TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Thanks, guys - I started this tonight and I think it will turn out good.
A couple of deviations, more from necessity than anything else:
The amount of honey I used was probably an ounce or three shy of 3.5 pounds, but I am sure it will be fine. The biggest share of it was raw, unfiltered Montana honey, while half a pound of it was a blend of Montana honey and Montana huckleberry, just because that is what I had on hand.
I grated what looked like a pinch of nutmeg off of a whole...nugget? Nut? I am not sure what it is called. It might have been a bit more, but I am sure this will be fine, too.
I wanted to zest and then juice the orange, but couldn't find one part of my juicer that was needed; so, I zested it, then peeled it (pulling off any substantial "strings" of pith), then cut the segments into chunks and tossed everything in. My logic was that this would be much easier to remove from the fermenter, and also would eliminate any potential bitterness from the pith. My son, who has made this before, said that he noticed no bitterness when he made his (pith and all), but by then I had already done it, so we will see how it goes. It will be fine, I am sure.
Having no Fleischmann's yeast, I used a generous teaspoon of "Western Family" yeast, which is distributed by a regional grocery chain. As with everything else above, I am willing to bet that this will be fine.
Between the honey and about half a gallon of water (i used a local spring water that makes great beer), I had about 3/4 of the fermenter filled by the time I was finished. I will leave this alone for 3 days or so until the most active period of fermentation is complete, then will top up to a gallon.
More as it happens, etc. &c...
Ron
I bottled this mead last night, and I believe it is going to be pretty good!
The bottling went fairly well; I got about 4.5 bottles out of the total gallon, which is pretty good considering that there was a lot of "sediment" in there from the yeast, the orange zest/pulp, the raisins etc. Bread yeast does not flocculate very well, meaning that it does not settle and pack down the way other brewing and vintning yeasts will do. I did "cold-crash" the fermenter for a couple of days, and this helped quite a bit to settle the yeast down.
The half-bottle was sampled and we were pretty impressed with it. I think with a little bit of aging it will be really good. It might be a very wee bit sweet for my taste, but I certainly will not criticize it. The recipe - as written - tells you to include the orange peel for a reason; this is, I believe, in order to balance the inherent sweetness of this mead. I departed from that instruction, so the consequences are mine. Having said that, it tastes pretty good, anyway!
I'll give it a month or two to settle from the "bottle shock," then will see how it is. The bulk of this mead will be held in reserve until Christmastime, when it will, I think, be a welcome part of the holiday cheer.
Ron
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