Like batch 007, this is an opportunity to play with some ingredients we brought back from our recent road and camping trip through Oregon and northern California. This is also Patrick’s first time using ale yeast, and his first time trying to top-crop a yeast from a current fermentation for reuse; this yeast was scrounged from (the currently quite foamy) batch 009. It also uses the quite tasty black chai tea we brought back from northern California.

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Ingredients for batch 010.

We're going to call this recipe Oregon Hippie Chai Mead.

Ingredients in this batch

Yield:.

  • 7 x 12 oz. bottle.
  • 1 x 500 mL bottle; and
  • 1 x hydrometer flask (about ⅔ cup)
  • 1 x 8 oz. glass for drinking

Total: about 114 fl. oz., or about 89% of a gallon

Cold-infused 2 oz black chai tea in a gallon of distilled water for two days, then poured the honey, yeast energizer, and yeast nutrient into a four-liter carboy. Filled it with tea to the top of the bottom joint of the handle in the neck (and I need to work out a more specific measurement for that), then pulled off 1⅓ cups for sampling and hydrometer readings. The tea itself tasted quite strong, and there was a notable ginger flavor to it. Agitated by shaking for ten minutes, then cropped some WLP001 from the top of batch 009, which is currently fermenting vigorously, using a sanitized spoon. Dropped several spoonfulls of foam into the must and popped in a fermentation lock. (The initial plan was that if the ale yeast didn't take in a day and a half or so, I'll rehydrate some wine yeast and pitch it in, but it took off and fermented through)

Original gravity: 1.093.
Final gravity: 1.014
Approximate ABV: 10.4%

Observations

  • 2016-06-17T03:15:00: There's foam in the carboy. Dropped in some more yeast from batch 009, which is still foaming vigorously.
  • 2016-06-22T19:09:00: Having cleaned out the fermentation lock several times, I replaced it with a blowoff hose two days ago during bottling for batches 001 and 004. Foam has risen just just barely into the blowoff hose over the last two days, but no further.
  • 2016-06-23T18:00:00: Removed the blowoff hose from the carboy, cleaned it, and replaced it with a fermentation lock.
  • 2016-06-29T19:30:00: Fermentation activity has clearly slowed a great deal.
  • 2016-07-06T11:17:00: No visible fermentation in the carboy.
  • 2016-07-10T19:47:00: Took a gravity reading (1.014, giving estimated ABV 10.37%) and tasted; pitched in a new yeast, WLP 775 (shared with batch 014), to ensure that it finished fermenting fully, and just to experiment with pitching in a new yeast.
  • 2016-07-10T19:47:00: Fermentation has clearly restarted somewhat in the carboy, though rather sluggishly so.
  • 2016-07-10T19:47:00: No more visible fermentation activity in the carboy.

Tasting Notes

  • 2016-07-10 (during second yeast pitch): Tasted this; the chai flavor is quite strong. I think it will probably mellow out a bit during aging, which is too bad, because it's delicious. Gravity at this point is 1.014, giving an ABV of about 10.4% so far.