November 26, 2018 Today I started my fourth batch of mead. I re-discovered the Meadery that hosted a mead tasting that my wife and I attended 5 years ago. It was the one that first piqued my interest in mead – Sap House Meadery in New Hampshire. I looked at their website and at the…
Tag: bochet
Do Most Mead Makers Disrespect Bochet?
November 22, 2018 Last week was my wedding anniversary. My wife and I planned a short getaway 30 miles away from home in Virginia wine country. To my surprise, my wife scheduled a tasting at a local meadery I didn’t even know existed: Stonehouse Meadery! Stonehouse is a family operation. Tastings are by appointment only….
Gingerbread Mead Primary Complete
October 31, 2018 It’s been a couple of days since I stirred / measured the SG of my latest mead, so I figured I’d take a reading (and a taste) tonight after the trick-or-treating festivities were over. I had a hunch that fermentation would be complete, since it was down around 1.002 last time I…
Gingerbread Mead Update – Not Gingerbread Mead?
October 18, 2018 It’s Day 4 since I started the Gingerbread Bochet. It’s bubbling like a champ, which is super terrific. I’m now 2 for 3 on actually getting my meads to start fermenting, which is a pretty shitty record. But I am hoping I have the yeast rehydration process down for now. Anyhoo, I’ve…
First Meads Bottled!
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…
Re-Racked Coffee Bochet
September 8, 2018 Today I also re-racked the coffee bochet. I wanted to get it off the potential infection / mold that I posted about a week ago. Plus of course I had to get a taste of that stuff. I siphoned into a sterile ferm bucket while I sterilized the carboy. I also took…
Racked Coffee Bochet
August 31, 2018 Because I’m leaving for two weeks tomorrow, and because I’m just an impatient SOB, I decided to rack my Coffee Bochet. Annnnd, also I just had to get a taste of the stuff. Opening the fermentation bucket, it looks like sewage. It’s doo doo brown, with a creepy looking vanilla bean husk…
Coffee Bochet Update
August 29, 2018 Today I degassed my coffee bochet and measured the specific gravity. There is still absolutely no activity in the airlock. However, when I popped the top off my fermenting bucket, there were visible bubbles in the mead. It smells really boozy and you still get a light coffee aroma. The vanilla bean…
1st and 2nd Batch Updates
August 25, 2018 Gave the Blueberry Lavender a shake/stir. It’s still making CO2 bubbles but no airlock activity. Smells great! Still really cloudy. Measured the SG of the Coffee Bochet – 1.034. Clearer than the other mead, but not totally clear. Added the 3rd installment of energizer and nutrient. The energizer really created a reaction…
It’s Fermenting!
Today I opened the bochet and it gloriously smells like coffee and BOOZE! I take the SG: 1.070. It’s fermenting, baby! Thank the gods. I give it a good degassing and re-cover. Tomorrow is more nutrient. Should i do a third nutrient? I’m not sure. But this is all a good sign.
themeadmustflow 