Chai Mead progress and other stuff

SG is now at 1.072 which puts the abv now at 9.2%. I tasted it too and it tastes wonderfully festive. I am thinking that this mead does not NEED aging at all, that it tastes lovely, and I think I'll be able to take a bottle or two with me to each of my christmas functions to see how well it goes over. Faye enjoyed it and agrees that aging is not 100% necessary. I am still going to put aside a gallon of mead to age with some oak to see what happens, and some bottles are already spoken for, but other than that the rest is ready for drinking.

The next batch will by the chocolate mead, and I have decided that a full 6 gallon carboy is the way to go on that one, especially if the mead is even half as good as it sounds. Though from all accounts chocolate mead is one that absolutely HAS to age. So the plan with the chocolate mead is to prepare six gallons in the carboy, allow it to ferment dry, age it for 6 months minimum in the carboy, put aside another gallon jug to age for another 2 years, bottle the rest and take out a bottle every now and then tasting it at various stages of aging.

My intent is to get to the wine shop today and talk to the proprietor about it and find out about the possibility of getting wine bottle sized bungs for running the course on mead at FOOL. With any luck I'll be able to provide every participant with a simple mead for them to take home and allow to finish fermenting. Not sure how well such small batches would turn out, but it might get a few more people interested in mead making, which is a good thing in my book.

My lady has put me to the task of assisting her in researching some period candy recipes as well. I know she has been considering a cooking course for FOOL, perhaps a candy course might be on the plate, I think it would be quite popular. If we are not careful we might end up being known as a household of decadent treats LOL.

Chai Mead progress

Took a reading on Saturday, the SG has dropped to 1.08 which makes the mead currently at 8% ABV. It is nice and sweet still, and yet packs a bit of a punch. Going to stop it fairly soon I think, it is quite drinkable as is and I don't want to over ferment it.

Introduction to Mead Course

So I have decided to offer a course at fool on the basics of mead making, well actually two separate courses. One in which myself and the participants will make period fireside mead using a variation of the weak honey drink recipe from Sir Kenelme Digbie's Closet which was published in 1669, the recipe is a very period method of making a weak mead which would have been common throughout Europe for many centuries. The other course would be a course on making more modern mead, and hopefully we can make individual bottles of mead for each participant.

I have to go to the wine shop I frequent and ask if there is airlock for such small batches in order to do this, but I think over all it could be a very popular course. Faye (Marguerite) says she is pretty sure no one has ever attempted to hold such a course.

Chai Mead progress

Nothing interesting to report with the mead over the weekend. No significant drops in SG.

Chai Mead progress

Tested the SG and aerated it again. The reading is 1.112 which puts the alcohol at close to 3% ABW (alcohol by weight) and 2.7 ABV (alcohol by volume). The yeast seems very happy. Progressing very well I think.

I think, considering the tannins from the tea, it might be interesting to age some of this batch with some oak chips or cubes to see the effects. I think I will buy some cubes and age one gallon with some oak and see where things go from there.

Chai Mead progress

I tested and aerated the mead today. It has fallen to 1.12 which puts the alcohol content at 2%. Judging by the current rate of sugar consumption by the yeast I would guess I'll be at optimal alcoholic content rather quickly, perhaps even as soon as two weeks, but then again who knows. While the first couple of days the yeast are multiplying more than producing once they produce enough alcohol they will start dying out so the process will slow. I guess I just have to have some patience I guess.

Added comments:

Just in case anyone was curious the reason I used tea as the main ingredient instead of just using a collection of spices is because tea contains tannins that add astringency and structure and also act as a yeast nutrient. In short I have provided the yeast with a jug of food for it to live in. The only question will remain is if there are too much tannins which will make the mead too astringent.

Chai Mead

I tested the S.G. and aerated the mead today. The SG has fallen to 1.130 from 1.140 meaning it has already hit the 1% alcohol content. Sure its not much, but that's quite a feat for 24 hrs. It will still be quite some time before its 100% ready, but heck its off to a great start.

Error Correction

I retested the SG of the mead, apparently I missread, the mead is actually 1.14 not 1.135, not a drastic difference, but significant enough.

New Batch of Mead

Well the new batch of mead is brewing, this time I am trying a metheglin or spiced mead. It will be a chai mead mixed with chai tea instead of water in much the same fashion as the apple mead that is aging in my closet. This is the recipe I used:

• 10 Chai tea bags
• water
• 22lbs of honey
• cubibs
• star anise
• cloves
• half a stick of cinnamon
• casia buds
• 1 pkg of Lavin EC-1118 champaign yeast
• a tsp of lemon juice for acid

The 22 lbs of honey is probably throwing anyone who has been reading this blog off so I should state that this is a 6 gallon carboy not the measly 1 gallon one I used for my last batch. That is still considerably more honey than I used per gallon on the last batch but I thought I'd aim for a sweeter finish in hopes it combines well with the spices.

Speaking of spices I know my measurements are far from exact, but that's all part of the fun, why make homemade mead with scientific precision, you can buy it at the liquor store if you want that, me I am aiming for something unique.

The heavy spice element will mean the need for some pretty drastic aging, I think the bulk of this batch will have to sit for a minimum of a year, where as the apple mead I think might be drinkable in a couple of months.

Down to the brass taxes here. Since I actually have a hydrometer now I can take a Specific Gravity (SG) reading now so I can get an actual accurate reading of alcohol content. The SG of this mead is 1.135 which is WAY sweeter than the last batch. With any luck this will end up with a nice sweet mead, if it dries right out it would reach 18.7% Alcohol, I think I'll shoot for a maximum of 15% though which means I want to stop the fermentation at an SG of 1.025 or so.

Mead Making Progress

I stopped fermentation on my mead on Saturday Nov 14th because it had dried out quite nicely. It is now in a 1 gal bottle to age out a bit before I bottle it.

It was still quite cloudy when I bottled it, but an hour after I bottled it it had already started to clarify, now it is pretty much all clear with considerable sediment on the bottom. I was quite surprised with how much it has clarified, I thought considering the cider base it might remain quite cloudy but instead the apple particulate fell like a rock once the yeast wasn't swimming around any more. Quite nice.

The final gravity reading is 1.000 which is the same reading you get of water which means it dried pretty much right out. There is almost no sugars left in the mead. It should be somewhere around 10.3% and 11.7% assuming a starting gravity of 1.08 or 1.07 but could be as high as 13%.

I think it will need considerable aging to make this a really good mead so I am planning a few months in the gallon jug followed by as much time as I can stand in bottles.