August 16, 2018

It’s probably early, but I decided to rack the mead today for a couple of reasons. First, the airlock activity is significantly reduced – a bubble every minute or so.  Second, I can’t wait – I need to check it out and taste the stuff! And third, I’m concerned that my fruit is rotting and molding.

I crack the bucket open and am pleased to see there’s no apparent mold or rot. It smells of lavender and blueberries (duh). The blueberries are floating on top. I read about this potentially causing some kind of problem so I might crush the fruit in the future.

I ordered a test tube for testing the SG, so I break out the auto-siphon that came with the kit and carefully siphoned a bit into the test tube. The mead is a nice purple color and very cloudy. The SG came out as 1.007. The yeast is definitely doing its job. I’m not sure if it’s done, but if so, the ABV will be about 13.5%.

Next: TASTING! I poured some of the mead from the test tube into a glass and Jen and I took some sips. It is surprisingly good! The first thing you notice is the heavy lavender aroma. You also notice berries and citrus. It’s very easy drinking and not overpoweringly boozy. The most surprising thing is it was carbonated! I read that this is because the yeast have produced a bunch of CO2 and this is probably the result of not degassing it during the fermentation process. I’ll try to do more of that with my next batch.

I used the auto-siphon to rack the mead – it was really easy. I put the carboy on a stool next to and a little lower than the kitchen island where the bucket was. A couple of pumps and the mead flowed smoothly into the carboy. I tried to make sure not to get much of the sediment – it was easy to avoid the blueberries since they were floating. It’s still pretty cloudy, but hopefully that will get better as it sits.

Popped the airlock back on and back to the basement for this guy. Success! I appear to have created a fermented beverage that doesn’t taste like shit and didn’t poison me!