Recent content by Todd Peterson

Thanks for the feedback CKuhns!

I misspoke. Only time. No clearing agents on this one. Looking to do a bourbon fortified traditional soon. Anyone have any tips on fortified meads? Thinking to use a buffalo trace product because I am partial to their juice. Todd Peterson

Thanks you sir. Time + Kieselsol + Chitosan Note of interest. This mead spent 2 months on medium toast French oak cubes. Every time I racked the clear mead to its new home, I ended up with black, silt looking substance in the bottom of the carboy. I’m guessing it has something to do with...

Been a while since I posted. Bottled 3 gallons of orange blossom traditional that has been sitting in a carboy since April 2023. Really happy with the outcome. 13ish % ABV. no other flavors to his behind. Definitely has a honey nose and taste. Final gravity was 1.018. Todd Peterson

Racking 3 gallons of Orange Blossom Traditional off of French toast oak cubes. Mead has been on oak for 6 weeks. Initial sample was white wine (finished at 1.020 and roughly 13% abv). The more I have consumed the sample glass, the more I am liking it. Mead is 4 months old. Will let set in...

Thanks Mosin! I’ll look into the commercial offering. Love the idea of less pbw and starsan. Hauling 5 gallons around in glass carboys to soak the vessels comes with a level of risk that I am growing more and more unwilling to accept. Todd Peterson

Is your setup DIY or a commercially available tool. This is on my list to make my mead making life a little easier. I’d love to hear some details as to equipment and process. PBW soaking all vessels is for the birds Todd Peterson

I really want to try a peach mead. If you have used peaches in mead before, does the flavor of the fruit carry through fermentation? What is the ratio in pounds per gallon needed to have the peach flavor present post primary? I heard an interview with Ken Schramm where he said peaches could be...

Would be interesting to do a bench trial with a neutral mead adding different oaks with the various toast levels to see the difference/flavor impact firsthand. Maybe split a 5 gallon batch into 1 gallon carrots for stabilization and oaking. Todd Peterson

2 weeks ago I oaked a traditional orange blossom mead that has been sitting in secondary. I use Stavin oak cubes. Checked the carboy today. 1/2 of the cubes have sunk to the bottom of the carboy. What dark magic is going on with this brew. The oak I have used in other batches has...

Good evening folks. As I start to put more and more mead into bottles for future consumption, I realized that I needed to come up with a method to distinguish one batch from another. I bottle everything in clear 12 ounce or 750 ml crown cap bottles. As I reuse the bottles, I have been...

Bottled a 6 month old melomel tonight. Netted 4.5 gallons from the original 5.5 gallons of must. I see this level of loss as acceptable to avoid bottles with sediment. Takeaways from this batch: 1) Quality oak works wonders on mead. I can’t recommend Stavin oak cubes sold by morewine...

Mixed up 5.5 gallons of black currant blueberry melomel. It’s the same recipe that I have made for 3 of the last 4 batches. I would like to branch out and try a different recipe eventually. I like trying the same recipe repeatedly to refine my process. Happy 4th of July! Todd Peterson

I have a 6 month old melomel that has been somewhat stubborn on the last bit of clarity. I ran out of patience and treated with dual fine last night. I’m amazed at the amount of material that has dropped out of suspension in less than 24 hours. Hoping to bottle by 7/3. Todd Peterson

Added oak to a black currant blueberry melomel. 2 ounces of Stavin medium toast French oak cubes to the 5 gallons in secondary (after a vodka bath). A couple of takeaways: 1) the oak serves as a nucleation point for the CO2 is solution. This mead went into secondary in February. There is a...