| The Second Batch (MEAD) |
| After the first batch wasn't as great as I thought it was going to BEE, I thought I would try something different. I pondered on what would interesting to make next, then "Return of the King" came out and I knew. Mead! Mead has been around for a long time and many believe it to be the first fermented drink. So what is it you ask? Mead is a fermented drink made from honey. It is made in the same process as wine. If you've never heard of it the next time you watch a movie about 13th Warrior or LOTR, notice they're always getting a buzz from their favorite drink, mead. Although I've never drank it before I'm going to make it and give it a try. There are many people who love it and some who will drink nothing else. Mead has made a comeback with the popularity of movies like LOTR. So here I go for the second batch of wine, honey wine. It will take longer than twenty-eight days like the merlot wine kit did and hopefully with better results. Since in the end I wasn't very impressed with my first batch, I have decided to get the ingredients and follow a simple recipe I hopefully won't mess up. I don't want anyone to think I blame the company who made the wine kit. I'm pretty sure it was something I did. I think I got greedy and tryed to save as much wine as possible and left too much lees in the must. (sediment in the wine) Update: Come to find out I probably did nothing wrong when I made the first batch. I email Jack Keller and he said my problem is that I'm just not being patient enough. I really must give the wine time to age. So I don't want anyone thinking there is something wrong with wine kits. So, the ingredients are on order and when they come in,I'll get started and add an update. Also this time there will be pictures. Well the ingredients are in and I'm making mead. I took the honey and dissolved it(somewhat) with hot water. I've decided to use a liquid yeast culture that has to incubate for 24 hours after it's mixed up. This yeast is made for sweet mead and should help the flavor a little. Whether or not it does remains to be seen. The recipe I'm using only calls for honey, yeast, yeast nutrient and water. I already see a problem. Now everything is mixed up and has been fermenting for six days. It's about time to rack. All the equipment is sanitized and ready to go. Racking. Now that it's racked time to let it sit and wine. I've been reading even more on mead and I as I've already said I see a problem. Some of the other recipes call for acid and tannin. I didn't use any of these. Time to consult Hoyal. O.K. If you're on this site and you've followed what I'm doing please learn from my mistakes. I emailed, once again, Jack Keller and he said I need to learn about ballance. The yin and yang of wine making. There has to be balance within the wine. This is not something I've done well with this far. Here I go, I'm going to try to explane balance in a short common language. There must be a certian amount of sugar and acid in every batch of wine and it is all going to be different. This is why it is so important to take that first S.G. and check for the right amount of sugar. If your sugar amount is low then the yeast will eat all the sugar and you will be left with a very dry wine. As the yeast eat the sugar the alcohol is formed. If you want a sweeter wine you add more sugar than you really need or you add more when fermentation is over. If there is no balance then you wine will taste off: bitter, sweet, sour, hot or flat. The way it is right now my mead will be flat. Answer to my problem. Well, I can go a head and add tannin and acid and see what will happen. I was told the acid will be better added when at the end but I'm going to add it now. It's still early in the fermentation and I have faith it's going to be alright. So with the addition of tannin and acid hopefully with time and aging my mead will turn out right. More to Come, |
| This page was last updated on Aug 23, 2004 |
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