MD1: (Mead) First try at mead. Here's the recipe: 15.5 lbs mountain wildflower honey (beechamahoney.com) 3.6875 gallons water Honey is of unknown moisture concentration. Make mini-must to determine SG? Deciding to use LD Carlson "Yeast Energizer" with staged additions. Label suggestions .5tsp/gal for a total of 2.5tsp. Spreadsheet recommends 2.275 tsp "nutrients" plus 2.334 tsp raw diammonium phosphate (DAP) over entire stage. This is roughly twice the suggested use of LDC product. HBT search isn't turning much up, so maybe present a question. Picked up Lalvin EC-1118. Tolerates 18% ABV, which will fully attenuate this concentration (assuming 18% moisture or lower). Considering Red Star Pasteur or Cote de Blanc at 12% tolerance, though calcs show FG at 1.020, which is very sweet. Will see what Kevin comes up with. Could also back-sweeten with honey or table sugar. Could also halt with metabisulfates. Brewed 20090929: Measured approximately 120oz of honey (13.75lbs) Added 56 cups of water (3.5 gal) Total volume 5 gal. 27% brix (1.115). Adjusted honey gravity to 1.465. Added honey to 2 gal of hot tap water (about 125F). Dissolved totally, racked to carboy and topped off to 5 gallons. In cool storage overnight to get to pitching temps. 20090930: Gravity sample off the top showed 26% today. Stratification? Was _very_ well stirred for yesterday's reading. Maybe didn't let samples come to temperature. Aerated with pure O2 through .5mm stone. Pitched 2 tsp of LDC energizer and 5g rehydraed EC-1118 at 72F 20090931: AM signs of fermentation... little bit of foam and positive pressure in bubbler. PM stronger with steady bubbling. Sample showed 26% brix. Looks a little scummy on top. If it was a beer, I'd be worried. 20091001: AM Steady bubbling, 2/sec. 25.5% brix (4 point drop overnight) PM same. same brix reading? 20091002: AM same visually. 24.9%. Adding 1.5 tsp LDC energizer 20091005: PM 21.5%. Maybe a buble every 750ms, definitely slowing, but the temperature is down to 62 or so. Bringing temperature back up to 66-68. 20091007: PM 20.6% Still bubbling at the same rate. Temperature back up to 66. Added last nutrient addition, 1tsp LDC energizer. 20091011: PM 17.5% (1.043), bubbling at the same rate. Slow and steady wins the race I guess. Tastes like cough syrup. Very sweet. 20091016: PM 14.7% (1.024), still bubbling at the same rate. Still quite sweet, but seems to be developing some tartness as well. 20091019: PM 13.2% (1.015), no change. 20091027: PM 11.8% (1.005), 14.6 ABV. slowing visibly, bubble ~1.2s. Light sweetnes, medium tartness (about the right balance). Pollen/floral flavor has mellowed considerably but still quite assertive. Pronounced alcohol warmth. Getting very exciting! 20091107: PM 11.0% (1.000), 15% abv, very little residual sweetness. Tasted some commercial examples from Redstone meadery. They are veeeery mellow. About 12% ABV and on the sweet side for my tastes. A little yeast on the nose and some vague sourness that we can't identify. 20091121: AM 10.6% (0.998), 15.3% ABV. Alcohol burn seems more prevalent than last time, but the flavor seems more balanced. Acid is smoothed a bit and there is a touch of sweetness in the finish. I's always been a little scummy on top, which has bothered me. Racked to corny with no preservatives. Paid extra attention to sanitation. Purged headspace with CO2 left with no pressure. 20100124: Racked to a new keg and purged. A little scummy on top and a little sediment, but still quite a bit of haze. Taste has smoothed considerably. I think the sweetness is perfect. Still a little bready on the nose, but more clarification should take care of that. Still a nice warming burn. Filled a 12oz bottle and tossed it in the keezer to clear. 20100902: Was thinking about this today so I pulled up these notes. Looks like I forgot to note the last racking. I'm guessing it was late March or early April. I racked it to a clean carboy. There was a fair amount of sediment still and I racked the last bit into a bottle to chill and clear. It was highly fusel at room temperature, but after chilling it was actually quite pleasant. Some sweetness came through and the girls even liked it. I'm thinking I'm going to bottle it on the first anniversary and get another batch going. 20101018: Tasted this yesterday. Doesn't seem as fuesel. Big floral nose with a touch of alcohol. Medium body with a surprisingly sweet finish. Low acid and tannin. Not at all clear. 20101119: Added gelatin and reducing temperature to help clear. This has actually been around 47F or so for the last several months. 20101225: Similar to last tasting, but I've been drinking. HUGE nose, not much alcohol, but still warming. Not a lot of flavor. 20110210: Measured 1/4 tsp of acid blend, divided it half 3 times for roughly 1/32 tsp. Added to 8oz of RO water and tasted. Definitely some tartness. Scaled up to roughly 3.5 gal works out to 1.75 tsp. Erring on the side of caution, I added 1 tsp to RO water, microwaved to boiling and added to the mead. Fingers crossed! 20110225: Finally tasted. I think the acid helped a touch, though it seems more fuesel than last time. Measured the pH for giggles, 3.04 at 65F. 20110403: Bottled. I sipped on the last bottle since it was only a few ounces. It seems to have rounded out nicely. Still boozy and fuesel, but overall, quite nice. Bottled with O2 absorbing caps, wax dipped and labeled.