Like batch 167, this is a teaching batch while we show our neighbors Jack and Hannah the basics of brewing. This is a simple mead using a delicious fireweed honey we picked up from the Santa Fe Honey Salon. (That's the same place from which we bought the honeys for batches 084, 085, and 086; when we picked up several jars of honey on this visit, we made sure to label each jar explicitly with words, rather than symbols, because damn, is this honey tasty.) It's had pea blossoms added in secondary, turning the mead purple; I'm calling this batch Church of the Divine Looney after an offhand joke in Monty Python's Crackpot Religions Ltd. sketch.

Ingredients in this batch

  • 2 lb., 14.6 oz. fireweed varietal honey.
  • 1 tsp. Fermaid O.
  • 1 tsp. Fermaid K.
    • Note: No SNA planned for this batch: it's a teaching batch, so we're keeping it simple.
  • untreated tap water to just over 1 gallon.
  • ½ packet Lalvin 71B-1122 wine yeast, rehydrated in ½ cup untreated tap water at 100℉.
  • ½ oz. (by weight) dried butterfly pea blossoms, added 1 July.

Procedure

Poured honey into the carboy through a funnel, then added yeast nutrients and water. Agitated, added more water to just over a gallon; agitated, then measured the gravity and pitched the rehydrated yeast.

Brew date: 11 May 2019..
Original gravity: 1.112.
Bottling date: 30 September 2019
Final gravity: 1.007.
Estimated ABV: Approx. 14.5%.

Yield: Not counted, alas.

Observations

  • 2019-05-12T11:26: There's already plenty of bubbling in the carboy.
  • 2019-07-01: Added a half-ounce of dried butterfly pea blossoms, which immediately stained the mead a vibrant deep purple.
  • 2019-09-30: Bottled.