I'm making mead tonight. Six gallons of honey water must are in the fermenter right now, waiting to cool just a few more degrees so I can pitch the yeast (Red Star's Prenier Cuvee for those interested). I've got two pounds of honey per gallon in there, which is a bit less than I've used in the past. My last batch of mead turned out sweeter than I'd expected, and I suspect the alcohol killed off the yeast before it could ferment to dryness. So I'm going with less honey this time around--I can always add more later in the process if necessary.
I heated the honey on the stove in my big salsa-making pot (don't worry, I cleaned it out from last week's salsa episode), never quite bringing it to a boil but rather simmering it for about an hour. I skimmed off all the foam that formed--bees wax and other impurities. I then added grape tannin, yeast nutrient, acid blend and pectic enzyme. After this stuff ferments completely, that's when the fun begins. I've got more than half a gallon of fresh-picked blueberries in the deep freeze (well, they were freshly-picked when they went into the freezer) as well as a frozen jar full of passion fruit pulp I harvested from my back yard this past summer. So, obviously, I'll be making some fruit melomel in the near future. The fruit, needless to say, will add a good dose of sugar to the mead which will restart fermentation. Since there's less honey to start with, it shouldn't push it into sweet territory. I've done enough sweet meads. This time, I'm looking for something light, fruity and crisp.
Fingers, as they say, are crossed.
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