#no.070723

[boissonsaumiel]

Finally tasted some of the last of the Yosemite wildflower honey mead I made that I flavored with an aryuvedic spice blend (coriander, cumin, cardamom fennel).

I started the batch last July. I can't remember when I put the spices in but it was well after it cleared. It's been aging for 6.5 months at room temperature (which speeds up the aging process a bit).

It tastes lovely. The cumin is very present in the smell. The cardamom and coriander come forward more in the flavor. Subtly sweet, like a Chardonnay, but with a much smoother mouthfeel. Deceptively smooth. No alcohol bite at all. Goes down like water but it's at least 15% alcohol.

There's something a bit refreshing about the aftertaste. I think that might be the fennel. I don't really taste it as a flavor, just as a fresh, cooling feeling at the back of the mouth. The flavors that come through when it first enters the mouth are warmer flavors, so the refreshing finish is an interesting contrast.

[boissonsaumiel]

Hmm. I just realized I've been forgetting to cover up my rice wine. It's probably fine. It's out of direct sunlight, and I usually keep the room it's in pretty dim during the day so I probably haven't damaged anything.

It's been fermenting 8 days so far.

My unflavored Yosemite wildflower honey mead is finally starting to clear up. it took WAY longer to clear than the tea mead I made using the same honey. According to r/mead, tea meads are known to clear faster than plain meads, though I don't know if it's something about the tea plant specifically, or if meads made with herbal "teas" also clear faster than plain meads. Perhaps it's something to do with the added acidity?

I'd kind of like to try making mead with chaga mushroom tea at some point. It's supposed to contain compounds that protect against liver damage.

[boissonsaumiel]

Did a couple tasting combinations tonight.

The avocado honey mead tastes very good mixed the maple wine. Really smoothes it out. Since the maple has a woody taste, it's almost like mixing it with the maple wine makes the avocado taste more "oaked."

The maple wine also tastes good with that Yosemite wildflower honey I flavored with ayurvedic spices (I just realized I've been misspelling ayurvedic as aryuvedic this whole time). It's not quite a smooth as the avocado honey mead. I mean, it tastes very smooth on it's own, but the maple wine is too astringent to drink and the Yosemite mead doesn't soften it as effectively as the avocado does.

.

I think I'm going to try oaking the lapsang souchong infused mead.

I still haven't done a tasting of the forbidden rice wine, or the pomegranate wine. They're both just about 3 months old give or take a few days. The pomegranate hasn't been racked yet. I'm not in a hurry. I might give it another month.

[boissonsaumiel]

I ordered a stainless steel turkey baster, for two non-turkey-basting related purposes:

to more easily transfer samples of my brews into the beaker I use for hydrometer readings

to siphon liquid from bottles that are too full to fit my auto-siphon into without spilling

Months ago I tried ordering a glass turkey baster for these same purposes and immediately broke it. Lesson learned.

Today I'm adding my last packet of Super-Kleer to uh... a bunch of things. Yosemite Wildflower Honey Mead No.070723 Sage Blossom Honey Mead No.090123 Cactus Blossom Honey Mead No.092423. Those were all gallon batches but only one of them is still in a gallon bottle, so measuring out the correct amounts of the fining agent is a bit of a pain.

I mixed some of No.070723 with the last of the Arakkis batch (the one came out bitter because I way over-steeped the mulling spices). I think that's what I'll probably end up bringing to Thanksgiving dinner.

[boissonsaumiel]

Note to self: always, always check the temperature tolerance of yeast before brewing a batch in a poorly temperature controlled environment.

Batch No.070723 smells like a fart. Probably need to age it at least 10 months before it's drinkable.

[boissonsaumiel]

I almost forgot with all the racking that I was supposed to take gravity readings.

I'm using Lanvin D47 yeast for my two new batch, which can ferment up to 15% alcohol.

My Yosemite honey mead got a Brix reading of between 25 to 25.5. If the yeast hadn't already started fermenting would mean there was enough honey for the batch to reach 14%. Since it's already been actively fermenting for a 2 days, that means there was probably enough honey in there initially for the batch to go all the way to 15%, provided the batch doesn't stall out.

My Hojicha tea mead got a Brix reading of 27. Again, if I'd taken the reading when I was supposed to that number would mean there was enough honey for the batch to reach 15%. It's been really active the last couple days, so there was already some alcohol in there when I took this reading, meaning I put slightly more honey in there than the yeast can handle (though you never know with yeast).

I think this mead will taste better dry, because it's made with a tea that I usually prefer to drink unsweetened. I might end up either diluting with a tiny bit of water or adding some higher tolerance yeast to make sure the batch goes completely dry.

[boissonsaumiel]

My honey arrived yesterday! It was very, very thoroughly packaged. Each individual 16oz jar was wrapped in a 24" × 60" (60cm × 152cm) piece of construction paper before going into the bed of biodegradable packing peanuts.

Rice wine on the left, Yosemite wildflower honey in the middle, Sierra Foothills wildflower honey with Hojicha tea (Japanese roasted green tea -> my favorite) on the right. Bought D47 yeast, which is supposed to preserve the natural honey flavors a little better than the EC-1118 I've been using.

Got a roll of cute little labels, so I could put info like gravity readings on the batches, so I can properly calculate my final alcohol percentage, except then I broke my hydrometer.

I'll take readings when the replacement I ordered arrives tomorrow. They won't be as accurate as if I'd taken them last night, but I don't think they'll be too, too far off after just a day and a half of fermentation.