Batch 196: THERE IS NO RULE SIX

Ending our current solera with this one. It's an apricot mead, you see. We skipped batch number 196 accidentally, so I'm calling this one THERE IS NO RULE SIX, after a joke in the Bruces sketch.

Ingredients in this batch

• Approx. 3.5 gallons fermented solera mead.
• 8 lbs., 6.2 oz. fresh apricots (post-juicing weight), juiced, then tossed into the bucket.
• 2 oz. Hungarian oak cubes soaked for three months in Talnua single still American whiskey.
• 2 oz. Hungarian oak cubes soaked for three months in Twisted Path chai liqueur.

Procedure

Sanitized a six-gallon bucket. Xenia juiced about eight and a half pounds of apricots, then poured the juice and leftover pulp into the bucket. Pumped mead over it until there was no mead left in the solera. Popped in a stopper and airlock, then filled the airlock with vodka.

Secondary fermentation began: 30 June 2020..
Bottling date: 5 November 2020
Final gravity: 1.000.
Estimated ABV: Approx. 13½%

Yield:

• 18 x 12 oz. beer bottles.
• 6 x 22 oz. beer bottles.
• 2 x 750mL wine bottles.
• 2 x 500mL wine bottles.

Total: About 430 fluid ounces, or about 3⅓ gallons.