#no.110623

[boissonsaumiel]

Forbidden Rice Wine & Maple Wine Update

I strained the forbidden rice wine (made from Dongbei black glutinous rice aka "forbidden" rice) today with a nut milk bag. Way more labor intensive than I anticipated squeezing all the liquid out, and clean-up was a pain. My fingers were all wrinkled by the time I was done. The jar ended up a little over ¾ full after straining, and then I added a couple glasses of water. It still tastes a bit sweet so I don’t think it’s quite done fermenting.

I tasted the maple wine too. Turns out maple syrup really just tastes like wood once you ferment away all the sugar. All that sugar kinda makes you forget that maple syrup is just concentrated sap, but once the sweetness is gone you're like, "Damn. This tree juice sure does taste like the juice of a tree." Not sure if I like it, but I don't dislike it. It's not unpleasant or bitter or anything. Smoother than I expected.

[boissonsaumiel]

THE GIRLS ARE FARTINGGGG

11/5 Pomegranate Wine | 11/6 Maple Wine

[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]

Transferred the forbidden rice wine to a new container with a proper airlock. Made a slight mess on a rug, but managed not to lose more than a couple tablespoons. This isn't quite all of it. I have a 1 lb honey jar with the remaining rice wine. I expect the volume to go down a great deal once it's finished fermenting and properly strained, but I'm hoping to get at least ~100oz out of it.

I've ordered a large "nut milk bag" for the straining.

On the right, the maple syrup wine is still happily bubbling away.