Batch 008: Anise Meadowfoam Mead
Like batch 007, this is a batch of show mead using some honey Xenia and I brought back from our recent trip to Oregon. Holy jeez, meadowfoam honey is delicious.
We're going to call this recipe Anise Meadowfoam Mead.
Ingredients in this batch
- 2 lb. meadowfoam honey from Flying Bee Ranch, Salem, Oregon.
- 8 oz. blueberry honey from Santa Barbara Blueberries, which is, ironically, in Gaviota, California.
- ½ of a 5-gram packet of Lalvin D47 wine yeast (split with batch 007)
- 1 tsp. Valley Brewers yeast nutrient.
- 1 tsp. Valley Brewers yeast energizer.
- ⅕ oz. cracked star anise, from Penzeys Spices, added on 9 August 2016.
- ⅕ oz. dried Brewer's Best brand dried orange peel, added on 9 August 2016.
Yield: TBA; hopefully about a gallon.
Mixed honey, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, and water in a one-gallon glass carboy; agitated for ten minutes, opening and closing the carboy lid to force air exchange. Rehydrated the yeast in water at 106°F, then poured in the second half of the batch, popped in a fermentation lock, filled it with vodka, and labeled it.
Brew date: 17 June 2016
Original gravity: 1.098.
Final gravity: ???
Estimated ABV: ???
(Hydrometer was broken at bottling. We'll measure it when we open up a bottle.)
Observations
- 2016-06-16T05:48:00: There's foam in the carboy.
- 2016-07-30: Rather mellow at this point in time. Quite promising, though still quite yeasty. Needs more aging.
- 2016-08-09: Coming along nicely. Added ⅕ oz. each dried orange peel and cracked star anise in a tied-off brewing sock.
- 2016-10-01: Finally pulled out the adjuncts. The taste of anise is much stronger than the taste of the orange peel. Letting the mead continue to age in the carboy; it still tastes young. Gravity at this point is 1.001, giving a current ABV of around 13%.
- 2016-12-29: Drank a bottle with Patrick Mahon. Wow, the anise is very strong. Much less next time. And this should sit for a while. Jesus, D47 takes forever.