The mead is done and bottled

[Brewman_Jax]

after 6 weeks. It's sweet with a wine tart taste and is 6% abv. Not bad for my first time with real equipment. :thumbsup:

They're in bottles ready for sampling.

[Lucinda]

1. Very cool!

We've talked, and talked, and talked, about home brewing, but we never DO.
Have you been posting about your progress? I'll archive search if you have, we could use some inspiration. :D

[Brewman_Jax]

2. I've logged my progress in my brew logs

but I don't think I posted the process here. My hydrometer entries--start 1.008, 4 wks. later, finish 1.048.

For inspiration, I make soda, too. The birch beer soda is excellent! It's cheaper than store-bought, but takes about 3 weeks for good soda.

Next will be sorghum beer and maple porter beer. :beer:

[Lucinda]

3. Wow. I was researching soda making the week before last.

I've never talked to anyone who actually makes their own. Do you have any good reference links?

Maple porter and sorghum beers both sound good.

[Brewman_Jax]

4. No reference links

my homebrew shop carries soda extracts. Most homebrew shops and specialty stores carry them. All you need is water, soda extract, sugar, and yeast. Follow the directions in the extract box, and you'll have good soda in about 3 weeks. :9

[Lucinda]

5. Cool. I'll look for a supply house online.

I was researching blog posts of people who make them, and also found a few cutsey products with carbonation gizmos. But nothing really inspiring. I need to look a little deeper.

I'd love to hear how the next batches of beer go, if you have time to post.

[Tab]

6. I don't really get the stuff anymore

but I always liked "alternative" beers, like belgian cherry. It's almost like a wine.



It used to be a special occasional treat. Delicious.

[Brewman_Jax]

7. That looks like a lambic

I haven't seen that type before. I'll have to look for it.

[Tab]

8. It is

And it's delicious

[badgerpup]

9. Just started three batches of homebrew meself...

One of 'Pineapple Spice' and two of Spiced Apple. The Spiced Apple was so popular last year everyone wanted MORE, so I doubled the batch.
Plus, I got something really SPECIAL when I adjusted about a gallon of it by adding a cup of my homemade tincture of roses.* :bounce:

The pineapple spice is different in that the recipe calls for using brown sugar rather than white.
After straining, it will be put through a process I like to call 'tweaking'...which involves oak chips, vanilla extract, and tincture of time (yes, I do mean Time...as in tick-tock, entropy loop sorta thing) and causes it to evolve into Port Caribbe...

Powerful (last batch came out at 24%** alcohol), warm in the mouth with a sturdy rum-spice base, just 'touched' with oak, brightened with citrus...and the vanilla peeking out here and there, helping to balance flavors.
What can I say...I'm really happy about the way this one turned out.
It WORKS.:fistbump:

No pineapple as such anywhere on landscape, in the bouquet or flavor...:shrug: but I'm told that the flavors of tropical fruits are extremely evanescent and don't hold up well to being fermented at.
To get a tropical fruit-flavored wine, you have to add the fruit juice/flavor after the fermentation process is finished (and your product has been stabilized! Otherwise you may kick off the fermentation process again...and get unexpected/unwanted results if you've corked and sealed the bottles...
:nuke:)

*Tincture of Roses: :wow:
Oh man...this turned out to be so detailed it needed its own separate post. :blush:
It will be up shortly... :hi:


** Having the alcohol come out this high is very rare, even when using Lalvin EC-1118...a champagne yeast bred to tolerate a pretty high alcohol content in its environment.

YMMV, but depending on the sugar and acidity, you can pretty much predict somewhere between 16% and 19%...which still packs a higher punch than most wines (9%-13%) you can buy commercially.

OBLIGATORY CYA: :hi::tinfoilhat:
If you brew, you want to warn people that homebrew usually has a higher alcohol content than the stuff they may be accustomed to drinking.
Your smooth, tasty beverage may not have that 'bite' that says WARNING! ALCOHOL APPROACHING!...and it's been known to sneak up on folks and pull the floor out from under them.
:hangover:

[Brewman_Jax]

14. Those sound like spendid wines

:9

[fishnfla]

10. you made mead, damn!

wharts next writing like chaucer?

[Brewman_Jax]

13. Shakespeare is easier for me

I've read a lot more Shakespeare than Chaucer. Also, Chaucer is too much work in the original Middle English. :P

[hippywife]

11. And you are telling us this

because you are shipping samples to everyone in the C&B group? Yes? :D

[Brewman_Jax]

12. Didn't make enough

to ship to everyone. :(

I want to work on it to improve the taste. Then, it'll be ready for primetime. :thumbsup: