September 30, 2018

The Mead Must Flow!

Today I bottled the Lavender Blueberry and Coffee Vanilla Bochet meads! Yay! My first bottling! I put the Lavender Blueberry into 7 375-ml bottles and the Coffee Vanilla Bochet into a 750-ml wine bottle and 5 375-ml bottles. I bought the 375 ml bottles from a guy I found on my neighborhood listserve. The wine bottle is just one I saved and cleaned and sanitized. I used #8 corks and a hand corker. The hand corker works okay. It corks the bottles fine, albeit a little inconsistently. Sometimes the cork sinks level to the top of the bottle; sometimes it leaves a bit above the lip of the bottle. I’m no body builder, but I have no problem levering the corker. Don’t forget to soak your corks before you use them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deqx-Xb-yHY

I’ve decided to make labels. I want to come up with a cool name for my “meadery.” Here are a couple of names I’m considering:

• Highland Hall
• Crickets of Highland
• Wizbe Highlands

Here’s what my labels will say:

Blueberry Lavender Mead
Made from water, frozen blueberries, lavender flowers, and wildflower honey from Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna, PA.
Started 8/3/18
Bottled 9/30/18
ABV 12.6%

Coffee Vanilla Bochet
Made from water, cold-brewed Trader Joe’s Organic Bolivian Blend coffee, Cook’s Gourmet bourbon vanilla beans, and caramelized wildflower honey from Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna, PA.
Started 8/19/18
Bottled 9/30/18
ABV 12.2%

Man, do I suck at siphoning. I need to work on my technique. I spilled everywhere. With the blueberry, I tried to raise the bottle above the carboy to stop the siphon when the bottle got full. It kind of worked, although it dripped a lot. I still ended up with a couple of bottles with too much mead in them and not enough room for the corks and one bottle that wasn’t quite full. I tried hand-pouring the too-full bottles into a not-quite-full bottle with messy results. With the bochet, I just let the mead keep flowing and quickly switched from bottle to bottle. I did it over a bucket and drank the spillover. Seriously – not efficient. I need to work on my technique. Or maybe get a better siphon.

All that said, I am thrilled to have bottled my first batches, bitches. I may bring a bottle or two of the coffee bochet to work for my coworkers to try. The rest I’m saving until Christmas. I’m excited to brew another batch. Fall is coming so I’ve been thinking about a pumpkin spice or gingerbread spice mead.