06.21.11 Orange Metheglin

This mead was another attempt at the JOAM. Only instead of being tossed together with quick ingredients like the JOAM I used the following recipe that called for more effort and better results.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/malkores-not-so-ancient-orange-mead-50201/

I scaled the recipe down to one gallon and used the below:

½ of an orange juiced
little more then 1tsp zest grated off of orange
1 stick cinnamon
1 clove
4lbs honey (1.814kg ~ used 1.826kg)
½ tsp dap with wort and one day after start
½ tsp Fermaid K with wort and one day after start
Re hydrated Lalvin 71b with Go Ferm

I heated 2 liters of water to just before boiling, added  the zest, juice, cinnamon, and clove – left for 20 mins... This should have been less time but I underestimated the time it would take to clean out the jug. I strained the stepped mixture through some cheese cloth and then added another liter of cold water in order to cool it down before I added the honey.

I tried just adding the honey to the jug through the funnel but it was taking too long. And in order to speed things up I added the rest of the honey to another liter of warm water to dissolve and then add. See what I did here? 4 liters of water and 4lbs of honey has a volume greater then 4.5 liters... As it was I had some must left over that I couldn't fit into the jug... 

But at least I remembered to shake it this time!

My target OG was 1.120 and with the little bit wasted I ended up at 1.116, which makes me happy that I didn't end up too far off. The 71b yeast has a tolerance of 14% so this should finish around 1.007 and be a dry-semi sweet. Which is what I was going for as that the JOAM ended at about 1.008 if I recall correctly.

As it stands I no longer have anything else to blog about after this. The better part of my jugs are filled with mead fermenting away and the ones that are empty I'll need to use when racking. Though I'm thinking about picking up some more jugs and making a couple of different kinds of cider that I want to try. Once I get the jugs and have the recipes nailed down I'll toss up a post.

05.29.11 Habanero Capsicumel

 After my first attempt at a capsicumel failed at obtaining any heat from the jalapeno. I decided to go all out with this time and used a habanero including the seeds and the pith for maximum heat potential.

Will it work? I hope so, it should end up rather sweet and with a good kick. I tasted some that overflowed when I was adding nutrients and after only a day with the habanero I could feel it already. Six months on the pepper should be absolutely wonderful/hell depending on your heat tolerance.

 I ended up using a similar recipe from the home brew forums that inspired the jalapeno capsicumel.

5lbs Honey
Water to 1 gallon
1 habanero with seeds and pith
½ tsp Fermaid K and ½ tsp DAP day after pitch
½ tsp Fermaid K and ½ tsp DAP two days after pitch
Lalvin 71B yeast rehydrated with GoFerm

And in true me fashion I made a mistake with this batch as well. I topped the mixture of water and honey with fresh water, Took a gravity reading, added the habanero, and then pitched the yeast. It wasn't until I looked at the gravity reading and the way that the yeast didn't drop down to the bottom right away that I realized I didn't shake the bloody thing. >.< And so there was a layer of thicker honey and water sitting at the bottom of the jug.

I used the mead calculator over at the Got Mead site and it gave me a suggested SG of 1.150 for 5lbs of honey in a one gallon batch. The yeast is good up to 14% and should give FG around 1.044. With such a high FG it would be considered a desert mead, but if that heat sticks around it'll be quite the quaff. I'm thinking that this will need to be served in shot glasses or something to limit intake.