was the only way to get to the 3 lbs from the recipe)
1 peeled blood orange (I despise pith. I spend whatever time it takes to remove it when eating an orange.)
~25 raisins (whatever is in the Sunkist mini box)
1 packet Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast (recipe called for champagne yeast, but I like sweet and this said that it finishes sweeter)
1 gallon distilled water (no chlorine was what the recipe said. I didn't think about trace minerals at all)
I made it on the 19th and it's been at a steady 1 blip/5-7 seconds since.
I don't like the idea of a bunch of additives. It's not really a hippie natural thing (though there's a bit of that) it's more that I get a kick out of making things truer to their original methods.
I have some questions about yeast. I'm told that the 3 lbs was not enough to keep the yeast from drying this thing out. I read in the JAOM thread that Joe was talking about adding honey (he said 12 oz, then he said 8 oz) at the end to kill the yeast off. I'm assuming that this gives them enough food to kick it up to their ABV tolerance and thus yeast armageddon. Is this a feasible way to both backsweeten and prevent bottle bombs? How much do I add? Once the hydrometer gets here I think 1.02 will probably be me goal. I don't have a lot of space for carboys everywhere so the sooner I can bottle it, the better.
How does cold crashing work? I know yeast survive just fine in the fridge (Fred comes out perfectly willing to gobble up all the flour I give him), so what's the idea behind this technique?
I have space for 3 1 gallon carboys. 1 for beer and the other 2 for staggered batches of mead (gotta keep it flowing). My thoughts on the honey to kill yeast method are to put honey in a pot (no heat, just a convenient, sanitary container), rack onto the honey and let it dissolve while I clean out the carboy. Then I suppose I'd need to stir a little to get the honey thoroughly incorporated and pour it back in the carboy. Are there any problems with this plan? Does it expose it to too much oxegyn?
Sorry about the wall of text. I started with one question, but it escalated quickly.
)
