Batch 004: Xenia and Patrick's First Holiday Mead; plus, Two Dry-Hopped Meads

On 24 May, primary fermentation had slowed down to the point where no carbon dioxide seemed to be venting through the fermentation lock, and we racked this batch into three separate containers: two half-gallons into beer growlers, each of which had a single-varietal hop pellet addition; and four gallons into our glass carboy, with the addition of blackcurrant juice, to continue making our holiday melomel. The gravity of all of the batches at this time was 0.999; the mead calculator suggests this is currently about 12% ABV. We pulled it into three unequal batches during racking: four gallons went into the glass carboy with black currant juice; two half-gallon batches went into unused beer growlers with hop pellets. Thus, there are three batches now:

Batch 004a: Holiday blackcurrant melomel

After the primary fermentation described above, we racked a large can of blackcurrant juice into the carboy. Then I racked four gallons of the mead from the bucket onto the juice. Then I sealed it up with a fermentation lock. Various other things have been gradually added, as noted below.

The original gravity of the blackcurrant juice was 1.015. Given the quantity, the OG of the new must is 1.0017.

Additional ingredients for this batch:

• One 96-oz can of black currant juice from Northern Brewer. (96 oz. turns out to mean dry, not fluid, ounces; it wound up being almost exactly 13 cups after spillage—which was not all that much, actually.)
• 2 cups (10.5 oz.) loosely packed dark brown sugar, thrown into the carboy on 2 June.
• 4 cups loosely packed medium brown sugar, pitched into the carboy on 7 July.
• 13 cups of plum juice, obtained by juicing approx. 16 lbs. of mixed red and black plums (total weight of plums after removing stems, pits, and stickers, and discarding two or three bad plums, was 14 lb., 9.4 oz., according to the kitchen scale), added to the brew on 7 July.
• 2 cups of dark brown sugar, added to the brew on 9 August.
• 10 whole cloves, added to the brew in a brewing sock on 9 August.
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon from Penzeys Spices, added to the brew in a brewing sock on 9 August.
• ½ tsp. ground allspice from Penzeys Spices, added to the brew in a brewing sock on 9 August.

Observations in secondary and tertiary

• 2016-05-17: Asked for advice about this batch on Reddit's r/mead.
• 2016-05-25T23:14: Fermentation has clearly started back up in the carboy: there's bubbly foam gathering at the surface. Just a little, though. There's not yet any bubbles passing visibly through the airlock. A surprising amount of yeast has flocculated out to the bottom of the carboy already.
• 2016-06-01T14:23: There's still bubbling visible at the top of the carboy, but it's too slow for much to be coming through the fermentation lock. There is, however, a lot of spent yeast on the bottom of the carboy.
• 2016-06-02T19:38: Pitched two cups of dark brown sugar into the carboy. Fermentation produced a substantial volume of bubbles within a few hours.
• 2016-06-12T20:25: Returned from a week and a half on the road. No indication of continuing fermentation.
• 2016-06-22T18:57: Still no indication of continuing fermentation.
• 2016-07-07T19:00: Racked the mead temporarily into our bottling bucket, then Xenia cleaned the carboy (the spent yeast at the bottom was as black as the must by this point). Poured in four more cups of brown sugar and the 13 cups of fresh plum juice, then racked the mead out of the bottling bucket and back into the carboy on top of the new juice and sugar.
• 2016-07-07T23:00: Fermentation has obviously restarted in the carboy; it's producing carbon dioxide again, and there's some foam rising to the top of the mead.
• 2016-07-10T23:00: The foam is actually quite vigorous.
• 2016-12-05T20:32: Bottled. Gravity 1.000 (?), estimated as if O.G. calculated at 1.139 by the mead calculator, which implies that, depending on how the math is done, the ABV is somewhere between 18% and 21%. First time corking went smoothly, and the bottles certainly are pretty. Labels need to get printed and affixed, and the tops need to be sealed with wax, but the corked, bare bottles filled with very dark mead look great.
• 2016-05-17: Wrote about this batch on Reddit's r/mead.

Tasting notes

• 2016-07-07T20:17:00 (during racking to tertiary fermentation, before adjunct additions): Still quite dry, but less sharply so: it's becoming more complex, and the dryness is starting to be effective. Needs lots more aging. I still won't be sad if this winds up being sweeter, and today's adjunct additions might very well push it in that direction, but a dry mead could work here, too. The black currant flavor is quite prominent and noticeably tart; it's delicious. I still have high hopes for this one.
• 2016-08-09 (during spicing): this is getting complex and tasty. It's still rather dry, but not painfully so; and the plum juice gives the sweetness a tart aftertaste. This is pretty close to what I was looking for. Racked to a plastic bucket, adding another two cups of dark brown sugar along the way (let's see if fermentation restarts yet again. If so, there can be more sugar added until it doesn't, I guess). Also added, in a brewing sock, 10 whole cloves, 1 tsp. ground Penzey's cinnamon, and ½ tsp. ground Penzey's allspice, allowing it to soak.
• 2016-12-05 (during bottling): oh wow, I'm really happy with how this turned out. The aroma is spicy, and there's a tart, slightly sweet underlying flavor that really works with the fruit flavors. I'm looking forward to seeing how this ages. And I'm kind of tempted to prune the recipient list one more time to try to scare up a few more bottles for ourselves.
• 2017-03-12: Took a bottle to Chris and Sandy at Valley Brewers, since they were so helpful during our first year of brewing. The spices still smell good, but a lot of the flavor has become closed off again. Interesting.

Batch 004b: Single hop varietal: Cluster

Put the pellets in the steeping bag. Put the bag into a half-gallon beer growler. Racked a half-gallon of mead onto the pellets. Added a fermentation lock and a label.

Additional ingredient for this batch:

• ½ oz Cluster hop pellets (8.1% alpha acid), in a steeping bag.

Final gravity: 0.994
Estimated ABV: 12.7%

Observations in secondary

• 2016-05-25T23:38: Nothing to report.
• 2016-06-12T20:25: Returned from a week and a half on the road. No indication of continuing fermentation.
• 2016-06-18T04:39: Still no carbon dioxide discharge.
• 2016-06-20T17:45: Bottled into 12-ounce beer bottles, labeled Batch 004b.

Tasting notes

• 2016-06-20 (during bottling): Very hoppy mouthfeel, but not a lot of hop flavor. Citrusy.
• 2016-10-31: Hops have mellowed a lot; it's become slightly sweeter-tasting, and a bit richer. This is getting to be nice. I want to see how it's going to turn out in a few more months.

Batch 004c: Single hop varietal: Pacific Jade

Put the pellets in the steeping bag. Put the bag into a half-gallon beer growler. Racked a half-gallon of mead onto the pellets. Added a fermentation lock and a label.

Additional ingredient for this batch:

• ½ oz Pacific Jade hop pellets (14.2% alpha acid), in a steeping bag.

Final gravity: 0.994
Estimated ABV: 12.8%

Observations in secondary

• 2016-05-25T23:45: Mead had backed up into the fermentation lock. Emptied the lock, sanitized it, refilled it with Star-San, and poured out a bit of to make room.
• 2016-06-12T20:25: Returned from a week and a half on the road. No indication of continuing fermentation.
• 2016-06-18T04:39: Still no carbon dioxide discharge.
• 2016-06-20T17:45: Bottled into 12-ounce beer bottles, labeled Batch 004c.

Tasting notes

• 2016-06-20 (during bottling): Very astringent.
• 2016-07-04 (during holiday barbecue): I certainly hope this mellows as it ages. Ugh. So hoppy. Not in a pleasant way. Kind of skunky, too.
• 2016-07-16: I hope this mellows out in aging, because right now it tastes like a baked horse asshole stuffed with marijuana.
• 2017-03-20: The hop flavor has mostly disappeared, leaving behind mostly a slightly tart, citrusy spiciness. It's become quite good. The mead itself is a clear golden color and is, well, wonderful, though I wish it were just a bit sweeter. I quite like this.