Batch 030: Let Me Tell You Something

2016-10-31_19_59_46_HDR — Batch 030 as it clarifies.

A quick show mead from varietal honey that I'm putting together at the same time we brew the more complicated batch 031. This batch is made with Trader Joe's Mostly Mesquite Honey, and we're going to call it Let Me Tell You Something after a line in Death's monologue in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

Ingredients in this batch

46.05 oz. Trader Joe's Mostly Mesquite Honey.
1.95 oz. Kirkland clover honey.
½ tsp. of Valley Brewers yeast energizer.
1 tsp. of Valley Brewers yeast nutrient.
Filtered tap water to 1 gallon
½ packet Lalvin K1V-1116 wine yeast.

Sanitized everything, then poured the Trader Joe's honey in. Poured in the Kirkland honey to bring the amount of honey up to exactly three pounds, then poured in the yeast energizer and yeast nutrient. Poured in water to total about three-quarters of a gallon in the carboy. Agitated for three minutes to oxygenate, then filled it to a gallon and shook for another three minutes. Pitched the yeast, then popped in a fermentation lock and filled it to the line with vodka. Set the carboy on a shelf to ferment.

Brew date: 19 October 2016.
Original gravity: 1.102.
Bottling date: 4 December 2016
Final gravity: 1.000.
Estimated ABV: Approx. 14%.

Yield:

9 x 12 oz. bottles
a hydrometer tube's worth of mead

Total: About 113⅓ fl. oz., or 88.5% of a gallon.

2016-12-04_20_45_55_HDR — Batch 030 in a hydrometer tube.

Observations

2016-10-20T10:45: There's fermentation in the carboy.
2016-10-21T18:22: The multiplying yeast is crowding around on the top of the carboy, leaving a light band on top and a much darker band on the bottom. There goes my idle curiosity about whether 1116 is top- or bottom-fermenting.
2016-10-23T11:58: The multiplying yeast has spread throughout the carboy.
2016-10-31T21:13: The must has already cleared a great deal, and it's turning a gorgeous bright yellow color.
2016-12-04T18:37: The mead has clarified quite rapidly and smells like, well, mead; it's ready for bottling. So we bottled it. It's also quite good already, after only about six weeks: light and sweet and refreshing. It's going to be delicious in another six to eight weeks, I think.