Month: januar 2016

Just a short up-date. It has now been almost 3 weeks since I added the oak. I tasted it after one week and already the taste was quite different from the sample I took before oaking. Now after the 3 weeks the taste of oak is not that different but the mead has been much more rounded and the bitterness significantly reduced compared to the reference sample. The smell has also improved dramatically – actually so much that it is now quite pleasant. OAK IS A DIVINE INGREDIENT :o) Furthermore I did a check on the pH just to verify that it had not changed due to the oaking. pH […]

Today I added toasted oak to the mead. From last year (see HERE) I have the American oak, medium toast, which I will use again. I opened the fermenter to check the volume – just below 40 L. So last year I used 25 g for about 20 L, so 50 grams were weighed out in a “hop sock” The sock was then closed with a knot. I tied about 50cm of sewing string to the sock, which I will attach outside of the fermenter. Initially the sock will float but sink once the wood gets saturated with mead. To sterilize, I let the oak and sock soak for a few […]

Just got a GoPro Hero 4 Silver camera, so this is my first movie clip :o) It took forever to put together but I just have to get familiar with the software. Bare with me – it is not a “Tarantino like” stroke of genius. Well, I found a way to remove the sediment without splashing all over the kitchen, and this clip shows how it was done (if it works…). Comments to the clip: 1) When sampling the mead I discard the first tap since this is the stale part in the tube inside. The second tapping should be representative of the batch. Keep in min that as the […]

The following weeks I just waited for the yeast to settle. Then it was time to enjoy the pleasure of my new fermenter. Take of  the airlock, open the bottom valve fully for a short time, close again, and the mead has now been “racked” without being disturbed. Well, there is always something one forget to consider. The water level in the fermenter is 65-70cm, and the pressure at the bottom valve is quite high. So when the valve is opened fully it was kind of naive to expect the I could catch it in a bowl. Instead it sprayed out, hit the side of the bowl and splashed in […]

The following days i monitored the fermentation progress by measuring SG, pH and temperature.  Whenever the temperature increased to just above 24.0C I added ice-cubes to a cooler and let the cooling system of the fermenter bring the temperature down – usually to around 18C within half an hour. The ice was then melted and I just stopped the flow. pH was measured to ensure that it would drop due to the generation of CO2 by the yeast, and that pH would not drop so low that the yeast was knocked out. When the fermentation was over pH was measured and I will than later have to adjust pH to […]

Monday the 12th of October 2015 Day of brewing 12.5 kg summer honey25L of apple juice – about 22L from Ingrid Marie apples and 3 L from Pigion apples and a few “Ananas” apples.2 tubes of Sweet Mead Wine Yeast from White Labs (WLP 720) liquid yeast.Fermaid KPot Ash (Potassium Carbonate, K2CO3) – a baking ingredientSalt of Hartshorn substitute (Ammonium Bicarbonate, NH4HCO3) – a baking ingredient In the afternoon the liquid yeast was taken out of the refrigerator and left on the kitchen table to warm up to room temperature. This will “wake up” and prepare the yeast for the starter. According to White Labs the yeast should be ready in 3-6 hours. […]